Arizona and New Mexico was partly explored in 1539 by Marco de Nizan, in quest of the precious metals, and on his report Vasquez de Coronado organized an expedition in the following year and visited the Moqui villages and the New Mexican pueblos. About 1596 the first colony was established; in 1680 the Spaniards were driven out of the country; by 1695 they had recovered nearly all of it, and by 1720 Jesuit missionaries had established a number of missions, ranches and mining stations. There were serious Indian outbreaks in 1802 and 1827, and what is now Arizona and New Mexico was acquired by the United States by treaties in 1848 and 1853.
ARIZONA, UNIVERSITY OF, a co-educational institution in Tucson, organized in 1891, reported at the end of 1919: Professors and instructors, 90; students, 968; volumes in the library, 32,000; grounds and buildings valued at $85,000; productive funds, $10,500; income, $700,000; president, Rufus B. Von Kleinsmid, Ph. D.
ARJISH DAGH (ar′yēsh-dach′), the loftiest peak of the peninsula of Asia Minor, at the western extremity of the Anti-Taurus Range, 13,150 feet; an exhausted volcano; on the N. and N. E. slopes are extensive glaciers.
ARK, a chest or coffer for the safe-keeping of any valuable thing; a depository. The large floating vessel in which Noah and his family were preserved during the deluge.
The Ark of the Covenant, in the synagogue of the Jews, was the chest or vessel in which the tables of the law were preserved. This was a small chest or coffer, three feet nine inches in length, two feet three inches in breadth and the same in height, in which were contained the various sacred articles. It was made of shittim wood, overlaid within and without with gold and was covered with the mercy seat, called also the propitiatory, as the Septuagint expresses it, that is, the lid or cover of propitiation; because, in the typical language of Scripture, those sins which are forgiven are said to be covered.
ARKANSAS, a State in the South Central Division of the North American Union; bounded by Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma; gross area, 53,850 square miles; admitted into the Union, June 15, 1836; seceded, March 4, 1861; readmitted, June 22, 1868; number of counties, 75: pop. (1890) 1,128,179; (1900) 1,311,564; (1910) 1,574,449; (1920) 1,752,204. Capital, Little Rock.
Topography.—The surface presents the features of mountains, prairies, hills, valleys and swamps. The Ozark, Boston, Ouachita and other ranges, from 1,500 to 2,000 feet high, occupy the W. and N. W. parts, with numerous spurs and outlying hills of considerable altitude; the central part is rolling ground; and the E. part is low, with many lakes and swamps and is liable to overflows of the Mississippi. Drainage is by the Mississippi, Arkansas, St. Francis, Black, White, Ouachita, Saline and Red rivers. Compensation for the absence of a sea-coast is had in the navigability of long stretches of the principal rivers, thus permitting a valuable water traffic with adjoining States.
Geology.—The upper mountainous, forest and mineral lands may be separated from the lowlands and alluvial plains by a line drawn across the State from N. E. to S. W. The principal formations are the lower Silurian in the N.; the sub-carboniferous on the S.; the cretaceous in the S. W., and the tertiary, overlaid by quarternary sands and clays. Hot and mineral springs are numerous and some of them are widely known. The valley of the St. Francis in the N. E. is a continuous swamp covered with a heavy growth of cypress, gum, oak, hickory and sycamore, while in the higher land there is an abundance of white oak and hickory. In the Arkansas valley are red cedar, Cottonwood, maple and several varieties of oak. Other forest growths of value are ash, walnut, elm, willow, and papaw.
Mineralogy.—The State contains semianthracite, cannel, and bituminous coal; iron and zinc ores; galena, frequently bearing silver; manganese; gypsum, oilstone of superior quality; marble; alabaster; rock crystal; copper; granite; kaolin; marl; mineral ochers, and salt. The State is an important producer of coal and of bauxite, the mineral from which aluminum is extracted. Other minerals produced in considerable quantities are lime, manganese, natural gas, lead, and zinc. The coal production in 1917 was 2,228,000 long tons. The production of zinc is valued at $1,500,000 annually. The total value of the mineral products in 1917 was $12,061,702.
Soil.—The soil varies with the geological characteristics and surface conditions already described. Agriculturally, the most valuable soil is found in the river bottom-lands, and as the surface rises from these bottoms the soil becomes less productive. There are large submerged tracts that only require proper drainage to make them valuable to the farmer. The uplands generally are well timbered and well watered.
