Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-02-27
THE OZARKS.

"A region Exceiently Fitted for the Sup
port of Mining and Agricultural Popu-
1ation.
At recent meeting of the Engineers
Club of Kansas CITY, Thomas Knight
read paper relative to the commercial
development of several counties in
Southern Missouri and Northern Arkan-
sas. The counties that were subjected
to a careful investigation WERE in the
main, Cedar, Dade, Lawrence, Chris
tian, Stone, fancy, Ozark. Douglas,
Wright, Texas, Shannon and Howell;
and, in part, Oregon, Jasper, Greene and
Webster.
The information sought was embraced
under these heads:
l. The mineral resources of the country.
having special regard to the prospects for
coal, IRON, lead, zinc. copper and tin.
z It's general economic production, with
view 70 systematic and extended inlmigra-
ton.
3. The sufficiency, or otherwise, of the ex.
lSting railroad system. and to what extent
capital might be employed in its extension.
south of the Missouri river, said Mr..
knight, a curiously- curved line traces the
divide between the waters which flow into
that stream and those which find their exit
more directly into the waters of the Gulf.
Along this line extend the range of hills
known as Ozarks, forming on the side
the head of long northerly slope through
pOrtance find their way to the main channel
OF effiuence; while on the other are found
the headWaters of those rivers which drain
the lands where exposure | 5 southeaSterly
and where productions show the influence
of a difference both geological and climatic.
Following line drawn from Kansas Cit
to the southern corner of the State, we shall
find the principal geological formations to
be- in their order, follows:
l. Upper carboniferOus.
&. Lower carbon ferrous.
3. Small exposure of dcvonian.
4. y large area of lower Silurian with casual
patches of the igneous rocks.
Economically considered it is difficult to
overestimate the Importance attaching to
the geological conformation of the State in
itself; but the sequence of the exposures is
matter ofeven greater moment, for we find
that by the agencies of eruption and erosion
the lead, zinc, copper and iron of another
epoch are brought into i,nmed j.
ate proximity with the fuel and fiuxes
necessary for their reduction; while
the refractory materials which enter
into the construction of the blast furnace
and smelling hearth are often quarricd by
the same hand which cuts the timber for the
mine and brings the ore to grass. So too,
upon leaving the rocks OF the carboniferous
age, the main source of our power supply,
we find this loss amply compensated by the
magnificent streams which themselves
Immediately available for almost every de-
mand of this character which can be made
upon them.
1t is by no means an ordinary experience
that a mining district of any Importance
finds as base of supply, within its reach, an
agricultural territory and population capa-
bic of satisfying its necessities of sus-
tenance. SO far my own Investigations
have led me know Of no county OF Southern
Missouri which is unable to support it's in
dustral operatives from within its own Dor
ders, or, at least, to derive liberal COM
misSariat from it's immediate neigflbors;
ted
sense, for demand and supply will
serve to react upon each other in geomctri-
cal ratio, and with Il country rich in re-
sources, of fertile soil and of genial climate
we may fairly assume that all the conditions
exist which will both attract and retain the
immigrant and add no less to his own pros
perity than to that of his adopted country.
With an increased population and the re-
sulting accumulation of capital, attention
will inevitably be directed to means of inter-
communication, and a remedy be sought for
the present defective condition of the high
ways throughout the State. Apart from local
considerations, am inclined to the belief
that great engineering problem has yet to
be solved, viz. The construction and MAIN
tenance of good roads at moderate cost; and
never has this conclus ion been more pain
fully forced upon me than while forming a
somewhat intimate acquaintance with their
representatives in the South. scattered
and INDECENT population must endure such
an impeachment to progress; a Weather and
numerically stronger people neither can nor
will.
A careful examination of the coal measures
and their paeontology throughout Southern
Iowa, Northern and Western Missouri and
Arkansas leads me to the belief that these,
with a southerly prolOngation into Texas,
form one grand coal field of possibly some
seventy thousand square miles in area. Nor
do l exclude from this field the anthracites
and semi an thracites lately discovered in Ar
kansas Having regard to the surrounding
al,
tension and profitable development.
And here permit me to offer a suggestion
with respect to that vcxed question. the
duration of our fuel supply. l think do
not sufficiently consider the metamorphoses
constantly going on around US. Coal, now
so important, my cease to be of any in
it's present shape to man of subsequent
age, but its ultimate atoms, rcsegregated,
may help to afford the fuel which will be
then requisite under the altered aspect Of
human necessities.
Promising that mining district of vast
Importance will before long be developed in
the States of Missouri and Arkansas. which
under proper management may be tributary
to Kansas City, some enumeration of the
chief mineral productions and an estimate
of their probable worth must form part of
this paper.
Bituminous coal of the true coal measures
with its associated fire clay, iron ore, ochre
md building stone is well represented and
lies in close proximity to the rich deposits of
zinc and lead, for the reduction of which It
is essential agent. That an inferior
lime should ever be pr esented to the builder
is certainly owing to no lack of suitable ma
terial for the manufacture of a superior
grade, for skill select almost at
pleasure stone which will produce lime
and cement of the finest quality at a
minimum of cost. The metallic OreS
are abundant and widely distributed.
Zinc blende (sulpuret) is found in nearly all
the geological formations; as silicate Of
zinc the metal occurs chiefly in the south
west, occasionally in the central and south
eastern districts. The neutral carbonate is
found native and in close association with
both cobalt and nickel. Building stone is
everywhere abundant and includes black,
gray and white marble, quartzite, states anu
granite.
From shannon County 1 have obtained
some excellent specimens of tin ore and
kaolin. These have been taken from the
juncture of the intrusive gneous rocks with
the surrounding strata and promise devel
OpmentS of value.
Extended investigation of the character
attention the striking resemblance existing
between the geological formations of this
region and that OF the Black Hills of Da-
kota.
-'Force, gentlemen" said the pro-
fessor. land power are not always found
in large bodies. Sometimes the smallest