Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-01-02
SETTLING UP THE ozARks.

i
isu-,--.,t. rrom the Northwest Comine
Tnfc southwest Miss ouri-They LAKE s0s
Mud Winters OF ths Southern sloP
ICorrespondence St. Louis Globe Democrat
Scarcely day passes without some
company of ..movers" being seen on the
wagon road which leads rem tue SUI.
NIT of the Ozarks down to the "m1e
river country. Most OF these Weaiy
home are from the pra,r0
states of the northwest-Neora
Iowa, Minnesota and the DaRotas
and they tell very much the same
sad story of their failures In attempt
ing to war with drought, grasshoppers
and the Billiards. Much of this toe
of winter immigration is flowing INTO
fancy county, and the great pralrie
schooners,n weather-beaten ana way
worn, with heating stoves and COOKING
outfits, their fur-clad occupants anu
strange furniture, no longer excite the
wonder of the White river pioneer VINO
built his log ca bin in the Ozark wider
ness before the war and toasted on
bear meat and wild honey Tor more
than quarter of a century.
C"Taney county has new population
creek, while speaking of the rush to
the cheap lands of that section OF
southwest Missouri. when went to
the county nine years ago there was
not house near my place. The deer
were plenty everywhere. To-day at
least 20 families live in sight OF my
house. These people have settled there
In the last three or four years.
The United States land office at
Springfield continues to do an active
business, and thousands of acres OF
government lands are entered every
week. Nearly one-half of the entire
area of fancy county has been con-
verified into homesteads within the past
few years. The new settlers, as rule,
are delighted with the country. The
mild winters that prevail on the south
ern slopes of the Ozarks seem delight
full to the refugees from the Billiards
of Nebraska and the Dakotas. Large
orchards are being planted by the
newcomers, and in a few years
fancy county will be bountifully sup
piled with fruit. One man on Bull
creek, just north of the fancy county |
line, has 5000 pear trees that will bear |
next year. Last fall he shipped to |
Minneapolis the first car load of pears |
that ever left that section for distant |
market.
There is big land scheme now seek
ing to get control of most of the coun-
try lying along the survey of the |
Springfield, Harrison & Little Rock |
railway, which runs through Christian
and fancy counties. This route is To- I
cally known as the Dougherty survey.
as the work was conducted by a civil
engineer of that name. A syndicate,
having as it's chief promoter a prom
inent official of the Kansas City, Fort
Scott, Springfield & Memphis railroad,
has been organized for the purpose OF
buying lands and options on real estate
along the prospective route into North
Arkansas. Some persons think that
this movement has a new promise of
railroad for the White river country,
but so many schemes have come and
vanished in years gone by and no cars
have appeared yet that stories of rail.
ways excite but little interest south OF
Springfield.
Boone counsy, Ark, has wearied OF
waiting for railroad and is trying to
organize company to build one into
that rich mineral field just west OF
White river. It is proposed to enlist
Springfield in the enterprise, and use
the Dougherty survey, unless the Santa
Fe can be induced to extend the Chad.
wick branch, which terminates on the
breaks of Swan creek, so miles north
Of Lead Hill. The Chadwick route
would be the most direct outlet for the
mineral resources of Boone and the ad
iacent counties of Arkansas.