The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1900-05-10
As LIFE GOES In TANEY CO.
The Paradise Of the White
River Valley.

AGAS0A 0AA0ys
The following article was written
and published in the Springfield Mail
of June 16, 1898 by that we'll known
South Missouri writer, Lawrence
Carroll, and as it has never before
been published in q Tauey county
paper we reproduce it by request.
Some fifty miles south of SPRING
field there is q land as strange and
romantic ss any in the broad domain
of the United States, aud one which
never fails for any great length of
time to attract q considerable share
of public attention. It is away from
the railroads aud far from the busy
haunts of men. The worlds great
commercial concerns take little note
of it's existence, and it's wealth does
not constitute its charm. The king
dom of Taney is not kingdom Of
material possessions, not monarchy
of money, not a land of social ine-
qualities. Because it is none Of these
things-the opposite of all these
things-it seems strange and is allur-
ing. Its Inhabitants are frugal and
industrious, and find little difficulty
in making living that is both good
and easy. The mad struggle for gold
and glitter has not poisoned the veins
of its social life, nor destroyed the
traditions of the earlier days OF the
Republic. Its richest men are not
plut0crats aud its poorest citizens are
not paupers. From time to time
some one writes an article about the
new Taney county, as ii the old
Taney was not pleasant land aud a
goodly world to dwell in. Fierce
strife sprang up there Ion g ago and
was fought 10 q finish by strong,
brave men on both sides-and for
ever ended. Enterprising newspaper
correspondents wovo many an euter-
tanning romance of the warp and
the woof Of the great Bald Knob
struggle, but all that has passed
away. Wild and terrible deeds were
indeed done when the fued was at its
height, but there never was . day
nor an hour when the stranger with
in the hospitable gates of Taney had
sught to fear. Daring and adven-
tureous spirits battled for the mas
terry, aud it i'll became the weak of
heart or will to ally themselves with
either faction or seek to thrust their
pigmy lances among the spears of
the Auokim. Plot aud counter-plot,
mine and sally, arc not for those who
have no iron in their blood. The
Bald Knob strife could have origi-
mated in no other Missouri county
than Taney, for bad as it was. it took
aboundine courage, deep craft and
nerves of steel OH both sides to main
tain the war 90 long. 1t was not
child's play, and now that both fac
tions look upon it as a matter Of his
tory, justice is being done to the
motives that impelled men to main
tain almost six years of civil war
with it's varying fortunes. But all
this is a memory of the picturesque
! pa.;, q stormy chronicle Of the olden
time, a leaf from q book balanced
snd closed, never to be forgotten
however, by taose who saw it aud
were Of it, aud mentioned but as q
soldier recalls the days when he
drank great drauxhts of the red wine
Of peril,
The physical features of Taney
county ars Of C nature to fix them
| selves On the mind o. the observer
! and accoant for some Of its moral
peculiarities. 1t 10 in tie very heart
Of the valley cs White ,;ver and al
che same time it is = land of lofty
bills, deep rav;nes and elt vated pla'
teaus. It is u land of ply sical con
tsasts, a land 10 delight tha soul oi
the military strateyist aud t. fill hin
with visions Of a successful G umpaigr
against almost inviEcible odt 9. Al