The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1901-02-07
THE OLDEST SPOT OF LAND.
The Ozarks Have That Dis
tincti0n.

~ W0Ih or U!IEc aCTOSs tHe oZti y =
is not without pleasure. but no one
during such walk or drive, can
measure the history Of The range nor
fathom its mysteries. When we vis'i
the majestic. snow-capped Rockies,
and cont-as, Pixies Peak with Dixon's
lIill, we are prone to indulge n seuti
ment of ontempt for the low-l. ing
and gently i,luDdating Ozarks In
fact, only by suf1r rance aud license
may we use the wo q ''moum, ain" in
speaking OF our heautiful Missouri
hills; vet, in point OF record, these
hills tell a story of age and magniti-
cence, growth and decay. long ante
dating the rise of the Rocky mountain
system. The most ancient land on
earth is that upon which Missourl's
big red apple grows.
Long ago when the earth was
young, tho heavens, heated by this
lately liquid ball, poured torrents Of
water upon the worlds wide and un-
broken ocean, and as the earth's crust
cooled, so, also, it sbrank. But the
shrinksge was irregular, uneven, and
in two long, almost equiIeatral dis
tsicts, extending northeast to south
west. The fragile crust broke and
dipped toward. the eartls's center,
creating two immense basins. Re-
tween these two equilateral basins a
tract Of land Of varying width extend
ed-land upreared, not SO much by
some great and sudden upheaval as
by the Glow sMbsidence of the crust
on either side Of it, for as the oceans
bed dcepened In those two basins,
hundreds of miles apart, the inter-
vening land was correspondingly ele-
vatcd. So the Ozarks were born
slowly brought into being by the
labor Of mother earth. 1t was a
labor not performed in a day, nor in
year, nor in q century of centuries;
yet, giant-Nke, the mountains grew
at last to stand above the clouds
The war of the elements had created
dry land. The spirit of God had
moved upon the face of the deep.
At one place in Boone county a
setid edge of fossil rock Is feet in
thickness extends distance of sever
al miles along the Missouri river.
Pick up a piece of this rock. Look
at il. 1t consists Of mass Of fossils,
aad each fossil is distinct. The rock
seems porous and ready to fall to
pieces. But examine it more care
fully. It is closely woven. 1t is ce-
melted by calcite. 1t is impervious
to water, aud it's durability is attest
cd by the fact that, exposed on thc
top of the bluff, it has, but slightly
Affected, withstood the effects of time
and the elements. Such is the basal
rock in the Burlington Keokuk series
and it underiies fully one-third of the
state, but in oDly few places does it
appear upon the surface. Geserally
it is overlaid by hundreds of feet OF
rock, clay, ceal, DRIFT and loan.
The Ozark range, extending from
northeast to southwest distance oi
some 1900 miles, must have been, ia
those early days, of truly sublime
proportions. just to the west y,
whore the great lakes are. there once
the momAtains lowered to the skies
Lake Superior in the north, and Tex.
AZ to the southwest, mark the origi,
nal ieagth Of the Ozarks. How tai
those mountains were we have now
no means of knowing. We may only
guess but that they rose to heigh,
Of three or four miles is confirmed
by reasonable evidence.
Let us submit the evidence. Drill
lipgs to . depths of from 1900 te
1000 feet in Western Iowa aud il
Nebraska, Kansas, the Indian Terri
tory aud in parts of Texas develop
rocks Of Z secondary character-tha
lie, rocks formed by the concretee
remnanta Qk other rocks, which hav,
bsen worn of and washed away b,