Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-07-31

but instead Of leaping stream in thin
but wide sheets of water from one
rocky step to another in the center OF
this gorge there is slender thread of
crystal plunging over a precipice.
This is the headwaters OF Stout's creek
and the Falls of Evangeline. Here,
local tradition has it, Evangeline was
attracted by the comparatively loud
roar from the tiny falls, and, leaving
the camp which had been pitched near
the entrance of the gorge in the valley,
assembled to the little precipce where
she refreshed herself at the stream
before returning to the camp OF her
followers. What poetic interest this
legend gives to the falls, but there is
another which asserts that any maiden
drinking of the waters will be eyer
steadfast in love affairs.
From the gorge of Eyangelinic In
terest if you follow the carriage road
it will lead you by somewhat devious
way over the rolling surface of the
valley, across the waters of Stout's
creek, now swollen TO larger proper
tions, and through the village of
Arcadia, on the outskirts of which
many St. Louisans have country homes,
some of the handsomer residences be-
ing occupied by W. H. Thompson,
Judge Warwick Hough, Clarence IL.
Jones, G. j. Pollock and the family OF
the late Gen. Turner. The road then
swings along in an almost straight
line through Ironton and passes the
spacious grounds surrounding the resi-
dence of Judge Emerson, in which is
still preserved the ancient oak under
1 whose leafy cover Grant received his
commission as brigadier general.
Near by bronz statute of the general
stands to commemorate the event.
As the last house in lronton is left
behind, the eyes grow brighter watch
ing the gentle beauty of the scenery
unfold before us. The reptilian out
lines of Sheperd's bulk, the highest
mountain girding the valley, rear
themselves to the left, and the cone
sh aped sides of Pilot Knob cut the sky
sharply before US. Looking at Pilot
Knob one is struck by the close re-
semblance it's general appearance mas
to that of the typical volcano, and
then if you are given to associatlng
one fact with another, you will re-
member that much of the rock you
have seen this morning, nearly all the
boulders that have dotted the noun
tain sides, bear evidence of having
been fused.
If you haye read anything of the
history of Missouri during the days OF
the civil war, Pilot Knob will have an
added attraction in your eyes, for was
it not at the base of this big cone that
one of the very fercest minor engage
ments of the war occurred? Nothing
much about the scene now reminds
one of the fighting that once occurred
there, that is, as you drive along the
road, but when you have passed
through the now all but deserted town
of Pilot Knob, killed by the death OF
the iron industry and come in sight
of the abandoned furnaces at the knobs
base, If you will leave the road here
and cut across the fields to where a
clump of trees and bushes stand out
prominently in the midst of the culti-
waited ground, you will come upon a
memento Of the battle of Pilot Knob,
for these bushes and trees grow oyer
the earthworks of Fort Davidson,
where the Union forces fought to re-
sist Gen. Prices advance toward St.
Louis. Scarcely 200 feet square is this
fort, simply thick breastwork thrown
up with ditch in front, with here and
there beyond the ditch sunken spot
to recall the fact that rifle pits were
located there; yet in this little place
the forces under Ewing were cooped
for two hot days In September, 1864,
: by Prices men, who thundered with
: rifle and artillery, charging again and
again, but without avail, until the
night of September 2Sth, when Ewing
evacuated the fort and marched under
, cover OF darkness toward Rolla. Quiet
and peaceful it all is now, the valley
: green and gentle and the fort, with its
t old sides so overgrown with flowers
and shrubbery that it is almost I'm.
, recognizable until one is within a few
feet Of it, but how different it was on
, those September days, when the dead
! and dying dotted the fields and noun
| tain slopes and men in blue and gray
, fought each for the cause he though,
was right.
, Another interesting hour or two may
be spent in following the Confederate
, lines and seeking the location Of their
: batteries on Cedar, Sheperd's and Pilo,
, Knob mountains, and there still re-