Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1914-05-21
THE OZARKS

truth about the Ozark region ha.
been published times withOu
number, it is still true that Their,
are today tens of thousands o
American citizens of average in
tclligence and information who
conceive of the Ozalk ks as a cha
otto region of jagged mountain
peaks, and narrow sterile valleys,
"A vcritable wilderness of rocks
and sand. The stock question
in thousand of letters from land
seekers are astonishing proof OF
the correctness of the old adage:
"A Ii" will travel Il league, while
the truth is putting on its b%oots!n'
AS Il result of this widespread
misconccption tens of thousands
of men have rushed through the
Ozarks in the night, to locate in
the drouth cursed, wind swept.
g]raSShOpper bitten, regions of
the remote West and Southwest.
Some, Il great number in the ag-
Sregate. of these people have by
dint of money ana energy made
good in the localities to which
they went. but they could have
shown twice the results at half
the expenditure of time, money
and effort, if they had taken time
to stop in the Ozarks, and seen
the "Mountains'' sink into mole
hills under their gaze.
And with those who have sue.
ceeded in these far places n
as many others who staked their
all in the effort to win a home,
and lost.
What. then. are the OZarks?
Take any good man of the state
of Missouri and set TIE point of
Il lead pencil about midway of
the east line of Perry county, as
formed by the Mississippi River.
From that point draw a line in a
direction generally to the west,
although it turns to every point
of the compass, carefully avoid
the hcadwaterS of the streams as
laid down on your map.
Continue this line until you
cross the west line Of the state
and you will find that you have
marked a trail by which, barring
artificial obstacles, a man can
pass entirely across Missouri
without having 10 ford a river or
creek, or even as much as a rip
ping spring branch" Incl
dentally. if You choose to do so.
you could continue with your
pencil throughout the entire
length of the state of Kansas and
into Colorado until you run into
the Rockies.
In Missouri this line would in.
dictate the center of Il water shed
varying greatly in width. At
some points as at Cedar Gap on
the line between Wright and
Webster counties it is contracted
to a narrow ridge, while more
frequently it is the central line
of gentle rolling plateaus.
To the north of the line indica.
ted the drainage is through vari-
Gus tributaries into the Missouri.
To the south the waters flow into
White River. The only excep.
tions to the rule are in the eX-
IRENE east, where, on the north,
q few streams flow into the Mer.
aimee, and on the south into
Black River or it's feeders. In
the extreme southwestern part
of the region another small area
drains into Spring River and
thence into the Arkansas.
Now let us take our map and .
pencil again. Start almost any.
where along the line already laid
out and strike off north or south
as you please. Avoid as before
the head waters of the streams as
shown on the map. You will find
that some of your lines will indi-
cate but u few miles in length;
others will wind around for forty
or fifty miles, but long or short,
they will end by descending into
some valley of a stream, or they