Mansfield mirror. (Mansfield, Wright County, Mo.) 1908-1957, 1918-03-07

lue OlucSl part Oh lne NOrlll AlHeIl'
can continent In the cooling of
of the earth's crust the shrinkage
caAsed great convulsons, which re,
suited in the throwing up of the
Ozark mountain range. 1t is claimed
by scientists that the Rockies and
Alleghanies were thrown up during
this cooling process by great quakes
and commissions which set these Sec
tions on end and at every possible
angle. But earlier than this and
between the two, there occurred an
entirely different movement. A
great irregular section broke off from
these and was raised to higher
Lowell, and this is now known as the
Ozark Uplift. 1t is claimed that the
"crust" was gradually and gently
raised in a horizontal position, which
found the beginning of the North
American continent.
There is evidence of the first plant
and animal life in the Ozark plat
eau. Thousands of years before the
coming of man, frogs have croaked
and reptiles have cralled. Skele-
tons of great and monsterous ami
mails, which are now extinct, have
been unearthed, and numerous evil
dences have been found of pre-his-
t0ric race, even before the Indians.
This race is commonly referred to as
the "Mound Builders" 1t is believ-
ed that these people were small Of
stature, yet, attained some degree Of
science and thrift. What was the
cause OF their complete annihilation
can only be a matter of speculation
There are so many interesting
things about the Ozark mountains
country that we might write vol
umss and yet the "half would not
be told" The prehistoric ages, the
advent of the Indians. the coming of
the white man; the adventures, the
stories of love and war; the hard
ships of the early pioneers life, and
the Joys and sweetness that is linked
with the settlement in a wild coun-
try. and an adventuresome life; the
husking bees and the "hoe-down"
dance which linked the settlements
with a kind of social life. Then
there are the methods of farming"
with the old "bull-tongue" plow,
which has no more than "forked
stick and which did a very poor
job of "stirring"; the old method OF
"pounding" the grain by means OF
a mortar and pestle; then the Arm
strong mill; the log cabin days, with
puncheon floors, roofs with weighted
poles, and the split logs for "chairs;'
the methods of education, If indeed
YOU could call it education at all.
These are topics which are really
fascinating, but we shall not attempt
to deal with them at length in this
number. There are so many present
and future subjects in which we are
all virtually interested that we want
to mention as we go along. Ihe
great natural resources of the coun-
try have scarcely been touched, and
these are what we want to impress
upon the people, with the small
amount of space which we will be
pcrmitted to use. For instance
there are the great water-powers OF
the country, which, if properly har-
messed, would turn the wheels ~
every industry in this great COM
monwealtll, and then have thous-
ands of horsepower to spare. There
is tho great mineral wealth, which
nobody doubts, but lays in million
dollar deposits in many localities,
and only await the money and ma
chinery and men to remove 1t from
the bowels of the earth. Then the
great and boundless forests OF hard
wood timber, which await the wood
mans axe and the fine machinery
to work into finished product, when
It will adorn many n rich and lavish
" furnished home. Oh! the count
less head of dairy cattle, of fine
horses, of sheep and hogs and chick
ens-all could be grown when the
forest Is removed" The creameries
thc cheese factories, the milk con-
dcnscrs and the packing houses.
The fruit, the big red apple and the
blushing peach; the grain and the
forage crops; and last but not least
the great big, strong, healthy, beauti-
ful sun-ksscd kids-ranging In age
from one to one hundred years. Such
concentration of opportunities
such n vast amount Of wealth. Aw'
hitting what? Awaiting the move
ments of man. Is 1t true, MS tho
years roll by. as wise man from