USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 50
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Vol. 1-23
SECTION VI
Since the Civil War-Movements and Towns Founded
CHAPTER XXIX
MOVEMENTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR
RAILROAD BUILDING-DRAINAGE-WEALTH - MANUFACTURING - MINING - TRANSPORTATION- RESOURCES-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES - LOCAL OPTION - POPULATION - ORGANIZATIONS - SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR.
The period of the history of Southeast Mis- souri which extended from the close of the war in 1865 up to the present time is in many respects the most interesting period of our history. It differs widely from the other pe- riods whose history we have already recounted. From 1820 to 1860, as we have seen, the popu- lation of Southeast Missouri increased from 20,000 to 130,000. This was a great increase in population and was accompanied by a like marvelous increase in resources and general social and industrial development; but the period from 1865 to 1912 not only saw a greater increase in population but also a vastly greater development of resources and of every side of the people's life. Doubt- less few sections of the country anywhere have witnessed a more marvelous expansion of resources than Southeast Missouri in this period.
The period is distinguished for a number of great movements. The first of these, and perhaps the most powerful influence upon the building up of the country, was the building of railroads. In another place we have re- counted in detail the story of railroad build- ing. No one can study the figures of popula- tion or look over the map of the section or consider the figures which tell of industrial de- velopment without being at once struck with
the very great part which the railroads played in the development of Southeast Missouri. Of course this was to be expected. So long as there were parts of the territory situated at great distances from river transportation, dis- tances multiplied in a great many cases by the lack of roads, the developement of these parts of the district was greatly retarded, but with railroads penetrating to the farthest corner bringing every part of the section into connection with the centers and great markets by means of railroads, then development pro- ceeded with leaps and bounds.
Another movement which distinguished this period of our study is the drainage move- meut. As we saw in the chapter on the geog- raphy of Southeast Missouri, nearly half of the area of this section lies within the Missis- sippi low lands or bottoms. Not all of this by any means, nor even half of it, is land that needed to be reclaimed, but in spite of this fact there were large bodies of the richest soil which could not be cultivated until steps were taken to protect it from overflow from the river and to drain from it the waters which it re- ceived from the streams entering it from the hills. Both of these things have received careful attention. To shut out the waters of the Mississippi river at flood time, levees have been built along the banks of the river, some
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of them miles in length and at such a height as to preclude the probability of their ever giving way. These levees were built under govern- ment supervision and in part at government expense, the greater part of their cost, how- ever, was borne by the people whose lands were affected, who organized levee districts and placed a tax against lands for this pur- pose. This levee building was the first work done toward the reclamation of the swamp lands and while its results were very evident and very gratifying, it became evident that levee building alone was not sufficient. The levees saved from overflow thousands of acres and made it possible for land to be cul- tivated without fear of damage from the Mis- sissippi river, but there were hundreds of thousands of acres in the swamps of Little river and other streams in the section, which could not be utilized without the cutting of drainage ditches. A realization of this fact coupled with a rise in the value of Southeast Missouri lands led to the organization of drainage districts and the cutting of drain- age ditches and canals throughout the over- flowed regions.
The effect of these drainage ditches was soon apparent, the ditches made it possible to cultivate large tracts of land which were be- fore practically worthless and the produc- tions of Southeast Missouri increased at a marvelous rate.
In order to understand the drainage sys- tem of Southeast Missouri it is necessary to keep in mind the physical condition of the alluvial plains. A line drawn from the Mis- sissippi river at Cape Girardeau southwest to the Arkansas line at the southeast corner of Ripley county, follows practically the divid- ing line between the Ozark uplift and the Mis- sissippi basin. The great stretch of territory lying south and east of this line is all alluvial
flat land with the exception of two ridges. Be- ginning about two and a half miles south of Cape Girardeau and stretching along the bank of the river to a short distance below Commerce, is a ridge of hills known as the Scott county hills, and these and the ridge which extends through Stoddard county and part of Dunklin county into Arkansas and which is known as Crowley's ridge, form the only exception to the alluvial character of this part of Southeast Missouri.
The Scott county hills, which do not cover a very large area, have a rather rough sur- face, still much of the area is capable of cul- tivation. Crowley's ridge is principally com- posed of hills of clay sloping from the south- east to the northwest and being very rapidly worn by stream action.
The other physical features of the section are first of all, beginning at the river and go- ing toward the west, an elevated level plain of high bottom land from 3 to 8 miles in width and extending south from the Scott county hills through Scott and New Madrid counties, reaching the river at New Madrid and then extending along the river to the south line of New Madrid county. This ele- vated ridge is generally known as the Sikes- ton ridge; it is the great corn, wheat and cotton producing area of the counties men- tioned. Just east of Crowley's ridge stretch- ing south from Dexter to the Arkansas line and lying between the St. Francois river and Little river, is another ridge somewhat simi- lar in character to the Sikeston ridge; on this elevated land are situated the towns of Bernie, Malden, Kennett and others.
East of the Sikeston ridge and stretching to the Mississippi river is a territory which is sometimes called the Charleston district ; much of this district at one time was subject to overflow by the river but was not disturbed
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very greatly by overflow from the local streams. This, too, is a very fertile and pro- ductive district containing some of the best farm land in this section of the state.
West of, the Sikeston ridge, lying between it and the ridge in Stoddard aud Dunklin counties, stretching north to the foothills in Cape Girardeau county and with an arm ex- tending to the river at the town of Cape Gir- ardeau, is Little river valley. This valley va- ries in width from 10 to 20 miles and is about 9 miles in length from its head at the foot- hills to the Arkansas line. This great area containing several hundred square miles was subject to overflow from Little river and the greater part of it not capable of being culti- vated.
On the west side of Crowley's ridge extend- ing to the Ozark hills is a flat bottom of the St. Francois and Black rivers, a strip of ter- ritory not much unlike the Little river bot- tom though not subject to such constant over- flow.
As we have seen the first settlements in these alluvial districts were made on the hills in Scott county, on Crowley's ridge in the Charleston district and on the ridge extend- ing south from Dexter; these were the parts of the district that were not subject to over- flow and that could be cultivated without the drainage system; some of this territory, es- pecially in the Charleston district and on Sikeston and Dexter ridges, was prairie land; not only was it high above overflow, but free from timber, being covered when the settle- ment was made upon it, by high, coarse grass and in some cases overgrown with bushes. Some of this prairie land retains the name as Mathews Prairie, Little Prairie, West Prairie and Grand Prairie. We see why settlements were being made both east and west of the Little river bottoms, which for a
great many years formed a practically im- passable barrier between the settlements on its east and west, respectively, and it further explains the reason why Dunklin county and Stoddard county were settled much later than some other counties in the district. They were cut off from immigration from the east by the Little river bottoms and it was impos- sible to reach Dunklin county especially, ex- cept after traveling long distances out of the way. Another thing which is made evident by this study of the physical situation of Southeast Missouri is why Cape Girar- dean became early an important trading point. The settlers in Dunklin county and in Stoddard county could not come in touch with river transportation except by coming to Cape Girardeau, and thus for many years that town was the principal shipping and distrib- uting point for large areas of Southeast Mis- souri.
It has been estimated by competent au- thority, that Crowley's ridge and the Scott county hills near Commerce, together com- prise about one-eighth of the total area of the alluvial section and that the dry bottom lands not subject to overflow which were found in Mississippi county, in Scott, in New Madrid, Stoddard and Dunklin taken together com- prise also about one-eighth of the total area. If this estimate is correct only one-fourth of the vast area of the alluvial section, as it was seen by the first settlers, was capable of cultivation. This statement needs to be taken in this light that while some of the lands not included within this one-fourth made impos- sible to be cultivated, they were subject to overflow at times. Three-fourths of the dis- triet which we have under consideration was subject to overflow from the Mississippi river and from other streams in the territory. Most of this land was covered with heavy
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timber. Among the finest forests to be found in the state or in the whole country were growing on the overflowed lands of Southeast Missouri.
This timber became exceedingly valuable and much of it was cleared away, but the cut- ting of the timber was for many years the only thing that was done in connection with the overflowed lands. So long as the popula- tion in the alluvial district was sparse and so long as land was consequently cheap, but little attention was paid to the reclamation of the overflowed lands. In 1850 the United States donated to the several states the swamp lands contained within their limits. By an act of the General Assembly passed in 1852, Missouri conveyed to the different counties the title to the swamp lands within them to be disposed of in such a way as to promote their drainage. There thus came into control of these counties large bodies of overflowed lands at the time having no great value for any purpose whatever. The first disposition attempted to be made of them by the various counties was to grant them for the purpose of aiding the construction of roads and rail- roads. We have seen that when the Cairo & Fulton railroad was promoted that the coun- ties affected by it subscribed to its capital stock in swamp lands. After the first ex- citement consequent upon the attempts to build railroads had somewhat subsided, the connties began to transfer their swamp lands to private owners usually in a way, ostensibly at least, to promote drainage. It was found very difficult, however, properly to drain these lands. The slope was usually about one foot a mile from north to south and the quantity of water to be handled at certain seasons of the year was so vast that local ditches were found to be entirely insufficient to handle it. On account of this fact the lands were for many
years practically flood lands; they could not be sold for even the minimum price of $1.25 per acre, so that the greater part of the lands remained in the possession of the counties, and some of them were granted to aid in the construction of levees.
The inability to construct sufficient ditches was principally dne to inadequate methods of construction and it was not until the in- vention of the dipper dredge, which since its improvement is capable of handling 2,000 cu- bic yards of earth a day and of cutting a canal through the swamp, that it became at all possible to drain these lands.
After this dipper dredge was invented and came to be known as an efficient instrument, a movement was begun in the counties having swamp lands, for the organization of districts for the purpose of digging ditches. The land in much of this district was taxed so much an acre for the purpose of digging and the ditches were dug to the southern limit of the district carrying the water to the next dis- trict. Some efficient work was done in this way and some land reclaimed. It was found, however, that there were other difficulties. there was no scheme for building a system of ditches and for this reason some of the work that was done in the early days was not pro- ductive of very good results. There was a failure to appreciate the magnitude of the enterprise and most of the early ditches were entirely too small for the purpose for which they were constructed. The construction, however, has gone on and up to this time there have been constructed more than 1,600 miles of canals at an approximate cost of $2,500 a mile. Most of these canals are from 12 to 20 feet in width and from 8 to 14 feet in depth. It has usually been estimated that each mile of ditch reclaims one section of land.
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While much has been accomplished in the matter of drainage, there still remain a num- ber of problems to be solved. The Charleston district has been levied and this protects from the overflow waters of the Mississippi river and it has been partly drained. It is possible that the levee will be extended to St. John's Bayou by which New Madrid and the lower part of this district will be drained.
Two great problems remain to be solved- the drainage of the Little river bottoms and the drainage of the basin of the St. Francois. The magnitude of the problem of the Little river is apparent when we consider the vast extent of these bottoms having an average width of from 12 to 15 miles and a length of nearly 90 miles. About 500,000 acres of land in these bottoms have been drained already by local ditches, but this drainage is to a cer- tain extent inadequate and the great problem now is how to increase the efficiency of the drainage and add to the system. Two prob- lems confront the engineers who would re- claim the remaining lands in the Little river bottoms. The bottoms receive an enormous quantity of water from Castor and White- water and the other streams which have their source in the Ozark hills and pour their wa- ter into the upper part of these bottoms. Some efficient means is to be found for the distribution of these waters. Besides this, however, the local drainage must be cared for. The rainfall from such a great area as the St. Francois bottoms is very large and provision must be made for taking care of this rainfall.
The problem of draining the St. Francois and Black river bottoms is a simpler one; it seems that the overflow waters of these rivers can be cared for by leveeing the banks of the rivers and confining the streams within the banks and by digging drainage ditches to the
south. It is estimated that 200,000 acres of land in these bottoms may be reclaimed.
This period, along with many other changes which it has witnessed, has brought with it a very great increase in wealth. Land values have mounted up within the last few years to a height undreamed of by the people who lived here before the war. This increase in land values has been accompanied by a very great increase of other property. Perhaps in the first place the wealth of the district was enhanced by the cutting of the timber. Some of the most valuable timber in all the United States was found in Southeast Mis- souri ; great forests of cotton wood, of white oak, of gum, of cypress and poplar existed. For a long time this timber of the finest qual- ity was practically valueless. This was true because of the lack of facilities for manu- facturing lumber and in a large degree be- cause of the lack of facilities for transporta- tion. The price, too, was low because of the existence in other parts of the country of vast bodies of timber. First other parts of the country worked up their timber, the price of lumber rose gradually, and there came to be more and more a demand for timber in Southeast Missouri. Those of the younger generation can hardly realize the vast extent of the forests that were once found here, nor ean they appreciate the attitude which the early settlers and even of the settlers in the time immediately following the Civil war held toward this timber. It was looked upon not as an asset, but rather in the nature of an eneumbrance. A body of land covered with timber was not as valuable by any means as a body of land without timber. The finest forests of gum or cottonwood were cut down and the timber destroyed in any way in order to get rid of it. Trees which would
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now be worth many dollars were regarded as so much encumbrance upon the soil, they were deadened and allowed to be blown down by the winds or to rot upon the surface of the ground or else burned. Sometimes they were cut down while yet green and cut up into logs which could be handled and thus burned in order to prepare the ground for cultiva- tion.
For the year 1907 the surplus products of the Southeast Missouri counties reached a value of more than $60,000,000. The total is an impressive one and speaks more strongly than any other words could of the wealth con- tained within the borders of this territory. The mere amount of that wealth, however, is not in itself so significant as is the variety of its sources and the probability of a long con- tinuance of its production. The wealth of Southeast Missouri not only does not depend upon one or two sources but is of such a char- acter that it will continue. We have no rea- son to believe that the sources of wealth in this part of the state will fail. This is not true of course of some things that have added to our wealth in the last decade or two. The timber will be depleted and there will not be the immense shipments of lumber from some of the counties such as has been made within the years since 1890: but, as the timber fails, and this source of wealth disappears. its place will be taken by the products of the soil, for practically all the land which is be- ing deforested is valuable for agricultural purposes. The probabilities are that the to- tal of surplus products instead of being de- creased by reason of the exhaustion of the timber, will be increased owing to the use of the land for farming purposes.
One striking development of the period we are now considering is the growth of manu- factures. In other chapters we have dis-
cussed the very limited manufacturing inter- ests of the section in former years. During the year 1910 the total of manufactured prod- ucts for the twenty counties reached the sum of $39, 370, 538. The great items of manufac- ture were lead and other products of the mines, timber in its various forms, cotton and cotton-seed oil, flour and feed, and shoes. Many other things were manufactured, many of them in large quantities, but these were the great items which make up the total. No doubt this form of industry is destined to become more and more important. River transportation, nearness to the Illinois coal fields, and the existence of undeveloped water- power render certain the future of this part of the state as regards manufacturing.
The present period has witnessed the great developement of the mining industry. The principal minerals mined are iron and lead.
Southeast. Missouri contains considerable deposits of iron ore, which is found in a belt crossing the state from the Mississippi on the east of the Osage river. The ore contained in the mineral region is of two principal char- acters, the specular ore which is of a concen- trated character and the limonite or red. The specular ores are found in the southern part of St. Francois county and the northern part of Iron county. It was thought at one time that Iron Mountain in St. Francois county was a mass of specular ore and that Pilot Knob and Shepard Mountain in Iron county contained vast quantities of the same mineral ; in fact a company was formed for the purpose of taking out the ore in Iron Mountain and large quantities of ore were mined at one period. It was found, however, that in none of these mountains was the quantity of ore so great as had been thought. Iron Mountain, which was considered at one time to be com- posed almost entirley of iron ore, has been
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found to contain no great quantities of high grade ore; mining is still carried on at these points but the ore is of an inferior grade, the best ore having been practically exhausted. There are also quantities of ore in Lewis Mountain near Arcadia, in Buford Mountain, also in Iron county, and in Boden Mountain in the same county. Besides these, such places as the Shut-In, Russell, Ackhurst and Big Bogy banks of iron also contain considerable quantities of iron ore. Limonite ores in large quantities are found in Wayne, Bollinger and Stoddard counties; the ore, however, is not so concentrated and the expense of working it is greater there than in the case of the specular ore. In spite of this disadvantage there is still going on a considerable amount of mining.
The last twenty years has witnessed a re- markable development of that section of the state known as the Lead Belt. About 1880 it was discovered that lead in large and paying quantities existed in what is known as the Flat River district. This discovery resulted in the opening of extensive mines first at Flat River then at DesLoge, Leadwood and Elvins. After the building of the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre railway to Bonne Terre, the necessity for providing transportation facil- ities for the products of the new mines re- sulted in the extension of this new railway through DesLoge and Flat River to Doe Run. The population of this Lead Belt increased very rapidly and in fact there is almost a continuous town from near Bonne Terre to Flat River. This large population rendered it almost imperative to construct an inter- urban line which was built in the year 1906, principally by capitalists of Farmington, from the Iron Mountain railway at DeLassus through Farmington to Flat River. This road
has given an impetus to the building up of the section which has been very marked.
At the present time to a very much greater extent than formerly the lead belt is develop- ing a characteristic life. Once those who worked in the mines were also interested in farming and the country depended about equally on its mines and its farms. The great extension of mining interests in recent years, however, has changed this; agricultural in- terests have become relatively unimportant throughout most of the section and a greater number of the population are directly de. pendent upon the mines and smelters. This has resulted in the development of the charac- teristic life of mining communities ; the people are concentrated in the towns and these are all typical mining towns.
Of course the mining of lead on a large scale such as it is now conducted, differs very widely from the old system of mining which required little or no capital. In the former method any man with sufficient energy and strength could engage with some success in the digging of ore for himself independent of all other persons. The organization of great companies, however, and the almost universal use of improved machinery has made it prac- tically impossible for any one to engage in mining independent of those companies or associations which control large amounts of capital. Accordingly we find practically all the mining in the entire district carried on by a few large companies.
It has been the policy of the mine owners in the district to concentrate the smelting of lead in one or two places. At the present time the great amount of smelting is carried on at Herculaneum. This point is a number of miles distant from any of the mines but the existence of the Mississippi & Bonne Terre
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railway renders the shipment of ore to one plant and its reduction there entirely practi- cable.
The quantity of ore produced in the lead belt is very great. In the year 1911 there was shipped from the single county of St. Fran- cois, which contains most of the large mines, more than seven million dollars worth of mine products, principally lead. The deposits seem to be practically inexhaustible and the industry bids fair to continue to develop for a good many years even with the ore that is now in sight. There seems no reason to be- lieve that all the ore has as yet been located, there are probably other fields in the district which await development.
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