Lecture: A Trip to The Ozark Mountains: 1927

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ALBERT RUTH LECTURE - A TRIP TO THE OZARK MOUNTAINS - 1927

I thought if I should tell you something with regard to a trip which I made in 1927 to the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, something of the impressions and experiences connected with that trip, as well as some facts which I learned by frequent excursions, not only into the Mountains themselves, but also into the adjacent and outlying mountain-country regions - the recital of these things might perhaps prove of some interest to you.

The Ozarks are a comparatively long range of mountains, beginning at the Missouri River in Missouri and extending in a northwesterly direction across the northwest corner of Arkansas, then changing their course to the southwest in Oklahoma they extend across the state to the Red River where they terminate as mere foot-hills.

The Ozarks have been called and are called moutains, but they are in reality nothing but lofty hills, for their maximum elevation does not exceed twenty-five hundred feet and in some portions of the range the elevation is not more than fifteen hundred feet.

But this low altitude has not always been characteristic of the Ozarks. In the remote past - a past so remote that it cannot be measured by years nor by centuries, but by ages and by aeons, it could not have been affirmed of the Ozarks, it could not have been asserted of the Ozarks that they were nothing but lofty hills, for belonging as they do to the oldest mountain regions in the world, denudation or erosion, that is, the gradual wearing away and consequent removal by natural agencies, we are told, has been going on for ages, and is still slowly but surely removing the last remnants of what were once lofty mountains.

In Arkansas the range sends off two spurs to the east, one spur, the Boston Mountains, is north of the Arkansas River; the other spur, the Washington Mountains, is south of the River. The Ozarks, through their entire extent, are thickly, but one would not say, perhaps, that they were heavily timbered. For their is nothing remarkable about the trees, either as to size or loftiness, at least such is the case with many of the trees, if not with the majority of them.

Leaving Forth Worth about seven o'clock in the evening of August 27th 1927, we planned, and confidentially expected, in accordance with our plans, to reach our destination in the Ozarks, Winslow, Ark., about ten or eleven o'clock the next morning, but how true it is that

"the best laid schemes of mice and men gang aft aglee,"

qnd also how true is is that the unforeseen and unexpected often interrupts and prevents the carrying out of many a well-devised and carefully prepared scheme, or plan of action. Owing to the fact that between Sherman and Denison we lost our way and were delayed several hours, and also that when we were 30 miles west of Fort Smith Ark., and were distant from our destination fifteen miles only, in the very heart of the Ozarks, in a wild and lonely place, the night dark and cloudy, our car refused to carry us any farther, and so,

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in order to relieve the situation, we were compelled to send back to Fort Smith, and so did not reach Winslow, until the second morning after leaving Forth Worth.

Our course of travel was thru Dallas, Denison, Sherman, Texas, Durant and Macalester, Okla., and Fort Smith, Ark. As I stated a moment ago, between Sheman and Denison we lost our way, . . . About midnight, as we were traveling along a road, which we knew could not by any manner of means be a public highway, we inquired of a farmer living near if we were on the right road to Denison. "Yes", he said, "you are on the right road to Denison, but you are going the wrong way to get there." This recalls to many that episode of Alice in Wonderland, Alice seeing the Chesire cat says to her, "Will you tell me please which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends, says the cat," on which way you want to go".

Near Denison, Texas, we crossed the Red River by a bridge, which, as it was constructed by private enterprise, was not a part of the public highway, and was consequently a toll bridge. This bridge was constructed at considerable cost, and its construction called into exercise, not only the highest skill of the engineers, but also much patience, endurance and long-suffering on their parts, for the bed of the Red River, where the bed crossed it, is composed not only of shifting sands, but of quicksand, as well, so that the erecting of the piers and abutments of the bridge was a long, tedious, and difficult undertaking.

There are 15 of these toll bridges, which, spanning Red River here and there along the Texas Oklahoma border, constitute an important element in the interstate traffic of the two states. Recognizing the importance of devising some method, of formulating some plan, by which theis antiquated, primitive, burdensome and troublesome form of traffic restriction might be done away with, the officials representing the two states of Texas and Oklahoma, in conferring together with regard to the matter, decided to represent to their respective state authorities the necessity of either purchasing these bridges and making them free to public or else of conjointly contructing their own bridges over Red River which automatically would become free to trade and travel. As a result of this conference and its action, it is reasonable to expect that the day is not far distant when these bridges, as toll bridges, will be done away with, and that trade and travel over the Red River will be as free, unrestricted and unhampered as they now are over the public highways of the two states whose interests in the matter are not only mutual, but of equal and preeminently reciprocal importance.

One of the neatest and most attractive cities thru which we passed, a city which would commend itself favorably to everyone and anyone, on seeing it for the first time, was Forth Smith, Ark., The original town of Fort Smith was laid out in 1838, so that that part of the present city, which includes the site of the original town, is 90 years old. The town derived its name, which name it has transmitted to the city, from the fact that when it was laid out in 1838, there was on the land adjoining it a government reservation post called "Fort Smith".

The present city is admirably situated, commanding, as it does, an extensive view of Arkansas River. The land round about is diversified by hills and dales, the former of which rise by gentle graditions

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from the river to the outskirts of the city. The business portion of Fort Smith is both solid and substantial, the buildings being of brick or stone, and built in accordance with the present day models of architecture of that class of buildings. Not only is the city itself, but also for some distance into the suburbs, there are lines on lines, stretches on stretches of beautiful gardens, amid which rise handsome residences, which not only testify to the good taste of the people of Fort Smith, but are mute witnesses and substantial evidences of the fact that many of her citizens are well endowed with this world's goods.

The mountainous country for miles and miles around is rich in coal and wood, from which two commodities, either directly or indirectly, the city derives a considerable revenue. The roads over which we traveled thru Texas, Okla., and Ark., being made by the government or the state, or by both combined, or under their immediate supervision, were models not only of road-making, but also of the care which is taken to promote the comfort and peace-of-mind of the traveler, as well as to make use of such devices as may insure his safety and security. In order that the traveler may, without bother or hindrance, pursue undeviatingly his course to his desired destination, each road, as you know, has its specific number, so that if one should be traveling by Road No. 10, or II, or IoI, as the case may be, the frequent occurrence and recurrence of sign boards along the way are his guaranty and assurance that he is on the right road to his destination. Moreover, in these days, when the automobile, like a mighty Juggernaut, is crushing by the hundreds and thousands the lives of men, women, and children, by that recklessness and carelessness, which is too often the cause of thsi Krishna-like, or Moloch-like, sacrifice of human lives, every precaution is taken, if not to prevent entirely, yet to minimize as much as possible, the dangers incident to our present swift, speedy, and often furious and Jehu-like methods of traveling.

If one, for instance, is approaching a sharp curve in the road, where there is a possibility and a probability of meeting a car coming from the opposite direction, a sign board, some little distance, from the curve, has painted on it, the word, "Curve", or a curving piece of wood or iron, "Only this and nothing more". If one is approaching a narrow bridge, where it would be impossible for two cars to pass, at the same time, the warning on the sign board reads "Narrow Bridge". If one is approaching a railroad crossing, where so many fearful accidents have occurred in the past, and frequently occurring in the present and are bound to occur more or less frequently in the days to come, a large sign by the R.R. Crossing, especially in the state of Arkansas has on it the words: "Stop ! State of Arkansas. " But as I noticed very few person pay any attention to the strict letter of this injunction, this law like some other laws of the land, is more honored in the breach than in the observance.

By a recent compution there are 2, 500, 000 of these main crossings which here and there and everywhere confront those who travel over the public highways of the country. By those who are in a position to know, and whose statement are as reliable as it is humanly possible for any statement of the kind to be - by these it is asserted that if the railways of the United States were required to do away with these objectionable features of their construction, a compliance with such a requirement would necessitate the expenditure, 19000000000 an expenditure so great that it could not fail to bankrupt every rail system in the United States.

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Corroborating this last statement is the fact that the assessed valuation of all the holdings, belongings and properties of these railways is said to be but little in excess of of aforementioned sums.

Seeing these things are so it must be evident to anyone who gives but a moment's consideration to the subject, that it will be many a day before even a small percent of these crossings will be done away with - consequently, does it not behoove everyone to use the utmost caution and the most thorough circumspection when approaching these places where, in the past, have too often been not only a menace, but a vertiable death-trap to many unfortunate human beings. Let me cite a case in point :

On Jan. 25th, 1929, a motor bus carrying 25 passengers was approaching the town of Bellevue, O., A swiftly moving express train is nearing the same town. At the same time a fierce wind, accompanied by a blinding snow-storm is prevailing. The motorist, disconcerted by the fierce wind, and the blinding snow is unable to see any appreciable distance ahead of him. Before he is fully aware of his imminent danger, he is on the crossing, is struck by the train and 19 of the 25 passengers are killed. In thsi case it should be said that no blame be attached to the motorist, for under the circumstances he was utterly unable to see and forsee the dreadful catastrophe in which he was involving not only himself, but the helpless passenger, who, no doubt, had implicit faith in his trustworthiness and ability to bring them in safety and security to their destination.

During the 4 weeks we were in the Ozarks, we were at the Summit Hotel, which is so called, because it it is claimed that the grounds on which the Hotel is built represent the highest point of the Arkansas Ozarks. But there seems to be some mistake about this as I shall show presently. About 3/4 of a mile from the Hotel there lives a Mr. Spies, who at one time was Scout Master of the Boy Scouts of Fort Worth - and an excellent Scout Master he was too. Receiving, as he did, a salary of nearly $ 5000 a year, he yet resigned his position as Scout Master in order that he might engage in farming in the Ozarks. He has a small farm of about 40 acres, most of which is under cultivation. He has however, reserved a small strip of woodland, in which grow undisturbed year after year many of the herbs, shrubs and trees peculiar to that part of the Ozarks. Among the trees there was one that is not uncommon in the mountains - the Red Maple (A. rubrum). This is the tree whose leaves in the Autumn turn a flaming crimson, as says the poet

"When the maple's burned to crimson And the sassafras to gold; When the days are warm and sunny And the nights are frosty cold."

Mr. Spies, besides being a farmer, is a scientific horticulturist. His favorite garden flower seems to be the zinia. Not only was his garden filled with zinias, but, as he has by skillful crossing, produced a number of hybrid zinias, these flowers represent many hues, tints and shades of color. Seeing a wild heliotrope growing in his garden (and Indian Heliotrope) - Helitropium indicum -, and calling his attention to it, he told us he intended crossing it with the common garden heliotrope and thus produce, as he was sure he could, a larger-flowered and more fragrant heliotrope. He has a large orchard and a fine vineyard.

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You approach his house by a steep roadway, for the house is built up on an elevated plateau of the Mountain. This plateau, he told us, is 2400 feet above sea level, or 200 feet higher than the grounds of the Hotel.

The Summit Hotel is pleasantly situated in a large grove of Red and White Oaks, with some White Hickories. Not far from the porch of the Hotel, there is a deep well, down which the iron-bound bucket goes many times a day, bringing up the clear, cool, refreshing sandstone water, more refreshing and exhilarating than the sparkling wines of "Sunny France." Not far from the well, deep sunken in the ground, there is a stone upon which is cut the figures ",2200", the height of the Hotel Grounds. In the rear of the Hotel is a steep, wooded hillside, which runs the entire length of the extensive grounds. In September this hillside was here and there completely covered with the graceful elmleaved Goldenrod, which was just then coming into flower.

The town of Winslow is about a half a mile from the Hotel. It is not a place where the mere sight-seer would care to linger very long. One building of merit in the town however, is the Station of the Frisco Railroad, for the Frisco Railroad passes thru Winslow. It approaches the town thru a deep gorge in the Mountains and an tunnel 1700 feet long. So steep is the grade thru the gorge and the tunnel, that an extra engine is necessary in order to enable both passengers and freight trains to reach the town.

Occasionally, as at a little distance, I watched the incoming and outgoing trains, and saw not only the Station Platform but the sides of the railway tracks, crowded with people, very few, if any, had an intention of becoming passengers on the trains, I thought of what Dudley Warner says on this point : " No matter what hour of the day or of the night a train may arrive at or depart from any country station in America, the loafers are so invariably there in waiting that they seem to constitute part of the railway system. "There is," he adds, " something in the life and movement, incident to and inseparable from, thete arrival and departure of a trian that appears to satisfy all the desire for exertion such persons are seemingly capable of manifesting. "

Winslow, with its immediate suburbs, supports 5 denominations, an Episcopal Church; a Methodlist Church, a Baptist Church, a Presbyterian Church and a Christian Church. The Rector of the Episcopal Church is Dr. Simpson Ardmore, who is also principal of the Helen Dunlap Memorial School which is about a three minutes walk from the Hotel. This school was founded by the late Helen Dunlap for the exclusive benefit of the Ozark Mountain girls. There is said to be a deep-seated prejudice against this school on the part of the Mountain girls, and no one is able to divine the exact grounds of the prejudice. Perhaps it may be this : The school is, of course, both a literary and a vocational school. As a vocational school the girls are sometimes called upon to perform tasks which are not only distasteful to them, but for which they are utterly unsuited and unfitted. For instance, I was told that at one time when the roof of one of the school buildings needed painting it was the girls who went upon the roof and did the painting.

All Mountain regions are subject at certain seasons of the year to not continuous, but heavy rainfall, and the Ozarks are no exception to this rule. During the month of August, it is said to have rained heavily everyday, but during the 4 weeks we were in the Ozarks, it rained twice only, and then but for a short time.

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