Exploring the Ozarks through time from the Spanish Conquistadors, through the Civil War and the Bald
Branson, MO
65616
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Hi! And thanks for dropping in! Welcome to my mid-life crisis!! Join me on my middle-aged adventures to explore the known, discover the unknown, and remember the forgotten past of these beautiful Ozarks, as budgeting, time, and my health permit we’ll be exploring all that makes the Ozarks such a wonderful place.
As early as, and even earlier the 1820’s these Ozarks were settled by numerous tribes of Indians and fur traders, the fur traders would establish their trading posts along trapping routes which would eventually grow into thriving communities. The Indians would sadly be relocated and moved along the trail of tears which runs through Springfield and this corner of Missouri.
This was the Wild Wild West that we read about in dime novels! The Civil War would tear apart the region and martial law and of an evacuation of the region enforced by the Murderous Kansas Jayhawks and Redlegs would destroy many thriving towns, the evidence of which is still very present in Missouri and the Ozarks plateau and give rise to Border Ruffians and Bushwhackers.
Stone County, where I reside would gain such a reputation of lawlessness that it would be made mention of in TV Westerns some 70 years later. In Taney County, the desire for law and order would initiate the formation of one of the most ruthless vigilante groups in American history, The Taney County Citizens League. You might know them as the Bald Knobbers. That name would become synonymous with these hills from a book by Harold Bell Wright. This book would later see rise to the tourism industry that is now Branson Missouri. Ironically, in the epilogue to the book “Shepherd of the Hills” the shepherd happens upon an artist that painted the landscape and he tells the young man to paint fast because (hearing the blasting of dynamite in the distance) the railroad is coming in and will forever change these hills. The irony was that in comparison the Railroad did little to change these hills as the BOOK would forever change the Ozarks.
