OUTDOOR CORNER: FORESTED LANDSCAPE HAS ALWAYS BEEN AMONG THE STATE'S TOP RESOURCES

A waltz, a mule and a president.

To some that may sum up Missouri's contribution to the national scene. But something else makes it great, and that is the forest resources of Missouri.

Missouri ranks seventh among the 20 northeastern states in amount of forest land.

Forests cover about a third of the state. These forests contain some of the finest oak, walnut ,pine and red cedar found any where.

But what did the early explorers find?

They found a unique blend of landscapes that we might not recognize today. It was rich with the essentials of frontier life: wood, water and wildlife. Forests covered some 70% of the state with a wide variety of species.

The early journals write of the vast forests and swamps of the Bootheel, the park-like pine forests of the Ozarks, the bald knobs of Southwest Missouri and the mix of prairie and forest that was in the north and west of Missouri.

Early chronicles tell of herds of buffalo, elk, deer, bear and wild turkey. Grouse and passenger pigeons were common. Waterfowl and associated wetland wildlife were abundant.

Henry Schoolcraft was one of these early explorers in the years of 1818 and 1819. He and his partner traced a route from Potosi south and west through the Ozarks and then back east up through Greenville, Farmington and back to Potosi. The journal he wrote is an excellent source of information for those who want a glimpse of Missouri around 1800.

He talks of areas of poor, shallow and rocky soils that were only " thinly covered with oaks." The term " barrens" was used repeatedly by Schoolcraft and others to describe the open oak woodlands and prairie-like conditions of his trek through the Ozarks.

He described a river that "... had extensive prairies all along its banks....". He wrote of a ".... route across a barren prairie country with little wood and no water; we then entered lofty forests of pine, and after winding through valleys...found ourselves....in a deep and romantic valley, the soil rich, and covered with a heavy growth of trees....".

The pattern of prairie and open woodlands on the high-rolling plains, pine forests on the hills and ridges near the rivers and dense, well-developed forests along the river valleys is a constant theme of Schoolcraft's writings.

Schoolcraft noted " the region teemed with deer and elk." He noted waterfowl were abundant on the lakes. He describes trying to kill a bear and noted that "... as the country was open, the bears soon perceived ...." them and escaped into the tall grass. Not long afterward ".... a large and stately elk appeared....he lifted the antlers to form a shield for his shoulders and sides while plunging forward through the thickets.". The journal records " ...driven the deer from its covert: and the wild turkey, duck and gray squirrel have been constantly in sight.".

In spite of all the wildlife present Schoolcraft and his partner could best be described as tenderfoots in the arts of camp craft, hunting and woodsmanship. They anticipated " living off the land". They were in the process of starving to death several times. In fact one hunters wife told them to get rid of the shotguns and get a rifle.

He tried to engage one hostess and her daughter in small talk but found,"...they could only talk of bears, hunting and the like. The rude pursuits, and the coarse enjoyments of the hunter state ,were all they knew." The husband however, "was ever anxious to show that he knew something of civilized society (from which...we had reason to conclude he had made a sudden escape.)."

In 1803 two other travelers, Lewis and Clark, led a U. S. Army infantry company on a search of discovery for the Northwest Passage. The journal of Captain Lewis provides some fascinating reading.

And like Schoolcraft, 15 years later, they had a lot to learn about backwoods survival.

The journal of November 22, 1803 " Set out at -- after 6 A.M. the current very rapid and difficult..........saw heth hens or grows....and killed one ....of which we made soome soup...". They passed a settlement on a bottom called ".....Tywappety,... the bank is high....the land appears not usually overflowed being covered with a considerable portion of poplar and white-oak timber...this is the first poplar or white oak I have seen since we began to ascend the river; I have seen but little cain..... the banks appear everywhere to abound with the sand or scrubing Rush....".

November 23, 1803 around "Cape Jeradeau" they describe a sandbar "... some small parts of it are covered with willows & small cottonwood...."

The journals, like Schoolcraft's , give his impressions of the people. At " Old Cape Jeradeau" he notes that ".... it is not extrawdinary that these people should be disorderly they are almost entirely emegrant from the fronteers of Kentuckey & Tennesseee, and are the most dessolute and abandoned even among these people; they are men of desperate fortunes.....".

On November 24, 1803 they set out at 7 a.m. from near Trail of Tears and, after firing several shots, they located one of their own who was lost for two days "....he was much fatiequed with his wandering and somewhat indisposed".

They described adjacent highlands as "... some high clifts the summits of which are crowned with pitch-pine & sedar, ..."

The Journals of Schoolcraft and Lewis and Clark provide some graphic insights into an early 1800's Missouri. Take the time to explore it through the eyes and words of these men.

Settlers soon began to move up the major rivers. They cut timber made rafts and floated it downstream to the larger towns. They cut cords of wood to fuel the steam driven river boats.

By the early mid-1800's they had cut the forests of the Osage and Gasconade River valleys.

In the eastern Ozarks, the forests around Potosi and St. James had been logged and made into charcoal to fire the local iron and lead smelters.

After an uncivil Civil War, the war-torn country looked to rebuild. Railroad ties were needed to build a transcontinental railroad. And until now the great shortleaf pine forests of the Ozarks were untouched due to their remoteness.

That was about to change . A group of eastern businessmen had a need. They saw a resource. And like good captains of commerce they had a plan.

NEXT MONTH: THE GRANDIN MILL & TALL TIMBER