The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway brochure advertises Resorts and Attractions of the Southwest. Circa 1910.
This brochure is part of the Payton Ozarks Collection now housed in the Ozarks Studies Institute at Missouri State University
Railroads were built to facilitate timbering and mining. The Iron Mountain Railway was an American railway company that operated from 1856 until 1917 when it was merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The Iron Mountain was initially established to deliver iron ore from Iron Mountain to St. Louis. American railroads ran on oak ties harvested from Ozark forests. Tie hacking was a major source of cash for struggling farmers.
Railroads also helped real estate sales, agricultural interests, and tourism. Their tourist promotions were lavish, full-color booklets promoting the salubrious climate, scenic beauty, and recreational opportunities of the region. Promotions often focused on economic opportunities for small farmers, with emphasis on specialty crops like apples, strawberries, and tomatoes.
Many progressive agriculturalists (including Laura and Almanzo Wilder) were “lured to the Ozarks by such promotions by railroad companies trying to sell parcels of the vast lands they had been given by the government as encouragement to invest in westward expansion.” (See the Ozarks: The Touristic Image, in the chapter “Opportunities in the Ozarks.”)
Laura’s bestselling series of “Little House books” included one on Almanzo’s childhood farming experiences, Farmer Boy. Attracted by railroad promotional material, they bought a farm in Mansfield they named Rocky Ridge (an appropriate moniker for an Ozarks farm). There they planted vegetable gardens and fruit trees and raised their daughter, Rose. And there Laura Ingalls Wilder began to write of her pioneer childhood.
See The Ozarks: The Touristic Image is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $22.50 (10% off retail price of $24.95), postage paid.
