40 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



who visited this region and left us their impressions of it. 

 Dr. Salisbury, speaking of Hardin county alone, says, "In 

 almost every direction from almost any point, hills and 

 ridges alternate with valleys. Most of the valleys are 100 

 to 200 feet deep, but some of them are as much as 300 feet 

 deep. Such relief alone, of course, does not make a moun- 

 tainous countiy, but the slopes of many m^ountain regions 

 are no steeper than many of the slopes of this country."* 



Sixty-nine years ago Worthen, in a more picturesque way, 

 gives us his impressions of the Ozarks: "In the spring of 

 1851, I undertook to make a reconnaissance of this ridge 

 from the Big Muddy to the Ohio, through what was then an 

 almost unbroken wilderness, and on foot and alone, with 

 hammer in hand, I traversed this wild and picturesque 

 region, reaching the Ohio in eight days after leaving the Big 

 Muddy. The only signs of civilization to be met with then, 

 in this region, was a log cabin now and then, occupied by 

 some squatter family from east Tennessee or North Caro- 

 lina, who imagined themselves entirely secure in this wilder- 

 ness from the encroachments of a higher civilization. "^ 

 Worthen's characterization of this region as "wild and pic- 

 turesque" is not altogether out of place today when it is 

 seen from the highest and most rugged parts of the Ozarks. 



THE SOILS. 



The soils of the Ozarks are by no means alike in all parts 

 of this highland. The chief differences are largely due to 

 these two causes : First, the ruggedness of the region and 

 the character of the underlying rocks. To the types of soils 

 here given there are many local exceptions. In the western 

 part of the Ozarks, underlaid by the Devonian rocks, the 

 soils often have a large chert content and the surface is one 

 of the most rugged in the entire highland. Here the soils 

 are generally sterile, so much so that certain areas of very 

 steep slopes were almost entirely destitute of timber even in 

 the period of early settlement. The "Pine Hills" in western 

 Union county is an example of this type of soil. 



4. Salisbury: Extract from Bull. No. 41, 111. State Geological Survey, 1920, 

 page 39. 



5. Worthen: Geological Sur. of 111., Vol. Ill, page 56. 



