ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 



11 



lead and silver and iron deposits too far from the river or railroads to be 

 worked profitably. There are well-to-do farmers who frequently come six- 

 teen miles from the very top of the Ozark ridge to market farm products 

 at Harrisburg. Automobiles get on well on some of the main roads. On 

 the ridge top there is one school district in particular, which I call to 

 mind, that takes great pride in its excellent country school and in counting 

 the number of professional and business men who have made good in the 

 outer world. The speech of the older people in the remote neighborhoods 

 bears resemblance to that of the descendants of the East Tennessee Moun- 

 taineers. We hear. "The coon, hit uses along this creek."* The spinning- 

 wheel may yet be found in use by some older women. Evidences of back- 

 ward conditions are fast disappearing in the most remote districts. The 

 straight- forward, truly American spirit of the native stock more than com- 

 pensates for any lack of modern accomplishments on their part. 



The fault cliff, which is described above, loses itself in the hills in 

 this vicinity, but the same axis of upheaval appears again at a point about 

 three miles southeast of the village of Stonefort in the southwestern part 

 of Saline county. Here the cliff faces the south and is prominent only 

 for a short distance, where the Little Saline river, coming in from the 

 south, makes a U shaped curve as it comes to the base of the cliff and 

 turns. The fault line may be traced by the upheaved rock face for quite 

 a distance, but the point of interest is the site of the Old Stone Fort, a pre- 

 historic work which stood on the top of the cliff. The face of the cliff 

 next the stream is almost vertical and so steep and high that it forms a 

 natural fortification on that side. The old stone wall, several feet in 

 width and several feet high, surrounds a semi-circular enclosure on the 

 top of the cliff. The slope down to the north, made such a wall an excel- 

 lent defense against attack from all sides except from the south, where the 

 cliff is almost an insurmountable barrier. The sandstone blocks of which 

 the wall was made were so convenient for building fireplaces and chim- 

 neys that the greater part of the wall has been removed and scattered over 

 the country in every direction for such purposes. Enough rocks remain to 

 mark clearly the outline of the wall through which trees and brush are 

 now growing. The acre or 

 two of level space within is 

 cultivated as a cornfield. 

 The view from the south. 

 looking over the valley of the 

 Little Saline, is a beautiful 

 one. It is a matter of regret 

 that the old wall was not 

 left. But some means should 

 be found to preserve the 

 traces that are left. No ade- 

 quate explanation of who 



i .-, , n i i W. W. Rathbone — Photo. 



built the wall has been coming up from clarida spring 



^Compare the expression, "Where never foot did use," in Spenser's 

 Faerie Queene where the old meaning "to frequent" of the word "use" 

 occurs. 



