12 APPLES AND PEACHES IN THE OZARK REGION. 



ridges are cut across by the Mississippi River at various points between St. Louis and 

 Cape Girardeau. * * * 



St. Francois Mountains. — Southeastern Missouri has long been known as a highland 

 district, but the title, St. Francois Mountains, is of very recent application. The 

 term is one which has been needed to designate the eastern part of the Ozark uplift in 

 Missouri. It is a name which is peculiarly fitting, owing to its long association with 

 the principal river and a county in the region. 



The most striking peculiarity of the St. Francois group as distinguishing it from 

 other parts of the general uplift is the absence of any systematic arrangement of the 

 surface features as the result of orogenic movements, and as is usually discernible in 

 mountainous districts. Isolated peaks, large and small, constitute the prevailing 

 type of topographic expression, and these rise one behind another with no regularity, 

 often clustered here and there into groups of two or three, sometimes several in a row, 

 forming a short irregular ridge. The hills or peaks rise 500 to 800 feet above the valleys 

 which separate them, and have an elevation above tide level of 1,200 to 1,800 feet. 

 * * * 



Ozark Plateau. — The region with which the word Ozark has been most widely 

 associated comprises southern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas. The term has 

 also been applied to the extreme eastern part of the uplift, and even to the western 

 extremity of the Ouachita system. The Ozark Mountain region proper includes (1) 

 a broad plateau which rises to a height of over 1,500 feet above the tide level, and (2) 

 a broad marginal zone so deeply trenched by watercourses as to make the term moun- 

 tainous very applicable. In all its features, the district presents a marked contrast 

 to the other portions of the uplift. In the plateau, the streams take their rise and flow 

 in opposite directions down the general slopes in ever-deepening trenches. * * * 



Boston Mountains. — This name has been used to designate a range of steep-sided 

 elevations which form the watershed in western and central Arkansas, between the 

 White and Arkansas Rivers. They extend nearly parallel to the latter stream halfway 

 across the State. The crest is from 1,000 feet above sea level in the eastern part to 

 more than twice this height in the central and western portions, or from 600 to 800 feet 

 above the waters which wash their bases. * * * 



Ouachita Mountains. — South of the Arkansas River is a series of mountain ranges 

 trending west from Little Rock into the Indian Territory [Oklahoma]. To the most 

 southerly ranges Branner has given the name Ouachita Mountains; but more recently 

 Griswold has extended the meaning so as to cover the entire number of ranges. The 

 system consists of numerous anticlinal ridges which lie nearly parallel to one 

 another. They rise from 500 to 1,000 feet above the valleys on either side, and from 

 1,600 to 2,100 feet above the sea level. * * * 



The marked structural differences existing in the elevated area south of the Arkansas 

 River, as compared with that north of the stream, have given rise to the suggestion 

 that the two districts are distinct units of deformation, and that the long slope of the 

 broad river valley forms the southern slant of the Ozark dome. 



The elevation of specific points is given in Table III. The place 

 names are arranged, in general, from east to west and from north to 

 south. 



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