DESCRIPTION OF THE OZARK REGION. 11 



mit of Magazine Mountain reaches an elevation of 2.889 feet — the 

 highest point between the Appalachian and the Eocky Mountains. 



As elevation is one of the chief factors to be considered hi investi- 

 gating the behavior or adaptability of fruit varieties, it has been neces- 

 sary for the purposes of the present consideration to adopt more or 

 less arbitrarily some line based on elevation as the boundary of the 

 Ozark uplift. A contour line encompassing the territory which has 

 an elevation exceeding 900 feet serves the end hi view. The counties 

 lving wholly or partly within this boundary and belonging to the 

 region under consideration are named on the accompanying map 

 (PL I). Several counties bordering on the Missouri River and lying 

 partly within this boundary are not shown on the map. for the reason 

 that the principal orchard interests in them are located hi sections 

 that are distinctly outside the Ozark formation. Some of the 

 included areas have relatively low elevations, particularly along the 

 rivers and larger streams. 



The contour lines which appear on the map will materially assist the 

 reader in obtaining a general idea of the topography of the region and 

 the elevation of different sections of it. both actual (above sea level) 

 and relative (in comparison with the surrounding country). The 

 interval between the contour lines represents a difference of 500 feet 

 in elevation. 



An excellent account of the Ozark region, hi which the conspicuous 

 topographic features which are of importance hi the present connec- 

 tion are very clearly described, appears hi the Annual Report of the 

 Missouri Geological Survey for 1894. from which the following para- 

 graphs are quoted: ■ 



Surface relief. — "While there is simplicity and similarity in general make-up of the 

 different portions of the Ozark uplift, the fundamental structural and topographical 

 effects presented in the several parts are sufficiently distinct to enable several well- 

 defined districts to be made out. This fact has been recognized both by the inhabit- 

 ants and by those who have visited the region, and in consequence various names 

 have been given to the different sections. The most prominent titles among those 

 which deserve mention are Shawnee Hills, located in the extreme east, chiefly in 

 Illinois: St. Francois Mountains, in eastern Missouri; the Ozark Mountains proper, 

 the Boston Mountains, and the Ouachita system in the Southwest. These various 

 ''mountain* systems, which define geographically the subdivisions of the uplift, are 

 characterized by certain peculiarities, of whirh none are more striking than the various 

 phases of topography. The extremities of the disturbed region are similar, and consist 

 of a series of ridges which in a general way are parallel to one another. The middle 

 is a typical high plateau, whose margins are deeply trenched by swift-running streams. 



Shawnee Hills. — Before it merges into the Mississippian Plain, the Ozark Plateau is 

 broken up toward the eastward into a number of rather well-pronounced ridges. These 



1 Keyes, C R. Characteristics of the Ozark Mountains. Annual Report, Missouri Geological Survey. 

 vol. 8, 1SS4, pp. 320-3o2 ; 



275 



