Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/417

 CHAPTER XXIX MOVEMENTS SINCE THE CIVIL WAR Railroad Building — Drainage — Wealth — Manufacturing — Mining - Resources — Schools and Churches — Local Option • — Population Spanish- American War. Transportation- - Organizations - The period of the history of Southeast Mis- souri which extended from the close of the war in 1865 up to the present time is in many respects the most interesting period of our history. It differs widely from the other pe- riods whose history we have already recounted. From 1820 to 1860, as we have seen, the popu- lation of Southeast Missouri increased from 20,000 to 130,000. This was a great increase in population and was accompanied by a like marvelous increase in resources and general social and industrial development; biit the period from 1865 to 1912 not only saw a greater increase in population but also a vastly greater development of resources and of every side of the people's life. Doubt- less few sections of the country anywhere have witnessed a more marvelous expansion of resources than Southeast iIissouri in this period. The period is distinguished for a number of great movements. The first of these, and perhaps the most powerful influence upon the building up of the countiy, was the building of railroads. In another place we have re- counted in detail the story of railroad build- ing. No one can study the figures of popula- tion or look over the map of the section or consider the figures which tell of industrial de- velopment without being at once struck with the very great part which the railroads played in the development of Southeast Missouri. Of course this was to be expected. So long as there were parts of the territory situated at great distances from river transportation, dis- tances multiplied in a great many cases by the lack of roads, the developement of these parts of the district was greatly retarded, but with railroads penetrating to the farthest corner bringing every part of the section into connection with the centers and great markets by means of railroads, then development pro- ceeded with leaps and bounds. Another movement which distinguished this period of our study is the drainage move- ment. As we saw in the chapter on the geog- raphy of Southeast Missouri, nearly half of the area of this section lies within the Missis- sippi low lands or bottoms. Not all of this by any means, nor even half of it, is land that needed to be reclaimed, but in spite of this fact there were large bodies of the richest soil which could not be cultivated until steps were taken to protect it from overflow from the river and to drain from it the waters which it re- ceived from the streams entering it from the hills. Both of these things have received careful attention. To shut out the waters of the Mississippi river at flood time, levees have been built along the banks of the river, some 357