Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/580

 520 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI treme west. Ou the west side of the couuty is; a small lake called Silver lake. There are several creeks, but no navigable streams, ex- cept the Mississippi. Thei-e are good springs in the county. Lithium Springs in the north and Schunier Springs in the south are said to possess medicinal properties. The principal interest of the couuty is farming. There are some lead deposits and some fine stone. Lithographic stone is found ten miles west of Perryville. At one time iron ore was mined in the county, but this is no longer done. The forests yield consider- able products in the shape of lumber and railroad ties. The principal crops grown are wheat and hay and considerable attention is also paid to the growing of fruit. The soil seems adapted to fruit growing and it is probable that the orchard interests of the covmty will increase. Considerable attention is also given to stock raising and to poultiy farming. There are a number of factories of one sort and another, some of which are saw mills, flouring mills, distilleries and cream- eries, brick yards, ice plants and other minor factories. The largest item in the manufac- tured products of the county in 1910 was flour, which had a value of nearly $200,000. The total value of all manufactured articles was $320,736. The ]Iissi.ssippi river forms one great high- way of commerce, and the county has the main line of the 'Frisco from St. Louis to Memphis and also is traversed bj' the Cape Girardeau & Chester Railway. There are many good roads in the county. The total length of gravel roads is about 100 miles. The present population i.s 14,989 and the total taxable wealth is $3,383,273. There are 61 school districts in the county, employing 73 teachers. The largest town in the county is the county seat, Perryville, with a population of about 1,500. Other towns are Altenberg, which was founded about 1847 by German Lutherans and was the original site of Con- cordia seminary ; Wittenberg, Longtown, Lithium, Crosstown, Brazeau, Frohna, Yoimt and LTnionto^Ti. Reynolds county is situated in southern Missouri, being three counties north of Ar- kansas and five west of the Mississippi river. Its area is 830 square miles, or more than a half million acres. It was originally covered by forests of pine and oak; there were other species of timber also, but these were the principal ones. Not more than one- tenth of the entire area is in cultivation. The surface as a whole is mountainous, the soil that can be successfully cultivated is found in the river bottoms, where it is very rich. In the hilly part, the soil is poor and much of it has rock. In some few eases there are entire cpiarter sections of almost solid rock. The principal industry in the county is lumbering. Large amounts of lumber and railroad ties are shipped out of the county every j-ear. Farming interests follow, but these are less extensive owing to the small area in cultivation. The only factories in the county are wood-working establishments, flour and grist mills. Stock raising is carried on to a considerable extent, as stock may be grown in the woods with very little expense in many cases. No effort has been made to develop the mineral resources, which are large. There are fine beds of red granite, sandstone and some deposits of iron ore. and at some time the mineral resources of the count.y will become of very great importance. Lumber, ti&s and cooperage made up the