Miriam McFate Travel Journal - 1926

Sat, Oct 30, 1926

Bid Essie and the kiddies goodbye. We are leaving in the rain. Jack went with us as far as the out skirts of the city. Left here 7:00. We traveled all forenoon thro just such country as we had north of St. Louis. Rained till 10:00. Have had quite a lot of break trouble this morning. The brake bands we put in proved to be a little too heavy. Eat dinner at 12:20 at a filling station 5 miles from Bonne Terre Mo. Have traveled on the ridge of the Ozarks, over good pavement all morning. This country is full of timber. We have surely seen Mother Nature dressed in her best. The trees in all the colors are beautiful, beyond description. Mostly oak, walnut, ash, hickory and some pine found in these timbers. Lots of it has been cut over. The road winds round and round. Timber on both sides. No farming land thro here at all.

Wish you all were here to make the drive thro here with us as it surely is grand. We passed a very interesting place near Bonne Terre Mo. We first notice enormous piles of sand. We wondered what they were doing with such a quantity of sand. Curiosity got the best of us so we stopped and asked a man who was passing. He told us it was waste from the lead mines. This one mound covered 3 or 4 acres. It was about 150 feet high. A track was built up to the top of this, and a long tunnel like house over the track. Thro this the sand is hauled and dump on top of the mound. We could see several other mines from out car but they were further away than the first one. This sand is a lead color, not like ordinary sand. We passed on into another little town. This is thro the lead and iron mines. We could easily see the difference. The iron mines have red water soil while the lead is a gray waste. The country thro here is vastly populated. All houses built in this town are very small. We could see the shafts leading into the mines here. Left this town on dirt roads. This road was full of chuck holes, and we had to drive slow. Up hill and down. It jolted the bottom of our cupboard loose and we nearly lost our fruit. People do more farming thro this section. Have 26 miles of this dirt road to travel. Didn’t make a town by dark so pulled into a school yard to camp. The water is running across a low place in the road near our camp. Bluffs and timber all wound us. We had a look into an Ozarks Mt school. I tell you it is not much like our Iowa rural schools either. Have long bench like seats and desks. No shades or curtains at the windows. In the center of the room is an oblong wood heater. Back in the corner of the room was piled a number of sticks of stove wood. This is the only room they have. No cloak room of any kind. The children thought they would not care to attend school here. We got our supper and went to bed early. Has been cold and gloomy all day. Looks like it might rain some more.