The Geography of the Ozarks
The Southern Highlands consists of these 4 geographical markers.
What are Blue Ridge Mountains, Allegheny Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim, Ouachita Ridge?
The three main aspects that mark a distinctive cultural region.
What is regional self consciousness, origin of settlers, and agricultural practices?
The North and South Boundaries are defined by these characteristics.
What is the northern boundary marking a sharp change in relief and being easily delineated, while the southern boundary feathering out more gradually?
The average size of a farm in the Boston Mountains.
What is 131 acres?
The two traditional practices for agriculture.
What is open range herding and patch farming?
The Ozarks lie within these four states and cover this much land.
What is Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas? What is 40,000 sqm?
The basic unit of settlement in the Ozarks.
What is the small, self sufficient family farm?
The Springfield Plain is bounded on the east by these.
What is the Eureka Springs escarpment and the hills along the Pomme de Terre and Osage Valleys?
This constitutes greater income on fewer acres.
What is better conditions for agriculture such as better soil and extensive prairies?
Farmers obtained cash using these methods.
What are selling horses, cows and hides, surplus corn, cotton, or tobacco?
The boundaries of the Ozark region are roughly outlined by these navigable rivers.
What is the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, the Arkansas River, and on the west the Neosho and Osage Rivers?
The egalitarian nature of Ozark society manifested itself in these ways.
What is the most prosperous landowners having larger but not elegant houses and living much like their neighbors?
The average elevation of the Boston Mountains. The maximum elevation of the entire Ozark region occur in this section of the mountains.
What is 1300-1800ft and the central section?
These characteristics provide the poorest conditions for agriculture
What are frequent bedrock outcroppings and mountain slopes that are generally too steep for cultivation?
These 4 Ozark cultural traits are universally characteristic of rural societies.
What is the prevalence of extended families and families living on the same land for generations; various means of work sharing; social lives centered around church and school; general stability of social systems/slowness to accept change?
This geographical feature accompanies these sources of water.
What are Steep limestone bluffs and springs/meanderings streams?
These factors created a strain of anti-intellectualism among Ozarker's.
What is the "semi arrested frontier" quality of the Ozarks and their shared experiences of "the rigors of making a living in a region blessed with only modest resources"?
The poorest agricultural conditions exist in these areas.
What are the areas where bedrock outcroppings are frequent and where mountain slopes are too steep?
This factor was overwhelmingly important to the cultural and economic development of the Ozarks.
What is the prevelance of average to poor soils?
These were traditional pastimes for men.
What are hunting, fishing, swapping yarns, and playing the fiddle or banjo?
These six geographical characteristics define the Ozarks.
What are 1) Greater relief and steeper slopes that surrounding areas. 2) Older surface rocks and the presence of chart. 3) An abundance of karst features produced by groundwater action on bedrock. 4) A prevalence of average to poor soils. 5) Extensive forests of oak, pine, and hickory. 6) An abundance of high quality water resources?
These qualities are what early settlers in the Ozarks were searching for.
What is the kind of topography, climate, water supply, soil, grass, herbs, and timber that would be hospitable to customs, crops, tools, and (most important) a nostalgia for home?
The Boston mountains primarily consist of these three types of rocks and also hold this record.
What are shales, sandstone, limestone? What is the record for the youngest rocks in the Ozarks?
Limestone provides this for agriculture practices.
What are lowland basins and fertile valleys?
This specific ethnic group constitutes the majority of settlers in the Ozarks.
What is Scotch-Irish?