There's little to see south of Kansas City before the
Ozark Mountains
. Occupying most of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, the area remained frontier territory until the timber companies moved in at the end of the nineteenth century. When they moved on, the hill-dwellers were left to eke out a living from the denuded terrain. Severe droughts forced many to leave for the cities. For those who remain, fishing resorts and tourist attractions supply some work, though the region remains poor and economically backward. None of the Ozark peaks is particularly high, but the roads through switch, dip, climb and swerve to provide stunning views of steep hillsides, thick with oak, elm, hickory and redbud that are quite resplendent in the fall.
Springfield is the region's main city, 130 miles south of Kansas City, but the gateway to the Ozarks, the country music town of
Branson
, is more popular by far.
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