The State of
Missouri being one third larger than England, and of equal size to
Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and Denmark combined, it is not surprising
that interesting discoveries are still to be expected.
The climate is so varied on account of the range in latitude and
altitude, and the natural resources are so great, the claim has been
made that if the State were surrounded by an impassable wall, its
citizens need not be deprived of any article necessary to a refined and
luxurious mode of living: and according to Mr. Henry Gannett in "The
Building of a Nation," the population in 1890 was 73.42 per cent. native
whites of native parents, the colored a little less than 6 per cent.,
and nearly two-thirds of the balance, native born of parents, one or
both of whom were foreign.
Although the Ozark region has not yet received sufficient attention to
dull its charm for the explorer, the fact has been established that its
earliest sedimentary rocks are of the Cambrian Age and still occupy
mainly the position in which they were originally deposited. Therefore
we need not be surprised to discover that some, at least, of the
excavations are proportionately ancient; and that the Natural Bridges
are the last remaining positive evidence of their former existence and
final collapse. That the Natural Bridges of Missouri mark the
destruction of more ancient caves than the one preserved to geological
history by Virginia's grand attraction, seems quite evident.
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