BY AUDREY PAVIA
MARK BARRETT
When the first settlers came to the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri in the 1830s, the mountains were covered with forests of birch, sycamores, oaks and pines. The series of plateaus that made up this part of the moun- tain range were suitable for farming, and by the mid-1800s, farms growing a variety of crops had been established throughout the area.