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Mystery of the Irish Wilderness: Land and Legend of Father John Joseph Hogan's Lost Irish Colony in the Ozark Wilderness
Mystery of the Irish Wilderness Land and Legend of Father John Joseph Hogan's Lost Irish Colony in the Ozark Wilderness Author:Leland Payton, Crystal Payton Hikers and trail riders value the peace and quiet of the Irish Wilderness in the rugged southeast Missouri Ozarks. In the 1970s, native Ozarkers and environmentalists clashed over the creation of a no-timbering zone within the Mark Twain National Forest. The 'battle for The Irish,: as preservationists called it, was decided when Congress approve... more »d a 16,500 acre tract in 1984.
One hundred twenty-five years earlier there was a deadlier conflict in these hills between locals and outsiders. During the Civil War, Union troops and bushwhackers virtually depopulated the region. Mixed in with southern highland pioneers, were hundreds of recently arrived Potato Famine immigrants. After the war, many highlanders drifted back. The Irish colony never returned.
Even its founder, pioneer priest John Joseph Hogan, never learned exactly what happened. As first-hand accounts were few, legends grew. This thoroughly researched and heavily illustrated book looks at the myths, the facts and the still sparsely settled wild landscape.« less