The End of the Wire Road
“That famous trail that led from Springfield to Fort Smith, through Aurora, Verona, McDowell and Cassville in Missouri, winding through some of the prettiest country in the Ozarks at the point between McDowell and Cassville, where the bed of that little terror, Flat Creek, is followed by the road, probably will never regain its lost prestige.
“The Old Wire Road, so called because it was along this trail that the first interstate telegraph line between Springfield and points in Arkansas was constructed, has been famous in Southwest Missouri history. From Verona the trail leads south through ravines, over hills and through some of the wildest scenic beauty in the Ozark country. At McDowell, which was once the county seat of Barry County, the trail strikes Flat Creek, and follows this winding stream through Cassville to Washburn. The trail crosses the creek ten times in that 12 miles between Cassville and McDowell.
“There are places along this route where the road is on a shelf, with the mountain on one side and the creek on the other. There are other places where the creek and road cut across a wide valley between the mountain ranges.
“This road was the scene of many skirmishes during the Civil War, and while there were no big battles between the Union and Confederate Armies, the trail was almost one continual battleground throughout the war. Guerrilla warfare was waged most successfully by bands of armed men who lay in ambush on the mountainside, firing on the enemy from their places of concealment.
“With the advent of the automobile and good roads, the Old Wire Road is about to pass into history and will be known only to the old residents of that part of the country. For it will never again be the famous trail it was in the days before the railroad was built through Southwest Missouri.
“When the state highway commission designated routes through Missouri to be built of concrete and clay bound macadam, the shortest and most direct routes between the principal cities and towns were neglected. There already is a state road heading south from Monett through Purdy and Butterfield, to Cassville, and in designating the route from Cassville to Butterfield the most direct route was chosen. The Old Wire Road leads almost due north from Cassville to Verona and misses Monett by about 5 miles.
“A right-of-way leading northwest from Cassville to Butterfield was selected and work already has been started in building this link in the state road. The trail of the Old Wire Road, which leads through the center of Cassville, is followed nearly to the northern city limits of the town, then the state road turns to the left.
“This state road is to be surfaced with gravel and later, if the plans of the road builders are followed, is to be concreted through the town. Citizens of Cassville plan to make the part of the road within the city limits one of the most beautiful boulevards in any town of its size in the state.
“The stream of automobile traffic has changed its course and will now flow over the new route while the Old Wire Road will be followed only by those seeking the scenic beauty of the Ozarks.”
This article was originally published in the Springfield Leader & Press, December 25, 1922
The Harper's Weekly image of soldiers erecting telegraph wires is courtesy of the Library of Congress. See Down the Wire Road in the Missouri Ozarks by Fern Angus for more information.
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