The state of MISSOURI , where the forest meets the prairie and the Mississippi River meets the Missouri River, has just two significant cities. Dominant St Louis sits midway down its eastern fringe; Kansas City is almost directly across on the western border. The pair are linked by I-70, but there's not much in between to warrant stopping off. In contrast, the south features the beautiful hillsides, streams and ragged lakes of the Ozark Mountains , as well as the booming country-and-western town of Branson ; while in the east , small river towns such as Hannibal and serene Ste Genevieve brighten the course of the Mississippi. The northwest , home of the Pony Express and outlaw Jesse James, still strikes up images of frontier times.

Although the first French colonists honored the claims of local Native Americans, such as the original Missouri, when the area was sold to the US in 1803 as part of the Louisiana Purchase, the Indians were driven west by a great rush of settlers. In the 1840s and 1850s immigrants from Germany and Ireland flooded into eastern Missouri. Outnumbering their pro-slavery predecessors, they swung the balance in favor of staying in the Union during the Civil War. However, Confederate guerrilla forces attracted considerable support among slave-owners in the west of the state. Meanwhile Missouri, and St Louis in particular, was establishing itself as an important gateway to the West. Today, the " Show Me State " (so called because of the supposed skepticism of the typical Missourian) retains a conservative air, particularly in the rural areas.  TOP

Eastern Missouri
The Mississippi defines Missouri's eastern border, absorbing as major tributaries the Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Des Moines rivers. Innumerable towns sprang up along the river, their aspirations reflected by such classical names as Alexandria, Antioch and Athens. Hannibal , the boyhood home of Mark Twain, is the largest in the northeast, while Gallic Ste Genevieve is the prettiest in the south. All have, however, decreased in importance with the growing pre-eminence of St Louis . Away from the river, the land rises to the Ozark Plateau, whose deep green valleys are cut by swift, clear streams.

Southwest Missouri - Ozark Country
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.  TOP