Slow Travels Missouri

This installment in the Slow Travels Series explores four of the U.S. Highways as they travel through varied regions of the State of Missouri. U.S. Highway 50 follows the route of the Lincoln Highway through the center of the state, connecting the two largest cities, St. Louis and Kansas City, through the state capital of Jefferson City. U.S. Highway 61 follows the great river, the Mississippi, along the eastern edge of the state. This area includes the territory fought over by the colonial powers of France, Spain, and Great Britain, and the varied settlements which consequently developed. U.S. Highway 66 retraces the Mother Road, also referred to as America's Main Street and Route 66. This route travels a northeast to southwest path, once named the Old Wire Road for the early telegraph line which connected St. Louis to Springfield and Joplin. U.S. Highway 71 travels the western edge of the state through the violent history of the Civil War, fought mainly between civilian forces of Missouri and Kansas. Missouri's history has been defined by its varied geography (the height of the Ozarks to the bottoms of the Mississippi) and by the diverse ethnic backgrounds of its settlers.

Slow Travels--Arkansas is the first in our new Slow Travels series. U.S. Highways 61, 67, 70, 71, and 79 are followed through Arkansas, criss-crossing the state and providing a wealth of historical information along the way. Eight maps provide reference points along the way. Your purchase includes a $1 donation to the American Trails Preservation Trust.The Slow Travels series encourages the driving tourist to take the slower paced route, and see the rich history which lies along that highway. Not only are the more popular sites examined, but you are also shown the many places in between those sites which are most often overlooked. 90% of our history is either distinguished by only a marker or no marker at all. That is the history most travelers are missing, and that is what the purpose of Caddo Publications USA is, to bring that missing history to everyone's attention.

This edition in the Slow Travels series is an update of our California guide, now combined with Nevada into one. Much of the text is edited from the American Guide Series of the 1930’s and 40’s, with updated historical information, improved directions, and material from additional sources. All locations have been verified using GPS coordinates, as well as from satellite imagery and first hand knowledge. The California section explores current U.S. 50 and 395, as well as the former routes of U.S. 40, 60, and 99 which are no longer designated as such. The cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego are explored along these routes. The Nevada section follows U.S. Highways 6 and 50 east to west across the state, and U.S. 93 and 95 north to south. In addition, the former route of U.S. 40 is retraced along the Humboldt River, the route of emigrants along the California Trail from Utah and Idaho.All routes include reference maps and GPS coordinates for all listed sites.

Slow Travels-Illinois explores four highways across various parts of the State. U.S. 30 travels portions of the Lincoln Highway and Sauk Trail across Northern Illinois, through Joliet and Aurora to the Mississippi River. U.S. 50 covers the southern portion of the Illinois, examining the earliest settlements and the development along the St.Louis-Vincennes stage road. Historic Route 66 explores the mother road from its beginning at Lake Michigan, diagonally across the State through Bloomington and Springfield, to the banks of the Mississippi opposite St. Louis. Finally, U.S. Highway 67 follows the western edge of Illinois, beginning at the Quad Cities and finishing at Alton.

Slow Travels-Louisiana takes the leisure driver and their passengers on entertaining and educational journeys through Louisiana's history. Four highways host these journeys: U.S. Highway 61 follows the route of the Great River Road from Mississippi to New Orleans, U.S. Highway 80 retraces the route of the Vicksburg, Shreveport, & Pacific Railroad from Vicksburg on the Mississippi River to the Texas Line west of Shreveport, U.S. Highway 84 explores the central part of the state along the old Texas Road from Natchez to Natchitoches, and U.S. Highway 90 roughly retraces the Old Spanish Trail through the lands of the Creole and Cajun of Southern Louisiana. The histories of Native Americans, French and Spanish explorers, the Acadians of Nova Scotia, and the plantation communities all roll out in front of you through our Slow Travels.

 As the 20th century began, swamps with immense timber resources covered much of the Missouri Bootheel. After investors harvested the timber, the landscape became overgrown. The conversion of swampland to farmland began with small drainage projects but complete reclamation was made possible by a system of ditches dug by the Little River Drainage District—the largest in the U.S., excavating more earth than for the Panama Canal. Farming quickly took over. The devastation of Southern cotton fields by boll weevils in the early 1920s brought to the cooler Bootheel an influx of black and white sharecroppers and cotton became the principal crop. Conflict over New Deal subsidies to increase cotton prices by reducing production led to the 1939 Sharecropper Demonstration, foreshadowing civil rights protests three decades later.