Mystery of the Irish Wilderness: Land and Legend of Father John Joseph Hogan's Lost Irish Colony in the Ozark Wilderness

Deep in the Missouri Ozarks is a wilderness preserve named after a short-lived settlement of Irish immigrants. They came in hope and optimism, only to be scattered by conflicting forces of the Civil War. Today, hikers and trail riders value the isolation 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 approved 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 vanished. Even its founder, Father John Joseph Hogan, never learned exactly what happened. He had been stranded at his missions in north Missouri during the hostilities. Though the Irish settlement disappeared, the considerable forested area between the lower Current and Eleven Point rivers became known as the Irish Wilderness. As facts were few, legends grew. This thoroughly researched and heavily illustrated book looks at the myths, the facts and the still sparsely settled wild landscape.Payton, Leland is the author of 'Mystery of the Irish Wilderness: Land and Legend of Father John Joseph Hogan's Lost Irish Colony in the Ozark Wilderness', published 2008 under ISBN 9780967392547 and ISBN 0967392543.