An Early Environmental Challenge in Misouri: The Nineteenth-Century Timber Boom

During the late 1880s, the methods of the Industrial Revolution came to the farms and forests of Missouri. In his new novel, The Language of Trees, Steve Wiegenstein uses the setting of an isolated rural community in the Ozarks to explore themes of American optimism, culture, and landscape over the span of history. He will discuss the ecnomic and cultural changes that happened when large companies arrived in the state to harvest Missouri's vast forests, setting off challenges to the people and the landscape that are still felt today.