Randolph County, Missouri - Chapter 12: Physical Features and Natural Resources, 1920

Randolph County is a north Missouri county. Its southern boundary is from twenty-two to twenty-five miles north of the Missouri river at Rocheport and at Boonville. It is approximately seventy miles south of the Iowa state line and is one of the central counties from east and west. It contains 307,677 acres. Randolph County is bounded on the north by Macon and Shelby Counties ; on the east by Monroe and Audrain ; on the south by Howard and Boone and on the west by Chariton County.

The grand divide between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, beginning in St. Charles County, runs northwest into Randolph County, thence turns north through the counties of Macon, Adair and Schuyler into Iowa and thence northwesterly, parallelling the Des Moines river beyond its source, thence northwesterly to a point northwest of Big Stone Lake, where it joins the continental divide running east and west from the Atlantic to the Pacific, dividing the waters running south from those running into the Hudson Bay. About one-fourth of Randolph County is on the east slope of this divide and from this part of the county the water flows into the Mississippi, and on the other hand the waters from the west and south side of the divide flow into the Missouri. The towns of Clark, Renick, Moberly, Cairo and Jacksonville are situated on this divide, Moberly being the highest point between Hannibal and Brunswick. This divide is a prairie from the eastern part of Montgomery County throughout its length and is of unequal width, varying from one to five or six miles, and was known in the early days as the Grand Prairie.

The slopes of this divide to the east are gentle, but as the smaller streams come together and form larger ones, the land along the water courses that flow from these slopes grow more undulating and hilly along the streams. From the west and southwest side of the divide flow the Perche, Moniteau, Silver Creek, Sweet Springs, Sugar Creek and Locust Creek and other smaller streams. All of these streams, except the Perche and Moniteau, which flow south directly to the Missouri river, empty into the east fork of the Chariton river. The eastern fork of the Chariton has its source in north Missouri and enters Randolph County from the north, about the center of the county, flows thence southwest until it empties into the Chariton river a few miles above the mouth of that stream west of Glasgow. Six miles east of the western line of the county the middle fork of the Chariton enters the county, flows south by Thomas Hill in Chariton township, thence southwest into Chariton County, passing Salisbury east of that town and forms a junction with east fork a few miles north of Forest Green, and the streams so combined flow into the Chariton as we have seen. From the southeast corner of the county west, the land slopes gently to the south and west for several miles, becoming broken and hilly along the Perche and Moniteau for a few miles north of the county line. An arm of the grand prairie stretches out to the southwest from a point two miles south of Moberly for several miles, extending to within a mile of Higbee when it becomes wooded, and thence extends into the northern part of Howard County. From this divide the waters flow directly south from the south side, and into Silver Creek and Sweet Spring from the northern side. The land situated on this divide is first class farming and grazing land. The western part of the county was mostly timber land, interspersed, however, with rich prairie, and is of superior productive qualities. The timber was principally elm, shell-bark hickory, linden and burr, swamp, red, white and black oak, sycamore and sugar maple. There are some large bodies of very rich land in different portions of the county. The bottoms of t>ie east and middle forks of the Chariton and Sweet Spring creeks are very flat, but have generally been sufl[iciently drained to be cultivated, and are very productive.

There are several prairies in the county which contain very superior land for agricultural purposes. The creek bottoms are wonderfully rich, and where not too flat, or being flat have been drained, they produce remarkable crops of the cereals and grasses. About one-half of the country is prairie.

From the edge of the prairie that crown the grand divide, westward a vein of coal from three and a half to four feet in thickness underlies the county practically to its western border. From Jacksonville west these coal measures extend to and beyond the county limits. In the southwestern comer they may be somewhat curtailed. Coal mines have been opened and successfully operated at and south of Renick, at and on all sides of Higbee, and west thereof to Yates. Also at and around Huntsville to within a mile of the machine shops at Moberly and west of Jacksonville. This great coal field underlies all of the rough timbered lands, valuable now for grazing purposes, but vastly more valuable by reason of their mineral wealth, when transportation for the coal that underlies them can be had. This coal is a soft, bituminous coal and unexcelled for steam purposes. As yet only a few hundred acres of this great coal field has been mined and this vast wealth lies safely stored underground to enrich a future generation.

The eastern half of the county, generally speaking, is what we know as the Putnam silt loam or level prairie, although, of course, this is cut into by streams in many places and timber land results. This timber land is mostly what we know as the Lindley loam. This soil is found principally, however, in the belt running north and southwest of Moberly, practically across the county and five to eight miles wide.

West of Huntsville the land is mainly what we know as the Shelby loam in the northern two-thirds of the county, while in the southwest corner there is some soil that is classed as the Marshall silt loam. This is the best land in the county outside of the bottoms. The Lindley loam is commonly known as the white oak ridge land and is best adapted to grass and timber. There are, of course, many intermediate types in the county, but these represent the principal soils.