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Pilot Knob, Missouri (view source)
Revision as of 16:19, September 18, 2020
, 16:19, September 18, 2020Added to page
By the 1830s, it was known that deposits of [[iron|iron ore]] were located in and around Pilot Knob, and the first mine was opened in 1835, followed in subsequent years by the establishment of furnaces and forges. Largely to transport the refined ore to distant markets, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad was completed in the late 1850s, about the same time as the organization of Iron County in 1857.<ref>https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/C2366/iron-county</ref> It was also at this time that the community of Pilot Knob, growing from the arrival of miners and ironworkers, came into existence, being formally laid out in 1858.
By the 1830s, it was known that deposits of [[iron|iron ore]] were located in and around Pilot Knob, and the first mine was opened in 1835, followed in subsequent years by the establishment of furnaces and forges. Largely to transport the refined ore to distant markets, the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad was completed in the late 1850s, about the same time as the organization of Iron County in 1857.<ref>https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/C2366/iron-county</ref> It was also at this time that the community of Pilot Knob, growing from the arrival of miners and ironworkers, came into existence, being formally laid out in 1858.
'''Civil War History'''
With the outbreak of the [[Civil War]], the Arcadia Valley-Iron Mountain region was considered of strategic importance by both sides thanks to its natural resources and its proximity to [[St. Louis]], and a small [[Union]] force (initially under the command of [[Ulysses S. Grant]]) was sent to occupy it in 1861. The following year, a fortification known as Fort Davidson was erected between Pilot Knob and nearby Shepherd Mountain to guard the approaches to the Arcadia Valley from [[Confederate]] attacks.
Fort Davidson saw little action until September 1864, when it was one of the targets of a large-scale raid of Missouri by Confederate General [[Sterling Price]], one of whose goals was to destroy the Union garrisons in and around Pilot Knob and, if possible, to follow this up with an attack upon St. Louis. Union reinforcements were rushed to the fort, which was assaulted by the Confederates on September 27 in the [[Battle of Fort Davidson]]. The results of the battle were inconclusive: the Union defenders held their ground through the day and inflicted heavy casualties on Price's army before ultimately being forced to retreat that night. However, the battle discouraged Price from continuing on to St. Louis, and therefore could be considered a Union victory.<ref>Shelby Foote, ''The Civil War: A Narrative'', Vol. 3 (1974), p. 576-78.</ref> The fighting at Pilot Knob is often reckoned among the fiercest of any that occurred during the war in Southeast Missouri.<ref>Robert Sidney Douglass, ''History of Southeast Missouri'' (1912), p. 337-39.</ref>
==Geography==
Pilot Knob is located along Missouri State Highway 21 in northeastern Iron County, about two miles northwest of [[Ironton, Missouri|Ironton]] and about four miles southwest of [[Iron Mountain Lake, Missouri|Iron Mountain Lake]]. Elephant Rocks State Park is just to the northwest of town. The city's exact coordinates are 37°37’25”N 90°38’37”W.
Pilot Knob lies within an arm of the scenic Arcadia Valley, and is ringed on most sides by prominent mountains: the mountain of Pilot Knob itself rises just to the east-southeast, with Cedar Mountain to the north and Shepherd Mountain to the south. All three have peaks of over 1,400 feet. Nearly all of the city itself rests on the valley floor in between. It has a total area of 0.89 square miles, and an average elevation of 961 feet.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120702145235/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/files/Gaz_places_national.txt</ref>
==References==
==References==