Villages of Crawford County, Missouri - SCOTIA The history of Scotia is somewhat obscure. Scotia literally means "darkness" and the origin of the name is unknown. In literature Scotia means "Scotland" and a combination of "darkness" and "Scotland" may be symbolic of its origin. It is likely a pioneer of Scotch descent named the place, or perchance it derived its name because it was located in a dark canyon surrounded by luxuriant forest. The Scotia Furnace was constructed in 1870 with material from a large limestone quarry near Leasburg. The smelter was a hot-blast type charcoal iron furnace with steam-driven blower which operated until 1880 when the ore production decreased. The furnace was built by John G. Scott, Robert Anderson, T h o m as Howard, and Anvil James. The area is now a part of wildlife area maintained by the Missouri Conservation Commission. For ten years there was a great deal of activity, there being a company store, a blacksmith shop, and a school. In 1876 Samuel and Benjamin Lea moved over the Meramec from Leasburg and built a little store across the Courtois from the furnace. The Scotia post office was established and Samuel and Benjamin Lea operated it together until Samuel died in 1881. Benjamin carried on the business until 1866 when he sold his store and entered politics. He was elected county collector on the Republican ticket in 1886. During the next forty years the little store in the Scotia hills was operated by several different individuals and among the number were Miss Martha A. PoweI1, Bill Lea, Floyd PinneIl, and Henry Coleman. The little village of Scotia might have become the location of a beautiful town but it was left beside the road to be numbered with the ghost villages in other places, The failure of authorities to build a bridge across the M e r a m e c, making a more direct route from Steelville to St. Louis was a leading factor, plus the economic decline of the iron industry in the region. A little tributary stream flows into the Courtois from the east and in its little valley the blast furnace was constructed. Below it were the company store, a blacksmith shop, a school, several barns, and a few homes. In 1904 the Adair brothers, John and George, moved to the valley. Each of them built a home and barn. They came from Illinois and were excellent farmers and livestockgrowers. At thetime these young men came to Scotia a young lady named Eliza Jane "Linnie" Harrison was teaching the Scotia School which was only a few hundred yards down the valley from the furnace works. Linnie was the daughter of Benjamin Harrison and married John Adair. John Adair and his brother, George, I i v e d in the valley until about 1930 and then both families moved to Colberg, Oregon. Linnie died in Oregon January 31, 1966. In recent years the federal government acquired the Adair Ranch and the Adair homes have disappeared. The store was torn down in 1925 and the school burned about 1968. All that remains to mark the site of Scotia is one large barn and the tower of the furnace. Many years ago tie rafting down the Courtois and Huzzah to the Meramec and on to Pacific was an annual occurrence. With the building of the Frisco railroad in 1859 tie rafting became an important industry. Even as late as 1900 the Cuba Review printed in the Scotia Neighborhood items of September that several thousand ties were being rafted down the river to Pacific. During the dry summer months the tie make r s hewed tie s and dragge d them to the mouth of the Courtois, fastened them together into rafts, and as soon as the thaws and heavy rains came in the spring several men made the long adventurous journey downstream to Pacific, where the rafts were torn up and the ties loaded on the railroad for their destinations. Tie rafting at Scotia and other parts of Crawford County is now only a memory experienced personally by only a few of the oldest people. ------ CRAWFORD COUNTY AND CUBA MISSOURI James Ira Breuer, 1972 p. 69-71 ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe L. Miller ====================================================================