Temperance Crusade at Walnut Shade

   I've written previously about temperance crusades in the Ozarks, such as the Murphy Movement that swept across the country and engulfed the Ozarks in the late 1870s. (See, https://ozarks-history.blogspot.com/2009/08/murphy-movement.html.) While the Murphy Movement and similar large-scale temperance crusades were national in scope, more localized crusades against alcohol were also not uncommon during the late 1800s. One such crusade took place at Walnut Shade in Taney County, Missouri, during the late 1890s.
   Walnut Shade, located at the confluence of Bear Creek and Bull Creek about 8 or 10 miles northwest of Forsyth (on present-day Highway 160/176 about halfway between Rockaway Beach and US Highway 65), got its start in 1860 when Samuel Weatherman opened a business there. A post office at Walnut Shade came into existence about the same time; so, it's likely Waterman operated the post office in conjunction with his business.
   Over 20 years later, Walnut Shade was still a very small place when an influx of residents relocated to the area from Nebraska in the mid-1890s, bolstering the community's population considerably. These recent immigrants played an important role in the temperance movement that got its start around Christmas of 1898.
   By February 1899, the Taney County crusade was making news in Springfield. In mid-February, the Springfield Leader-Democrat reported that over 200 people around Walnut Shade had "signed a pledge to abstain from the use of strong drink, and the society includes a number of 'boot-leggers,' who used to give the federal authorities at Springfield no little trouble as violators of the revenue law." At first, some of the young men of the vicinity, who "loved to break up prayer meetings" and "could not enjoy a dance without a drunken row," strongly resisted efforts to reform them, but "the good people" of the area had finally won a "sweeping victory." Several of the local whiskey dealers had even poured out their liquor and joined in the temperance cause.
   One of the converts to the "total abstinence faith" was a colorful character named "Coon" Cornelison. He wouldn't take the pledge at first until he tested himself to see whether he could last a week without taking a drop. He poured out the liquor he had on hand, which had "the potency of a fist-fight in every half-pint," and "the soil of the Bear Creek valley absorbed the white nectar." After fighting temptation for seven days and not drinking anything stronger than "the sparkling water of Bear Creek Springs," he signed a pledge at the next meeting of the temperance group and was immediately made an officer in the organization.
   Because of the success of the Walnut Shade organization, temperance advocates throughout Taney County began urging that the crusade be expanded to Forsyth, Protem, and other communities in the White River country.
   The Leader-Democrat pointed out that the new Walnut Shade temperance society was completely independent, having no connection to any other temperance group. "The members have adopted the cedar of the Ozarks as their emblem, and each one wears a sprig of this native evergreen."
   Buoyed by the success of the society's campaign against liquor, some of the group's members began trying to bring other ameliorating influences to the Bear Creek vicinity, and by the end of February, the group had secured a traveling library, consisting of 40 volumes, to come to Walnut Shade for a stay of up to four months.
   In late April 1899, the temperance society at Walnut Shade was still going strong, with over 200 members. The group met every Sunday afternoon, and not a single Sunday had passed without at least one more person putting on the cedar badge. Efforts were also underway to start a permanent library at Walnut Ridge.