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Buffalo Missouri...Settled in the 1830s by pioneers primarily from Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio, Dallas County is part of terrritory ceded by Osage Indians in 1808. The county was organized in
1841 as Niangua County, named after the river which bisects it south to north. In 1844, it was renamed Dallas County, after U.S.  Vice President George M. Dallas.
Buffalo, the county seat, was founded in 1841 on Buffalo Head Prairie. The prairie and
the town were named for a buffalo skull landmark erected by the first settler, Mark Reynolds, in 1833 near the present junction of U.S. Highway 65 and Missouri Highway 32.
Buffalo is uniquely located in the Southwest Missouri Ozarks. To the west are Pomme de Terre and
Stockton Lakes and to the north are Truman Lake and the Lake of the Ozarks, all offering a variety of recreation opportunities. Just 23 miles to the south is Springfield, the "Queen City of the Ozarks,"
Missouri's thrid-largest city, surpassed only by Kansas City and St. Louis.
Farming is a major source of income, generating $31 million a year in receipts and representing 31% of the
county employment. Dallas County ranks eighth of 114 Missouri counties in number of dairy cows and is a leader in total cattle numbers with 61,800 head. Hay production averages more thatn 100,000 tons annually,
worth more thatn $6 million. Seed from tall fescue is an important cash crop. Livestock and dairy receipts account for 97 percent of the farm income. Approximately 30% of th e county's employed commute daily to
Springfield, Lebanon, Bolivar, and other areas.
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