Endnotes

Notes are keyed to the chapter or reach and to the entry, then to a phrase from the text. Sources are given in short form. Full references are in the Bibliography. “Jacks Fork Oral History” refers to the testimony described in “The Oral History” in the back matter, cited by record number.

Part One: Deep Time

Chapter 1. Older Than the Hills

Opening

Mountain View sits on sandstone … Roubidoux: Weary and others 2014, GIS data (bedrock at Mountain View), and 16 (Roubidoux sandstone weathering light brown to reddish brown; tabular float).
more than 470 million years ago: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, PDF 102 (Roubidoux, 485–470 million years).
About five miles north-northwest of town … the same rock … Within about a mile: Weary and others 2013, GIS data; Weary and others 2014, GIS data, laid against the river centerline.
Forty-six miles: river centerline traced from USGS terrain and hydrography (Heimann and others 2025; USGS NHD).
about a billion years older: Weary and others 2014, 4, 19.
about 7 feet a mile on average: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12), about 330 feet in 46 miles; see Chapter 2. The 9.5 feet a mile often quoted for the Jacks Fork is the basin slope used in flood estimates (Wilson 2001, 2; see Chapter 14).

Three clocks

500 to 470 million … a basement … Up to 1,800 feet: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3. about five times the height of the tallest bluff: 1,800 feet against the 350-foot face across from Grandma Rocks; see Chapter 2.
only a few decades old: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12.

Reading the age of a rock

superposition … calcium phosphate … weak acid: general explanation of relative dating and of how conodonts are recovered from carbonate rock.
Conodonts are how geologists pinned down the age of the Roubidoux: Repetski, Loch and Ethington 1998, as cited in Weary and others 2013, metadata.
half-life … 4.5 billion … 704 million … two clocks: USGS, Geologic Time; the two uranium decay chains as a cross-check are general knowledge of uranium-lead dating. their position between rocks that can be dated: USGS, Geologic Time; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 32.
1,470.4 million … six separate analyses: Weary and others 2014, 19. near Rocky Falls: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27, 32. less than a fifth of one percent: 2.7 ÷ 1,470.4.
Rocky Falls … rest against the rhyolite of Shut-In Mountain: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27 (fig. 20), 32. Late Cambrian: Weary and others 2014, 17.
an old Ozark word … a shut-in: Sauer 1920, 11 (“These places, at which streams cross igneous barriers, are called ‘shut-ins’”). That Shut-In Mountain carries the word is the plain reading of its name; no record of the naming has been found. Rocky Creek drops over the rhyolite at the falls: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27 (fig. 20, Rocky Falls “over rhyolite of Shut-In Mountain”).
1 to 1.5 … 50 and 90 degrees … 5,000 to 9,000 feet: Weary and others 2014, 6; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58. about 120 to 190 degrees Fahrenheit: converted.

The mappers

Nason … 1892 … Roubidoux Creek … Gasconade River: USGS Geolex, “Roubidoux” and “Gasconade.”
Jefferson City … Potosi … Winslow in 1894: USGS Geolex, “Jefferson City” and “Potosi.”
Gunter Spring … Ha Ha Tonka … Miller County: USGS Geolex, “Gunter.”
Ulrich … 1911 … exposures at Eminence: USGS Geolex, “Eminence.” named for its high ground: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3.
The same paper of 1911 … the Ozarkian … upper Cambrian and the lower Ordovician … the Ozark uplift … the valley of the Appalachians … some 8,000 feet … the Canadian system … crowning work of his career … never took to the Ozarkian … handed back: Ruedemann 1946 (on Ulrich’s Revision of the Paleozoic Systems, Geological Society of America Bulletin 22, 1911: the Ozarkian and Canadian “the crowning achievement of his career”; the 8,000 feet “of limestone in the Ozark uplift and the Appalachian Valley” from R. S. Bassler’s account printed there; the growing “tendency to recognize the Canadian as valid and to abandon the Ozarkian”). the span of the rock along most of the Jacks Fork: see “Down through the rock” below. some American age lists still use: USGS Geolex, “Eminence” (ages given as Late Cambrian and as Canadian).
George C. Swallow, Benjamin F. Shumard and Garland C. Broadhead … do not seem to have visited it … were after copper … 1841 … the next year … after its first working had stopped … C. P. Williams … head of the new school of mines at Rolla and state geologist … 1875–76 … mapped its workings … Round and Alley springs … Archean … 1905 … Ulrich and H. Foster Bain … 1920–21 … a few weeks … never published: Bridge 1930, 15–16 (the three “make no mention of Shannon Co.” and the area “does not appear to have been visited by these early workers”; Hodge describes the Slater mine “as it appeared shortly after the original mining operations had been discontinued”; Williams “First Director of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, and ex officio, State Geologist of Missouri,” his report in the Industrial Report for 1875–76, published 1877, with “a map of the surface workings of the Slater Mine, and also maps of Round and Alley Springs”; Williams “assigned the igneous rocks to the Archean”; the 1920–21 copper report by Bowles and Davidson, an unpublished thesis at the Missouri School of Mines). The 1841 visitor is Hodge (see Chapter 5). The given names of Swallow, Shumard, Broadhead and Bain are general knowledge; the name then used for the oldest rocks: general.
an Ohio-born paleontologist then in his thirties … moved to Washington … until his death in 1953: Find a Grave, memorial 74999934 (a transcribed funeral notice: born at Norwood, Ohio; degrees from Cincinnati, 1916, Chicago, 1918, and Princeton, 1929; moved to Washington in 1930; a paleontologist with the Geological Survey for over twenty years; died at 62); BnF, “Josiah Bridge” (1890–1953). then in his thirties: computed from 1890.
Bridge … Eminence and Cardareva quadrangles … 1930: Weary and others 2014, 2, 21. Van Buren Formation: Weary and others 2014, 16.
Between 1922 and 1928 … copper … First World War … E. T. Campbell … 1923: Bridge 1930, 15–17. Missouri Bureau of Geology and Mines: Bridge 1930, title page.
a rectangle about fourteen by eighteen miles … northeast and northwest … faulting … Precambrian: Bridge 1930, 135–36.
Geza and Eva Kisvarsanyi … 1977 and 1984: Weary and others 2014, 4, 23. The faults that now mark the caldera run northeast and northwest: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 32.
escaped from Hungary together in December 1956 … reached the United States in January 1957 … University of Missouri … 1959 to 1993 … assistant director … more than a hundred papers, maps and books: Kisvarsányi n.d., her own account (leaving Hungary with her husband, Géza Kisvarsányi, on December 1, 1956; arrival January 16, 1957; B.S. 1958 and M.S. 1960, University of Missouri; research geologist to section chief to assistant director). after Soviet troops crushed the revolution: general history.
Eminence was mapped in 1999 … Alley Spring in 2012 … Jam Up Cave and Pine Crest … 2013: Weary and others 2014, 2 (table 1). 2005 and 2006 … karst: Weary and others 2013, metadata. eight and a half miles … seven: the size of a 7.5-minute quadrangle at this latitude, computed.
on foot … GPS … drill holes … drove most of the roads … almost fifteen years: Weary and others 2014, 3.
more than 95 percent: Weary and others 2014, 7.
no outcrop of the Jefferson City … yellowish and silty … less flat: Weary and others 2013, metadata (attribute table); Weary and others 2014, 16. known thickness and from the change in soil color: Weary and others 2013, metadata.

The volcano under Eminence

silica-rich … rhyolite … tuff: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 29, 32, 53. at least 72 percent silica: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 29 (table 2), which also gives rhyolite magma as the most viscous and most explosive. gas comes out of solution … ash flows … highway speed: general explanation of explosive eruptions.
porphyry: Sauer 1920, 10.
Eminence stands inside the western part of its outline: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 30–31 (fig. 21).
Yellowstone … Crater Lake: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 32.
7 to 8 kilometers … 360 cubic kilometers … 65 to 90 degrees … about 1,000 feet … tuff of Mule Mountain: Weary and others 2014, 4. about a thousand feet deep: 86 cubic miles over the 445-square-mile watershed (Chapter 2), computed.
accretionary lapilli … moisture in an eruption column: Weary and others 2014, 19.
1,461.8 million: Weary and others 2014, 18. 1,480 million, plus or minus … 42 million … 1,470 million: Weary and others 2014, 4. Slow cooling gives crystals time to grow: general.
about a hundred million years: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 53.
St. Francois Mountains … nearly continuous … 1.48 and 1.45 … 1.34 and 1.27: du Bray and others 2021 (“essentially continuous”).
a rift opening as an ancient supercontinent: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 53. pull-apart zone … jogs: Weary and others 2014, 4 (a transtensional setting “created by a left step in a left-lateral strike-slip fault system”). broad stretching of the continent’s interior: du Bray and others 2021.
about 45 miles northeast: measured from Eminence to Taum Sauk Mountain.

Where the old rock shows

more than fifty knobs … Current River basin: Weary and others 2014, 4. much harder than the dolomite … high points for more than 500 million years … thinner woods: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 32, 56 (fig. 30).
Knob is the old popular name … small, sharp-cornered blocks … weather very slowly … do not roll far … jagged masses … granite … rounded boulders … creek beds: Sauer 1920, 10–11 (“the popular name ‘knob’”; porphyry blocks “small and very angular” that “weather very slowly” and “do not roll down slope”; on the porphyry knobs “jagged rock masses protrude conspicuously”; granite boulders “lodged in the beds of adjacent streams”).
within a few hundred yards of the river: Weary and others 2014, GIS data.
Route 106 … dark maroon: Weary and others 2014, 20.
a single outcrop east of Storys Creek: Weary and others 2014, 18.
Coot Mountain … Jerktail Mountain: Weary and others 2014, 20; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 30–31 (fig. 21).
south bank of the Current about a mile above the confluence: Weary and others 2014, 19.
Deep drill holes near Hurricane Creek … ridge of volcanic rock running northwest … buried granite … separate volcanic center … outlying piece: Weary and others 2014, 4–5, the only source; the authors give both readings.

A billion years missing

5,000 to 6,000 feet … more than 800 million years: Weary and others 2014, 5.
runs under much of the continent … Grand Canyon … the Great Unconformity: general geology; the name long used for the surface at the base of the Cambrian where it is exposed in the Grand Canyon.
Rodinia … 1.34 billion and 1 billion … a few hundred kilometers … faults: Weary and others 2014, 5.
Rocky Creek … nine miles … dark-gray … pale rhyolite … 980 million: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58 (fig. 32). span with one hand: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 56.
1,600 feet of relief: Weary and others 2014, 4.
being dug out of their covering again … St. Francois Mountains: Sauer 1920, 10, on the crystalline core of the St. Francois region, which erosion “is re-excavating this buried mountain mass.”

The sea comes in

breaking apart … the ocean spread over the low interior: Weary and others 2014, 5 (breakup of Rodinia, about 760 to 530 million years ago; marine sediment under an epicontinental sea).
near the equator … central Arkansas: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 56. a new ocean basin: Weary and others 2014, 5.
Reelfoot rift: Weary and others 2014, 5 (a rift that “ultimately failed”).
Warm, clear, shallow water makes lime: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27 (carbonate rocks indicate shallow, often equatorial seas); the rest is general explanation.
rubble shed from the knobs … several feet across: Weary and others 2014, 17. as steeply as 38 degrees … packed down more under its own weight: Weary and others 2014, 8 (“differential compaction and (or) non-horizontal primary deposition”). Rocky Falls: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27 (fig. 20), 28.
Potosi … chalcedony … “fetid odor” … 50 to 575 feet: Weary and others 2014, 17.
Eminence … bluish gray … knobs and pinnacles … 80 … 919 feet … stromatolites: Weary and others 2014, 17. one of the two main levels: Weary and others 2014, 8.
Cambrian explosion … trilobites, snails: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 56–57. within a few tens of millions of years: general. sandstone layers in the Eminence: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 57.

The Ordovician shoreline

fifteen million years … drifting slowly north … weathered into an uneven surface … quick cycles: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58. When the sea deepened … When it shallowed: general explanation of the alternating dolomite and sandstone.
Gunter … 10 to 25 feet: Weary and others 2014, 16. the most complex cave networks … Alley Spring: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13–15. benches, small waterfalls: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25.
Gasconade … 148 and 770 feet … three informal parts … Cryptozoon chert … 2 to 10 feet … oolite … Van Buren Formation … vuggy: Weary and others 2014, 16. about 500 feet: Weary and others 2013, metadata. Most of the caves: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13.
Roubidoux … up to about 250 feet … ripple marks … crossbedding … tiny round grains: Weary and others 2014, 16; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, PDF 102. almost pure quartz: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27 (orthoquartzite layers). mud cracks: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58. tabular slabs: Weary and others 2014, 16.
Jefferson City … Quarry Ledge … about 200 feet: Weary and others 2014, 16. only on the uplands along the upper Jacks Fork: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, PDF 102. Summersville: Weary and others 2014, GIS data.

Life in the Ordovician sea

stromatolites … Lecanospira … cephalopods … Two species … three species: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 28 and PDF 102. Three more nautiloids, two trilobites and a snail: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 28 (“named from specimens potentially found within the park”).
three new species of Cambrian snails … a hill north of the Jacks Fork … Taeniospira eminencensis … new genus … U.S. National Museum: Bridge 1930, 189–90, 195–96, and plate 18.
60 to 70 feet above the base of the Roubidoux … a thin fossil bed … Alabama to New York … Scotland and Scandinavia: Bridge 1930, 123–24, the only source.

The river’s marker bed

rarely exposed … buried under loose rock: Weary and others 2014, 16; Bridge 1930, 123.
given as about 70 feet and as 80 to 100 feet: Bridge 1930, 123 (the reef “commonly” about 70 feet below the contact); Weary and others 2014, 16 (80 to 100 feet, from averaged measurements). Missouri Speleological Survey 1982, 13, gives 70 to 80 feet at Blue Spring.
mapped from the reef … the interval shrinks … blocks: Bridge 1930, 123; see also 166.
Cryptozoon … “hidden animal” … stromatolites: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27 (the Cryptozoon chert as the remains of “fossil algae”).
a massive reef about three feet thick … a ledge of it juts into the river: MSS 1982, 13.
Field observations of the chert … about eight miles … above Rymers … above Bay Creek: Weary and others 2013, GIS data (field observations of Cryptozoon chert).
lower cliffs … upper slopes … ledges and overhangs … frost and tree roots: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25 (fig. 19).
Downstream from Jam Up Cave … about 100 feet above the river … in 2007 a light-colored scar: Weary and others 2014, cover caption; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25 (fig. 19, the same photograph, taken in March 2007, with “a relatively fresh rockfall ‘scar’”).
not far above the Highway 17 bridge: MSS 1982, 37 (“was observed not far above the Highway 17 bridge over the Jacks Fork”).
State Highway 17 … about 230 feet … 160 to 170 feet … an eighth of a mile north of the bridge … 58 feet of Gasconade: Bridge 1930, 120–21.
Highway 106, about three-quarters of a mile west of Alley Spring: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 15 (1.2 km, 0.73 mile).
caves … just below it: MSS 1982, 4, 10, 34, 49. sinkholes … Roubidoux and the Jefferson City: Weary and others 2014, 8.

Down through the rock

a little past mile 1 … 34 miles … mile 35 … a mile or two below Horse Hollow … Potosi: Weary and others 2013 and 2014, GIS data, laid against the river centerline (Roubidoux to mile 1.15, Gasconade to about mile 35.4).
structure contours … within about a hundred feet: Weary and others 2013, GIS data (structure contours). 7 to 9 feet to the mile … about 180 feet: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12), summed by stretch from mile 1 to mile 24.
two or three degrees … south and southeast … in the direction of that tilt: Weary and others 2014, 8 (dips under 2 degrees predominate, the regional trend toward the south) and cover caption; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 28 (a regional average of 3 degrees to the southeast). Along the Jacks Fork valley the dip is “imperceptible” (MSS 1982, 37).
does not show along the river until the neighborhood of Alley Spring: MSS 1982, 37 (the Gunter “was not seen until in the vicinity of Alley Spring”).
the Roubidoux, the Gasconade, the Eminence and the Potosi: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 11.

Table 1.1

Compiled from Weary and others 2014, 16–20 and GIS data; Weary and others 2013, metadata and GIS data; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 5 (fig. 4) and PDF 102–105.

What dolomite is

calcium magnesium carbonate … almost no magnesium: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 27. atom by atom: general.
some … early … some much later: Weary and others 2014, 5–6. hot, mineral-laden water … Viburnum Trend … limestone … into the dolomite: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 59, which puts the weight on the later event. the largest lead-mining district in the world: Weary and others 2014, 1–2.
driven out of deep basins to the south: the usual explanation of ores of this kind (Mississippi Valley-type), given here as probable; the late Paleozoic timing is from Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 32, 59. Bonneterre Formation … draped over buried knobs … along faults: Weary and others 2014, 11–12 (the Fletcher and Sweetwater mines).
found late, by drilling … Fletcher … discovery hole … 1958 … 1967 … Sweetwater … 1962 … 1968 … inside the area that feeds springs of the Current River … Blair Creek … 1960s … kept the results to themselves: Weary and others 2014, 11–12 (the Sweetwater workings lie “within the subsurface recharge area for springs that feed the Current River,” after Feder and Barks 1972, Maxwell 1974 and Aley and Aley 1987; the Blair Creek drilling results “are proprietary”).
Lost silver mines … de Soto’s expedition of the 1540s … sealed the cave … killing one another … a prospector with a degree in geology … Shannon County … no native silver … galena … a geologist of the state survey has suggested … zinc ore … only smelting: Sheeley 2024 (the legend as usually told; the Missouri Geological Survey’s Cheryl Seeger on silver held in galena and, in the Viburnum Trend, in sphalerite, and on galena as the likely root of the legends, given as her own view). The Shannon County prospector is named there, without dates, and is told here as a story.
carbonic acid … from the soil: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13. 99 percent: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12. glades … contacts: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 6.

Chert, the rock that stays

no grain to split along … shell-shaped break: general description of the fracture of chert.
red or reddish-orange sandy clay … six feet … about 40 feet … more than 100 … from the Roubidoux … sticky: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 23.
more chert than any other area of its size … “covers the roads, chokes the stream beds …”: Sauer 1920, 16, who judged the region to hold “probably more chert, or flint, as it is called, than any other similar area.” Courtois flint hills: Sauer 1920, 190 (“in the heart of the Courtois flint hills”).
dart points: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3.
1967 … mozarkite … takes a high polish … west-central Missouri … boulders … road cuts … Cotter Dolomite: Missouri Geological Survey 2015. with the Jefferson City caps the uplands of the upper watershed, as around Summersville: see “Down through the rock” above, table.

Faults and cracks

Where the crust is pulled apart … squeezed … strike-slip: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 33 (fig. 23).
The mapping of the 1920s found no faults around Eminence: Bridge 1930, 136 (“no faults have been observed in the Eminence area”).
layers out of place … crushed rock … smeared surfaces: Weary and others 2014, 3. even in loose blocks of sandstone: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 33. angular rubble … replaced by silica: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 34 (“intensely silicified and brecciated with almost complete carbonate dissolution”).
three age groups … northeast and northwest … grain of the basement: Weary and others 2014, 8–9; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 33.
Fly Blow Hollow, Buck Hollow and Belew Hollow … Teresita … Houston … merge … die out: Weary and others 2014, 10.
crosses and recrosses … about miles 3.6 and 6.5 … around Blue Spring … just below Jam Up … below Rymers … below Bay Creek … above Alley: Weary and others 2013 and 2014, GIS data (faults), laid against the river centerline (the Belew Hollow fault at about miles 3.6, 3.9, 6.0 and 6.5; the Buck Hollow fault from about 9.5 to 10.8; the Fly Blow Hollow fault at about 13.6). Possum Trot Hollow … above Eminence: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, PDF 97 (geologic map, Jacks Fork to Two Rivers).
U.S. 63 … southwest side has dropped … about 41 miles: Weary and others 2014, 10 (a “down-to-the southwest structure”; about 66 km).
strike-slip … horizontal scratches: Weary and others 2014, 10–11.
Hartshorn … western part of the old caldera … scissoring: Weary and others 2014, 10–11.
north-south and east-northeast … Ouachita: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 33–34. one or a few beds before they stop … a smaller part: Weary and others 2014, 8. paths for … fluids: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 34.
1964 through 2003 … 2.5 and 5.1 … within about seven miles: Weary and others 2014, 11 (0 to 12 km). New Madrid: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 33. Reelfoot rift: Weary and others 2014, 5; the New Madrid seismic zone lies along the buried rift.
By one account Alley Spring stopped for twelve hours in 1811 … fell five feet: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source; see Reach H. the year the New Madrid shaking began: the first great shock came on December 16, 1811 (general). broken formations in the caves of the riverways have been studied: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 16 (speleothems in a park cave studied for when earthquakes occurred, after Tinsley 2014).

The missing record

jumbled blocks … oval patches … old sinkholes … let down … bryozoans … crinoids … brachiopods … trilobite … Birch Tree … 1998 … at least two … Burlington … Keokuk: Weary and others 2014, 6–7 (table 2: identifications by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Maryland Geological Survey; “let-down residual blocks”; the paleosinkhole reading after Bridge 1930).
reworked Mississippian chert: Weary and others 2013, metadata.
5,000 to 9,000 feet: Weary and others 2014, 6.
Pangaea … Ouachita … 124 miles … Appalachians … Ancestral Rocky … fluids: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58–59.
Mesozoic … Atlantic … Gulf … Western Interior Seaway … Mississippi Embayment … Cape Girardeau … No rocks: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 59. about a hundred miles east of Eminence: measured. since at least the Cretaceous: Weary and others 2014, 4.

The dinosaur question

1942 … Glen Allen … well … Ole Chronister … Stewart … nine feet … more than a thousand teeth … 2004 … 2022: Missouri Geological Survey 2022.
Lula Chronister … $50 … Gilmore … 1945 … Late Cretaceous … Western Interior Seaway … 2021 … Field Museum: Missouri Secretary of State, “State Dinosaur.”
about 80 miles east of Eminence: measured.
last major glaciation or later: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 29. Hawksley … Illinois State Museum: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 28. Warrensburg biology professor … helped found: Weaver 2008, 110.
prohibited by federal regulation: 36 C.F.R. § 2.1.

The Ice Age, at a distance

2.6 million … the Missouri River: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25, 59. speeding the weathering … wind-blown silt: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 26, 59–60. refuge: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 7.
died out across the south of their range … cool and damp: MDC, “Cliffs.” harebell … relicts: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; MDC, “Cliffs.” red-berried elderberry and northern bedstraw: MDC, “Cliffs.”
about 12,000 years ago: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 59.

Table 1.2

Compiled from the sources above.

Chapter 2. How the Hills Were Cut

Opening

Mountain View Oak Savanna/Woodland Plain … the broad, flat divide between the upper Jacks Fork and the Eleven Point … Jacks Fork River Oak-Pine Forest Breaks … extremely abrupt, narrow and winding valley with outstanding communities of cliff plants: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 60, 63 (table Lu04, after MDC 1997), where the plain is the “Mtn. View Oak Savanna/Woodland Plain,” the “broad, flat divide between upper Jack’s Fork and Eleven Point Rivers,” and the breaks an “extremely abrupt, narrow and sinuous valley with outstanding cliff communities.” Breaks, in the language of these maps: general usage.
more than 200 feet … about 250 near Jam Up Cave: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13): the right-bank face at about mile 12.76, about 250 feet, and the left-bank face at 13.14 to 13.33 (Red Bluff), about 230; see Reach E. MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area, gives “as much as 200 feet.”
about 1,600 feet … about 580: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 10. about 836 feet: USGS NWIS, site 07065200 (gage datum 836.06 feet).
about 320 to nearly 470 feet: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 10.

A plateau cut into hills

a broad and lopsided one … igneous core … to the eye they look level: Sauer 1920, 7 (“a broad, asymmetrical dome, whose apex is formed by the igneous rocks outcropping in St. Francois and adjacent counties”; “the rocks appear to the eye to be horizontal”). rings, like the cut end of an onion: general description of an eroded dome.
about 50,000 square miles: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 1. Salem Plateau … 1,000 and 1,400 feet: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3; Wilkerson 2001, PDF 10.
Its western part, far from any large river, is still a plateau … rough hill country: Sauer 1920, 6 (“is still a plateau”; “is principally rough hill country, formed by the intricate dissection of the plateau surface”). A creek that drains to a big river close at hand: general explanation.
Central Plateau … one of only two parts … the cherty Howell soil: Sauer 1920, 70 (“which has not been dissected extensively”). Texas and Howell … Shannon: Sauer 1920, 62 (fig. 18).
weathered mostly from the Jefferson City … the most widespread single soil … small pieces … gravelly rather than stony … advertised hard as fruit land … orchards … Howell and Oregon counties … probably most of it had never been plowed: Sauer 1920, 38 (“the most extensive single soil type of the Ozarks”; “advertised heavily as fruit soil”; “Probably the major part of it has never been put under cultivation”).
Courtois Hills … Courtois Creek … steep-sided, chert-covered ridges, much alike … “the distance by road at least doubles the airline distance between two points”: Sauer 1920, 68 (“steep-sided, chert-covered ridges, monotonous in their similarity”). main outcrop of the Gasconade and Potosi: Sauer 1920, 68. the steepest average slopes … a maze of deep, narrow valleys and nearly knife-edged ridges: Sauer 1920, 14 (“the steepest average slopes of any part of the Ozarks”; “maze of deep, narrow valleys and almost knifelike ridges”).
the most rugged country in the Ozarks: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 1.
Eminence and Cardareva quadrangles … Courtois Hills … Central Plateau … 400 to 550 feet: Bridge 1930, 29.
the skyline looks level … the divide between the Jacks Fork and the Eleven Point … Flat Woods … gently rolling, forested upland … a long, flat-topped, narrow, winding ridge … 200 to 500 feet … 60 to 80 feet: Bridge 1930, 30–31 (the skyline “is decidedly level”; “the first impression obtained is that the country contains broad areas of gently rolling, forested upland”).
A Scottish botanist … “Although the surface is more broken …”: John Bradbury, quoted in Sauer 1920, 6, citing Bradbury in Early Western Travels, vol. 5, 244–45; Sauer credits Bradbury with first grasping the character of the Ozarks.
about 445 square miles … nine miles south of Raymondville: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 1, 5. about ten miles east of Cabool: USGS GNIS (source of South Prong Jacks Fork; Cabool), distance measured; Wilkerson 2001, PDF 5, gives “approximately 5 miles east of Cabool,” which fits the head of the large unnamed creek that joins the prong from the west; see Reach B. by the Missouri, just above St. Louis, or by the White: general geography.
Clear Springs quadrangle … about fifteen miles … ravines working back: Bretz 1965, 35 (ravines “gnawing back from Jacks Fork of Current River on the east”).

When the dome rose

late Paleozoic … a broad bulge … forebulge … long-term stability: Beeson, McCoy and Keen-Zebert 2017. Ouachita Mountains: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58–59.
Mississippian chert on the uplands: Weary and others 2014, 7. shallow sea … a few hundred meters … left over from that early uplift or come from later movement: Brown and Marshak 2004 (“it is not clear whether the present-day elevations are a residual of earlier uplift”).
apatite … a track … about 100 degrees Celsius: general explanation of fission-track dating. roughly ten meters every million years … 200 million years: Beeson, McCoy and Keen-Zebert 2017, citing apatite fission-track ages. some 6,500 feet: computed.

The peneplain

an old plain lifted up on domed rocks: Sauer 1920, 6 (“an elevated peneplain, developed upon domed rocks”). entrenched meanders … an inheritance … sluggish streams wandered widely over a smooth surface: Sauer 1920, 24 (the meanders “are inherited from a peneplained condition of the region, when sluggish streams wandered widely over the smooth surface”). the slope at which a river carries its load: general definition of grade.
three levels … Pliocene … 300 to nearly 400 feet … pause … a high, much-dissected terrace … about a mile northeast of town … about 800 feet … about twice … first on one side of a river and then on the other … the raised and cut-up remains of a wide valley floor … halted … Mississippian fossils … about 200 feet: Bridge 1930, 31–32, 53–54 (the intermediate level as “a high, much dissected terrace,” “first on one side and then on the other,” “the uplifted and dissected remnant of a wide valley,” marking “a temporary halt in the uplift of the region”). five million to two and a half million years ago: general. about the height of the tallest bluffs: see Map 13 below. can no longer swing to a new course: general.
only where a creek crosses one of the porphyry ridges … shut-in plains … the height of the cut-up terrace … hard … small … Rocky Creek above the falls … two flats on smaller creeks nearby … the only parts of the intermediate level big enough to farm … under the plow: Bridge 1930, 32 (the “‘shut-in’ plains,” whose elevation “agrees with that of the much dissected terrace along the main streams”; Prairie Hollow and the upper valley of Little Rocky Creek, east of Eminence, the other two; “the only portions of this intermediate level which are large enough to be farmed, and most of these areas are under cultivation”). shut-ins: Sauer 1920, 11; see Chapter 1.
more than 200 feet … none of them reaches above the intermediate level … often steep but never sheer: Bridge 1930, 33, 54 (“often steep” but “never precipitous”). youth, maturity and old age: the cycle of erosion then current, general. late youth: Bridge 1930, 39 (“in late youth”). approaching grade and beginning to widen their valleys: Bridge 1930, 54.
three successive peneplains: Bretz 1965, 21. deeply entrenched meanders … lower, earlier base level: Bretz 1965, 37 (“strikingly entrenched meanders of Ozark rivers”). hills and valleys come into balance: the view of John Hack, rejected in Bretz 1965, 19–20, 33.
beryllium-10 … cosmic rays … sand from a river’s bed: general explanation of cosmogenic-nuclide erosion rates. 4 to 15 meters … about 8 … a factor of two … out of balance … a square kilometer to a thousand … will likely never settle into a steady state: Beeson, McCoy and Keen-Zebert 2017 (the dome “not in a state of equilibrium”; the network “will likely never achieve steady state conditions”). some thirteen million years: 350 feet at 8 meters per million years, computed.
base level … starts low and travels up: general explanation. Mississippi Embayment … the Current and the Jacks Fork included … ice ages … perched: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 59–60.

Cutting down

two feet an hour … April and May … late August and early September … two or three days: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 36. six and a half to ten feet … 13 to 20 feet: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 11.
doubling the speed of the water … some sixty times heavier … plucks: general; the “sixth-power law” of stream competence.
about 1,420 … about 1,370 … about 30 feet a mile … 9 … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5 … about 330 feet … stair of pools … 8 to 10 feet: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12). The figures by stretch are the means for Reaches C to J (Part Five); depth is a pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it. 7.1 feet a mile … about 30 … about 130: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 12, 32 (table Ge05), over a mainstem it measures at 49.1 miles. steep at the head and flattening toward the mouth … a bigger river needs less slope: general explanation of the concave long profile. 9.5 … 5.92 … 5.8: Wilson 2001, 2 (basin slopes, after Alexander and Wilson 1995; 5.80 is the state average for basins within 10 percent of the Jacks Fork’s drainage area, and 3.45 the average for basins the size of the Current’s). The National Park Service’s geologic inventory (Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 11) gives 9.5 as the river’s fall through the park and 3.45 as the state average.
many low rapids … not yet reached grade … gravel bar … no waterfalls … about 5 feet in a quarter of a mile … temporary grade … a few small floodplain meanders: Bridge 1930, 39 (the main streams “not yet at grade, as is shown by the numerous low rapids along their courses”; “a few incipient flood plain meanders”). a narrow gorge … sandstone: Bridge 1930, 36 (sec. 28, T. 29 N., R. 4 W.).
still cutting down into their beds: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 60 (“continue to incise their channels”).
honeycombed with such abandoned passages … channels that are still being dissolved: Sauer 1920, 19 (“With increasing dissection of the surface, the underground drainage suffers readjustment and former channels are abandoned, appearing here and there on hillsides as dry caves”; the Gasconade “especially is honeycombed by such abandoned passages”; springs “issuing from solution channels of the present cycle”). stranded well above … Alley Spring: Weary and others 2014, 8. the water table … falls too: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 15.
a pocket packed with clay … river silt: MSS 1982, 56 (“probably a filled pocket until the down-cutting river exposed it and replaced the clay sediments with silt”).
rare forms of aluminum and beryllium … decay at different rates … time since burial: general explanation of cosmogenic-nuclide burial dating. Fitton Cave, beside the Buffalo River … magnetism … uranium in the flowstone … 2.2 million and 1.25 million … cold glacial times … before about 720,000 … the last 850,000 years … about 27 meters: Hudson and others 2025 (burial, luminescence, paleomagnetic and uranium-series ages; the gravel pulses matched to glacial tills about 300 kilometers north). some 90 feet, every million years: converted.

Where the river starts

Central Plateau subsection … intermittent … losing: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 37–38. about seventeen miles … about sixteen: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 31 (table Ge04). Current River Hills: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 37.
Hydrologists rank streams by order: general explanation of Strahler stream order. sixth-order: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 12.
a little more than a mile: Weary and others 2013, GIS data, laid against the river centerline.
Thick beds of sandstone … trenches the dolomite fast … deep, narrow valleys with over-steepened sides: Bridge 1930, 31 (“with great rapidity”; “deep narrow valleys with over-steepened sides”). extremely abrupt valley: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 63 (table Lu04).

Hollows

1,189 miles … 63 percent … 13 percent: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 12. two and two-thirds miles … some 150 miles: computed from the same figures and the watershed’s 445 square miles.
blunt-headed valleys 100 to 200 feet deep … faint traces of a stream channel … put forward in 1892 … the roof caved in: Sauer 1920, 14 (“many of the tributary streams occupy blunt-headed valleys with a depth of one to two hundred feet,” which “ordinarily show only obscure traces of a stream channel”; the origin by “subterranean solution, continued until the roof has caved in,” suggested by Frank L. Nason in 1892).
losing streams: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 11 and table Lu04.
dry valleys floored with a thick mantle of chert fragments and soil … no definite channel … a fairly large spring … about 900 feet … 900 and 760 feet: Bridge 1930, 35–36, 45.
A sink in the upland just beyond the head of a tributary valley … grow headward by capturing them … bowl-shaped heads … breached sinks: Bridge 1930, 42–43 (“no uncommon thing”; valleys “often lengthen headward by the capture of sinks”; “Many of the abrupt, cirque-like heads of the tributary valleys may very well be breached sinks”).

Bluffs on the outside of the bends

returns across the bottom toward the inside of the bend: general explanation of the secondary current in a bend.
cuts sharply into the upland … sheer bluff … gentle slopes on the inner sides of the loops: Sauer 1920, 24, 25 (fig. 6). “invariably the sites of the choicest farms …”: Sauer 1920, 24. cutoffs … border regions: Sauer 1920, 25.
about 46 miles … about 26 miles … 1.4 to 1.9 … about 1.4 miles … about 1,150 feet … Harlow Ford: measured along the river centerline; USGS GNIS (Harlow Ford).
sinuosity … a ratio of 1.5: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 9. changes with the length of the stretch: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021.
Jam Up Bluff and Angel Ridge Bluff … representative limestone and dolomite cliffs: MDC, “Cliffs.” bars … where tributaries come in: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 11 (fig. 7), 12.
bold cliffs as much as 200 feet … White Bluff … “so precipitously out of the river …”: Bridge 1930, 33. White Bluff is in sec. 9, T. 28 N., R. 5 W., placed here by that land-survey description.
often more than 100 feet high … particularly above the mouth of Alley Branch: Bridge 1930, 113. between Lick Log Hollow and the junction: Bridge 1930, 85.
about ten miles … about eight … 280 to 350 … between miles 18 and 29 … about mile 28.3 … about 350 feet … 160 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13). Every bluff height in this book is the top of the continuous steep face above the water, rounded to 10 feet. A face is counted where the ground rises at least 50 feet within about 150 feet of the water at a slope steeper than 30 degrees; the 117 faces so found, their lengths summed along the river for both banks, come to about 9.7 miles, 8.5 of them above the Highway 106 bridge at Alley. Ten of the eleven faces over 280 feet lie between miles 18.7 and 28.4; the eleventh, about 290 feet, is on the left at about mile 11.4. The tallest, 347 feet, is the left-bank face at about miles 28.27 to 28.33, across from Grandma Rocks; the tallest below Alley, about 160 feet (164.6), is on the left near mile 45.0 (see Reach J). Lodder Bluff … Grandma Rocks: see Reaches F and G.
first twenty-two miles inside the park … Roubidoux … Gasconade, Eminence and Potosi … more gravel below Leatherwood Creek: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 12, 34 (about the upper 35 kilometers of the channel studied; “In general, there is more gravel downstream from Leatherwood Creek, where valley width increases and the channel is less confined”).

The abandoned meander at Eminence

rarely cuts through its own neck: Sauer 1920, 25. the neck, the narrow strip of ground: general.
about a mile northwest of town … the lower part of the valley of Storys Creek … small knob … 20 or 30 feet … fairly recent times … two ways … groundwater … roof … Sinkin Creek … Barren Fork … half a mile … three-quarters of a mile … boat: Bridge 1930, 34–35 (fig. 2, plate 6), and figs. 3–4 (“Originally Jacks Fork flowed up the lower portion of the valley of Storey’s Creek, and around the small knob”; the river “occupied this course until comparatively recent times”; the groundwater route judged the more probable).
by one reading, Jam Up Cave is an underground shortcut: Bridge 1930, 22, the only source (“a subterranean short-cut by which Jam-Up creek enters Jacks Fork several miles above its former mouth”).

How bluffs wear back

sandstone … dissolves the dolomite above and below … frost … tree roots … Gunter … bench … waterfalls: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25.
Sheer cliffs of Gasconade … step-like ledges one to four feet high … grassy slopes … pinnacled: Bridge 1930, 103, 111, 113. carries off whatever falls … probably weathers back into steps: general explanation, offered as probable.
rockfall … small slumps … cracks, loose rock or overhangs … old landslide scars: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 48. trails or the river: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25. earthquake: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 49.
more than half covered … 15 to 60 percent … scarred and toppled: MDC, “Talus.”
30 to 100 feet … Waymeyer … about three feet … Two Rivers … faster during the cold: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, map unit properties table (Qls, Qc), and 59.
the Cretaceous left no rock: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 58–59. upstream from Leatherwood Creek: measured along the river centerline.

The cold centuries

stopped near the Missouri River … pries the rock apart … faster … not yet been systematically inventoried: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25–26. expands by about a tenth: general. probably formed or grew faster: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 26 (“could have formed via periglacial processes”).
wide flats of silt and sand … meltwater: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 26 (loess derived from the floodplains of glacial braided outwash rivers). loess … all of the riverways except the highest parts: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 59. about three feet … Thorny Mountain … about a foot … Sangamon Geosol: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, map unit properties table (Ql, Qtl), and 26. 125,000 and 75,000 years: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 60.

Chert becomes gravel

red clay: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 23. more than 95 percent … residuum the greatest … by volume: Weary and others 2014, 7.
up to about 20 feet … slightly rounded chert, sandstone and quartzite: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, map unit properties table (Qa).
coarsest material lies along the smaller creeks … limestone pebbles … nearly every pebble in the river … porphyry … commonly very clean: Bridge 1930, 133 (“practically all the pebbles of the river are composed of angular and slightly rounded fragments of chert and sandstone”; gravel beds “commonly very clean”).
flat, shell-shaped chips … do not readily roll or wash off it: Sauer 1920, 13–14 (chert “fractures into flattish pieces” and “is not removed readily from the slope on which it has weathered out”). once thought to be residual: Sauer 1920, 224 (many Ozark gravel bars “are probably residual rather than transported, and do not change their positions”).
Floods move gravel the most … easier for a stream to carry … chert does not dissolve … gravel-rich … shallower: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 38.

Floodplains and terraces

6 and 15 feet … a few decades to a hundred years … 15 to 30 feet … hundreds to thousands of years … 30 to 45 feet … tens of thousands: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12, after Buck and others 2000, a study of the riparian lands of the riverways.
first bottoms … corn year after year … second bottoms … small grain … rotated … the White River country … a bench: Sauer 1920, 22 (“second bottoms,” “as valley lands above the level of ordinary floods are designated locally”; they “do not, however, permit continuous cropping in corn, as do the flood plains or ‘first bottoms’”; terraces “locally called ‘benches’” in the White River country).
more gravel than it can carry on … power to spare: general.
6 to 10 feet … normal flood range … more than 10 feet thick: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, map unit properties table (Qt).
more than 160 … reworked chert and sandstone … crinoids and snails: Weary and others 2013, metadata and GIS data. about 700 acres … about 4,600 acres … about 50 acres … about 20 acres: Weary and others 2013, GIS data (surficial units), measured.
300 feet … Van Buren … Mississippian chert: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, map unit properties table (QTg). the high, much-dissected terrace along the Jacks Fork and the Current: Bridge 1930, 31.
radiocarbon … luminescence: general. Cores: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 26.
The nearest dates come from the Current … younger than had been thought … swinging from side to side … reworking … Round Spring … the last two centuries … before about 3,000 … about five feet … by about 1,700 … a soil … a thin skin … logging … Akers Ferry … 45,500 … 29,800 … the upper twenty feet … 12,500 and 9,300: Dempsey 2012, 148–53, 164–65 (OSL ages; 1.5 meters of alluvium between about 3,000 and 1,700 years ago; the T-1 fill “previously thought to have aggraded in the last 200 years”; historic logging “probably caused” the last alluviation; the T-3 fill beneath the T-2 strath at Akers Ferry; the upper 6 meters of fill beneath the T-3 surface, about 12,500 to 9,300 years ago). in the last glacial period … as the ice age ended: general.
small villages and farms … dry periods … wet ones: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3.
about a quarter of a mile wide … the most fertile soil in the region … highest floods: Bridge 1930, 32 (“the most fertile soil in the region”). lived on farms on those floodplains: Bridge 1930, 23. always cleared and cultivated: Bridge 1930, 33. to save the last few feet of floodplain for crops: Bridge 1930, 26 (“in order to save the last few feet of flood plain for cultivation”).

Water underground

the Jefferson City Dolomite … uppermost: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 15. closed hollow with no outlet: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 18–19.
most sinkholes form in the soil … gently sloping sides … uplands of the Salem Plateau … very steep to vertical sides … intact sandstone beds … a void in the top of the Gasconade: Weary and others 2014, 8. sandstone layers … cave in: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 19–20. Blue Spring, Rymers, Horse Camp and Shawnee Creek: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 22.
a few feet to a quarter of a mile … about 50 feet … rare below about 800 feet … ponds … stock … 1922 … timber … Two years later … about 200 feet … 30 feet … cracks: Bridge 1930, 42–43 (seen by Bridge in 1924). the roof over a dissolved void gives way: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 19.
Drop-In … Bell Flat … drains to Blue Spring … early in the twentieth century: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source (Blue Spring “apparently drains the area to the northeast”); see Reach D. Alley Spring stopped for a few hours in 1917 … fifteen miles to the northwest … muddy: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source; see Reach H.
muck and clayey silt … pollen: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, map unit properties table (Qm). about 20 feet: Weary and others 2013, GIS data (surficial units).
a different watershed: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 11.

Part Two: The Human River

Chapter 3. The First People

Opening

some twenty-five or thirty feet above the Current: Mandel 2016, 4. as much as five feet down: Mandel 2016, 17. near the end of the last Ice Age … the centuries around a thousand years ago: Mandel 2016, 3, 9.
a seasonal or short-term field camp … resharpen their worn tools … more than 13,000 years: Mandel 2016, 17 (the bench “appears to have functioned primarily as a seasonal or short-term field camp for more than 13,000 years”; the flaking done there was mostly the reduction of late-stage preforms and the resharpening of dulled tools).
“searching for evidence of early man’s habitation here”: NPS 1977, 1.
walked plowed fields, campgrounds and gravel roads from Montauk to Gooseneck: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 18 (table 1-1). more than ten thousand artifacts: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 37 (10,188). test excavations at ten sites: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 20.
480 recorded archaeological sites: Finney 2006, 1 (data as of September 2005). nearly everything known about them had been learned since the park was formed: Finney 2006, 63 (“Virtually all knowledge of the OZAR archeological resources has been gathered since the park’s formation”).

Before the archaeologists

Nineteenth-century archaeology passed these hills by … nine Missouri counties in 1882 and 1883 … the edge of the Ozarks … catalog of reported mounds, published in 1891: Finney 2006, 40 (the Bureau of American Ethnology’s field agents under Cyrus Thomas “did not, however, survey sites in OZAR”; the 1891 compendium has “no mention of mounds in Missouri counties within OZAR”).
Louis Houck listed 81 … 189 more in Carter County … Lewis M. Bean and D. L. Hoffman … two years … some 28,000 mounds … a large concentration along the Jacks Fork … natural prairie mounds, also called mima mounds … rare in the park … a burial vault, rock cairns and a cache of artifacts … 793 mounds, and Dent County with 257: Finney 2006, 40–41 and n. 3, after Houck 1908, 78–85 (the chapter “Extent of Pre-Historic Remains”).
In 1918 and 1919 … Gerard Fowke … Bureau of American Ethnology … Bat Cave and Big Creek Cave: Hansford and Logan 1933, 22 (his “Report on Cave Explorations in the Ozark Region of Central-Southern Missouri. 1918–1919”); Fowke 1922, letter of transmittal dated February 17, 1920, and the Current River section; Finney 2006, 41. Finney dates the work to 1921, which cannot be right, since the manuscript was transmitted for publication in February 1920. born Charles Mitchell Smith in 1855 … seven hundred miles down the Amur River: Hansford and Logan 1933, 20 (born June 25, 1855, in Mason County, Kentucky; died March 5, 1933, at Madison, Indiana). published in 1922 … so hard to reach … a camping place for hunters and fishermen … took water whenever the creek or the river rose: Fowke 1922, Current River section (one cave “very difficult of access” and so “probably never inhabited”; another “often used as a temporary camping place by hunters and fishermen,” with water entering “whenever there is a freshet in either the creek or the river”). the Mammoth Cave … had never heard of it … perhaps on Jack’s Fork … could not find it: Fowke 1922, Mammoth Cave entry (“it may be on Jack’s Fork”), the only source; the cave is in no catalog and is not placed.
In 1940 James L. Lowe … Van Buren … Boy Scouts … 36 sites … 94 in Carter County and three in Shannon: Finney 2006, 41–42.
A. A. Seamon … at least nine sites … the 1940s: Finney 2006, 42. the first to report the Shawnee Creek site: Finney 2006, 70; Lynott 1981, 113. Other collectors … shared what they knew: Finney 2006, 42.
Carl Chapman … 1960 … 45 known sites … the Eleven Point … amateur archaeological society: Finney 2006, 40, 43, 63. large volumes of 1975 and 1980 … almost no professional work … before 1971 … a cultural backwater in prehistory … the mid-1980s: Finney 2006, 43 (“some individuals took this absence as meaning the eastern Ozarks were a cultural backwater in prehistory”; the view dated from the cave and rock-shelter excavations of the early twentieth century and “was not extinguished until a 1984 publication by James Brown”).
In 1971 … eleven test trenches … parking lot and campground … first archaeology contracted: Finney 2006, 44. From 1979 Mark Lynott … James Price: Finney 2006, 44, 60. Between 1981 and 1985 … Center for Archaeological Research: Finney 2006, 44. A private firm … 1986 … 1987 and 1988: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 1; Klinger and others 1989, abstract; NRHP, Two Rivers 1991, sec. 7. 2016: Mandel 2016, 2.
take account of archaeological sites before it disturbs the ground: 54 U.S.C. § 306108 (section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966). since 1974 … cultural resource management … the great bulk of the archaeology in the park: Finney 2006, 11 (“Since 1974, cultural resource management (CRM) projects account for the vast majority of archeological research in the project area”).

How anyone knows

a plain lance shape … notched at the corners, the sides or the base: Finney 2006, 18 (five basic shapes, reflecting differences in hafting). aids to memory: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 3 (“We view period designations and related terms almost as mnemonic devices, and when viewed as such rather than as entities that have reality, they are useful constructs”).
Limestone makes clay easy to work … about the same rate … bending tests … crushed granite or crushed fired clay … quicklime … takes on water, swells and pops flakes out of the wall: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 206 (lime spalling: heated calcite becomes calcium oxide, which takes on water as it cools and expands). burned it first … flat platelets … turn cracks aside … a slip of fine clay: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 250.
made high in the atmosphere by cosmic rays … about 5,730 years … two chances in three … nineteen in twenty … carries over to the sherds or points beside it only if they went into the ground at the same time: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 10–11 (one standard deviation gives a 67 percent chance, two a 95 percent chance). five hundred years or more … a millennium or more … not every report says whether its dates have been corrected: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 11 (“Note that we say radiocarbon years, not calendar years”; “Archaeologists are supposed to tell you whether they are reporting corrected radiocarbon dates and how they were corrected. Some do, and some don’t”). add about two thousand years: Finney 2006, 14.
thermoluminescence … flaws in the crystals … several hundred degrees … calendar dates: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 11–12. a regional record … two possible answers: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 8, cont. p. 1 (the hearth dates were read “on the southwestern curve”).
photographed piece by piece with the owners’ help: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 37.

The long sequence

Table 3.1 … one standard set of boundaries: period boundaries from O’Brien and Wood 1998, 4, in uncorrected radiocarbon years (11); Dalton dates, 73. Entries in the third column from the sources cited for each period below.
spruce and pine … oak and other hardwoods … 12,000 radiocarbon years ago: Dempsey 2012, 17–19. only a single occurrence … Howell County: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 51. rare in the interior: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 58.
Clovis … 9250 and 8950 B.C.: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 37. about 11,000 B.C. in calendar years: Finney 2006, 14. A redating of ten Clovis sites in 2020 … about three hundred years … 13,050 to 12,750 calendar years ago: Waters, Stafford and Carlson 2020. Clovis hunters and mastodons did meet in Missouri … 1979 … sponsored by the state parks … the first site in eastern North America: Missouri State Parks, Mastodon State Historic Site (Missouri State Parks “sponsored excavations of the bone bed in 1979, 1980 and 1984”; in 1979 work with the paleontologist Russell W. Graham of the Illinois State Museum turned up a Clovis point with mastodon bones, “the first site in eastern North America where this association was conclusively demonstrated”). very few fluted points: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 58. Five years of work … a single classic Clovis point … scarcely been in the area at all: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 46 (“Based on the current data base it appears the Paleo-Indian occupation in the study area was essentially nonexistent”). three or four places: Finney 2006, 75; Dempsey 2012, 52–53. only at Two Rivers and Alley Mill: Finney 2006, 72; Dempsey 2012, 53, citing Lynott and others 2006.
a small fragment … less than an inch long … very dark, nearly black chert … Alabama, about 250 miles: Klinger and others 1989, 56, 59, 85. 1987 or 1988: Klinger and others 1989, abstract. Sedgwick point … closer to Folsom … Pitkin chert: Mandel 2016, 3 (“more akin to Folsom points on the Plains than to Clovis”). a fragment of a fluted end scraper in the plowed upper layer … the only fluted scraper: NRHP, Two Rivers 1991, sec. 8, 2 and summary (“It is believed to be the only site in North America where a fluted scraper has been recovered”), the only source.
8950 B.C.: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 73. a Missouri judge, S. P. Dalton … mid-1940s … road work … Carl Chapman … 1948: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 360 (“Chapman (1948) created the Dalton type as a way of pigeonholing projectile points collected by Judge Samuel P. Dalton”); News Tribune 2022 (the find in ground disturbed by road work in the mid-1940s; the points taken to Chapman). The judge’s names are given as Samuel P. and as Sidna Poage; Sidna Poage is the form in the Supreme Court of Missouri’s own biography of him (Supreme Court of Missouri, “Judge Sidna Poage Dalton”: born 1892, judge from 1950, died in office 1965). The text gives the initials. At Rodgers Shelter … deer, cottontails …: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 89; Wood and McMillan 1976, 224. adzes … scrapers … grinding stones: Dempsey 2012, 56. every one of Missouri’s 114 counties: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 73.
In 1992 … Alley Mill … buried Dalton base camp … a midden: Finney 2006, 18, 56. a probable Dalton point and a Dalton scraper: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 37, 41. the base of a serrated Dalton point, weathered: Klinger and others 1989, 59. Akers: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 18. upper Jacks Fork: Finney 2006, table 4 (146–52).
So many Dalton points turn up on the surface … private hunting preserve … the small number of Dalton sites in the park: Finney 2006, 72 (“In fact one colleague suggested that the Dalton people must have considered the Ozarks as their private hunting preserve. The low number of Dalton point found in the park is surprising”). Ozark chert … in Dalton sites in the lowlands … by about 8000 B.C.: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 18. along the Ozark escarpment … what both had to offer: Finney 2006, 18.
The Archaic … close to seven thousand years: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 4. weighted the stick with a polished stone … Grinding stones … seeds were being ground for food: Finney 2006, 19.
From about 7000 B.C. … the Hypsithermal: O’Brien 1996, 25; Finney 2006, 18. between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago … prairie: Wood and McMillan 1976, 240 (“between 5000 and 8000 years ago much of the region that supports trees today was covered with prairie”). Pronghorn, bison, prairie chickens and ground squirrels: Finney 2006, 20. the droughts were severe and came back again and again: O’Brien 1996, 27 (“a period of severe and recurrent droughts across much if not all of the Midwest”). meander belts narrowed … less water … probably milder and came later … oak savanna … deer: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 19–20, after Sabo and Early 1990 (“may have been milder and in general developed later in the eastern Ozarks, where an expanded forest edge actually favored the deer population”); Finney 2006, 20. light and heavy carbon … warm-season prairie grasses … no sign that prairie grasses took over: Dempsey 2012, 87, 167 (stable carbon isotopes in the soil organic matter show “a stable, predominantly C3 vegetation community”). the lower terrace: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 161.
a band could keep one home camp through the year … the floodplain in one season and the ridges in another: Finney 2006, 21 (“the narrow valleys of the Jacks Fork and Current Rivers served to make seasonal rounds to upland and floodplain ecotones possible from a permanent central location”). many pits and broad spreads of refuse … lived in for much of the year: Finney 2006, 21 (seasonal to semi-sedentary base camps, with many pit features and sheet middens). levees, ridge slopes and ridge tops … mussels: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 166 (mussels were “a primary attraction to Late Archaic groups residing along the major streams of the eastern Ozarks”). About a quarter … probably too high … any flake of quartzite: Finney 2006, 72–73 (120 of 480). through every level: NRHP, Two Rivers 1991, sec. 8, 4.
squash seeds … about 2270 B.C.: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 161. Eastern Agricultural Complex … in Missouri as well: Finney 2006, 19.
A few sand-tempered sherds … after about 600 B.C.: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 186; Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 44. at least five sites … apparently no earthen mounds … cairns … near Akers: Finney 2006, 73.
the whole Jacks Fork drainage … by one report earlier … Maramec Spring cordmarked … shell- and limestone-tempered wares … sometimes in the same sherd … Owls Bend: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 44–45. crossed the drainage divide southward into the upper reaches of the Current: Finney 2006, 24 (“went south over the drainage divide into the upper reaches of the Current River”). that have been analyzed were all made of eastern Ozark clay: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 28, after Lynott and others 2000, 122–23. the lower Current, the Eleven Point and the Little Black … given both as sand-tempered and as shell-tempered: sand temper, Finney 2006, 24; shell temper below the line, Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 44–45. Pulltite: Finney 2006, 52.
by about A.D. 750: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 232. terraces above the flood line: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 161.
earlier than anyone expected: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 44. Owls Bend … A.D. 580 to 1020 … Gooseneck … A.D. 645 … near A.D. 800: Finney 2006, 153 (table 5). by A.D. 800 at the latest … perhaps even earlier in the eastern Ozarks … no good reason to doubt … late in the 600s: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 248–49 (shell temper “by at least A.D. 800” and “perhaps even earlier in the eastern Ozarks”; “no reason not to believe” it was used on the upland streams by late in the seventh century). did not take up shell temper until after A.D. 1000: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 27, citing O’Brien and Wood 1998, 253.
Emergent Mississippian … predicted no such future … the Eleven Point River, Fourche Creek: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 252 (“The presence of shell tempering was in no sense a predictor that a group was on an evolutionary pathway toward becoming ‘Mississippian’”). trying out early a technique: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 27. a thinly peopled buffer … rejected … raw materials … without a break from at least 8000 B.C. until perhaps 1300: Finney 2006, 27–29, quoting Lynott, who called the model of Cahokian control a “continuation of the misconception that the Ozarks were a cultural backwater.”
about 45 of their sites … the high point … not yet a staple: Finney 2006, 74–75 (“the Emergent Mississippian sites represent the zenith of the park’s prehistoric archeological record”). Owls Bend … little barley, goosefoot, sumpweed and maygrass … green granite: NRHP, Owl’s Bend 1985, sec. 7. Gooseneck … deer and squirrel … corn: NRHP, Gooseneck 1989, sec. 7, 14.
Collectors had walked it for years: Finney 2006, 70 (“collected for years”). a single sherd … June 1985 … a meter square: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 54; Finney 2006, 71.
basin … trenches … posts … hearth … celt of green granite: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 4–5. fire-reddened: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 54. still held charcoal and wood the fire had not finished … dark fill stood out sharply against the yellow subsoil: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 8, 4. within an inch or two of the floor … bits of charcoal, pottery and burned clay: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 6.
In November 1985 … proton magnetometer … Ten samples … June 1986 … three that no one had known about: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 4. about 45 square meters, less than one percent: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 6.
common in the Mississippi bottoms: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 5–6. the first found anywhere in the Current River region: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 8, 4 (“first discovery of a feature of this kind in the Current River region”). fully developed Mississippian houses deep in the stream valleys of the Ozark Highland: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 8, cont. p. 1 (“The discovery of the lowered-floor Mississippian wall trench structure unequivocally demonstrates that fully developed Mississippian architecture was constructed deep in the stream valleys of the Ozark Highland”).
Two refuse pits … a broken spud: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 55; NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 5. A limestone-tempered sherd lay on the house floor in direct contact … by trade … blended at the site or went on side by side … maygrass and goosefoot: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 4; sec. 8, 2–3 and form p. 3 (“The fact that Mississippian and Woodland ceramics were in physical contact with each other is significant because it provides evidence of a possible blending or coexistence of cultures at the site”). Bone survives poorly … badly burned: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 7, 7. deer, turtle, turkey …: Dempsey 2012, 72; Finney 2006, 29.
about A.D. 1025 to 1075: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 55. 870 to 1380 … 1025 to 1075 or 1225 to 1325 … about A.D. 1070 … burned sometime in the eleventh century: NRHP, Shawnee Creek 1989, sec. 8, form p. 3 and cont. p. 1 (“it is probable that the structure burned sometime in the 11th century A.D.”). as late as 1450: Finney 2006, 154 (table 5). listed … in 1990: Finney 2006, 71.
around 1250 … soon after 1300: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 29–30 (around A.D. 1250; upland groups “may have moved permanently to the lowland sites soon after AD 1300,” after Lynott and others 2000, 123). largely empty of people: Finney 2006, 74 (“The eastern Ozarks appear to be largely empty of people after A.D. 1300”). about 1160 and 1310: Finney 2006, 153 (table 5).
Powers Fort … fifteen acres … four mounds … forty or more houses … ten or twelve … one or two … More than eighty sites: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 330. a civic and ceremonial center … fishing and hunting: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 29–30, after Lynott and others 2000, 123. first half of the 1300s: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 291. all burned: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 331. worked out in the 1970s by James Price … several years of survey and excavation … Two neighboring villages … 48 buildings set in rows … a small plaza between two of the rows … 90 houses, 38 of them inside a walled area … about 320 square feet … a ditch that ringed the village: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 330–31, summarizing Price’s dissertation of 1973 and his monograph of 1979 with James B. Griffin (house size given there as 30 square meters; the plaza as “proposed”).
about 80 miles across: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 29. 397 samples of clay and pottery … neutrons … chemically distinct … overwhelmingly in one direction … Varney … as far west as Akers … Barnes … by trade, with immigrants … with the seasons: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 27–28, after Lynott and others 2000, 122–23 (instrumental neutron activation analysis). the likeliest reading … around 1250: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 30 (“what data are available point to a scenario wherein at least some of the people who left the eastern Ozarks around AD 1250 joined preexisting lowland groups or became the lowland inhabitants of the Powers Phase settlements”); NRHP, Gooseneck 1989, sec. 8, 8, to the same effect. lowlands … largely abandoned … between about 1350 and 1400 … as late as the 1500s: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 331–34.
thin triangular and willow-leaf arrow points … a clay fin … about 1500 to 1650 … Armorel phase: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 42. lodged in the skull of a bear: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 31.

Places on the Jacks Fork

For its first 25 miles … a deep valley contained in a canyon: Finney 2006, 4 (“The upper Jacks Fork River has a deep valley contained in a canyon with no bottomland fields for the first 25 miles”). 14 of the 22 field tracts … six sites: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 18. Ridge-top tracts: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 16. several river accesses on the upper river: Lynott 1981, 73–74. Blue Spring in 1983: Finney 2006, 50.
In 1992 … a large prehistoric habitation … In 1993 shovel tests: Finney 2006, 56–57. The park’s survey of caves: Finney 2006, 59. Dalton, Early Archaic and Emergent Mississippian … one of them a rock shelter … none of them has been evaluated: Finney 2006, table 4 (146–52). In 2001 violations: Finney 2006, 60.
The University of Missouri crew of 1971 … Archaic and Woodland: Finney 2006, 44. September 1978 … a high bench … soil washed down from the hills … thoroughly churned … about sixteen inches … more than five thousand … camped there often, for short stays: Lynott 1982, 52, 55, 59, 61, 63, 67 (“The heavily disturbed nature of the deposit cannot be overemphasized”; people camped there “frequently for short periods”).
Scottsbluff point: Finney 2006, 17. Early Archaic, Late Archaic and Late Woodland: Finney 2006, table 4. A fluted point has also come from excavations at Alley Mill … at the margins of the valley … covered by soil washing down the slopes: Dempsey 2012, 32, 53, citing Lynott and others 2006. Middle Woodland point: Lynott 1981, 124. divers … a lump of iron, glass and sand … tentatively of Middle Archaic age … 450 feet … 135 feet: Carrell, May and Garrison 1980, 29–32.
Culpepper-Pummil … row-cropped … Graham Cave Side-notched … the Gary type … farmstead … 1830s or 1840s into the 1860s or 1870s … 1985: NRHP, Culpepper-Pummil 1985, sec. 8 (the site “has produced a greater number of Graham Side-notched points (Middle Archaic) and contracting stemmed Gary-like points (Early Woodland) than any other site yet found”). Testing in 1984 … both sand-tempered and shell-tempered … a single shallow layer: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 23, 52–54.
other recorded sites … known from a private collection … mainly in Archaic times: Lynott 1981, 116, 121.
Lynott recorded the site in 1979 … two Archaic dart points: Lynott 1981, 122; Klinger and others 1989, 27. tested it in 1986: Finney 2006, 71; Klinger and Kandare 1987, 1. In March 1988 the Park Service decided: Klinger and others 1989, 89. shallow, disturbed ground: NRHP, Two Rivers 1991, sec. 7, 18; Klinger and others 1989, 90. a large number of points: Finney 2006, 71. listed … in 1993: NRHP, Two Rivers 1991 (listed January 23, 1993).
two to three feet thick … five feet: Mandel 2016, 17. Roots and burrowing animals have stirred most of that thin layer: Mandel 2016, 17 (components of every period “mixed (via bioturbation)”). A buried soil about a foot and a half down … Late Archaic: Mandel 2016, 4, 19. a post mold … three to four feet down … about 720 B.C. … a Late Archaic dwelling or some other kind of structure: NRHP, Two Rivers 1991, sec. 7, 15; sec. 8, 4 (the post “could indicate the remains of a Late Archaic dwelling or some other type of structure”).
more than fifteen thousand artifacts and not a single sherd … Rice Lobed … Jakie Stemmed … Table Rock Stemmed … largest share are Late Archaic: NRHP, Two Rivers 1991, sec. 7, 12–13. the hallmark of the Early Archaic in the southern Ozarks … the Middle Archaic … the Late Archaic: Finney 2006, 19–21. Ninety-five percent … only two of the chert cobbles, and four of quartzite: Mandel 2016, 14–15. used, resharpened and used again until it was worn out: Mandel 2016, 9 (“Once a bifacial tool was successfully manufactured from poor quality local chert resources, it was typically used and reused to exhaustion and often fractured in the process”). the finishing of half-made blanks and the resharpening of dull edges: Mandel 2016, 17. Rhyolite came from an outcrop: Mandel 2016, 12–13.
come and gone by canoe … summer and fall: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 44 (“each of the successive prehistoric occupants of the site might have been canoeists”). a seasonal base camp with pits and posts: Klinger and others 1989, 81.
as much as three and a half feet: Mandel 2016, 17–18. more than they thought floods or fallen trees could make … perhaps some kind of windbreak … the oldest people on the site: Klinger and others 1989, 69–71, as given in Mandel 2016, 17–18 (the relief was “unexplainable in terms of natural fluvial processes” or tree throws; “Perhaps these features may have functioned as some sort of primitive windbreak”). large flakes and a big flake scraper … two readings: Mandel 2016, 18. about seven feet: Mandel 2016, 5.
“them white rocks”: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 38.

Stone, springs and the river

flakes very poorly: Finney 2006, 11 (“very poor in flaking quality”). Gasconade … two feet … six inches … Roubidoux … Eminence … less than five percent … Potosi … rusty, porous: Finney 2006, 9. Coot Mountain: Finney 2006, 10.
hematite, galena, rhyolite and basalt … Fort Payne and Mill Creek chert: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 48. Pitkin chert: Mandel 2016, 3.
the thickest cluster of big permanent springs in Missouri: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 13 (“the largest concentration of high-volume permanent springs in Missouri”). Round Spring … ten feet of water: Carrell, May and Garrison 1980, abstract, 37, 64. A local legend written down in the 1930s … about eighty feet across … a mad Indian chieftain who stamped the ground: O’Brien 1939, 115 (Round Spring, Shannon County, “a large round spring about 80 ft. in diameter”; informant J. T. Deatherage: “A local legend says that a mad Indian chieftain stamped the ground until the hollowed basin from which the spring flows was formed”), the only source.
fish, mussels, turtles … persimmons, pawpaws … a wide range of food and materials: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 9 (valley and slope together “provide a wide range of resources for human consumption and use”). Local tradition remembers other uses … leatherwood … one of the first in the Ozarks to bloom … baskets and for tying … scouring rush … cleaning their teeth: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 34 (leatherwood: “On account of their toughness, the bark and branches were used by the Indians for making baskets and for tying purposes”), 14 (“Scouring rushes were used by Indians and pioneers to clean their teeth”), the only source. Through the Archaic and much of the Woodland … up from the lowlands: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 46–47.

Why the bottoms are nearly empty

about 1,200 feet … about 400 feet near Montauk to about 1,500 at Gooseneck: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 122 (Roger Saucier’s mapping of the valley floor). no room to wind in loops … swings instead from one wall to the other … a few hundred acres and usually much smaller: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 114 (“often no more than a few hundred acres in extent and usually much less”). two-thirds … a fifth … an eighth: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 123.
within about ten feet of low water: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 110. most of it is wooded … ten to twenty … ten feet or more … twenty to forty … the flattest land in the valley … five feet … more often than once in fifty years … cleared for their fields: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 113–14. a few days: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 151. people used it … lived somewhere else: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 161 (“where the terrace was present, it was utilized; where it was absent, the Indians lived elsewhere”).
judged too young: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 151. In 2012 … optically stimulated luminescence … Grains of quartz sand … sunlight empties it … Round Spring … before about three thousand years ago … 1,700 years ago … a thin veneer: Dempsey 2012, 89, 92–94, 166. 12,500 and 9,300 years ago: Dempsey 2012, 120, 166.
only a few inches per millennium: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 136. much deeper than once seemed necessary: Dempsey 2012, 169 (“Archaeologists must then be willing to excavate much deeper than they originally thought was necessary”). Sediment from the Jacks Fork … two stretches: Dempsey 2012, 155, 170.
badly scoured … grass sod completely stripped: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 153 (fig. 4-18, a “severely scoured cleared area along the Jacks Fork after a major flood,” the sod “completely stripped from the floodplain surface”). numerous prehistoric pieces on the gravel bars every year … rounded to varying degrees: Lynott 1981, 80 (“Numerous prehistoric artifacts are found annually on gravel bars by people engaged in hiking, canoeing, swimming or camping”).
the 1890s and the 1920s … open-range grazing: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 146–47. about 15 percent … 5,000 to 10,000 years: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 152. eight feet high: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 149. about an acre … thirty feet … about four … the richest deposits: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 37–38.
an inconvenient coincidence: Lynott 1981, 77 (“The fact that these are desirable places for modern campgrounds coincides inconveniently with prehistoric and historic settlement patterns”). put first among the steps: Finney 2006, 79 (“the first priority”).

Caves and shelters

Harrington … 1924 … baskets, sandals, cradles: O’Brien 1996, 209. placed first in the Woodland and then near the end of the Archaic: O’Brien 1996, 206–7 n. 2, 209 (Carl Chapman’s placements). could not be verified: Chapman 1980, 9.
discovered in 1962 … through 1968: Wood and McMillan 1976, 5–6. more than twenty-five feet: O’Brien 1996, 287. probably stayed less than a week at a time: Wood and McMillan 1976, 224. some three thousand years: Wood and McMillan 1976, 225, 240. changed how archaeologists dug: O’Brien 1996, 289. poor clocks … seldom undisturbed: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 225 (rock shelters are “notoriously unreliable for chronological purposes, since their deposits are seldom undisturbed”); Finney 2006, 20.
215 … more than 300 … 30 … five … never to have counted for much: Finney 2006, 59 (caves “never played a prominent role”). no dry caves: Finney 2006, 73. One below Van Buren: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 23.

What can’t be known, and what shouldn’t be taken

Which modern nations … culturally affiliated with the Mississippian groups of the Southeast … 1541: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 33–34 (the descendants “were culturally affiliated with the southeastern ‘Mississippian’ Indian groups who were living in the central Mississippi River at the time of arrival of the first European explorers in 1541”). Hernando de Soto: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 30.
ended at the old gravel bar: Mandel 2016, 5.
only a partial survey … ridge tops: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 16, 18.
never once reached the Culpepper site ahead of the collectors … collectors’ footprints … carefully labeled by site: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 37 (“In almost every cultivated field we were greeted by footprints of collectors”). offered to the Park Service and declined: Finney 2006, 42.
the southeastern lowlands in 1879 and 1880 … “a regular mining fever at once broke out” … “twenty-five or thirty men, women, and children” … several thousand dollars: O’Brien 1996, 149, quoting Thomas 1894, 183; O’Brien and Wood 1998, 229. the 1980s: O’Brien 1996, 150. founded in 1934: Finney 2006, 41. “to preserve the remains …”: O’Brien 1996, 187. “At present a race …”: O’Brien 1996, 184, quoting Setzler and Strong 1936. read through what lay around it … almost nothing of the story it might have told: Chapman and Chapman 1983, 4 (archaeology “is not a treasure hunt”; relics dug without record “are out of context. They are almost completely valueless in determining the story they might have told if they had been properly recorded when in place”).
A tourist map of Texas County drawn in 1936 and a local informant … six sites of former Indian villages … one of them at Chimney Rock: O’Brien 1939, 66 (“There are six sites of former Indian villages in the county, one at Chimney Rock”; sources given as the tourist map and a local informant). other tribes used the benchland across from Chimney Rock … the farm between the prongs … for a long time: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11 (“Prior to the arrival of the Delaware and Shawnee, other tribes used the benchland across from Chimney Rock and on the Rich House Place as village sites,” “for a considerable length of time”), the only source; the Rich House Place is the farm in the loop between the prongs (Reach C). The 2003 affiliation study, after Price 1992, 5, gives the claim as Shawnee and Delaware “in the Bottoms opposite Chimney Rock” (Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82), which the 1980 text does not say. no archaeological report: the Chimney Rock locality appears in Finney 2006, 4, only in a list of river landmarks.
the Park Service’s regulations forbid: 36 C.F.R. § 2.1. Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979: 16 U.S.C. § 470ee; Klinger and Kandare 1987, 1. recorded as a violation of it: Finney 2006, 60. a felony: RSMo 194.410. In 1977 … hand them to a ranger: NPS 1977, 1.

Toward the Osage country

villages lay on the Osage River … hunted deep into the Ozarks: O’Brien and Wood 1998, 356. bear … beaver … persimmons: Chapman 1980, 9. In the late eighteenth century … southeast Missouri … early nineteenth: Lynott 1981, 52; Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82. an 1821 land survey near Alley Spring: Finney 2006, 56.

Chapter 4. Osage Country and a River’s Name

Opening

five years in the state prison or one year on Jack’s Fork … A Houston attorney who also abstracted land titles: O’Brien 1939, 67 (C. Covert of Houston), ix (“Mr. and Mrs. Charles Covert, attorney and abstractors of Houston”). the twelfth thesis … begun in 1928 … more than seventeen thousand names from 82 counties … Robert L. Ramsay of the English department, who directed the work … a sort of busman’s holiday: O’Brien 1939, iv (research “started at the University of Missouri in 1928” and “continued under the supervision of Dr. Robert L. Ramsay of the English Department”; “eleven theses have been completed, treating 17,?50 place names from 82 counties,” one digit unreadable in the scan; “This twelfth study is a continuation of the project”), ix (“Dr. Ramsay, on a sort of busman’s holiday, collected valuable and exact information in Shannon County”). the R she prefixed … no asterisk … open to reasonable doubt: O’Brien 1939, ix (“an R has been prefixed when aid in the solution was given by Professor Ramsay”; a single asterisk “when a reasonable doubt exists about the validity of the explanation”), 67 (the entry’s authorities begin “R:” and the entry carries no asterisk). a University of Missouri graduate student … “flows through land which is very wild and forbidding” … “becoming a favorite resort for fishermen” … a 1933 plat book and three local informants … “named for an old Indian, John Jacks, who lived near the head of the stream”: O’Brien 1939, 67 (Anna O’Brien’s master’s thesis on the place names of five Ozark counties).
a Shawnee who settled at the headwaters: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area. Captain Jack who got his title by trading for a ferryman’s hat … Jack Thomas whose camp was torn apart by a panther: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 5; MSS 1982, 1; NPS 2015 (place names). a Cherokee who bred race horses: Kennedy 1998, 10.
Osage hunting ground: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 16, 34. around 1820, Delaware and Shawnee families: Brown 1969, 6; Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82; Stevens 1991, 18.

Osage hunting country

Ni-U-Ko’n-Ska, the Children of the Middle Waters: Wolferman 1997, 10; Lookingbill 2020. a French rendering of Wa-zha’-zhe … the tribe’s Water division … applied to the whole people: Bailey 2010, 16, 157 n. 76; Baird 1972, 12.
a Siouan language of the branch called Dhegiha … the Kansa, Ponca, Quapaw and Omaha … the Ohio Valley … from the north or from the Southeast … the most numerous people in Missouri … sixty-two hundred in 1780: Wolferman 1997, 6–8 (the Ohio Valley tradition as accepted by the ethnologist James Owen Dorsey; the 1780 estimate as reported by John R. Swanton).
Marquette and Joliet … 1673 … controlled the country of the Current and the Jacks Fork: Stevens 1991, 14; Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 34. from the Missouri River south to the Arkansas and from the Mississippi west into present Kansas … the Sac and Fox to the north, the Pawnee to the west and the Caddo to the south: Stevens 1991, 14. close to a hundred thousand square miles: Lookingbill 2020.
Big Osage … upper Osage River … Little Osage … Missouri River: Wolferman 1997, 10; Brown 1969, 5; Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 61. Around 1800 a third group … Three Forks of the Arkansas: Wolferman 1997, 10, 45; Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 63–64. about 160 miles: Brown 1969, 5. permanent: Stevens 1991, 14. bent poles … woven mats or buffalo hides … at least fifteen feet wide … thirty to more than forty-five feet long: Wolferman 1997, 11. corn, beans and squash … outside the ring of houses: Wolferman 1997, 15.
early summer and again in fall … communal bison hunts: Bailey 2010, 9. in an arc that reached south to the Ouachita Mountains … deer, bear, beaver, otter … main trade goods … about 80 packs … about 950 … the most valuable trade in Spanish Louisiana: Bailey 2010, 10. St. Louis became the headquarters of the trade: Wolferman 1997, 24–25. counted for little as food … as far as the St. Francis River … Perhaps it was on these winter hunts: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 65.
as defense as well as hunting ground … bear and beaver … both fur and fat … between the prairie villages and the tribes to the east: Rollings 1992, 185, quoted in Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 64 (“The Ozark forests were particularly important to the Osage. Fur-bearing animals, especially the important bear and beaver, which supplied fur and fat for the Osage, thrived in the forests”; “The rugged mountain country served as a buffer from the eastern tribes”). The distance did not always hold … small raids on hunting camps became common on both sides … by the 1790s no small party of Osage hunters: Bailey 2010, 10 (“Small-scale raiding of hunting camps by both sides became common. By the 1790s … No small party of Osage hunters or travelers was safe”).
Records of the Osage on the Current and the Jacks Fork are very few … occasional hunting: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 34 (“There is very little reference to direct Osage presence in the Current and Jacks Fork rivers”; their use “may have been limited to sporadic hunting”). Local tradition gives them a bigger place … two hunting trips a year … a couple of months … the most powerful warriors in America, more than a match for the Shawnee and Delaware: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74 (“It was an annual practice for the Osage to make two hunting trips to the river country in Southern Missouri. They would camp and spend a couple of months on these trips”; they “were reputed to be the best physical specimens and the most powerful warriors in America”; “The Shawnee and Delaware were no match for the savage Osage”), the only source. Virginia Warrior Path: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 35. trade route … Ripley County … the Verdigris and Red rivers … Natchitoches and Vincennes … the southern Current River basin: Stevens 1991, 15. empty Osage hut west of Potosi … could not find one willing to guide him: Stevens 1991, 14. three vacant Osage winter camps … about a hundred men: Burns 2004, 45.
small triangular arrow points … with the historic Osage and Missouri: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 67. 39 fires between 1706 and 1915 … five and a half years: King and Muzika 2014, 78, 81. on a slope near Alley Spring: King and Muzika 2014, 79–80. 1753 … more than a third … drought … periodic trips into the Missouri Ozarks from southwest Missouri: King and Muzika 2014, 83–84 (the Osage “made periodical migrations into the Missouri Ozarks from southwest Missouri”).

A line south from Fort Osage

about two thousand a year: Wolferman 1997, 67. in the first decade of the century, by local accounts: Stevens 1991, 24–25 (Isaac Kelley, after local histories); Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 68; Lynott 1981, 53 (Zimri Carter, about 1807). between 1805 and 1808: Stevens 1991, 17. cut off trade … White Hair … Fire Prairie … Fort Clark at first and soon Fort Osage: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 68. on a bluff: Wolferman 1997, 1. Sibley: Chapman and Chapman 1983, 120.
eighty mounted volunteers … September 4, 1808 … within two days: Wolferman 1997, 65–68. Many chiefs were absent: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 68. the interpreter had not told them … Lewis wrote a new treaty … no trade goods: Wolferman 1997, 69. grown up among the Osage: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 65. “The Great White Father is strong …”: Wolferman 1997, 71. November 10, 1808: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1808; Wolferman 1997, 71.
a line from the fort due south … north of the Missouri: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1808, art. 6. an Osage historian’s … seven-eighths of Missouri and half of Arkansas, at least 52 million acres … less than one-sixth of a cent an acre: Burns 2004, 168; Louis F. Burns was Osage (Osage News 2012; University of Alabama Press, “Louis F. Burns”). about three-quarters of Missouri: Stevens 1991, 14 (“the eastern three-fourths of Missouri”); other figures are given, among them about 50,000 square miles (Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 68). “was needed for white hunters and intimately friendly Indians”: Meriwether Lewis, quoted in Stevens 1991, 17, after Morrow 1981, 151. less than 27 cents for a quarter section of 160 acres: computed from Burns’s figure. $1,000 … $500 … $800 and $400: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1808, art. 5. a blacksmith, a mill, plows and a trading house: same, arts. 2–3. August 31, 1809 … April 28, 1810: same; Burns 2004, 144–45.
Article 8 … “without molestation” … “until the United States may think proper to assign the same as hunting grounds to other friendly Indians”: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1808, art. 8. seem to have taken that to mean … close to impossible: Burns 2004, 154. meant to share their hunting rights: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 68.
September 25, 1818 … Arkansas and Verdigris: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1818. the Cherokee wanted: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 69. about three thousand after the War of 1812: Stevens 1991, 14. June 2, 1825 … fifty miles wide … twenty-five miles west: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1825, arts. 1–2. little choice … held back to pay damages … destitute: Stevens 1991, 15. the hardest treaty he had ever made … damned in the hereafter: Wolferman 1997, 102 (“Governor Clark said this was the hardest treaty he had ever made, and he feared he might be damned in the hereafter for his part in the agreement”), which gives no source for the remark. It could not be traced to an earlier source in this pass, and it is told here as one account. “the United States government did not give the Osages any reservation at any time” … their own territory: Burns 2004, 166.
Table 4.1: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Osage, 1808, 1818 and 1825; Treaty with the Shawnee, 1825; Treaty with the Delawares, 1829 (supplementary article, citing the treaty of St. Mary’s, Oct. 3, 1818); Treaty with the Shawnee, etc., 1832.
kept coming into the ceded country: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 68; Stevens 1991, 14. 1837 … buffalo driven far to the west … not known: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 34. the Missouri militia drove: Lookingbill 2020. into the 1850s: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 36. about fifty-five hundred … “now over-running the former hunting grounds of the Osage” … Bearskins, deer hides and beaver … buffalo robes … twenty thousand robes a year: Bailey 2010, 12 (quoting a letter of Pierre Chouteau of the 1830s, which Bailey gives as “these [eastern] Indians . . . are now over-running the former hunting grounds of the Osage”).
A party of hunters from the Eleven Point country … Cold Springs … William R. Smith, a veteran of the Revolutionary War … killed, as they read it, by Indians … His son John … to even the score: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14, the only source (the hunters came “from the Eleven Points River near Thomasville”; the account’s description of the wounds is what ties the killing to Indians; John “was reputed to have killed several Indians to even the score”). No date is given. See Reach C.

Newcomers from the east

Lenape … “the People” … “first to Ohio, then to Indiana …”: Delaware Tribe of Indians, “About.” along the Delaware River … Manhattan Island … Grandfathers … never a single political unit: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 78. 1709 and 1742 … the West Branch of the Susquehanna … 250 families … the Tuscarawas and Muskingum … Pontiac’s War … Fallen Timbers … the West Fork of the White River: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 79–80, after Weslager 1978.
never united into a single society … southern Ohio … Illinois to the Savannah River: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 83, quoting Callender 1978 (“an exceptionally fragmented people, … never united into a single society”). at times allies … a migrating band of one: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 84.
Spain … friendly nations: Brown 1969, 5; Stevens 1991, 16. a growing market for furs, hides and surplus food: Stevens 1991, 16. by about 1784 … Lorimier … 1,200 Shawnee and 600 Delaware … villages between Cape Girardeau and Ste. Genevieve … cleared and fenced fields: Stevens 1991, 16–17. George Morgan … about twenty Delaware … Mississippi County: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 80–81, quoting Houck 1908, 1:208. Carondelet … about twenty-five miles square … the Mississippi … the Whitewater: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Shawnee, 1825, preamble and art. 1. made formal in 1793: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 85. a few Cherokee and Creek: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 84. around Apple Creek … children playing together … horse races and festivals … marriages: Stevens 1991, 17 (pioneer family reminiscences).
Through the 1790s … until 1794 meant to destroy the Osage: Chapman and Chapman 1983, 120. at war until about 1802 … pushed slowly west: Brown 1969, 6. War of 1812 … west and southwest … Gasconade … James River and northern Arkansas: Stevens 1991, 17–18. abandoned the Cape Girardeau tract in 1815: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Shawnee, 1825, preamble. Schoolcraft … 1819 … North Fork of the White River … clean and orderly: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82. stopped on the Jacks Fork: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 81, after Morrow 1981.
White River in Indiana … St. Mary’s … by 1821 … the governors … interim reserve: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 81–82. farm and lean less on government supplies: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82 (correspondence of Graham, Clark and Chouteau, Richard Graham Papers, 1820–1822). William Anderson … lived all his life among white Americans … Greenville in 1795 … $4,000 a year … white traders: Stevens 1991, 18. Kikthawenund … “creaking boughs”: Jackson 2009 (“Loosely translated the name means, creaking boughs”), the only source found for the meaning; the Delaware Tribe of Indians’ own genealogical study of the chief, by Ruby Cranor, is titled Kik Tha We Nund.

The Delaware on the “Currents”

January 26, 1821 … an oval about 45 by 90 miles: Brown 1969, 6–7 n. 5. seven times the area of the whole Jacks Fork watershed: computed from the oval’s axes (about 3,200 square miles) against the watershed’s 445 (Wilkerson 2001, PDF 1; Chapter 2). By 1820: Brown 1969, 6.
From 1820 to about September 1822 … floods … annuities: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82.
puts the coming earlier … 1815 … a country rich in game … an oral agreement with William Clark, then the territorial governor … trusted Clark … no formal treaty … Apple Creek … until 1824: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74 (“They made an oral agreement with the Territoral Governor William Clark. The Indians trusted Clark so no formal treaty was signed”), the only source. The agency’s records put the Delaware camps on the Current from 1820 to about 1822: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82; Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 66.
By one count, 1,346 Delaware left the White River … September 20, 1821 … mostly overland to the Mississippi … ferries: Jackson 2009, the only source found for the number and the date; the writer gives no source. An unsourced family-history sketch of the chief kept by the Indiana Genealogical Society gives the year of leaving as 1820. The 1821 date fits the treaty’s three years of grace and the agency’s record of a second group joining the Delaware on the Current in the winter of 1821–22. a second group … Richard Graham … “on the Currents”: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 66 (the Richard Graham Papers, Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis).
since about 1815 … Anderson … southwest of present Eminence … horse thieves … William Gillis … Menard and Vallé … married a Delaware woman: Stevens 1991, 18. Kansas City: Stevens 1991, 19 n. 18. The main Indian trade road to the west … Farmington, Steelville, Waynesville and Marshfield … Joseph Philibert … Hicks Ferry … Natchitoches Trace: Stevens 1991, 19.
By 1822 Anderson’s people were on the James: Stevens 1991, 18. Wilsons Creek … 1822 to 1830 … 2004 and 2005 … dog-trot or double-pen cabin: Missouri State University, “Delaware Town.”

Looking for the villages

1821 for the township around Alley Spring: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 35, 82; Finney 2006, 56. Hutawa in 1844 and … Colton in 1869 … was not traced: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 67. at least ten Indian camps and villages … most were reported near the Jacks Fork: Stevens 1991, 19.
triangular arrow points, a possible iron arrow point … gunflint … no place to begin: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 67 (“We had no place to begin looking”). They found nothing … not taken as evidence against: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 68. certainly in the area for at least two years … just outside it: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 69 (the Delaware “were definitely in the area for at least two years”).
a local amateur archaeologist … as early as 1981: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82, quoting Price 1992, 1. in 1992 James Price … Delaware or Shawnee: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 35, 82, citing Price 1992, 12. later became the park’s archaeologist: Finney 2006, 36. Someone who grew up in Eminence also spoke of an Indian village at Alley Spring: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15; see Reach H.
written down in 1980 in a history of the river printed in Mountain View: MSS 1982, 1; Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, bibliography. before 1812 … the 1992 search agreed … a spring in a hollow … buried their dead: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82, citing Price 1992, 5, and Lewis 1980, 62. other tribes, older than the Delaware and Shawnee, had village sites … at the head of the river: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11 (“Prior to the arrival of the Delaware and Shawnee, other tribes used the benchland across from Chimney Rock and on the Rich House Place as village sites”); Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82, after Price 1992, 5, give it as Shawnee and Delaware “in the Bottoms opposite Chimney Rock.” See Chapter 3. a felony: RSMo 194.410.
almost certainly around Big and Little Shawnee creeks … Van Buren … less reliable: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 85–86, quoting Price and others 1983, 60 (the Shawnee “were almost certainly around Big and Little Shawnee creeks”). flow north into the Jacks Fork a little east of Eminence: Stevens 1991, 19. found nothing from the nineteenth century: Price, Price and Saucier 1987, 68.

Leaving, and staying

March 1826 … his son … Graham: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 86. In August 1827 Graham wrote to Clark … overruled another Delaware band … the Cherokee who drew them south … “very little doubt”: Graham 1827 (the draft’s catalog description quotes “have overruled Catchum’s band,” “it is the Cherokees that draws them to the South” and “very little doubt” that they would go). In December 1830 their agent reported … some four hundred: Cummins 1830 (“Since arrival of Chief Anderson, most of the Delawares, some 400 of them, have come to their new lands on the Kansas River”). Anderson died there in the fall of 1831, about a year after the move: Jackson 2009 (“the latter part of October 1831”). September 24, 1829 … fork of the Kansas and Missouri: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Delawares, 1829. between 1829 and 1831: Stevens 1991, 19. ceded it in 1825: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Shawnee, 1825. Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana: University of Oklahoma, “Absentee Shawnee.” October 26, 1832 … “late of Cape Girardeau”: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Shawnee, etc., 1832.
Between 1820 and 1840 … Round Spring and Owls Bend … Alley Spring … the Indian trade … squatters followed close behind the migrating eastern tribes: Stevens 1991, 28, after Morrow 1981.
Isaac Kelley … a Shawnee woman … camp at the foot of his farm: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 36. by local accounts the first American settler on the Current: Stevens 1991, 24–25 (“local histories suggest”). a William Mahan … 1779 … a hunting party of Shawnee and Delaware … a son of his settled on Mahans Creek in 1808: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54 (“It has been written that a William Mahan came to the area in 1779”); see Reach I. A renegade band of Shawnee, remembered as the Coon clan … made it rough on early settlers: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 20 (“a renegade band of Shawnee who made it rough on early settlers”), the only source; see Reach C. the Watsons … Chilton … 1849 … accounts of uneven reliability: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 35, citing Price and others 1983, 61 (“of varying credibility”). which then stood on the Current: Stevens 1991, 26; Lynott 1981, 53. from the St. James and Rolla country to Springfield: Jett 2026.
In 2003 the Park Service consulted … groups without federal recognition: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 89–90. campgrounds near Eminence … sacred: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 77–78, 91.
nearly a million and a half acres … Pawhuska … 1938: Lookingbill 2020. Bartlesville … Anadarko … Ontario: Delaware Tribe of Indians, “About.” three recognized Shawnee tribes … Absentee Shawnee: University of Oklahoma, “Absentee Shawnee.”

Names on the land

Table 4.2: O’Brien 1939, 14 (Big Shawnee Creek), 32 (Council Hollow), 36 (Delaware entries), 76 (Little Shawnee Creek and School), 120 (Shawnee); Forte, Postal History, Shannon County (Delaware post office, 1923–1941); Stevens 1991, 19 (direction of the Shawnee creeks; Delaware west and southwest of Eminence); Brown 1969, 7 (Shawnee School and the settlement on Little Shawnee Creek). by another account … the Coppermine Hollow … below Eminence … the Shawnee: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75 (“Coppermine Hollow, also known as Council Hollow”; “Council Hollow was the place the Shawnees chose to hold council meetings”), the only source; the federal maps give the name Coppermine Hollow to the western one, at about mile 40.4 (see Reach J). Whether it is the hollow that O’Brien puts in Delaware Township has not been settled (The Open Ledger).
26 place names of Indian origin … twelve were the names of tribes … Dance Yard Hollow … the word Ozark … six places called Indian Village … forgotten: O’Brien 1939, 154 (“When we consider that in Texas County alone there are six places called ‘Indian Village’, we begin to realize the loss suffered because the Indian term or means of designation was not remembered”). aux Arcs: the usual derivation of the name; O’Brien 1939, 154, gives it as a settlers’ misunderstanding of a French phrase built on an abbreviated tribal name. the tribal name Shawnee: O’Brien 1939, 120, 155.

John Jacks, Captain Jack and Jack Thomas

December 1849 … until 1899: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11; Forte, Postal History, Texas County (“1849/1899”). 1860 to 1902: O’Brien 1939, 67. June 1852 … Carroll Township … Jack’s Fork: O’Brien 1939, 67. renamed Pierce: O’Brien 1939, 102. April 18, 1917, to 1954: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79; Forte, Postal History, Shannon County. The river’s full name was the Jack’s Fork of Current River … headword … shortened it only gradually … By 1980 most people thought of the Jacks Fork as a river of its own: O’Brien 1939, 67 (headword “Jack’s Fork of Current River”); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 5 (“The river was first called the Jack’s Fork of the Current River. Gradually people shortened the name to the Jack’s Fork. Most people now consider it to be a separate river”). The thesis still spelled it Jack’s Fork … the 1933 plat book bound into it: O’Brien 1939, 67 and front matter (Hevenor plat-book page, Shannon County). The other record of the township’s origin, “that portion of Texas Township southwest of Spring Valley,” is Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Townships”; see Chapter 5. discourages possessive apostrophes: BGN 2016, 50. the Geological Survey’s gauge near Mountain View: USGS NWIS.
Table 4.3: O’Brien 1939, 67, 175; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 5; MSS 1982, 1, citing Lewis 1980; Kennedy 1998, 10; NPS 2015 (place names); MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.
by 1849, or by 1852 at the latest: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11; Forte, Postal History, Texas County; O’Brien 1939, 67. nearly ninety years later … no tribe and no date: O’Brien 1939, 67. settlers and landowners … territorial figures and Indians: O’Brien 1939, 166, 175.
The fullest telling of Captain Jack … begins on the Mississippi … driven west by English settlers … keep the English out … the ferryman’s hat … riverboat captains … between Little and Big Shawnee creeks … Captain Jack’s Fork of the Current River … A bear hunter named Jack Thomas … the junction of the streams … a panther … saddlebags … spooked his horses … Which story, if either, is true is hard to say … more substance … Shawnee did live along the creeks that carry their name: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 5 (“It is difficult to say which story, if either, is true. The Indian story may have more substance since Shawnee Indians did live in the Shawnee Field”; the field lies between the two creeks, PDF p. 74), the only source for both stories in this form; the judgment is the 1980 writer’s. put the bear hunter’s camp at the mouth of the Jacks Fork: MSS 1982, 1, citing Lewis 1980, whose “junction of the streams” could mean the mouth or the meeting of the prongs.
The race-horse story … the wild horses of Shannon County … Interviewed in 1998, a lawyer who had worked to keep the herd … “different documentation” … a breeder of race horses … started straight-track racing … bred his stallions … for a very long time: Kennedy 1998, 10 (“We also had different documentation about John Jacks, who was a Cherokee Indian that the Jacks Fork River is named after. He was a breeder of race horses. He started straight track racing”; “So there have been wild horses around for a long, long time in that area”), the only source; the interview was recorded at Douglas R. Kennedy’s law office in Poplar Bluff (Kennedy 1998, title page). See Chapter 11.
Captain Jack first appears in writing in 1980, forty-one years after John Jacks: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 5; O’Brien 1939, 67. by the Shawnee creeks a little east of Eminence: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 5; Stevens 1991, 19.
1832 … by 1831: Kappler 1904, Treaty with the Shawnee, etc., 1832; Stevens 1991, 19. more Shawnee may have passed through: Stevens 1991, 19. presumed … a farmer who lived about three miles east … post office of 1884: Perry [1978], sec. 8; see Chapter 5 and Reach H. a pioneer who came before the Civil War and built a mill: O’Brien 1939, 2–3. Mahon … a family who lived at its head: O’Brien 1939, 80.
the original slips of the 1930s place-name survey … State Historical Society of Missouri at Columbia … the informant: Ramsay Place Names File, 1928–1945, State Historical Society of Missouri, collection C2366 (see O’Brien 1939 in the Bibliography); O’Brien 1939, 67, names three informants for the entry without saying which told the story.

Chapter 5. Hollows and Households

Opening

three entries in all of what became Shannon County: Stevens 1991, 43–44 (Table 2, after Clendenen 1973, 60). corn from a small fenced field … hogs and cattle that ran loose … game and furs … the nearest mill and store: Stevens 1991, 28–30, 34. About 1890 the railroads and the timber companies: Stevens 1991, 72–75. The last open range in Missouri closed in Shannon County in 1969: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 212, 220 n. 6.

Up the valleys

settled from east to west, across the river valleys: Gibson 2000, 19, after Murphy 1982.
country that Delaware and Shawnee families had only just left … the Indian trade … squatters followed the departing eastern tribes: Stevens 1991, 28, after Morrow 1981.
In 1811 … about sixty miles west of the Mississippi … a family or a few families at a time … nothing like a boom, until after the Civil War: Sauer 1920, 148 (the settling of the interior as “gradual and unobtrusive infiltration,” with no rapid growth except after the Civil War and “nothing that may be called a boom”). now called the Courtois Hills: the regional name is Sauer’s (Sauer 1920, 68).
three routes … Three-quarters of the adults … two-thirds … between the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers: Stevens 1991, 24, after Clendenen 1973. native-born Scotch-Irish uplanders, people of the scattered hill farms: Hughes, Williams and Stevens 1992, [2] (a Park Service description). the most thinly peopled farm country east of the Great Plains, with the fewest villages and towns: Hughes, Williams and Stevens 1992, [2] (“the lowest population density of any rural area east of the Great Plains and the fewest villages towns and cities”).
“drifting with the stream courses”: Sauer 1920, 159, quoting Monks 1907, 5–6.
Nearly two dozen Chiltons … many of them by the early 1840s … upper Tennessee River: Stevens 1991, 31–32, quoting Clendenen 1973, 28–29. Crabtree, Crabtree, Lewis … Conway, Conway: Stevens 1991, 32, after Clendenen 1973, 30. Neither source says where in the county those neighborhoods lay.
Thomas Boggs Chilton … Maryland in 1782 … Creek War under Andrew Jackson … New Madrid County in 1816 … a sawmill at Owls Bend … Devall’s Bluff … the timberless lowlands … one of the roughest and meanest men in the country … Thomas J., Andrew, Joshua and Shadrach … where Eminence now stands: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71, the only source for the family account (“Thomas Boggs was known as one of the roughest and meanest men in the country”).
nine enslaved people in Shannon County, against eighty-six in Ripley County: Stevens 1991, 30, citing the 1850 census.

The first neighborhoods

By 1840 a few settlers lived at the mouth … a small store … two pockets … Colonel Thomas Chilton … Fursman Spring Mill … the Thomas and West families … James McCormack … in the 1820s: Stevens 1991, 27. large commercial farms and added copper mining: Stevens 1991, 31.
Helm … Hellum … before 1852 … “Uncle Dick” Smith … Isaac Winningham … 1852 or 1853: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 4, 46. William H. Goldsberry … 1856: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 41. John J. Campbell and John Goldsberry … around 1860: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 15. William Padgett: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 81. Reuben Harlow: O’Brien 1939, 57. Jesse and Thomas Summer, early settlers at the townsite: O’Brien 1939, 130.
about a hundred families lived on the upper Jacks Fork by 1840 … James Pickett … Jacob House, Samuel Rose, Ryle Williams and the Mahans … hunters from the Eleven Point country … William R. Smith, a veteran of the Revolution … killed: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14, the only source; see Chapter 4.
In June 1852 … Jack’s Fork Township … renamed Pierce: O’Brien 1939, 67, 102. December 1849, or in 1860: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11; Forte, Postal History, Texas County; O’Brien 1939, 67.
by another record out of the part of Texas Township southwest of Spring Valley … Lamech Thorpe, A. J. Smith, Samuel Rose and an R. Harlow … James Pickett … judges of election: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Townships” (the election at the house of J. Feur). That the R. Harlow was Reuben is a guess.

Counties and a courthouse in the woods

created from part of Crawford County by an act of January 14, 1837: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (Missouri chronology, Crawford County, January 14, 1837, citing Mo. Laws 1836–1837, 54–55); Gibson 2000, 18. organized as a separate county in 1841 … George Shannon … Lewis and Clark: O’Brien 1939, 119; Stevens 1991, 51. In 1845 Reynolds County took its eastern part: Gibson 2000, 19; Stevens 1991, 51. founded the year the county was organized … on the Current River: Stevens 1991, 26, 33. well north of the Jacks Fork: Gibson 2000, 18–19.
the youngest man of the party … still in his teens … 1803 … two strayed pack horses … sixteen days … grapes and a single rabbit: Moulton 1987, entries of August 26 and September 11, 1804; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (sixteen days; “wild grapes and one rabbit for 12 days”; Lewis makes him nineteen). in 1807 … the Arikara … lost a leg … Peg Leg Shannon: Jackson 1978 (Ensign Nathaniel Pryor to William Clark, October 16, 1807, on the fight at the Arikara villages); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (“better known as Peg Leg Shannon”). studied law in Kentucky … its legislature … Palmyra in August 1836: Jackson 1978 (biographical notes on the members of the party); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (he died in Missouri in 1836). Page numbers in Moulton 1987 and Jackson 1978 were not checked. the first Shannon County took in the eastern third of present Texas County … Dent … Reynolds … a corner of Carter … U.S. 60: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69, the only source.
its site was fixed in April 1843 … three commissioners … Andrew McCain … near the middle of the county: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (Samuel Hyer of Crawford, West Mandling of Ripley and Joseph M. Stephenson), the only source.
tested the site in 1980 … 1983 … about thirty-four feet by twenty-two … Arrow Rock … the jail … Charred floor planks … decorated dishes, bottle glass, door hardware … No other buildings or activity areas … any trace of a house, a store or a tavern: NRHP, Old Eminence 1985, sec. 7. no other county seat standing alone in the woods like this one is known in the eastern Ozarks: same, sec. 8 (“the only identified isolated political center in the Eastern Ozarks”). Union soldiers who camped there in February 1863 … the two log buildings … the lawyers had to travel five miles for their suppers: Stevens 1991, 58 (“only two log buildings, a courthouse and jail”), after Bradbury’s notes on the Army of Southeast Missouri. A mill and at least one house … the post office … the Deatherage store … fifteen miles: Stevens 1991, 37. “was evidently not named for what it then was …”: Elliott 1902, 34, as quoted in Brown 1969, 13 n. 11. burned during the Civil War: NRHP, Old Eminence 1985, sec. 7; O’Brien 1939, 42–43.
February 17, 1843 … Ashley County … February 14, 1845: O’Brien 1939, 132. Houston was incorporated in 1847: O’Brien 1939, 62. The Jacks Fork rises in it: O’Brien 1939, 67.
Ellsworth on April 21, 1845 … June 1846 … Houston: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Establishment” (the court later sat at the house of David Lynch, one of the first judges, until September 1846).
March 2, 1857 … Thomas Jefferson Howell … early settlers of Howell Valley … Josiah Howell … about 1840 … the first permanent settler: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 1, 50–51. West Plains: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 112. Goldsberry Township … northeast: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 4, 41, 81.

Lines on the land

1821: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 82; Finney 2006, 56. the 1830s: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 15–16. 1840: Bridge 1930, 171. Land Ordinance of 1785 … survey before sale … uniform townships and sections: Stevens 1991, 41. one or two of them: Stevens 1991, 28.
The eastern part … The western half … “thin” … brush, oak savanna and barrens … Every acre of evergreen forest: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 15–18 (Table 3). In Barn Hollow the valleys were said to have been “practically barren of timber during the early days”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 4 (a Barn Hollow man, “as has been mentioned by others”). around Mountain View large timber was scarce … a long way over the hills and valleys: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 73. in 1844 the table lands “had very little timber …”: Sauer 1920, 54–55, quoting Monks 1907, 7–8.
Table 5.1: Stevens 1991, 43 (Table 2, after Clendenen 1973, 60).
Many names on the early census never appear on a deed: Gibson 2000, 19, after Murphy 1982. April 8, 1841 … James Thompson … John Epps Cowan: Bridge 1930, 171.
Since 1820 … a dollar and a quarter an acre, in tracts of eighty acres or more, first at auction and then to anyone: Stevens 1991, 41–42. pre-emption law of 1841 … before it went to auction … once it was surveyed: Stevens 1991, 42. Graduation Act … a dollar an acre after ten years … twelve and a half cents after thirty … no more than 320 acres … swear that he meant to settle and farm it: Stevens 1991, 42–43; Gibson 2000, 19. on the market since the early 1820s … 320 acres for forty dollars: Gibson 2000, 19–20, quoting Murphy 1982, 71–72. 1,009,335 acres … 85,999 acres … “largely in Shannon …”: Sauer 1920, 158. “Everyone seems anxious to enter all he can at the graduation …”: Stevens 1991, 44, quoting the diary of Henry Beeson Flanner, 1856 (Dent County). bounty-land warrants: Stevens 1991, 42 (the two military bounty acts). twenty-one … 1,170 … more than doubled … squatters bought the sites: Stevens 1991, 44. Dr. Thomas Reed … 700 to 800 acres … by 1856: Stevens 1991, 44, after Little 1990.
Julia Halbert on April 12, 1848 … May 1 … Greenberry Harlow … 1853 … Elijah Lynch in 1858 … Jesse Eaton … the Jacks Fork itself: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Pioneer” (by township and range: the Summers and Halbert entries in T. 29 N., R. 7 W.; Harlow, Lynch and Eaton in T. 28 N., R. 7 W.). That the Eaton’s of 1864 was his is an inference; see Chapter 6.
one township of neighboring Reynolds County … about nine in ten: Stevens 1991, 44, 46 (“more than 90 percent”); Gibson 2000, 20, quoting Murphy 1982, 71–72 (seven of sixty-seven buyers on the census). Massachusetts, New York … agents of lumber and railroad companies: Stevens 1991, 46; Gibson 2000, 20. seem to have used Irish laborers from the St. Louis and Iron Mountain line … an unusual number of Irish immigrants … Reynolds County: Stevens 1991, 46, after Murphy 1982, 71–72 (Murphy’s suggestion). Speculators took up the rough hills: Stevens 1991, 44.
Western Land and Cattle Company … London … about 28,000 acres … a hog ranch … disease … 125 acres … a four-room frame house … Charles E. Peter: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Natural Features” (the company founded in 1881; “the Peter ranch is on Steiner’s Fork of Jack’s Fork”). In 1883 … much of it along the North Prong … Scottish … Peters Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9; see Reach A.
Winningham … homesteaded 160 more in 1869: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 4. Northern homeseekers … the stony upland soils … entered only lately: Sauer 1920, 157, 159–60. The terms of the Homestead Act of 1862 are general history.

Copper on Shawnee Creek

Hunters and trappers … about 1837 … the Vallé family and Henry Janis … Joseph Slater … 1837 or 1838 … George Smith … a cabin on Shawnee Creek … a boarding house, a store and a blacksmith shop: Bridge 1930, 170. “the celebrated mines”: Stevens 1991, 67 (Missouri Argus, May 29, 1840). marked the mine and its buildings on their plats: Bridge 1930, 171.
shallow pits where the dolomite met the old volcanic rock … about ten feet deep on average … eighteen … a furnace of quartz rock … twelve-foot overshot water wheel … charcoal … twenty to thirty dollars … twelve to twenty-five: Bridge 1930, 170–71, quoting J. T. Hodge’s 1842 account. A geologist who saw the workings in 1841: Hodge. The working of the furnace (blast, slag) is general metallurgy. 1,500 tons … about 160 tons of pig copper … flatboat to New Orleans … 75 tons … $50,000 to $100,000: Bridge 1930, 171 (citing C. P. Williams’s 1877 report for the state survey and an 1874 mine report by J. V. C. Phillips).
He had bought only a hunter’s claim … passed by land-office certificate to Cowan … the Supreme Court … the Aberdeen Mining Company: Bridge 1930, 170–72. seven Shannon County townships: Sauer 1920, 162. exports of Eminence in 1876: Stevens 1991, 70. reopened during the First World War … idle again by 1922: Bridge 1930, 15, 172–73.
cleaned ore brought $54 a ton: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 73, the only source. Alexander Ferguson … Swansea, in Wales: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 73. May 1848 … Thomas Primrose … Current River Mining Company of New York … more than a hundred feet … the summer of 1853 … Captain Bawden … “of most promising character” … about sixty tons … the Cobre mines in Cuba … “navigable with float boats and rafts of timber the whole year” … Doniphan, sixty miles below … four houses: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 72, quoting Bawden’s report to William Warne (Bawden puts the shaft at 200 feet). quit the mine in 1857 … $30,000 invested there in 1860 … Consolidated Land Company … 1872 … Charles Biser … 1876 … Current River Land and Cattle Company … 1892 a 99-year lease … Slater Copper Company of Winona: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 72, the only source (the 1892 lessee was F. M. Rogers).
the story grew that he had found a rich deposit and hidden it … covered over with sod and two pine trees … a woman of ninety: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 72–73, the only source.

How a hollow farm worked

“The settlements were confined …”: Sauer 1920, 156, quoting Monks 1907, 7. put water close at hand, stood above the floods, sloped gently enough to plow, and backed onto open upland: Stevens 1991, 27, quoting Clendenen 1973, 57–58 (“easy access to water, immunity from flooding, gently inclined, tillable slopes, and an unlimited upland for grazing and foraging stock”). The best farms of all lay on the slip-off slopes … fields on the lower slope and grass on the upper: Sauer 1920, 24 (“invariably the sites of the choicest farms”). some of the same terraces for thousands of years: Stevens 1991, 27–28.
chert-covered soils … sinkhole ponds … Birch Tree: Stevens 1991, 27, 33.
forty to eighty acres … ten acres … nearly twenty … two or more fields at different elevations: Stevens 1991, 28–29. potatoes … tobacco and cotton … gourds … buckskin, wool and cotton … pine tar: Gibson 2000, 21–22, after Murphy 1982. a single heifer … carried loads, and sometimes people too: Gibson 2000, 21, after Murphy 1982. 43,510 gallons … the common household sweetening: Sauer 1920, 197–98.
An English geologist who traveled the southeast Missouri Ozarks in the 1830s … “the same disgusting coffee, pork, bread, and butter …” … nobody kept hay meadows … mast … time to hunt: Stevens 1991, 29, quoting George W. Featherstonhaugh (Featherstonhaugh 1844, 81, 85). $500 worth of hogs … twelve bushels of corn: Sauer 1920, 186 (“a typical case”).
A Texas County settler remembered that in 1841 the deer ran in large herds … black bears, panthers, wolves and wild turkeys: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Natural Features” (John T. Lynch’s recollection).
Bear oil, hides … coffee, sugar, salt: Stevens 1991, 29–30; Gibson 2000, 22. “beeswax, peltry and fur skins …” … taxes were commonly paid in skins … “completely covered with fur skins …”: Sauer 1920, 151 n., quoting Monks 1907, 8–11. credited for pelts and roots: Stevens 1991, 105. As late as 1884: Stevens 1991, 103.
dog-trot … the hunting dogs slept: Gibson 2000, 22, after Oakley 1970. double-pen house … window, door, door, window: Stevens 1991, 130; Gibson 2000, 22. In 1914 and 1915 the houses of the interior were still low … hardly needed chinking … “of the old South” … Hickory chairs and walnut bedsteads … carded their own wool … poor sheds … Rail fences … log cribs or stood in the field … “Most cove farmers keep their butter and milk …”: Sauer 1920, 206. a geographer who traveled the hills in those years: Sauer; his travels of 1914 and 1915, Sauer 1920, ix.
Joshua Chilton’s house … torn down shortly before 1980 … a fine log cabin … stand upright … the French manner … Shawnee or Delaware families: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71, the only source (“Legend told that it was a fine log cabin. It turned out to be made of logs standing upright”; the guess about its builders is Lewis’s).
raised barns in a day … logrollings … quilting bees … shivarees … “barking” squirrels: Gibson 2000, 22. “to aid and assist …” … a winding sheet: Gibson 2000, 23, quoting Monks 1907, 12, and after Murphy 1982.
herded, hunted, farmed and traded: Stevens 1991, 28. one man might still be a crop farmer, a stock raiser, a tie cutter, a miner and a teamster by turns: Sauer 1920, 234 (“One man may be alternately crop farmer, stock raiser, tie cutter, miner, and teamster”). ten percent … thirty percent: Sauer 1920, 178. $9.94 an acre, the third lowest in Missouri: Gibson 2000, 26, after Murphy 1982. twenty-one bushels … twenty … thirty-four: Sauer 1920, 191–92. $4.20 … $7.60: Sauer 1920, 186. Joshua Sholar … “The majority of farmers …” … grind it at Alley: Stevens 1991, 125, after Flanders 1979.
Much of what the hills produced never reached a market … about $7.2 million … only about $2 million of it was sold: Gibson 2000, 23 ($7,161,410 and $1,959,840, for the farms of the southeastern Ozark region in 1910, after Murphy 1982), 26–27 (the reading of such figures as a household strategy of many sources).

Fences around the corn

fenced his crops in: Stevens 1991, 29. “The thing that’s wrong with free range …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 46 (a woman who farmed on the South Prong from the 1930s). Until the 1890s … many hill counties … “made grazing good even in the timber” … Arkansas canebrakes: Sauer 1920, 160–61. As late as 1914 and 1915 … whatever land was not under fence was free to anybody’s stock: Sauer 1920, ix (the travels), 185. In the 1920s much of the rough land along the rivers near Eminence was still open range … cattle brought in from the south and southwest: Bridge 1930, 25.
marked in early spring and then left alone, except for an occasional salting, until winter … Bells hung on the leaders of a herd … cattle, horses, sheep and turkeys: Sauer 1920, 186. A family turned out a sow or two … “if they come with your sow, they were yours”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 46 (a woman born in the upper basin in 1935). “Have you seen my cattle lately?” … unmilked: Gibson 2000, 35–36.
People who lived on the upper Jacks Fork between the 1910s and the 1940s remembered the range: the interviews published in Jacobson and Primm 1994, 12, 39–40 (Table 6 gives the narrators’ birth years and homes). “and just kick them out the gate” … “there’d be as high as 50 bells …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 44. “ran from there to Alley”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 53. “It was nothing to see 40 or 50 head …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 54. “big, deep ditches”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 46. penned their hogs and fed them corn … acorn meat “had a wild taste” but would not put on weight: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 45 (a woman whose family came to the upper basin in 1911). wild horses near Eminence: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 212.
Native people and the early hunters had fired the grass … to drive game toward the hunters: Sauer 1920, 53–54. took off the winter’s dead leaves and grass and let the new grass grow: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 46 (burning “would take the litter off, stimulated the grass to grow”). A man born at Alley Spring in 1907 … bluestem … tall and tough: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 45 and Table 6, 39. Neighbors went out in bunches to rake a line around one man’s farm: same, 44–45 (the man who grew up on the Current near the mouth of the Jacks Fork). burned around their own places … fences and hay: same, 46 (the man whose family came to the basin in 1932).
“We used to always burn every spring”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 44. “Last of February, first of March”: same, 46. “Easter Sunday was the big day for burning”: same, 45. “she’d go down the crick …”: same, 46. “Every spring you could depend on burning …”: same, 46.
“they didn’t want to spoil their hog feed”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 45. saw no erosion … “You could see a horse up there on that hill”: same, 46. “Yes they had erosion …”: same, 45. “rocks and bare” … “it looks like they’ve plowed”: same, 46.
bluestem … oak sprouts: Sauer 1920, 161, 185. late 1920s and 1930s … feared they would end spring burning and open grazing: Stevens 1991, 196–97. soon … about a third to about one percent: Stevens 1991, 204.
A stock law turned the old rule around … answer for his animals wherever they went: Sauer 1920, 185 (“Stock law, which makes the owner responsible for all unconfined stock”). In the Jacks Fork basin and its neighbors … township by township … fencing, clearing, seeding and fertilizing: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 47. on the North Prong in Texas County: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (Table 6: a farm on the North Prong of Jacks Fork); the North Prong lies wholly in Texas County (see Part Five, Reach A). “Two years after we were married …” … went to barbed wire … more cattle than their own land could carry … “Most people just had 80 acres”: same, 45. Shannon County voters turned down every proposal … 1969 … the last county in Missouri: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 212, 220 n. 6; Stevens 1991, 205. “growed up and you can’t hardly walk through …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 53. “since they bought this …”: same, 55.
Under the law of the 1930s the county court called a stock-law election on a petition … horses, mules, asses, cattle, swine, sheep and goats … a constable might take up: Missouri Attorney General 1939 (a Butler County case under R.S. Mo. 1929, sec. 12805, in which a constable who threatened to take up loose stock after a void election was enjoined). made the closed range the rule for the whole state … answered for the damage: Matthews [1976] (“In 1969 the ‘open range’ law was changed by the Missouri legislature to a ‘closed range’ system”).

Mills on the branches

a traveling English geologist … “had no mill of any sort to go to” … eight feet … sixteen feet: Stevens 1991, 33–34, quoting Featherstonhaugh 1844 (Stevens’s notes give pp. 73–74 and Clendenen 1973, 74).
Mill sites were plentiful … seldom failed in a drought or washed out in a flood … more than a mill could use: Sauer 1920, 162 (the region “is unusually well supplied with mill sites,” and its springs “afforded splendid power for driving primitive water wheels”). probably “Norse” mills, a type common in hilly country … a fee or a share of the meal … all their corn at home: Stevens 1991, 34, after Clendenen 1973, 74. How the Norse and overshot wheels worked is general.
at least ten gristmills and six sawmills … Fursman Spring Mill … McCubbin Mill … the Stoops grist and sawmill: Stevens 1991, 34. the spring took the Fursman name later … during the Depression: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79 (the Fursmans “lived there during the Depression”; a cabin of 1861 stood “near what is now called the Fursman Spring”), the only source; see Reach J. whose site is given two ways: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (on the spring branch in McCubbin Hollow) and PDF p. 24 (map: on the river a little below Belew Hollow); see Reach D. “by way of McCobbin’s Mill to Spring Valley”: Stevens 1991, 62. The census of 1860 found two mills in all of Shannon County: Gibson 2000, 23, after Murphy 1982, 88; compare Stevens 1991, 71 (five water mills in Carter, Shannon and Ripley counties).
In 1874 there were again two by one count … Rocky Falls … about 1869 … Mammoth Spring … a rough shed … a hundred feet below the spring … Charles Klepzig … 1881 … George W. McCaskill: Perry [1978], sec. 8 (an 1874 account). Nicholl’s Mill … known in 1874: O’Brien 1939, 93 (citing the Missouri gazetteer of 1874, p. 600). Hiram Dent’s flour mill … 1901: O’Brien 1939, 37. Joe Fisher … near Sterling … Pine Creek: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 36, 84, 102. about 1884 … Summersville … George and James McCaskill: Perry [1978], sec. 8. John Carpenter’s … about 1868 … three steam sawmills and one water-powered sawmill: Stevens 1991, 71.
a gristmill on the North Prong, at one time called Mahan’s Mill, was running before 1837: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9; see Reach A. Reuben Harlow … 60,000 feet of boards in 1860 … Greenberry … Harlow Ford … the Campbell brothers … turbine-powered … 192,000 pounds of cornmeal … Ben Meador … below Rocky Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 9, 11, 14, the only source (his figures appear to come from the census schedules of manufactures; Lewis does not say which prong); see Reaches A and C.
meal and news: Stevens 1991, 34. waited days for their turn: Perry [1978], sec. 8. seldom more than eight houses: Stevens 1991, 32–33; Hughes, Williams and Stevens 1992, [2–3]. People were said to live at a hamlet … many of them kin … raised crops and stock and worked the timber: Hughes, Williams and Stevens 1992, [2–3], quoting Robert Flanders (Flanders and Morrow 1985, 26: “The subtle difference between the two prepositions suggests association with the place rather than containment within it”).
About 1915 water wheels in the interior were still sawing timber, grinding flour and meal and carding wool … going fast … gasoline engines and portable steam engines: Sauer 1920, 215 (“fast disappearing”). by the late 1960s an abandoned building in the hills was treated as anyone’s to use or to burn: Brown 1969, 16 n. 16 (“is fair game for any and all to use or burn as they see fit”).

Stores, preaching and schooling

the 1820s and 1830s … a peddler or a tailor … “Connecticut clocks” … the Deatherage store and another Current River store: Stevens 1991, 104–5, citing Featherstonhaugh 1844, 91, the Deatherage account envelopes of 1856–57 and the F. B. Green store papers.
Itinerant preachers … the revival churches … Christian Reformed … the schoolhouses … Alley … At Ink … a week: Stevens 1991, 122–23. camp meetings: Gibson 2000, 22. Mount Olivet … 1867: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 70. Moore’s Chapel: O’Brien 1939, 87. Munsell Chapel: O’Brien 1939, 90. Church of God … churches at Winona and West Eminence … tents in the hill clearings … brush arbors: O’Brien 1939, 27 (“in tents in the hill clearings, in brush arbors, and in various school houses and vacant store buildings”); see also 19.
At Spring Valley … the Methodists put up a meetinghouse in 1877 or 1878 for $160: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Ecclesiastical” (“a house of worship was erected at Spring Valley by a Mr. Hamilton, at a cost of $160,” in the conference year ending October 1878).
subscription schools … 1857 … twelve … W. N. Deatherage … ten schools … pokeberries … goose quills … Thomasville or Salem … thirty-six … sixty-two … twenty-five days: Stevens 1991, 110–12.
Eminence organized its public school in 1876 … $10,000 schoolhouse … on the hill … Missouri Lumber and Mining Company … West Eminence: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 68.
Samuel K. Gill … 1890 … Winningham School … Dryden … “the larger girls …”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 22, 40. Little Shawnee School: O’Brien 1939, 76. Harlow School: O’Brien 1939, 57. Possum Trot School … a name common for schools in remote districts: O’Brien 1939, 108 (“A common name for schools in remote districts”).
“to go a little at a time …”: Stevens 1991, 113. the poorest districts of several Ozark counties … twenty-five or even twenty dollars: Sauer 1920, 208. appear to have closed in the early 1950s … by 1969 … Eminence, Salem or Van Buren: Brown 1969, 64–65. A few of the schoolhouses still stand … Storys Creek School: Stevens 1991, 116, 121–22.

Post offices and the names on the map

Table 5.2: O’Brien 1939, 3 (Angeline), 5 (Arroll), 28 (Clear Spring), 36 (Delaware), 43 (Eminence), 44 (Eudy), 57 (Hattie), 67 (both Jack’s Fork offices), 77 (Louisa), 80 (Mahon’s Creek), 120 (Shawnee), 130 (Summersville), 141 (West Eminence); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11 (Jack’s Fork, December 1849 to 1899, renamed Arroll in 1899; Hattie; Arroll), PDF p. 53 (Alley, Klepzig 1884; renamed Alley Spring in 1950), PDF pp. 68, 71 (Eminence postmasters from 1867), PDF p. 79 (Jack’s Fork, Shannon County, April 18, 1917, to 1954); Rowe 2008 (Arroll: July 9, 1898, closed November 30, 1914, reopened February 12, 1938, closed May 3, 1957; Hattie: July 14, 1891, closed July 2, 1894 to March 29, 1898, closed May 3, 1957; Clear Springs: July 12, 1880, closed October 29, 1953); Forte, Postal History, Texas and Shannon county lists (Jack’s Fork 1849/1899; Arroll 1899–1914 and 1938–1957; Hattie 1891/1957; Clear Springs 1880–1953; Louisa 1905–1923; Eminence from 1844; Alley 1884–1950 and Alley Spring 1950–1974; Jack’s Fork, Shannon, 1917–1954; Angeline 1909–1929; Eudy 1906–1914; Delaware 1923–1941); Stevens 1991, 70 n. 8 (the first Eminence office, 1860); Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 19, 73 (Chapel and Mountain View); Perry [1978], sec. 8 (the Alley application, August 14, 1884); O’Brien 1939, 2 (Alley, “a post office since 1886”). Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54 (Mahon’s Creek: William Mahan applied April 13, 1860; “It disappeared with the coming of the Civil War”), PDF p. 56 (the first Delaware office, May 29, 1871, to June 24, 1873, and Orchard Point, May 12 to May 24, 1874, both applied for by Henry B. Catlett), PDF p. 65 (Delaware “reopened” by Edwin Faust, December 26, 1923), the only source for the 1860 application, the first Delaware office and Orchard Point; see Reach I.
“clipped off the C”: O’Brien 1939, 5. Angeline: O’Brien 1939, 3. probably named for John Alley … three miles east … apocryphal: Perry [1978], sec. 8 (the name was “presumed” to be his, and the reasons given “appear to be apocryphal”). Delaware Creek came first: O’Brien 1939, 36.

Three towns

in 1868 moved the government: Stevens 1991, 63; O’Brien 1939, 43, gives 1870 for the town’s founding. Thomas Joshua Chilton … fifty acres: O’Brien 1939, 43. about 250 people … a forty-mile stage line … “general farm produce”: Stevens 1991, 70. twice a week … daily by 1889: Stevens 1991, 104. 140 … 300 … 200 … silver ore: Stevens 1991, 103. 325: Bridge 1930, 23.
By one account the county court, Judges Alfred Deatherage, Thomas J. Chilton and William Mahan … February 1868 … William S. Chilton … a clear title … $6,000 … 82 cents on the dollar … William Orchard and T. B. Dunvas of Thomasville … thirty feet square … 1869 … New Year’s Eve of 1871: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 64, the only source. another two-story frame courthouse replaced it … In 1896 the county clerk’s separate office was filled with pine knots … did not burn … finished in 1899 … May 23, 1938: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 68.
eighteen people … the summer of 1870 … a sawyer from Ohio, a real-estate man and a Christian preacher from Maryland … Indiana and Illinois … By 1880 the census counted 89 … an innkeeper, a druggist, three lawyers, a blacksmith, a wagon maker, a schoolteacher, a newspaper editor and a saloon keeper: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 64, 69, from the census of 1870 and 1880 (the families of Daniel Dye, the Longs and James Creager; in 1880 Creager, “Clergyman and Representative”).
the first wagon … rejected the story with some heat, as nothing but envy … the muddy winter of 1867 … decided where the courthouse stood … the bold hill north of town and the long view from its top … The driver’s daughter: O’Brien 1939, 43 (the story “indignantly rejected, by natives of the town, as inspired by mere envy and uncharitableness”; the grandson is John Freeman, the driver W. M. Freeman and his daughter Mrs. Cora Williams; the hill and its view from A. J. Hawkins). grew unevenly: Stevens 1991, 103. a student who collected the county’s place names that year … “cannot be reached by any common carrier …”: O’Brien 1939, iv.
hauled lumber for the courthouse with ox teams from a mill on the Eleven Point … a dollar apiece … fourteen pines: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 64 (W. M. Freeman, the driver of O’Brien’s story). Eminence, Kentucky, the home of the man who surveyed the county: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69, the only source. Jake Wingo, a lawyer’s son … 1874 … fording the Current … the rough water … the Current Wave: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 68, the only source (Lewis puts the ford above Round Spring). the Blue Cut train robbery … that September … the Boyd Hotel … had one shod … George Chilton: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 68, the only source. The Blue Cut robbery, near Glendale in Jackson County, was on September 7, 1881.
Summersville … 1874: O’Brien 1939, 130. about 1884 … a roller mill: Perry [1978], sec. 8.
About 1878, possibly somewhat earlier … John J. and James Campbell … John Goldsberry … “Bitter competition followed” … “Possum Trot”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 15. Chapel … 1860 … 1879: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 19. December 22 … John C. Campbell … 1888 … Frank Pollock … the small rise: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 73. built east from Willow Springs in 1887–89 … four hours by train: Stevens 1991, 75, 104.

Giraffe-stone houses

orange, red, yellow and white … since about 1900 … Roubidoux … about four inches thick … A retired stonemason has described … “ribbon” … scraped away the excess … slaked with water and mixed with sand … the pile bubbles and turns hot … named the rock for the places … Dent, Crawford, Texas and Shannon: Schaper n.d., with the account of the stonemason Ed Krshul (the slaked lime “would bubble, it would actually get hot”). The chemistry of lime mortar is general.

What the century left

Table 5.3: Stevens 1991, 96 (Table 3, from the U.S. Census), except 1860: Stevens 1991, 51, 64 (2,284; Table 3’s 2,271 is very probably the free population). about 2.4 percent: 2,284 in 1860 to 2,339 in 1870 (Stevens 1991, 51, 64, 96; Stevens rounds it to 2.3 percent). 1.5 to 1.3 percent … cut in half: Stevens 1991, 64. about 2.3 percent: Stevens 1991, 72. forty-seven percent: Stevens 1991, 69. 680 to 1,311: Stevens 1991, 96. more than doubled in the 1880s: Stevens 1991, 96 (Table 3).
fewer than ten people lived to the square mile … descended from the pioneers who had come from Kentucky and Tennessee … several generations: Bridge 1930, 23 (“descendants of the pioneers who emigrated to Missouri from Kentucky and Tennessee early in the nineteenth century”). a traveling geographer set down in 1914 and 1915: Sauer 1920, ix. “Whatever land is not farmed is considered semipublic property”: Sauer 1920, 185.

Chapter 6. War Comes to the River

Opening

August 25, 1862 … Three men ran … Jesse Conaway … Perry Chilton … nearly a mile … “swimming through Jack’s Fork”: OR, vol. 13, 260.
legislature … state senate on the eve of the war … “King of Shannon County”: Rader 2017, ch. 4 (elected in 1861); Goodspeed 1894 (“Hon. Joshua Chilton”) has him elected in 1860 and “never permitted to serve”; OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 465 (“the late State Senator”). five other prisoners to Salem on August 28 … “more to induce men to join the Southern Army …”: OR, vol. 13, 261; OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 465.
the morning of August 30 … Within three miles … one, who got away … tried to escape … found the bodies himself … about thirty yards … a mile and a half farther … “in an opening of the woods”: OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 471–72.
fought by irregular bands against small Union patrols … no battlefield anywhere along the riverways: Brown 1969, 67 (the war “was one of irregular forces against small Federal patrols,” and “there are no Civil War sites along the riverways”). men who knew their victims: Stevens 1991, 58–61; Rader 2017, ch. 4; and the cases below.

A county that voted South

Claiborne Jackson, refused Lincoln’s call for troops … the State Guard … two governments … Neosho in the fall of 1861 … the Confederacy soon admitted Missouri: Stevens 1991, 53–54 (Stevens dates the Neosho vote November 1861 and the admission a month later; the ordinance of secession is usually dated October 28, 1861, and the Confederate admission November 28, 1861, so “the fall of 1861” covers both readings). About 30,000 … more than 100,000: Stevens 1991, 61. Pea Ridge … secured much of Missouri for the North: Stevens 1991, 54.
three slaveholders … thirteen enslaved people … 123 … 38 … 27 … 2: Rader 2017, ch. 4 and n. 29, citing the county’s 1860 election return (Missouri State Archives). Tennessee and Kentucky: see Chapter 5. the county’s loyalty followed its leading families … fifteen Chilton households with ninety-four members: Rader 2017, ch. 4 (Rader, who grew up on Mahans Creek, traces the county’s loyalty to its leading families; “About the Author”). tried to stay neutral … rump session at Neosho: Rader 2017, ch. 4; Stevens 1991, 54.
Billy Mahan … wealthiest farmer in Delaware Township … judge … Four of the nine … No man from the township is known to have served the Union: Rader 2017, ch. 4 (he found none).
called in the Union garrisons: Rader 2017, ch. 4. a local guide: OR, vol. 13, 260.
Charles Beckelshymer and William Baskett, are said to have taken the Union side: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11, the only source; see Reach C.
Missouri State Militia … Enrolled Missouri Militia … bushwhackers: Stevens 1991, 53, 61; Nichols 2007, “Winter 1863 in Southeast Missouri” and “Spring 1863 in Southeast Missouri.” paid and armed by the federal government … an order of July 1862 … on the rolls as disloyal … provisional regiments: general history of the Missouri militia (the State Militia of 1861; General Orders No. 19, July 22, 1862; the Provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia of 1863). the Sixth Provisional: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746. its enrolling officer rode with a cavalry escort: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 705–6.
Thomas Roe Freeman and William O. Coleman … Phelps County: Nichols 2007, “Spring 1863 in Southeast Missouri.” Freeman had been a county judge: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “Thomas Roe Freeman” (a member of the Phelps County court). Coleman was dismissed … July 1862 … independent bands: Nichols 2014, “Fall 1864 in Southeast Missouri.” Many local guerrillas … after the corn was planted … a volley or two … an agreed place: Rader 2017, ch. 4.

The road through the county

Salem … Spring Valley … the Jacks Fork … Thomasville … Arkansas: OR, vol. 34, pt. 2, 176 (route of Lt. Col. John W. Stephens, January 1864); OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746. outposts of Rolla, where the railroad from St. Louis ended in 1861: general (the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad reached Rolla in 1861). the 128 volumes … 1880 to 1901: U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington, 1880–1901); the dates as in Stevens 1991, 55 n. 6.
December 3 … about 300 men: Brown 1969, 21. “I followed them from Jack’s Forks to Spring Valley …” … “one of the roughest countries …” … out of provisions and forage … “entirely destitute …”: OR, vol. 8, 36–37; Brown 1969, 22. captured in February 1862 and exchanged that September: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “Thomas Roe Freeman.”
by one count six Union soldiers and thirteen of the attackers were killed: Moore 1862, vol. 3 (the Salem fight of December 3, 1861), as given by Dickinson College’s House Divided project, which cites the volume without a page; the volume itself was not seen, and this is the only count found. On the 5th … stopping only half an hour at a time to feed … within four miles … a Captain Montgomery … hit nobody … The timber was heavy and the nights dark … by-paths … twenty prisoners and some thirty-five horses … some of them taken with arms … “if half of them were kicked and let go …” … McBride’s State Guard command at Thomasville … coming north again toward the Current: OR, vol. 8, 36–37 (Bowen to Acting Brigadier General John B. Wyman, Salem, December 9, 1861; the operation is headed “Expedition through the Current Hills”). four companies of cavalry and a battery of artillery: OR, vol. 8, 36 (Wyman, Rolla, December 10, 1861).
On February 17, 120 men of Major W. C. Drake’s command … Lieutenant Colonel Wood’s battalion … Texas, Dent, Shannon and Howell … Houston without opposition … provisions, arms and ammunition … West Plains … some of Coleman’s men after a sharp fight: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Military Affairs,” giving Drake’s report of March 4, 1862 (Goodspeed spells the battalion commander “Woods”).
March 7 … about 250 men … camped the second night on the Jacks Fork … Thomasville: Monks 1907, 147–48 (William Monks, a Howell County Unionist who served in the region), the only source.
Fifth Kansas Cavalry … June 17 … Coleman’s men: Nichols 2004, “Summer 1862 in Southeast Missouri”; OR, vol. 13, 2. A Kansas cavalryman wrote in his diary that day … five bushwhackers … executed in front of the courthouse … the youngest boys: Fellman 1989, 165, citing the diary of Augustus Bondi, entry for June 17, 1862, at Eminence (Kansas State Historical Society).
Reed … August 24 … fifty men … David B. Smith … Chilton’s Mill … Andrew Chilton … Cedrick Chilton … four horses: OR, vol. 13, 260. “rough and hilly …” … “two grist-mills …”: Reed’s report as quoted in OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 465. saw a man run and leave a horse … wagon and oxen … the families: OR, vol. 13, 261 (“whenever we saw a man run and leave a horse”) (spelled “Alfred Deathridge”). a thousand head of good cattle: OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 465.
halted at noon for dinner twenty miles out, on the Barren Fork of Sinking Creek … Jackson Suggs: OR, vol. 13, 260 (printed “Sugs”); the report as printed in Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71 (“Suggs”). On the 26th … twenty miles northeast to Big Creek … Andrew Marsh’s … riding with Coleman … one stray horse … Benjamin Conway’s … Jackson Herring’s … took Herring along … Goforth, whose son was with Coleman … horses and colts: OR, vol. 13, 260–61; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 70 (“Took man and horses along”). probably the Jackson Herring taken at Big Creek: an inference from the two names and from Reed’s taking Herring with him; the Salem letters spell him “Heron.”
a common epitaph for prisoners of the state militia: Stevens 1991, 61 (“shot while trying to escape”). near Rolla on August 26: Goodspeed 1894 (“Hon. Joshua Chilton”). during the patrol itself: Stevens 1991, 61. he reached Salem alive … Weydemeyer, held him two days … Jackson Heron … “nobody doubts …” … charges against each of the dead: OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 465–66, 471–72; the escort commander’s report is at 472. enraged the Chiltons … probably pushed many … to the Southern side: Rader 2017, ch. 4 (his judgment).
Joseph Weydemeyer … a German, once a lieutenant of artillery in the Prussian army … a follower of Karl Marx … 1851 … The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte … a German paper he started in New York: Fenwick 1948, 26–27 (reviewing Obermann’s 1947 life of Weydemeyer; his garrison was at Minden, in Westphalia; the paper was Die Revolution, 1852). The Missouri Historical Society identifies the J. Weydemeyer who commanded at Salem as Joseph Weydemeyer (Henry Almstedt Papers, A0022, which hold two of his letters). In October 1862 … the post quartermaster’s dealings … asked to be relieved of the Salem command: Missouri Historical Society, Henry Almstedt Papers (A0022), folder 1, letter signed “J. Weydemeyer, Lt. Col. Comd. Post, Military Post, Salem, Mo.,” to Col. Henry Almstedt, October 3, 1862 (Col. Glover, commanding the Rolla District, had ordered testimony taken on the post quartermaster’s transactions; “I am seeking removal from this command”). died in St. Louis in 1866: Fenwick 1948, 26–27. The usual biographical notes give the day as August 20, 1866, and the cause as cholera, after a St. Louis newspaper notice not seen here; neither is used.
The Chilton family told the story its own way … Nearly seventy years later a kinsman … a Van Buren newspaper … two private quarrels … John Worthington … imaginary … Dave Smith … real … over from Rolla … A. J. Chilton … nightclothes … all fours among the sheep … Sam West’s … crawled under a bed … talked the soldiers away … fired on them from the door and missed … killed his father … pushed him back into the house … about two weeks later … at breakfast … Louis Conway … half a mile off … wandered away from the others: John J. Chilton’s account in the Current Local (Van Buren), as printed in Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 70, 73 (the account opens “Sixty-nine years ago, last week,” so about 1931), the only source for the family’s telling. an empty house with two doors … one of the guards fell asleep … James Galyon … a boot … a Freemason … two Masons among the guards … shot where he sat … lagged behind out of sight … take off their shoes … “shot down like a brute” … “You can’t tell any difference” … a young woman washing clothes … eight days later … nothing but apples … Charles T. Chilton and Jack Smith … Worthington’s house … a ferry boat … central Texas … Joshua Chilton’s widow … a saloon door: same, Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 70, 73. Chilton’s retort (“I have friends that can wade as deep in blood as you”) and the details of the wounds are left in the source. Lewis puts Worthington’s house “in the vicinity of Round Spring.” The family counted eleven dead: same (John West, Mrs. Sam West, Louis Conway, James Henry Galyon, William Chilton, Henry Smith, Sam Herring, Jack Herring, John Huddleston, John Story and Joshua Chilton). one man killed and a woman slightly wounded … the woman may have been Mrs. West: OR, vol. 13, 260 (at Andrew Chilton’s, “Names unknown”); the identification is a guess. an Alexander Chilton among the dead … Jackson Heron … a man named Worthington: OR, ser. 2, vol. 4, 465–66, 471–72. a David B. Smith, perhaps the family’s Dave Smith … the families of David and Dan Smith: OR, vol. 13, 260–61; that the guide was the family’s Dave Smith is a guess. The family’s Jack Herring among the dead may be Reed’s Jackson Herring, the escaped Jackson Heron of the Salem letters.
Davidson … nearly ten thousand … thirteen infantry regiments, three batteries … a brigade of cavalry … Pilot Knob, where the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad ended: Stevens 1991, 54–55. a cavalry dash on Batesville: Stevens 1991, 56. three hundred wagons … half rations … spoiled … “the poor devils are suffering terribly …” … corn and cattle … thousands of hogs … “gray hairs”: Stevens 1991, 57 (the soldier’s words from Bradbury’s notes). about halfway between Rolla and Pilot Knob … five miles a day … a makeshift bridge of wagons … a field of fire … cutting new roads beside the old ones … nearly impassable … In a little over three months … little harm … much of the winter’s food: Stevens 1991, 57–58. by way of the mouth of the Jacks Fork: Brown 1969, 25. the log courthouse … as a hospital: Eddleman 2022, quoting the diary of August Scherneckau, 1st Nebraska (the page dates the entry February 1862, evidently for 1863). February 15 … ox cart: Nichols 2007, “Winter 1863 in Southeast Missouri,” citing the regimental histories of the 22nd Iowa and 33rd Illinois. vouchers … nowhere to cash them: Stevens 1991, 57.
Word reached Houston on August 12 … Casto Valley … five … Hackwith … Johnson … twenty-six men … two days … held responsible: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 568–69. western Shannon County: Nichols 2007, “Summer 1863 in Southeast Missouri.” “while scouting for this post” … “carried them to Jack’s Fork, and murdered them”: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 749.
Sergeant T. J. McDowell … Spring Valley, twenty-five miles southeast of the post … on the 14th … taking a horse … scattered into the woods along the Jacks Fork … some of them set out to try to get the prisoners released … useless … the 16th … heat, short forage and a ride of 130 miles: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 568–69 (Capt. Richard Murphy, Houston, August 22, 1863; the heading reads “Skirmish near Jack’s Fork, Mo.,” August 14, 1863).
October 14 … enrolling officer … “Man’s Creek” … “had the appearance of being traveled daily …” … ten minutes … the band’s forage: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 705–6. enrolling Shannon County’s men: Nichols 2007, “Fall 1863 in Southeast Missouri.” The story goes … the heads of the two dead men, one of them a boy … tied them to their saddles: Rader 2017, ch. 4 and n. 37, the only source found. Eddleman’s report (OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 705–6) mentions no heads. The report printed just above it (OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 704–5; Lt. Horace W. Baldwin, Fort Garland, Colorado, October 16, 1863) tells of an outlaw and “a boy” killed, their heads “severed from the bodies” and delivered to the post.
about fifteen of his troopers … “emptied four saddles” … four horses and their saddles … None of Eddleman’s men was hurt … clothes shot through … About five in the afternoon: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 705–6 (Lt. Michael S. Eddleman, Co. M, Fifth M.S.M. Cavalry, Camp Glover, October 18, 1863).
rode twenty-five miles toward Spring Valley … Benjamin Carter … one of two men … thirty miles in the saddle that day: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746 (Benjamin Carter and Wilson Farrow, “that were engaged in burning Houston”), as printed in Stevens 1991, 61–62. Boyd … farmed on the Jacks Fork … next to Henry Mahan: Rader 2017, ch. 4, citing the 1860 census of agriculture. issued at Houston the day before … fifteen men … five each from Companies B and G … “clean them out” … the first day … November 5 … Miles and Jack Stephens … Fed Taylor … Widow McCormick’s … “positive evidence” … James Mahan … William Mahan’s … twenty men on the bluff … Chandler … Hackley … William Story … Morgan Dean’s … James Harris … “all well provided …” … Samuel Jones … John Nicholson … McCubbin’s Mill … six days, 145 miles: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746–47 (Boyd’s report, at 746, opens with the special orders of November 3, 1863, from the post headquarters; the printed text reads the number as 42). Orderly Sergeant Basket … twenty-four miles … said to be from Dent County … Company F of Mitchell’s Confederate regiment … addressed to families in Dent and Phelps counties: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61 (the letters “directed to persons in Dent and Phelps Counties”). By one account the camp that night was at Thomas Mahan’s … cook their supper: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source; his later page (PDF p. 61) follows the report and has William Mahan’s. The report dates the march up Mahans Creek “the 9th”; by its own sequence it was the 7th. Guerrillas had lately burned much of Houston: Nichols 2007, “Fall 1863 in Southeast Missouri”; OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 749. James Mahan, probably the twenty-two-year-old son: Rader 2017, ch. 4, n. 42 (his text calls James a cousin of Henry’s). Anne McCormick … eight children … James Mahan, probably the twenty-two-year-old son … Jesse Story, a fifteen-year-old cousin: Rader 2017, ch. 4.
“the conduct of this officer in killing prisoners and burning houses” … five: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 747 (Special Orders No. 186). Lovell … twenty-three houses … six … The Harris house … “shot, running” … “broke for the brush” … “vacant huts or cabins” … “hunted me like a wild beast …” … “acted correctly …”: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 747–49. a murderous bushwhacker in a Union uniform: Rader 2017, ch. 4.
General John M. Schofield … General Thomas A. Davies … a lot with a cornfield on one side and thick brush on the other … The boy Jones took the main road … two or three riders … a double log house with three outside doors … more than half a mile … hidden in the ravines … several barrels of salt and goods taken from robbed sutlers … “the dying confessions of Roush” … at their own homes, Wilson Smith of Spring Valley … “by my sanction and order” … back at Rolla on November 24: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 747–49 (the department’s inquiry and the district’s orders at 747; Lovell’s report, Rolla, November 25, 1863, at 748; Boyd’s statement at 748–49). Schofield then commanded the Department of the Missouri, and Davies the District of Rolla (OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 313, 569, addressed to him).
February 1864 … thirty men … Eaton’s … twenty-two miles … gathering families to move north … February 15: OR, vol. 34, pt. 1, 113–15. probably the farm of the Jesse Eaton who had bought land on the river about 1858: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Pioneer” (Jessee Eaton’s purchase on Jack’s Fork); the identification is an inference. On February 18 … Freeman and a leader named Love … six or seven hundred men on Frederick’s Fork … “clearing out that country, burning all the Union families out” … old range … plenty of forage … Pilot Knob, Rolla, Salem and Houston … a twelve-pounder howitzer … “down on Jack’s Fork” the day before: OR, vol. 34, pt. 2, 363 (Headquarters Detachment, Fifth Cavalry M.S.M., Salem, February 18, 1864, to Lt. Col. J. A. Eppstein, Rolla; the letter is signed “Captain, Commanding Detachment,” with no name in the printed text, and Whybark then held that command; he wrote that if troops were sent in from different directions “I don’t see how he could escape”). A scout went out that December after the robbers around Mountain Store … killed a guerrilla named Clark on the Jacks Fork: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Military Affairs.” called Clarie … killed at Mountain Store itself: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 6; see Reach B. Joshua Chilton’s son Nelson … a wound in the arm … a kinsman … the road up Big Shawnee Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source; see Reach J.
July 1864 … sixty men … stolen horses … “up Jack’s Fork and Current and Gladden Valley” … Big Creek … “some with citizen hats …” … “Plenty bushwhackers on Jack’s Fork …”: OR, vol. 41, pt. 1, 74–75.
On April 18 … Augustus Benz … forty men … Sinking Creek, the Current and Big Creek … about ten miles beyond the old county seat … five of the bands’ “general camping places” … “after a hard chase” … Charles Burch … Steen’s Confederate regiment … M. M. Parsons … Augustus Dow of St. Louis … the Southern mail … “a splendid secesh flag and a lot of letters” … a military commission: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 313 (Capt. Peter Ostermayer, Fifth M.S.M. Cavalry, Salem, April 22, 1863; the report reads “about 10 miles on the other side of Eminence,” the old county seat, and has Benz leave “last Friday, the 18th instant,” though April 18, 1863, fell on a Saturday).
January 1865 … forty-five men … eighty … “scouted out Jack’s Fork Hills” … Birch Prairie … six … nine horses … “harboring places” … “several pens of corn …” … Texas County … toward Rolla … “of all their horses and bedclothing and meat”: OR, vol. 48, pt. 1, 17–18.
killed four and wounded two who got away … badly wounded … three squads … the head of the Jacks Fork, more thoroughly … since the war began … two or three hundred men sent down to Spring River in Arkansas … corn enough in Shannon County and below it … three or four hundred … left the families they robbed nothing to eat … the guerrillas’ own families … moved back into Texas and Shannon counties: Whybark’s report, Salem, January 8, 1865 (OR, vol. 48, pt. 1, 17–18), as reprinted in Fort Scott Tribune 2010; the volume itself was not seen for these details. The reprint reads “horses & bed clothing, meat, etc.” where the quotation above, taken earlier from the volume, reads “horses and bedclothing and meat.”

Neighbors

hid their provisions … oaths … roads … Raiders of both sides: Stevens 1991, 58–59; Rader 2017, ch. 4. Dr. Thomas Reed and two of his sons: Stevens 1991, 61, citing Little 1990.
Horse Hollow: O’Brien 1939, 62. Hogs … held up: Rader 2017, ch. 4.
James Edgar Canavit … women’s clothes … the spring behind the house … dishes … hidden in a cave … Illinois: Rader 2017, ch. 4, quoting Betty Ames, letter to the editor, Shannon County Historical Review, Autumn 1965, 2.
In one version: Stevens 1991, 59, after Flanders 1979, 210 (the version printed in regional histories). the version a descendant gave in the late 1990s: Gibson 2000, 32–33 (told to a Park Service researcher; the source gives its interviewees pseudonyms). A third telling … Robert and Julianna Powell … Lieutenant Boyd’s militia: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source; see Reach G. The three tellings are not shown to be one event. Violence against women and children was rare: Stevens 1991, 59.

A county without a government

did not meet from its December term of 1861 until October 1866 … no taxes … no elections in 1862 or 1864 … Union soldiers or militia … Houston: Rader 2017, ch. 4. persons unknown sometime after 1863: Eddleman 2022. less a court of law than the county’s governing board: general (the Missouri county court of the period).
Alexander Deatherage … Wilson’s Creek and Lexington … two thousand … four thousand … probably apocryphal … kept electing Deatherages: Rader 2017, ch. 4 (the judgment that it is probably apocryphal is his). records hidden in a cave: Rader 2017, ch. 4, n. 39, citing an undated manuscript by Oscar Harper. court sat for a time in a cave: O’Brien 1939, 42–43. a log house on Billy Mahan’s farm … 1868: Rader 2017, ch. 4.
By one account the officers elected that year … George F. Chilton, sheriff and collector … John M. Daugherty, circuit and county clerk … Alexander Deatherage, treasurer … David C. Reed, assessor and representative … the first business house … a Colonel Thomas Freeman … a store and a saloon: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 64, the only source. Lewis does not say whether this Freeman was Thomas Roe Freeman, the Confederate colonel of the war years; the same page has a Thomas Freeman later keeping a store in a log building on the square.

Caves, a tree and a sign

saltpeter … places to recover … records … refuges: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3. What saltpeter is and how it was won from cave earth is general. Canavit … somewhere in Shannon County: Rader 2017, ch. 4 and n. 27. Hospital Cave … mid-1930s, probably 1934: Dorrance 1938, 29, the earliest source found; the year is reckoned from the weekdays and dates Dorrance gives for the float, which fit 1928 as well. Meeting House Cave … 1977: NPS 1977, the earliest printed source found.
Civil War Oak … “a sporting chance” … The deed: O’Brien 1939, 28 (the tradition as recorded in 1939). By another telling … aunt Betsy Chilton’s … an ear of corn … his boots … vine-covered oak … his shoes … most of the night: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75, the only source for this telling, which gives no date. an Alex Chilton was shot dead at Powell Spring in 1879 by his uncle, Andy Chilton: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74 (March 25, 1879), the only source; see Reach J. Whether the oak’s Alex and the man of 1879 were one man is not shown. an Aleck Chilton … a storekeeper … February 1863: Fellman 1989, 23–24; Nichols 2007, “Winter 1863 in Southeast Missouri.” Shannon County’s war names … are tied to things that happened, or are said to have happened, in the county itself … Dallas County … Sheridan, Sherman and Grant: O’Brien 1939, 155 (in Shannon “the names touch common life more closely,” and they “reflect a deeper sense of participation in the War itself”).

After the surrender

West Plains … a mixture of Union deserters and Confederates … Jamison … about fifty … secret societies … back taxes … Sons of Liberty: Stevens 1991, 63, after Goodrich and Oster 1986. every building in West Plains … about 3,200 … about fifty families: Stevens 1991, 63, after Goodrich and Oster 1986, 295. Salem … seventy-five families to twenty-five … perhaps a third of the people moved out of the state: Stevens 1991, 64. Houston: Nichols 2007, “Fall 1863 in Southeast Missouri”; OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 749. Union men who had fled … still gathered around Rolla in 1867 … A Pennsylvanian looking for land … “few men but many widows”: Stevens 1991, 63–64, after Goodrich and Oster 1986 (the letters of Daniel Fogle, August–September 1867).
Fletcher … Monks … a company of men who had served on both sides … Warm Fork … papers … Jamison’s band: Monks 1907, 173–79; Stevens 1991, 63. apparently without meeting resistance: Rader 2017, ch. 4. December: Stevens 1991, 63.
nearly eight of every ten … five farms run by women … the Mahan family … a third … a dozen small farms … almost nothing: Rader 2017, ch. 4. “milked dry and bled white”: Rader 2017, ch. 4, quoting the Current Wave, October 8, 1925. David C. Reed … “No but I am the only man there …”: Rader 2017, ch. 4, quoting the Current Wave, June 25, 1914.
Table 6.1 and the regional figures: Stevens 1991, 64, after Murphy 1982 and the 1860 and 1870 censuses; Delaware Township rows, Rader 2017, ch. 4, from the censuses of agriculture of 1860 and 1870. a state board of immigration set up in 1865: Stevens 1991, 64.
The state constitution of 1865 … swear an oath that he had never aided the rebellion … lawyers, teachers and preachers: general history (the test oath of the Missouri Constitution of 1865). Radical Republicans … 1867 … the secretary of state … 1870 … George F. Chilton … clerk, sheriff and assessor … Catlett … Margaret … twenty votes … a known Union man … “A Democratic Newspaper” … 1897: Rader 2017, ch. 4.
a deep disturbance of the county’s prewar sense of community: Stevens 1991, 65, after Flanders 1979, 215–16 (Flanders’s judgment). an already entrenched wariness of strangers … kin: Rader 2017, ch. 4. probably … rich forest and mineral resources … lumber companies: Stevens 1991, 65. the distrust it met had nearer causes: Gibson 2000, ch. 3, which ties local mistrust of government to the Park Service’s land buying.
Table 6.2: sources above. Wilson’s Creek, August 10, 1861: Brown 1969, 19. Freeman paroled at Jacksonport, June 5, 1865: Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “Thomas Roe Freeman.”

Chapter 7. Pine, Ties and Rails

Opening

Lima, Ohio … Euphemia … Hugh Sullivan … the throttle … the Delaware schoolhouse … stand on their desks … One of the children remembered the great ricks of pine knots: Rader 2017, ch. 8 (the child was Oscar Harper).
Joshua Sholar … “The celebrated yellow pine of the Ozarks …” … “the deer and the turkey, the rifle and the hounds”: Stevens 1991, 138, after Flanders 1979.

The pine woods

the 1820s … mixed pine and hardwood forest over the eastern half: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 15–18. The shortleaf pine’s range and bark are general.
“pines here that were 4 and 5 foot through” … “between Alley and Summersville …” … “there was nothing underneath it …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 38–40 (oral histories and table 6; the speakers’ birth years and family details as the report gives them).
too shallow and too flood-prone for log drives: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 44. The Current, fed by its big springs, ran steady through the year and seldom froze: Brown 1969, 34 n. 6, after Hill 1949. twenty-five to forty-five miles: Sauer 1920, 222.
On the Big Piney … ten sawmills … by 1840 … logs were rafted down to St. Louis: Goodspeed 1889, Texas County, “Natural Features.” for little but homesteads and for the charcoal: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 58.

The companies

1871 … Williams … Grandin … 30,000 acres … the Missouri Lumber and Mining Company … John Barber White … twelve and a half to twenty-five cents … first mill … ten miles from a railroad … 1884 … Kansas City, Fort Scott and Memphis … largest stockholder … largest in the country … three and a half acres … two band saws and a circular saw … 250,000 feet … fifty acres … Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma: Brown 1969, 30–36, after Hill 1949. fifteen to twenty thousand acres a year: NPS 1960, 52. east of the Current … could cut six million board feet a year … talks with the Iron Mountain railroad … broke down: Brown 1969, 32–33. 100,000 board feet a day … six million board feet of lumber stood stacked: Brown 1969, 33 (Brown ties the stacked lumber to his arrival date, July 1, 1889). held half a million board feet … about 660 board feet … three-quarters or more … Illinois, Indiana and Ohio … fifty to seventy million: Brown 1969, 35 and n. 8 (the log-scale example), after Hill 1949; the count of about 380 logs is reckoned from those figures. late June 1888: Stevens 1991, 76 and n. 31 (citing the Jefferson City Tribune, June 20, 1888, among other sources). July 1, 1889: Brown 1969, 33. buyers no one in the neighborhood knew: NPS 1960, 51–52 (“dummy” names). through Mountain View, Birch Tree and Winona: Pottenger 1945, Howell file (“Current River Railroad”); Rader 2017, ch. 8.
the late 1860s … county recorders … Ripley County … the Iron Mountain railroad from St. Louis to Ironton … Iron and Reynolds counties … Piedmont … the Pennsylvania oil fields … September 3, 1880 … J. L. Grandin, H. H. Cummings, J. M. Clapp … White’s Mill … December 1880 … a planing mill at Mill Spring … Tolliver’s Pond, or Lakewood … a quarter of a million dollars … two more mills were added in 1892 … the largest in the world … more than seventy-five million by 1900 … more than three thousand people: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 56, 58 (“By 1900, the Grandin Mills were the largest in the world”); Brown 1969, 36–37, gives Grandin “more than two thousand” at the close (see West Eminence, below).
Cordz brothers … Winona in 1888 … O. W. Fisher … Birch Tree: Stevens 1991, 89. Danish immigrants … 1878 … Mississippi … the North Fork valley of Douglas and Howell counties … ten miles west: Stevens 1991, 89. about 300 million board feet … 1904: Stevens 1991, 141–42, after Murphy 1982. named by lumbermen from Winona, Minnesota: O’Brien 1939, “Winona.” the Ozark Lumber Company of Kansas City … Fishertown … Joseph Fisher … the Hershey Lumber Company of Muscatine, Iowa … Sargent: Stevens 1991, 89. 140,000 board feet … thirty acres: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 34. a joint selling agency in Kansas City … 133 million … two Louisiana firms … 260 million in 1907: Stevens 1991, 89–90. the leading lumber camps of the rough hills: Sauer 1920, 180. 3.9 million … more than 60 million: Gibson 2000, 24, after Murphy 1982. 21,020,000 feet: Sauer 1920, 181 (shipments of 1912). 20 in 1870 to 187 in 1900: Gibson 2000, 24, after Murphy 1982.

Euphemia and the tramways

February 1893 … white oak … blasted through rock … Spurs … By 1897 … the Jim Rader farm … more than four hundred men … two company stores … waterworks … electric plant … telephone … 16 million feet … 125,000 railroad ties … tents … shotgun shacks … Log, Dry, Nine Row … Puerto Rico and Cuba … Delaware … “furriners” … “40 car loads a day …”: Rader 2017, ch. 8, citing the Current Wave. small parcels of pine north of the tracks … 25,000 acres more to the south: Stevens 1991, 89. built cheaply, to last only as long as the timber it reached: Brown 1969, 34–35 (of the Missouri Lumber and Mining tramways). into Larkin Hollow and over the hill along Bee Ridge: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 56, the only source; Lewis lists the camps as Dry Camp, Nine Row, Store Camp, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico and Cuba, all among Rader’s, and dates the Pine Hollow line about 1894.
a single small Shay … pine knots … Euphemia probably went in the end to the mill at West Eminence … Engine Number Nine … burned wood … burned coal … Until 1907 the log cars were built of pine, and after that of oak: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 56, 58, the only source (Euphemia “was evidently sold to the mill at West Eminence”). What a Shay is, is general. “sheney lines” … about $600 a mile … $100 a mile a year … “sheney bridge” … the train ran through the water … $2,306.60: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 56, 58, the only source.

Rails to Horse Hollow

1,000 in 1900 to 1,500 in 1905 … since 1901: Stevens 1991, 90. 213,017 of the 324,017 acres … the Frisco … lower freight rate … 1907, its most profitable year … two miles west of Winona … Mahans Creek … across the Jacks Fork … Horse Hollow … Angeline: Stevens 1991, 90, after Murphy 1982 and Hill 1949. Winona Junction … the north bank … more than seventy miles of tram track … post office: Rader 2017, ch. 8. a track also ran on up the river into Alley Hollow in 1907 and was later torn out: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 52 (“In 1907 a tram was built up the river and into Alley Hollow”), 56 (“The line up Alley Hollow was torn out and the line went into Horse Hollow”), the only source; see Reach I. “Saw first engine cross Jack’s Fork”: Stevens 1991, 151–52. sixty bass: Stevens 1991, 152; Hall 1969, 204, prints what appears to be the same register entry, undated, with sixty-nine bass.
across the divide to the Current … a trestle near the mouth of Boyds Creek … Pulltight Spring … Camp Five in Harrison Hollow and Camp Six … Spring Valley to Round Spring … Mine No. 15 … toward Ink … right-of-way … north to meet the railroad at Salem: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 56 and the map at PDF p. 57, the only source.
incorporated in 1908 … “tap lines”: ICC 1912. A lumber company that built a short railroad … a share of the freight charge … rebates by another name: general history of the Southern tap lines and of the Interstate Commerce Commission’s tap-line investigation of 1910–12. about nineteen miles … thirteen miles … $12,000 a year … two and a half miles of Frisco track … the logs … the lumber company’s own engines: ICC 1912. first chartered as the Grandin and Northwestern: Stevens 1991, 90, after Hill 1949, 210, the only source found.
owned no track, right-of-way or equipment … two locomotives, two coaches, a caboose, two boxcars and fifty flatcars … $150,000 … the fiscal year 1910 … 53,101 tons … 3,006 tons … incorporated to secure a share of the rates … one to four cents a hundred pounds … $5,302.49 … $822.86 … lines like it were really part of the mills … anything beyond a small share of the rate: ICC 1912 (23 I.C.C. 277 and 549), read in a transcribed abstract of the two reports; page numbers within them not seen. The abstract gives the division the commission would allow as “1-1 cents per 100 pounds,” an evident misprint, so the text says only “a small share.” In May 1914 the Supreme Court held that the tap lines were common carriers … amounted to a rebate to the mill’s owners: Tap Line Cases 1914 (decided May 25, 1914; opinion by Justice Day).
the Current River Railroad came through, in 1888: see the railroad’s date above (Stevens 1991, 76; Brown 1969, 33, gives July 1, 1889). 1909 … loading chute … flag station … 1889 … more than fifty miles … Salem … once a day … flag it down … “most accommodating railroad in the state” … $1.20 … “Start, Wobble and Stop” … Sparks … the public road … three times in 1899 … 1904: Rader 2017, ch. 8, citing the Current Wave.

West Eminence

more than sixty miles … the end of 1907 … the fall of 1909 … a mile west of Eminence … Many of Grandin’s buildings: Stevens 1991, 90. four days a week: NPS 1960, 52. September 25, 1909 … more than a thousand men … a town of more than two thousand … high school … grade school … Doniphan: Brown 1969, 36–37. shrank within months to a fraction of its size: NPS 1960, 52. no congregation was left large enough to keep a regular pastor … “the sawmill has proved to be the advance guard of civilization and progress …”: NPS 1960, 52 (the Grandin editor, as quoted there). windows and doors: NPS 1960, 52.
the Saturday night of September 25, 1909 … half past nine … sunken logs: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 58. built in 1909 and 1910 … a sawmill, a planer, dry kilns, drying sheds, a depot, a loading dock and a millpond … scaled … graded … ready to ship: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 58.
70,000 feet … thirty-six trainloads … shingle mill … wagon hubs … three hundred houses … $1.50 a month … running water … lit the streets … boardinghouse … grocery orders … library … health insurance … ministers on retainers … The mill whistle: Rader 2017, ch. 8 (the retainers from company papers; that the company expected sermons on sobriety, self-restraint and resistance to unions is Rader’s reading). about 2,000 people: O’Brien 1939, “West Eminence.”
lived in tents until the houses were ready … four hundred by another count … January 20, 1910 … the Ladies Boarding House and the Beanery: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61. the armistice in November 1918 … four in the afternoon … nine that night … dynamite on Schoolhouse Hill … a German spy … leave the country for good: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61, the only source.
scrip … passed … as money: Rader 2017, ch. 8. usually paid in cash once a month: Gibson 2000, 25, after Murphy 1982. inflated prices … abuses … 1912 … no union: Gibson 2000, 25, after Murphy 1982. 1903 … Birch Tree: Rader 2017, ch. 8, n. 10.

Taking the pine

twelve inches or more … logs of twelve or sixteen feet … skidded … loaded by hand: Rader 2017, ch. 8 (twelve-foot logs); Brown 1969, 34 (12- or 16-foot lengths). forty-five inches: Brown 1969, 34. Steep slopes were often passed over … about twelve inches through … “they had just about finished …” … “half post oak and half white oak”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1–2, 38 (also pp. 41–42). “We have had a good many drivers quit …” … more than 150,000 acres: Rader 2017, ch. 8.
more than $1,500 … 1906 … “a couple of days” … “to a good effect” … “Some of them reduced their prices …”: Rader 2017, ch. 8.
Oak … hickory … walnut: Brown 1969, 34; Sauer 1920, 182. portable mills … great distances from the railroads: Sauer 1920, 181. the smaller pine: Stevens 1991, 91. J. S. Bunker … Mountain View and Summersville … 1909 … Bunker-Culler … upper Current: Stevens 1991, 142. probably did as much as the big corporations: Stevens 1991, 91 (Stevens’s judgment). “timber scrapping”: NPS 1960, 53–54. “grandmaing” … stealing timber from public land or from land owned by nonresidents … “grandma’s” land: NPS 1960, 54 (“‘grandmaing’, which means stealing timber from public lands or from land owned by non-residents and reporting that it came from ‘grandma’s’ land”), after a study of local customs made in 1939 by Harold Kauffman. a large pine company of his own: Stevens 1991, 142 (“Another large corporate pine lumber operation”). The word means something else at Grandma Rocks (Reach G).
two of them on Bay Creek … the mouth of Fish Trap Hollow … from 1912 to 1916 a steam sawmill ran at Alley: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 40, 44, 53; see Reaches F–I.

Ties

the most important hardwood product of the Ozarks … to the north and west … twenty-five to forty-five cents … “rarely more than ten cents …” … the hewing and the hauling, and … the commission of the contractor: Sauer 1920, 182–83 (“Ties are the most important hardwood product of the Ozarks”). 808,000: Sauer 1920, 183; Stevens 1991, 149. five cents for each white oak tie and three cents: Stevens 1991, 143, after Hill 1949, 191–92. How long an untreated tie lasted is general. crosscut saw … wooden mauls … broadaxe … six by eight inches … eight and a half feet … about ten ties a day … Alford Eddings … 1917: Rader 2017, ch. 13 (Eddings was Rader’s grandfather). thirty: Stevens 1991, 143, after Murphy 1982. as much as two hundred pounds: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52–53.
Farmers … sawmills … professional tie hackers … seldom staying in one place more than a few years … looked down on them … lawless: Sauer 1920, 182–83. Buckhart: Rader 2017, ch. 8. gangs of Black laborers … Winona … No Black families: Rader 2017, ch. 11. it was claimed … Black, Italian or Hungarian … by 1907 … loading ties on the tram roads: NPS 1960, 52.
Of the older people of Shannon and Carter counties who told their families’ histories in the late 1990s, nearly all had worked in the timber: Gibson 2000, 49 (the Park Service’s interviews). brothers hewing ties … “immediately upstream from the North and South Prongs” … red paint … “a load of ties maybe twice a week” … Sargeant … “If it wouldn’t make a tie …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 41–44. A man whose family came to the upper basin in 1932 … “great big, ‘wolf’ trees” … “that got big enough to make a tie”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 41–42 (and Table 6, 40). A man who cut ties above the forks: same, 42. staves … bourbon: Rader 2017, ch. 13.

Floating the ties

pushed them in as fast as they could … before the creek fell again: Sauer 1920, 183. about fifteen men … 50,000 to 400,000 … the fall of 1902 … Chicopee … 5,000 ties: Stevens 1991, 143. near Montauk … dangerous to the crews and to everything along the banks … usually ran its drives in the fall … a tram bridge near Grandin … Doniphan: Stevens 1991, 143, 149. just below Van Buren: Stevens 1991, 76 (“the point just south of Van Buren where the Current River Railroad crossed the Current River”); Klinger and Kandare 1987, 37–39 (“Chickopee below Van Buren”); Brown 1969, 34, has “Chicopee opposite Van Buren.” squares of thirty to fifty: Brown 1969, 36. squares … forty-penny nails … coupling poles … a thousand or fifteen hundred ties … more than a thousand feet … six miles a day … snubbed: Brown 1969, 36–37. heavy enough to make its own way … pile up … the whole batch of ties: Brown 1969, 37. 1909 … 1919: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 28; Stevens 1991, 149.
Smalley … paddle boat … about 200,000 ties a year: Stevens 1991, 143–45. endless chain: Stevens 1991, 146 (fig. 32). Black crews from Springfield … “dead heads”: Gibson 2000, 50. “every 2 or 3 days there would be a tie raft come around”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52.
People who grew up in the upper basin remembered little or no timber … too shallow and too flood-prone … wagon road and tramway: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 44 (the Geological Survey’s interviews). Timber families remembered men riding ties down the river … West Eminence or at Chicopee: Gibson 2000, 49–50 (the Park Service’s interviews of the late 1990s). companies and individuals along both the Current and the Jacks Fork: Brown 1969, 36. Flat Hole above Bay Creek … tie yard … chute … slow, flat water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40 (“The Flat Hole is between Bee Hollow and Turkey Roost Hollow … There was a tie yard above the hole. Here they dropped ties into the river down a chute. It took along time to get through the slow, flat water hole”), the only source; see Reach F. Lewis’s other Flat Hole, below Cane Bluff, is “a flat, small, rock bottomed hole” with no tie story (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54; see Reach I).
a tie yard at the mouth of Big Shawnee Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79; see Reach J.

Wages and the boom on the creeks

$1.50 for a ten-hour day: Rader 2017, ch. 8. Table 7.1: Gibson 2000, 25, after Murphy 1982; Sauer 1920, 183; Rader 2017, ch. 8.
pork … watermelons … Some farm women … eggs, milk and vegetables … Mary Randolph … $800 … 1900 … almost 70 percent … nearly doubled … “sawmill houses”: Rader 2017, ch. 8.

The end of the mills

moved on to the pine of the Deep South and the Pacific Northwest … Louisiana … Grandin Coast Lumber Company in Washington State: Stevens 1991, 142, after Hill 1949 and Murphy 1982. 1904: Rader 2017, ch. 13. 1912 … 1923 … 103,297 acres: Stevens 1991, 141–42, after Murphy 1982. 1919 … Forked Leaf White Oak … a few acres of pine … 1924 … 350 … fire … poor farm … 1929: Rader 2017, ch. 13. the mill closed: Lynott 1981, 59–60; Bridge 1930, 25 (the last of the district’s mills to close, “the mill at West Eminence in 1927”). November 7, 1928: O’Brien 1939, “West Eminence.” moved to West Eminence in 1927 … 1948 … old-age pension: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61 (“The County Farm was moved to West Eminence in 1927”; “With the advent of the ‘old-age pension’ the farm closed in 1948”), the only source; PDF p. 75 has it moved “when the mill shut down.” Rader 2017, ch. 13, puts the county’s purchase after the town was offered for sale. took up its rails: Bridge 1930, 27 (the line “discontinued when the sawmill at West Eminence closed in 1927 and the rails have been torn up”).
In the early 1920s the new owners extended the railroad up the river into Troublesome Hollow … the Ferguson Lumber Company: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 56, 58, the only source.
T. J. Moss Tie … largest owner of cutover land: Rader 2017, ch. 13.

The cutover

an estimated ten cents an acre … as small as forty acres … 65,000 acres … “finest fruitland in the state” … “Land of the big red apple”: NPS 1960, 52–53. asked the legislature, without success … demonstration farms, trying cattle and fruit … a state experiment station for Grandin, which went to Mountain View … installment plan: NPS 1960, 53. Peaches and tomatoes: Rader 2017, ch. 13.
A geologist mapping the country around Eminence in the 1920s … “most wasteful” … “been burned over repeatedly …”: Bridge 1930, 25 (Josiah Bridge), as quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1994, 31. Blackjack … broom sedge … cheat … walnuts … wild honey: Rader 2017, ch. 13. By 1914 … 1920 … deer season: Rader 2017, ch. 13. game animals and fur bearers: Brown 1969, 39. One sportsmen’s club … fourteen … six … a little over two: Stevens 1991, 155 (table 4), after Callison 1946. By one judgment the lumber companies left a more bitter memory along the Current and the Jacks Fork than the Civil War did: Brown 1969, 37 (the legacy “was far more bitter than that left by the Civil War”; Brown’s judgment). in 1977 a Shannon County man said the same: Rader 2017, ch. 13 (G. L. Davis).

The government buys the hills

two-thirds … no adequate local source of income … 25 and 30 percent … 1938 … four communities of the region 60 to 90 percent: NPS 1960, 54. 1929 … 1933: USDA Forest Service, “Stop 9 Panorama.” at first 25,000 acres … in 1934 … 100,000 … removed the limits altogether: Stevens 1991, 197, after Murphy 1982. Bales … Searcy … about a fifth: Stevens 1991, 197, after Murphy 1982.
1934 … September 11, 1939 … 1976: USDA Forest Service, “Archaeology and Cultural Resources.” little if any value: NPS 1960, 54. roads, lookout towers … about 5,000 men: Gibson 2000, 93–94, after Murphy 1982. planted trees: Stevens 1991, 197. camps in the region included one at Winona: Stevens 1991, 197. A forest job was steady and paid better than most … some standing: NPS 1960, 54, after Kauffman 1939. Fire killed the pine seedlings: Stevens 1991, 150; Rader 2017, ch. 13.
about 4,000 acres … about 40,000 acres … Angeline: Wilkerson 2001, PDF 38–39. mid-1950s into the early 1970s: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 27. a little under 11,000 … about 7,100: Stevens 1991, 203–5.
Table 7.2: sources above.

Chapter 8. Getting Across

Opening

no more than two or three bridges each … “not rarely is the livest issue in the county politics”: Sauer 1920, 224 (“There are few bridges, in some counties not more than two or three”); his fieldwork in the Ozark interior ran through the 1910s. 1913 … the Harlow Crossing … the Texas County Court … Mountain View and Summersville raised money: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Mountain View Standard.
each crossing has its own entry: Table 8.1 and Part Five.

Fords

a string of pools joined by shallows … a bar of gravel: the pool-and-riffle form of an Ozark stream (general; see Chapter 15); Sauer 1920, 224, has the fords “located at broad shallows, formed by gravel bars,” quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1994, 36. thought to be residual … in one place for many years … where the first settlers had crossed: Sauer 1920, 224 (the bars “probably residual rather than transported”; the fords “may remain at the same place for many years,” some “not changed appreciably since the first settlement of the region”); Jacobson and Primm 1994, 36.
ridge road drained well, never flooded … fewest valley crossings: Sauer 1920, 223. several feet of chert … “an excellent natural macadam” … good pulling … tires and horseshoes … gully … down to bedrock … several hundred feet … travel did the rest: Sauer 1920, 223–24 (the soil “underlain in most places by several feet of residual chert”; the roadbed “soon becomes a mass of well-packed chert”; hillside roads “gullied, in many cases down to bedrock,” until a road is “flanked by older, gullied roads to a width of several hundred feet”; “The improvement of the road is left to travel”). the hard, flinty rock … dissolves: see Chapter 1. Macadam: a road of compacted broken stone, named for the Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam (general). stumps: Sauer 1920, 223.
“within the shortest distance that the slopes of the valley permit”: Sauer 1920, 223; that many fords therefore sat near the mouths of side hollows is an inference from Sauer’s description. commonly followed the gravel bars … freshet … drift … “to avoid quicksands, undercut banks, and washed-out fords”: Sauer 1920, 223 (“The road commonly follows gravel bars marginal to the stream or, if the stream is not large, even the stream bed itself”). crossed to the far bank wherever the river swung against a bluff … paddled johnboats … to the mill: Brown 1969, 46–47. ford after ford: NPS 1977, panel 1. low-water pole bridges: Stevens 1991, 50, after Clendenen 1973.
a road to St. Louis … Blair Creek … Owls Bend: Stevens 1991, 49; see also the map “Central Shannon County Settlement Pattern 1840,” Stevens 1991, 36. February 1863 … by way of the junction: Brown 1969, 25. that November … the road to Thomasville: Stevens 1991, 62; Brown 1969, 27.
“a long and arduous wagon road” … “the river about six times” … Highway V: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 39. 1913 … thirty-two-foot … ten-horsepower … twenty-five passengers … Chilton … Coot Bay … by 1917 … 1954: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 19, after Lewis 1980, 76–78. Chilton, a railroad stop on the Current: Stevens 1991, 152.

Buck Hollow Ford

about five miles north of Mountain View: Wehmer 2024 (“the new bridge five miles north of town”). before the Civil War … maps of the 1880s … between Mountain View and Summersville … rock bottom … freighters … oxen or mules … cattle … baptizing: Wehmer 2024. built east through Mountain View … 1888: Pottenger 1945, Howell file (“Current River Railroad”); Stevens 1991, 76 (Grandin, late June 1888), 104; Brown 1969, 33, gives July 1, 1889; see Chapter 7. Between Willow Springs and Grandin … a one- or two-week trip by wagon … about four hours: Stevens 1991, 104.
five miles or more apart … twice as far as a straight line … one round trip a day … about ten miles … twenty-five to forty-five miles … timber … the hack … “operated on fairly regular schedule by professional teamsters”: Sauer 1920, 222 (stations “on the average at least five miles apart”; in the hill districts the road distance “may be doubled”; areas “beyond the ten-mile line are seriously handicapped”; the remote sections served “by hack (stage) and freight service”).
“Buck’s Holler” … “down this rocky way” … “the marks of its tires in the stone” … “the route of a pony express”: Dorrance 1938, 26. probably 1934: the book gives no year; see Chapter 9. Wagon-wheel scars … 1980: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (“At Buck Hollow there are traces of wagon wheel scars on rocks in the river”), the only source.

When the river came up

the mail stopped: Wehmer 2024. two feet in an hour: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 36. runs off quickly: general; see Chapter 14. impassable for days … dangerous for a while afterward … packed down again: Sauer 1920, 224 (the fords “usually impassable for a number of days in time of freshet and may be dangerous afterward, until the gravel and sand have again become compact”). Fast water lifts gravel and sand: general. clear the driftwood from the road: Brown 1969, 46; Sauer 1920, 223. does not swing widely except in spring floods … for a week or less … most fords and ferries … the year round: Brown 1969, 47 n. 1 (“Because the river is spring-fed there are no wide fluctuations in its flow except for spring floods, which may cause the level to rise for a week or less. Thus, most fords and ferries are usable the year round”).
1876 … forty-odd miles … Salem: Stevens 1991, 70 (forty miles); Rader 2017, ch. 4 (“some forty-five miles”). daily … 1880s: Rader 2017, ch. 4. twice a week in 1876 … the mid-1880s … 1889: Stevens 1991, 104 (three times a week by 1883); Rader 2017, ch. 4 (three days a week in 1885). at times impassable … cut the town off, sometimes for days at a time … twenty-two days … gristmill on Mahans Creek … venison … “so we got along about as well as usual”: Rader 2017, ch. 4 (“the road from Eminence was at times simply impassable. Heavy rains and rising water on the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers could completely isolate Eminence—sometimes for days at a time”).
A writer from Chicago: Marguerite Lyon, Take to the Hills (Lyon 1941). “a bridge is out …” … five to fifty miles: Lyon 1941, 51–52. A neighbor girl … “to the drop how much rain must fall …” … “new WPA bridge”: Lyon 1941, 150 (the chapter “Doris, Child of the Ozarks”). “for anywhere from two hours to two weeks” … “sturdy and handsome though it is” … “if there is a heavy dew back in the hills” … “a day and night of rainfall” … Barn Holler … culvert … rebuilt the next summer: Lyon 1941, 293–94 (“Some say the bridge over Jack’s Forks, sturdy and handsome though it is, is inundated if there is a heavy dew back in the hills. But it isn’t quite that bad… a day and night of rainfall are required before it is under water”). Texas County: Lyon 1941, ch. 10.

Ferries

mostly on the larger Ozark streams: Sauer 1920, 224. Few ferries … Union troops forded the river in wagons near Eminence: Stevens 1991, 49–50. by river ferry … johnboat, wagon, railroad, car and truck … the Current River country: Stevens 1991, 169. “Family with a mule team and wagon …”: Stevens 1991, 173 (fig. 43), Ozark National Scenic Riverways collection.
Powder Mill … a traveler of the 1950s … perhaps two cars … “a cable swung high across the stream” … “the river itself for motive power” … “slightly downstream”: Hall 1969, 68 (a boat “of a kind unique to the mountain country, operating from a cable swung high across the stream and using the river itself for motive power”; the ferryman dropped “the stern end slightly downstream on each trip, upon which the force of the water pushes the craft across to its mooring on the opposite side”). a line at each end … pulleys … slant to the current … reversed: how a current-driven cable ferry works (general).
At Alley, by one account, a ferry worked from 1906 for several years … where it crossed is not recorded: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source; see Reach H. “an old ferry crossing”: NPS 1977, panel 2. in its edition revised in 1972 … three-quarters of a mile down the Current at the ferry landing: Hawksley 1965, 100 (the revised edition of 1972, the copy held: “Best take-out 0.75 mile downstream at ferry landing”). a Cooley Ferry: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 77 (map), 78; see Reach J. a johnboat tied on each side: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 39.

The bridge fight of 1913

the districts of a county wanted different things … troublesome stream … often nothing was built at all … stand or fall by its stand on bridges: Sauer 1920, 224 (“In every county there are districts from which a shipping-point can be reached without crossing any troublesome stream. The residents of such localities usually oppose the appropriation of county funds for bridges”; “each location has its supporters, who in turn are antagonized by the partisans of other sites, with the not uncommon result that nothing is done”; “county courts stand or fall by their attitude toward this problem”). today called the county commission: Wehmer 2024. a presiding judge and two associate judges: the form of the Missouri county court (general).
March 1913 … June … five bids … Kansas City Bridge Company … 280-foot … $4,787 … seventeen feet longer: Wehmer 2024, after the Mountain View Standard, March 21 and June 1913. a little over $17 a foot: arithmetic from the contract figures.
the Harlow Crossing … the prosecuting attorney … Shannon County and the town of Summersville … several hundred dollars … “for a good road to either ford …”: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Standard.
in use by early 1915: Wehmer 2024 (“The project didn’t take long”). Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, dates the steel bridge “about 1918”; the Standard‘s reports of 1913 and 1915 are followed here. Bill Smith … lead mules … the mail hack … put down: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Standard, February 12, 1915. so narrow that the freighters’ horses were afraid of it … avoided it: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (“Freight wagons would not use the narrow bridge. The horses were afraid to cross the structure”), the only source; the Standard‘s report of February 1915 shows at least one freighter on the bridge, so the text softens “would not use” to “avoided.” hard on automobiles … year-round boat launch: Wehmer 2024. Camp Witbeck: Wehmer 2024, after a 1922 postcard and the 1922 Quill; NPS 2013 spells the family Whitbeck (Chapter 9).
The Chicago writer’s farm lay in Texas County … nearest town: Lyon 1941, chs. 8, 10. 2005: National Bridge Inventory. 2006 and 2007 … by 2012: aerial photographs of 2006, 2007 and 2012, as traced for Fig. 21. piers and approach fills: general; see Chapter 15. two state highway projects … 2001–2005: MDC 2001, 83–84, 96.

Numbers on the roads

State Highway Department in 1913 … advise the counties … Hawes Road Law of 1917 … four-member highway board … federal road money: MoDOT, “MoDOT History” (the 1917 law passed “so Missouri can receive federal funds”); MoDOT, “Commission Background” (the commissioner’s duties “largely advisory,” his main task “to encourage counties to make road improvements”; the 1917 law “provided for a bipartisan Highway Board of four members”). $60 million … “get Missouri out of the mud” … two-cent tax: MoDOT, “MoDOT History.” signed on July 31, 1921: Missouri Senate, “This Date in Missouri Senate History” (July 31, 1921, “considered to be the day the Centennial Road Law is signed”). about 1,500 miles of primary roads and 6,000 miles of secondary ones: MoDOT, “Commission Background” (“approximately 6,000 miles of secondary roads and 1,500 miles of primary roads”). in 1928 … $75 million … retired in June 1957: Official Manual 2007–2008, “Transportation” (bond issues of $60 million in 1920 and $75 million in 1928, repaid from highway-user revenues; all road bonds retired June 15, 1957). a hundred years after statehood: Missouri was admitted in 1821 (general). forty-seven … about ten … Dent County … about twenty-five: Stevens 1991, 165–66 (persons per motor vehicle in 1921: Shannon County 46.70, Missouri 9.86, Dent County 25.50, where the terrain was “less dissected by steep ridges and the land supported greater commerce”). fewer than seven: Stevens 1991, 169 (6.63 in 1940).
Route 17 … 1922 … Mountain View: AARoads 2026 (the years of the first official state highway map to show each route; the compilers warn that these are not always the years a route was created). seems to have ended at Mountain View: AARoads 2026, which gives the early terminus without citing a map; not yet confirmed on a map of the 1920s (The Open Ledger). Round Spring … Eminence in 1930 … U.S. 60: Stevens 1991, 169. Route 106 … 1930: AARoads 2026 (first shown on the official state highway map of 1930). “excellent” … hairpin curves … “for the roads largely follow the ridges” … WPA labor: Lyon 1941, 293. as the wagon roads had: Sauer 1920, 223.
June 1928 … the new store … four bridges in the park: Stevens 1991, 182 (“destroyed the new store and four bridges at Alley Spring State Park”). built across the spring branch … the spring of 1927: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2 (“four bridges that had been recently built across the spring branch”); see Chapter 14 and Reach H. Dorrance’s party floated beneath it: Dorrance 1938, 34. 1939–40 … steel girder … about 385 feet: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, 12; National Bridge Inventory. paved in the mid-1950s: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 7 (the road “extended to the west and paved in the mid-1950s”; the bridge is MoDOT bridge no. K0924, sec. 7, 12). poor condition: National Bridge Inventory. the lowest of the three grades: the Federal Highway Administration’s good, fair and poor classification (general). April 2017 … February 2018 … closed to floaters as unsafe … Early in 2019 … other ways for walkers to cross: NPS 2018; NPS 2019. That April … the Federal Highway Administration … a new footbridge with federal emergency-relief money for damaged roads on federal land … gave no date: NPS 2019 (river reopened) (the pedestrian bridge “completely removed” with the Federal Highway Administration, and a new one planned under the Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads program, with no completion date).
1952 … almost 12,000 miles of county roads … 95 percent of Missourians within two miles of a hard-surfaced road: MoDOT, “MoDOT History” (the department took over “almost 12,000 miles of county highways,” bringing “95 percent of all Missourians” within “two miles of a hard-surfaced road”). gave them letters … single ones and doubled ones such as OO and HH … used over again from county to county: Southeast Missourian 2014 (the Takeover Program of 1952; single- and double-letter routes; the same letter used in different counties); MoDOT, “Commission Background” (the Takeover Program’s goal of 12,000 miles). O to Bluff View … OO to Blue Spring: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area. Russell family … the WPA graveled it: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 38–39.
only two road bridges … no major road or trail … local roads … daily business: Brown 1969, 48 (“Historically, no major roads or trails passed over the Current or Jacks Fork; rather they were local roads used by the residents in their daily tasks”). a narrow steel bridge … March 1917 … a concrete bridge for the new Highway 19 … 1934–35: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (work begun December 1916 by the Canton Bridge Company, with $3,000 from local people matched by the county court; the concrete bridge begun February 1934 and finished 1935), the only source; see Reach J. 2002: National Bridge Inventory. photographs of old bridges … a rope bridge over the Jacks Fork near Eminence: Gibson 2000, 48 (“the infamous rope bridge near Eminence over the Jacks Fork,” among the photographs families showed her in the 1990s), the only source.

Low water

Its deck lies about as high … goes under with every good rise: how a low-water crossing works (general). “rough hewn logs set flush with the current”: Dorrance 1938, 12. Model T … about 1925 … team and wagon: Stevens 1991, 174–75 (figs. 44–45), Betty Hicock Collection, Ozark National Scenic Riverways.
Low Water … the Highway Y bridge and the access: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-06, SV-20. the junction of the prongs itself: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-22; others call the junction the Forks, the Prongs or Jammed Up. “was really a very short bridge …” … “changed the river and the swimming hole quite a bit”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20, the only account of the name’s origin. The state’s float guide, first published in 1965 and revised in 1972 … the Highway Y low-water bridge: Hawksley 1965, 98 (the Jacks Fork mile list opens at 0.0 with the Prongs and the Highway Y low-water bridge; the 1972 revision cannot be told from the 1965 text in the copy held); the same table, with later access notes, is reprinted as MDC 2003. 1986 … 209-foot: National Bridge Inventory (structure 3647). steel-pipe culvert … 1990: National Bridge Inventory, structure 17240 (“Jacks Fork Rd over N Prong Jacks Fk R,” steel culvert, 1990), with a second 1990 structure, “Jacks Fork Rd over S Prong Jacks Fk R,” listed beside it (National Bridge Inventory, Federal Highway Administration, record 17240). An older low-water bridge … washed out again and again: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11 (“A low water bridge crosses at the Forks. The creek has repeatedly washed the bridge out. The road comes from Highway W at Arroll and goes into Highway Y”), the only source; his map (PDF p. 12) letters “Low Water Bridge” at the Forks. June 1957 … “at a little low-water bridge”: Hall 1969, 72; see Chapter 9. Which bridge Hall meant is not stated. old Highway Y bridge: the National Bridge Inventory lists only the present structure (3647, 1986). the low-water bridge: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.
right where the prongs meet … three steel culvert pipes … all six … mile 0 … put in just below it: field observation, 2026; aerial imagery of the Jacks Fork Road (County Road 4670) crossing.
For a driver the danger is greater … twenty-three of the twenty-seven … 2015 … two feet of moving water: SEMA, flood safety (“23 of the 27 people” who died in Missouri flooding in 2015 were in motor vehicles; “two feet of rushing water” can sweep most vehicles away). Route 137 … one-lane steel girder bridge of 1932, twenty-one feet wide … structurally deficient: National Bridge Inventory (structure 8749: built 1932, steel stringer, one lane, 6.4 m wide and 61 m long; deck rated poor). That rating means … safe to use: the Federal Highway Administration’s definition, a bridge with its deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert rated poor or worse (general). between Routes U and AZ on July 21, 2025 … the middle of October: MoDOT 2025 (work to begin July 21, completion expected October 17); MoDOT 2024 (the replacement scheduled for 2025). Whether the new bridge opened on time has not been confirmed. culverts: National Bridge Inventory (Route HH, structure 6857). Pebble Dam … both their vehicles: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.

Fords still in use

Only four vehicle fords are authorized … Ratliff Ford, above Highway 17, and Blue Spring Ford: NPS 2022a, 19, map 10 (“The authorized vehicle fords are Akers Ford, Banks Ford, Ratliff Ford, and Blue Spring Ford”); NPS 2024. 1948 topographic map: USGS 1948 (Summersville). not sure the road still reaches it: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. “at one time we could ford the river …”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15.
More than thirty-nine miles … undesignated stream crossings … seven designated horse-trail crossings: NPS 2022a, 3–5, 13–15, 19 (staff “have documented over 39 miles of undesignated, visitor-created roads and traces”; undesignated crossings “can have an adverse impact on water quality and the Ozark hellbender”). nests under flat rocks: NPS 2022a, 61. Wheels and hooves in a riffle loosen silt: general; see Chapter 16.

Family names at the fords

Harlow … McIntire Ford … Lodder … Dixon: USGS 1948 (Summersville; Harlow Ford; “McIntyre Ford”); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (McIntire Ford, the old road from Birch Tree to Summersville down Lost Hollow); Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56; Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. Rymers and Bachers: MDC 2003; NPS 2022a, map 10 (“Bacher Landing”).
the Craig farm of 160 acres … three-quarters of a mile below the ford … “the northeast 40 acres of the old Radcliff (or Ross) farm” … another quarter mile … “includes part of the road and the ford” … about a mile of the river … “the closest ford to Mountain View” … spring of 1929: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Standard, October 10, 1928 (the purchase “giving control of about a mile of the best fishing water on Jack’s Fork”), and April 5, 1929. Ratcliff: USGS 1948 (Summersville); USGS GNIS. Ratliff … Rat Cliff: Whitaker 2025; NPS 2024. Reuben Harlow: O’Brien 1939, Texas County, 57. Greenberry Harlow, said to be his son … a mill at the ford … Harlow’s Mill post office … 1875 and 1876: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 9, 14; Rowe 2008 (Harlow’s Mills, Greensberry Harlow, February 25, 1875, to February 7, 1876); see Reach C. “always called Dixon Ford or Dixon Crossing” … “used to be a great place to hang out at the river”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. Lodder Ford: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56 (an oral history, as “Loader Ford”).
Table 8.1: sources above. Miles are measured from the junction of the prongs along the surveyed channel; prong miles are counted upstream from the junction along each prong’s traced channel (see Reaches A and B). The Highway Y bridge is 0.40 mile up the South Prong; Harlow Ford 2.21 and Ratliff Ford 5.55 (USGS 1948 (Summersville), Ratcliff Ford lettered as approximate); Highway 17 6.98; Blue Spring Ford about 9.7 (Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 23, 24; see Reach D); McIntire Ford at the mouth of Lost Hollow, 14.88 (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30; see Reach E); the club road’s crossing from Rymer’s ranch to the club cabins, between about 16.0 and 16.5 (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source; the club cabins about 16.0 left, Rymers 16.5 right; see Reach E); Lodder Ford about 19.5 (Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23, marked on a map; see Reach F); Highway 106 32.03; the logging-railroad crossing about 37.05 (see Reach I); Highway 19 38.55; the mouth 46.21. The state’s float guide (MDC 2003) gives 6.8, 9.6, 31.0, 35.3, 37.3 and 44.6 for Highway 17, Blue Spring, Highway 106, the railroad crossing, Highway 19 and the mouth. North Prong crossings: see Reach A (Route 137, about North Prong mile 11.9, position estimated; the 1837 road’s ford beside the mill above Sanders Branch, Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 9, 10; the Arroll Road crossing at Pebble Dam, North Prong mile 5.8, a ford on Lewis’s map, PDF p. 10, and “a dam and a bridge” in Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20; Rocky Ford, North Prong mile 3.7, Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11). an older low-water bridge here: see Low water above. a steel bridge of 1917 and a concrete bridge of 1934–35, by one account: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69, the only source. Dixon Ford … below Route 137: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (marked on a map), measured on the South Prong’s traced channel; see Reach B. Built 1907; rails removed 1929: Rader 2017, ch. 9; see Chapter 7.

Chapter 9. The River Becomes a Destination

Opening

“crystal-clear, ice-cold” … a mile from the house … “If you take a drink of water from Jack’s Forks …” … a big gulp: Lyon 1941, 42. Texas County: Lyon 1941, ch. 10. an advertising copywriter in Chicago … Robert, a salesman … $1,000 … Labor Day of 1935 … justice of the peace … jelly business … a small factory in Mountain View … did not care for the way it drew the neighbors: McConnell, “Marge Lyon” (the review by Verna Springer in the Mountain View Standard; Lyon died in 1965), the only source for these details.

Boats built on the bank

light planking, sixteen to twenty-four feet long, narrow and flat-bottomed … freeboard … the bottom curved up … a single paddle … drew so little water … swamped: Hall 1969, 66 (“built of light planking,” “narrow and flat-bottomed, with slightly canted sides and not much freeboard. Bow and stern are blunt, and the bottom at both ends tapers upward so that the boat can be swung easily in the current by a boatman operating with a single paddle from the stern”); Hall had floated the two rivers for some thirty years when he wrote (Hall 1969, 71, 118). the height of the side above the water … met the full push of the water: general.
poled and paddled … neighbors and mills: Brown 1969, 46. pine-knot fires: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork stop 3. by wagon over roads that barely existed … seasoned pine lumber … the best carpenters … sunk in the river for a couple of days: Hall 1969, 115–16 (“over the almost nonexistent roads for the head of the river,” “enough seasoned pine lumber to build one or two boats,” “the best carpenters fell to the task of boat-building while the rest set up camp,” “sunk in the river for a couple of days to swell up so they would be watertight”). drank up water, swelled: general. a week or more … shipped home, taken apart: Wehmer 2024. left behind: Stevens 1991, 192.
ten feet of stout line … “a dozen or so gangs of triple hooks …” … Dowagiac … doubles: Hall 1969, 116. the Michigan town: Dowagiac, Michigan, home of the Heddon tackle company, whose wooden “Dowagiac” plugs were sold from the early 1900s (general).
until about 1950 … cheap to build … feuds between outfitters … refused to pay the upriver builder … knocking holes: Stevens 1991, 192. “long, flat-bottom boats,” some with motors … suggested them for fishing: NPS 1977. about one percent: MDC 2001, PDF 86. revived Current River boatbuilding … guide boats of the 1950s and 1960s: Stauffer 2002. its craft demonstrations: NPS 1977.

Sportsmen and the railroad

Willow Springs through Mountain View, Birch Tree and Winona: Stevens 1991, 75; Pottenger 1945, Howell file (“Current River Railroad”). in 1888: Stevens 1991, 76 (late June 1888), 151; Brown 1969, 33, gives July 1, 1889. four officials … 1888: Hall 1969, 203. lumber from the Grandin mill … six to eight miles below Van Buren: Stevens 1991, 151. a dozen points upstream: Hall 1969, 203 (“a dozen upstream points on both Current and Jacks Fork to which boats could be hauled by rail and from which they could float downstream again to the clubhouse”). Birch Tree or Winona … by wagon: Stevens 1991, 152. “Left train at Birch Tree …”: Hall 1969, 204.
every year from 1889 to 1940: Hall 1969, 204. May 24, 1907 … “about 18 inches high” … “had a fine time and good ride with Andy Pitman (guide) in gasoline boat”: Stevens 1991, 152, quoting the Carter County club register. sixty bass: Stevens 1991, 152; Hall 1969, 204, prints what appears to be the same entry, undated, with sixty-nine bass and “River high.” jack salmon … walleye: Hall 1969, 204. In 1946 … fish per man-day … Table 9.1: Callison 1946, as tabulated in Hall 1969, 204, and Stevens 1991, 155 (table 4). A man-day … about four hundred … about sixty-five: arithmetic from Table 9.1 (twenty-eight man-days at 14.2 and at 2.3).
burned year after year … stock overgrazed them … the plow … topsoil … the gravel beneath it … “The good old days were good, all right” … “but it didn’t take man long to spoil them”: Callison 1946, as quoted in Hall 1969, 205 (“The hills were burned annually in a futile attempt to turn them into farmlands; over-grazing and the plow assisted in laying the land bare to erosion. Millions of tons of Ozark topsoil, and later the underlying gravel, swept down the hillsides and into the streams”). a conservation writer … 1946: Charles Callison, in the Missouri Conservationist. a low point for the natural resources: Hall 1969, 104 (“a low point in the history of natural resources in the Current River country”). November 1936 … Amendment No. 4 … Conservation Federation of Missouri … four members appointed by the governor and kept apart from party politics … license money: Missouri State Archives, RG 103, agency history (Amendment No. 4 passed by initiative petition in November 1936; the commission a four-person board appointed by the governor; the department “non-political,” funded by hunting, fishing and trapping licenses and, from 1976, a sales tax). fish, game and forests: Missouri Constitution, art. IV, sec. 40(a).
1912 … “gentlemen in commercial, manufacturing and professional pursuits …”: Stevens 1991, 151–52. ten cabins … Ebb and Flow Spring: NPS, “Rymers Ranch History”; Stevens 1991, 151 (“built cabins on the Jacks Fork”). H. Kirkendall … 45,000 to 60,000 acres … take in Alley: Stevens 1991, 178. The state chose the spring: Stevens 1991, 179. outlasted the other early clubs … in the 1980s … standing in 1991: Stevens 1991, 152 and n. 20. burned the next year: Stevens 1991, 154 (fig. 36). fallen in or been taken down: NPS, “Rymers Ranch History.”
June 1915 … “returning on the train” … “all the fish they could eat …” … “as usual, succeeded in getting overboard …” … “a fine diamond ring …” … “Somebody thought to take a gallon of lubricating oil …”: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Mountain View Standard, June 1915.

Camps on the upper river

Adirondacks … 1920 … advertised … Kansas City and St. Louis: Wehmer 2024. 1921 … Willie A. Whitbeck: NPS 2013, 24, 26. “four and one-half miles north of Mountain View …” … “fast becoming one of the most popular playgrounds …” … “many visitors from distant cities” … “full throughout the season”: Wehmer 2024, quoting the West Plains Semi-Weekly Quill, August 1922.
a single row about twenty feet apart … hundred-year flood line … Stone steps … lower terrace … At least seven cabins: NPS 2013, 7, 33, 35, 48. one chance in a hundred: the definition of the hundred-year flood (general; see Chapter 14). dolomite bluff: NPS 2013, 59. jumping rock: Wehmer 2024. September 1929 … mail carriers … 1940, at seventy … Mountain View City Cemetery: Wehmer 2024. The story goes … the auctioneer … ten thousand dollars: Wehmer 2024, the only source found.
1941 … Beckman … Hawker … 1948 … Eickhoff … Schmitt: Wehmer 2024. by one local account … *Life … 1950*: Wehmer 2024, the only source found; the Park Service’s 2013 landscape inventory (NPS 2013) does not mention it. owned separately or rented months ahead: Wehmer 2024. Vernon C. Campbell … lime quarry … razed between 1966 and 1969 … October 15, 1969 … 600 acres … $83,000 … two cabins and two privies … daffodils and irises … 5.4-acre … largest complex of cabins and cabin ruins: NPS 2013, 7, 22, 24, 26, 59, 63–65.
Radcliff Ford … to build a clubhouse and bungalows: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Mountain View Standard, October 10, 1928. from 1929: Wehmer 2024.
Marian Rymer … fished … horseback … music … St. Louis friends: Stevens 1991, 191. E. H. Rhymer and his daughter … “a large farm modeled after the dude ranches of the West” … “can only be reached by horseback”: O’Brien 1939, Shannon County, “Rhymer’s Ranch” and “Jam-Up Hollow.” A man born in 1916 … his wife … worked at the ranch: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6). “lady who greeted us as we went to river”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23. “at the site of an old resort”: NPS 1977. By one account … early 1900s … second generation: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“Rymer’s Ranch was a popular resort in the early 1900’s”), the only source; see Reach E.
E. T. Behrens … six months … sixty-three … “paradise” … 1947 … eighty-one … a month later … electricity … dining hall … chapel … 2013 … Friends of Bunker Hill … 2,080 … three times a day: Ostmann 2018. “Bunker Hill Ranch”: O’Brien 1939, Shannon County. “a teachers camp”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05. A Mountain View writer told in 1976 … “Bunker Hill, a teacher’s resort on Jacks Fork” … a mile or a mile and a half down the river … “a big hole of water by a big rock cliff” … three and a half and four pounds: Ozark Riverways 1976, PDF pp. 29–30 (Noval Cantrell’s column; the trip undated), the only source. “teacher cabins”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23. “respect the private property rights …”: NPS 1977, stop 7.
McCaskill … 1893–94 … picnic ground: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2. Fourth of July … 1912 … “pleasure resort” … five hundred Odd Fellows … the last four miles: Stevens 1991, 157, 161. 1924 … 427 acres: Perry [1978], sec. 8; Stevens 1991, 179. beach and beach house: Stevens 1991, 182. 1933 … a quarter of a million: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2–3. the New Deal program: general.

A poet in a twelve-foot boat

early July of a drought summer, probably 1934: Dorrance 1938, 1, 6, 25. The book gives no year; its datelines, “A Saturday, 9 June” on the Black River and “Mountain View, 7 July,” fit 1934 and fit 1928 as well, and the drought fits the 1930s better. 1904 … University of Missouri: Whitaker 2025. “six feet three”: Dorrance 1938, 32. 1937 … second edition: Dorrance 1938, xi–xii.
“which you must avoid …”: Dorrance 1938, xiii. old man … meat market … “She is twelve feet long …” … white with black and yellow … Mississippi: Dorrance 1938, 25. A keel is a fin … slow to turn: general.
“baffling, no two alike” … “I hain’t a-sayin’ …”: Dorrance 1938, 25. “shoals and pot-holes …” … Virginia creeper … cow lilies … right angles: Dorrance 1938, 26. a fortnight’s supplies … “slippery being moist” … “act as rollers, being round”: Dorrance 1938, 28–29. “There is no dirt here …”: Dorrance 1938, 26.
“In spite of its awkward frontier name …” … “The river is personal …”: Dorrance 1938, 28. “the Mozart of rivers”: Dufur 2013, 18. “The Fork jumps out …” … “from here there are long, full-lipped ways …”: Dorrance 1938, 29. Hospital Cave sign … blind fish: Dorrance 1938, 29. blew cold air: Dorrance 1938, 31. “Jimjam”: Dorrance 1938, 32.
short of change … the wife’s father down the river … “Aw, jest give it to the first feller …”: Dorrance 1938, 28. “a-muleback” … “If anybuddy tries to run ye off …”: Dorrance 1938, 31. “wider, deeper, longer” … “women washing clothes …” … geese: Dorrance 1938, 33. feeling for it with their hands: what grabbling is (general).
“an honest block” … chute … “nowhere so much as a match”: Dorrance 1938, 34. “a river so clean, so full …”: Dorrance 1938, 35. outing parties … concession at Big Spring: Dorrance 1938, 41, 43–44. “point of departure” … the Commercial … cold chicken and biscuits: Dorrance 1938, 53–55.
“two hundred feet high”: Dorrance 1938, 32. more than double: Dufur 2013, 21 (about eighty feet).

Guides from Eminence

David Bales … weekly paper … early years of the century … grocery and general store: Hall 1969, 115–16. 1926 … Outdoor Life Exposition … promote the Ozarks for recreation … “Big Springs Country”: Stevens 1991, 193, the only source. 1928 … deluxe float trips … city business leaders and their political allies: Stevens 1991, 192 (“urban business leaders and their political allies”). a dozen good fishing boats … young rivermen … tents: Hall 1969, 117. “We’ll start from our boat landing …”: Hall 1969, 117.
A floater who made his first trip with a Bales outfit in the late 1920s: Leonard Hall, some thirty years before he wrote (Hall 1969, 118). “into whose store you could walk …” … “to bring in the legal limits …” … the guide caught the fish for him: Hall 1969, 117 (“his guide caught the fish for him”). fly fishing … a fish left in the stream was worth as much: Hall 1969, 118 (the guides learned “that a fish in the stream has a value equal to or greater than one in the livebox or on the stringer”). A fly on a single hook … gills: general.
Winterbottom … one of Bales’s top commissary guides … Walter Martin: Hall 1969, 117; Stevens 1991, 192. the commissary boat … made camp and cooked … headquarters for fishermen … fishing and commissary boats: Hall 1969, 70–71 (Eminence “headquarters for fishermen and recreationists,” where outfitters could supply “fishing and commissary boats, guides who not only run the boats but make camp and cook, tents and other camp gear, and food”). highway accident … his widow and their daughter Shannon: Hall 1969, 119.
A Shannon County boy born in 1932 … about 1949 or 1950 … a state license … eight dollars a day … ten if he brought his own outboard … a tent … a campfire … “made like a barge” … not built for outboard motors … a block of wood fastened to the stern … One man built most of the Bales boats … from all over … the president of the International Shoe Company … fishermen’s cars … the Navy … more water and ran faster … a stair-step of pools and chutes: Dix 1998, 4–6 (a published oral history; he named his first customer as Al Fair, the company’s president, and dated the work “’49 or ’50”), the only source. of St. Louis: the company’s home (general).
In 1931 Otto Ernest Rayburn … a former schoolteacher and Ozark booster … a friend in Eminence who owned a garage … never been to that part of the Ozarks … started a little magazine … in connection with the Eminence newspaper … his partner’s poor health … after about a year … Galena and then to Texas: McConnell, “Rayburn” (he “hadn’t been to the area”; the Arcadian ended “after just about a year”); Society of Ozarkian Hillcrofters, “Our History” (“In 1931, he started another magazine, The Arcadian, from Eminence, Missouri”); Rayburn Papers, biographical note (teacher, newspaper publisher, bookseller and promoter of tourism; died 1960). did as much as anyone to make Ozark folklore popular: after Vance Randolph’s remark that Rayburn “did more to arouse popular interest in Ozark folklore than all of the professors put together,” as the Society of Ozarkian Hillcrofters quotes it.

The upper river in 1957

Leonard Hall, born at Seneca in 1899 … an outdoor column … from 1943 … in 1945 settled for good at Possum Trot Farm near Caledonia … Virginia: Hall Papers, biographical sketch (born October 30, 1899, at Seneca; columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1943 and the St. Louis Globe-Democrat from 1959 to 1980; married Virginia Watson in 1941; settled at Possum Trot Farm in 1945). in Washington County: general. Ginnie … five years of drought … wet spring … seventeen-foot aluminum canoe: Hall 1969, 65–67. “the forks of the creek” … “a full day’s run above the bridge …” … “no more than once in a dozen years or so”: Hall 1969, 71–72. “at a little low-water bridge” … “I could have easily jumped across” … “Just one road touches …”: Hall 1969, 72.
only in seasons of more than normal rainfall … as it drops after a rise … By late June … in some years … “nothing else in Missouri can equal it as canoe water”: Hall 1969, 65 (“Since Jacks Fork is so small, it is possible to float only during seasons of more than normal rainfall. Even then one must catch the stream as it is dropping after a rise”; “Toward the latter part of June, floating on Jacks Fork is generally at an end”). fed by rain and by springs too small: see Chapters 12 and 14. closest thing to wilderness … few roads: Hall 1969, 64. “the names would be known only to the local people”: Hall 1969, 75.
a chute that dropped about five feet in a quarter mile … “the high Buck Hollow bridge” … Cardinal Acres: Hall 1969, 72, 76. two aluminum canoes … Bunker Hill … “with two more spills …”: Hall 1969, 76–77.

The aluminum years

a sport for the well-off in nearly wild country into a cheap family outing … Better roads … nearly every floatable stream … Fiberglass and then aluminum … Hawksley … Kansas City … Memphis … trailers … a dozen canoes … Guides were seldom hired … out of place: Rafferty 1985, 42 (the float trip changed “from a semiwilderness sport for the more fortunate to a relatively low-cost family sporting activity”). light enough for two people to lift: general. 1958: Brown 1969, 37 n. 12; Hall 1969, title page. thirty-seven float streams … published in 1965 and revised in 1972 … sold for a dollar … “one of the wildest and most scenic of the Missouri Ozark streams” … “nearly a canyon, with no bottomland fields for the first 25 floatable miles” … only in spring or after good summer rains: Hawksley 1965, cover, title page, 98 (the revised edition of 1972, the copy held; the 1965 wording cannot be told apart from it). 1963 … five dollars a day: “Not So Gently Down the Stream,” 1963. pulled root wads and drift out of the channel … wondered later: Dix 1998, 6, the only source. In 1976 the Eminence calendar listed a Jacks Fork canoe race on May 15: Ozark Riverways 1976, PDF pp. 21–24.
more than 40 percent a year … 308,000: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 114. sixteen canoe-rental businesses … lawsuits: Ragsdale 2017, 46–48. The superintendent who came to the park in 1976 … a little under 1,800 commercial canoes … more than 3,000 … ten years of litigation … about 2,400: Sullivan 1998, 21 (“a little under 1,800 commercial canoes”; “At one time there were more than 3,000 operating”; “I think we ended up with something like 2,400 permitted canoes”); his years at the park, Sullivan 1998, 6–7. A canoeist-day is one person on the river for one day: general. 145,792 … 295,400: NPS 1981, 18. Harvey’s … term estate: NPS 1981, 81–82.
nearly half … St. Louis … 1.1 percent … “almost every boat contained …” … 70 percent … 90 percent … ten or more … five times: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 114 (Kohler’s text, after studies of the early 1980s). a writer on the two rivers … 1984: Steve Kohler (Kohler and Schuchard 1984). some summer weekends … “may well wonder if he hasn’t found a canoe parking lot …”: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, viii. shuttle … “prepared to sacrifice some aluminum …”: NPS 1977.
“You see there was no canoe floating …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 58. far fewer … “because we got so many people anymore”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 61. A Current River trapper and former fishing guide … “a lot of otters over here on Jacks Fork” … “near the fish on Jacks Fork as there was” … the crowds on the river: Steen 1998, 11.
3,734 … 89 percent … 9 percent … 1 percent … 214 … 44: MDC 2001, PDF 86, 153, after a 1998 Southern Illinois University river-use study. 1987 to 2010 … in 2010 … Alley Spring, Two Rivers and Powder Mill … nine in ten … 275 miles … once a year … a trip cost little and rental boats … 32 … 39: Thomas 2014, 11, 16–17, 22–25, 39–46 (the 2010 mean age may be pooled across districts), who credits the low cost of a trip and the “pervasive local availability of rental float crafts.”
Table 9.2: sources above; 1979 canoe densities, NPS 1981, 29 (table 3); commercial canoes about 1976 and in the mid-1980s, Sullivan 1998, 21. The 1979 figure counts canoeists; Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 114, gives 290,000 canoeist-days for the same year.

Two rivers in one

410 … twelve … thirty-six: NPS 1981, 29 (table 3). almost 90 percent … fourteen miles: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 114 (their distance is fifteen miles); measured along the river centerline, Alley Spring to Two Rivers is 14.2 miles. wilder and less developed than the upper Current: NPS 1981, 29 (the upper Current “offers high density canoeing, with faster water, more services”; the Jacks Fork and lower Current “are of a more primitive natural character, with less frequent development”). drew floaters mainly in the spring high water: NPS 1981, 60. too low: NPS 1981, 6. Zone 9 … 24.5 … Zone 10 … 14.9: MDC 2001, PDF 86. about 32 and 14: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (the junction of the prongs to the Highway 106 bridge, 32.03; the bridge to the mouth, 14.18). In 2010 … Alley Spring, Two Rivers and Powder Mill: Thomas 2014, 11 (table 2).
could be floated in summer only after soaking rains … many pools … in privacy: Rafferty 1985, 68 (“can be floated in the summer only after soaking rains”; “many pools in that stretch of the river where fishing and swimming may be enjoyed in privacy during the low-water period”). nearly triple the river: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (table 2); see Chapter 12.
Mountain View businessmen … Birch Tree … Springfield … Sedalia: sources under “Camps on the upper river” above. remembered mostly by people who grew up nearby: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06, SV-20.
Upper Jacks Fork River Rats … smallmouth … overpasses, roads, power lines … the drone of outboard motors: Dufur 2013, 20–23 (“overpasses, roads, power lines, countless gravel bar camps, and the drone from outboard motors”). a spring float … April 2013: the article does not date the float; it was a spring trip made before the April 2013 issue, probably in 2012.
Table 9.3: sources above.

Chapter 10. Who Gets to Keep the River?

Opening

September 1961 … perhaps fifty signs … “Monument NO” … five feet high … a quarter of a mile … recommended: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 110.

A park for a spring

Shannon County Hunting and Fishing Club … Ebb and Flow Spring: Stevens 1991, 151–52; NPS, “Rymers Ranch History.” wanted the river itself conserved: Stevens 1991, 178, after Flanders. 1922 … Kirkendall … 45,000 to 60,000 acres … not ready: Stevens 1991, 178.
1919 … 1924 … State Game and Fish Commission … first eight … Round Spring … Bales … Cunningham: Stevens 1991, 177. 20,000 acres … $125,000 … 4,700 acres … $25,000 … lumber company … Until June 1924 … Crystal Spring Town-site Company … Carr … December 1922 … $90,000 to $100,000 … the company’s head … Hug … $35,000 … $31,500 … 427 acres: Stevens 1991, 178–79, citing the Alley Spring files of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and Flanders and Morrow 1985, 74–80; Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2. a quarter of them by the early 1930s … game refuges and fish hatcheries … the vacationer second: Stevens 1991, 190–91. about $74 an acre … a little over $5 an acre: arithmetic from the figures above ($31,500 for 427 acres; $25,000 for 4,700).
one idea of a park over another … Buford … 1925: Stevens 1991, 179, after Flanders and Morrow 1985, whose reading this is.
1926 and 1927 … “greatly marred the splendor …” … rustic native pine … road … bridge: Stevens 1991, 182, quoting the Annual Report of the State Game and Fish Commissioner for 1926 and 1927; Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2. visitor-days … 1953 … 595,122: NPS 1960, 73–74 (the peak year, 1953; “The number of visitor days is equivalent to the number of tourists each day at a given park”).

The dam builders

1909 … “latent power”: Brown 1969, 41–42. 1912 … 1918 … Neither came to anything … Federal Power Commission … Lake of the Ozarks … 1929–31 … 1933 … Kansas City Power Company … Blair Creek, above Van Buren and above Doniphan … did little … the Depression … financing: Stevens 1991, 197–98 (“The measure had little impact on restricting the licensing procedure”). on the Osage: general.
mid-1930s … some thirty high dams by one count and fifty by another: Hall 1969, 245 (“some thirty ‘high dams’ on the rivers of Missouri”); Stevens 1991, 198 (Congress “authorized the Corps of Engineers to develop fifty dams in the state”). 1938 … nearly any free-flowing stream: Ragsdale 2017, 22. St. Francis, the Black, the North Fork and the White: Hall 1969, 245. at least seven possible dam sites: Blevins 2021, ch. 6. Two dams … authorized: Hall 1969, 246; Brown 1969, 41. Wappapello … 1941 … Little Rock … 107-foot … Doniphan: Stevens 1991, 199. less than five miles below: MDC, Current River float guide (Blair Creek at mile 56.2, Two Rivers at 51.5).
Rose Cliff … 1927–29 … Birch Tree doctor … Hall wrote: Stevens 1991, 198–99, after Morrow 1982 (“Rose Cliff Hotel”). Current River Protective Association … shortly after 1940: Hall 1969, 246. flood crests on the White … not at all … too small for steady power … gravel and silt … far above them: Hall 1969, 246 (the opponents showed “that the proposed structures would affect flood levels on White River imperceptibly and on the Mississippi not at all; that the stream flow was insufficient to furnish an economical source of steady electrical power; that existing gravel erosion would result in disastrous siltation not only in the reservoirs but far upstream”); Stevens 1991, 200 (“the soil erosion in the cut-over timber lands would fill the reservoir with silt”). A reservoir controls a flood … small corner of the White River basin … running steadily … still water drops whatever a river carries: general. Missouri Farmers Association … Conservation Federation … Kingman … 1949 … “There are streams with natural attributes …” … 1950: Stevens 1991, 199–200.
1954 … “that in lieu of reservoir development …” … that summer … “claiming vast benefits …” … as one opponent described them: Hall 1969, 247. As late as 1958: Hall 1969, 247. in 1959 with a resolution: Stevens 1991, 200; Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 108. influential people … “they would have dammed”: Gibson 2000, 96.
A Shannon County man who was a boy in the early 1940s … the Blair Creek site … thirty feet deep over the courthouse yard in Eminence … go up overnight and flood them all … doubted it would have covered the town … Senator Bales … fought the dams in the legislature: Dix 1998, 7–8 (David Dix, born 1932; he “just thought they could build that thing overnight and we’d all be flooded”), the only source for the story. The owner of the trail ride at Eminence, raised on his family’s land there … his grandfather and his father … the dams that would have flooded the place: Smith 1998, 1 (James D. Smith).

The national idea

1956 … “eventual elimination of all private land use” … quickly lost the support: Stevens 1991, 201. Hennings … Symington: Stevens 1991, 200. Eisenhower … January 1960 … 190 miles … a mile or less … 113,000 acres … “clean, strong and alive”: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 108. every acre … bought outright: NPS 1960, 44.
80,000 acres … 85 … 11 … 4 percent … three-quarters … the whole tract … $32,272 … forty cents … a third … $1,000 … tourist spending: NPS 1960, 44–45, 58–60, 64, 66, 98–99. by 1965 … 155,000 visitor-days: NPS 1960, 73 (table XIX, the Jacks Fork section with Alley Spring State Park). “To offer them money …” … “would be a grave error” … stay on for life … local people be hired: NPS 1960, 58–60, 98–99.
Current–Eleven Point Rivers Association … July 1960 … fair prices … taxation … tourists … cherty slopes … long memories of bushwhackers, lumber companies … pastor: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 108–9 (the memories are Kohler’s reading). Drey … thirty-five miles … mass recreation … Forest Service … easements: Ragsdale 2017, 23–24; Blevins 2021, ch. 6; Drey 1998, 8 (“over thirty-four, thirty-five miles of river frontage on the Current and Jacks Fork”). his first Ozark land in 1951 … 1953 or 1954 … nearly 90,000 acres in Shannon and Reynolds counties … National Distillers Products Company of New York … Pioneer Cooperage … the largest land purchase in Missouri’s history: Low 2015 (in 1953 the National Distillers Products Company “decided to sell its Ozarks holdings,” “nearly 90,000 forested acres in Shannon and Reynolds counties”; “Drey’s purchase of the land was the largest in Missouri history”); Drey 1998, 3 (“1951, I bought the first land. And this was 1954, I guess, that I got the National Distillers property”; 89,900 acres, most of it from Pioneer Cooperage). The two dates are given as the sources give them. single-tree selection … never clear-cutting: Duffy 2015. by his own account his crews had never cut within sight of the rivers: Drey 1998, 8 (“we had never cut [timber] within sight of the rivers”). drew families with young children … drowned almost every year … outdoorsmen and fishermen … letters of intent: Drey 1998, 11, 13, 14 (the Forest Service’s visitors “more outdoorsmen, fishermen,” the Park Service’s appeal “often to families with young children”; “Almost every year someone drowns in the Current”; “something like 300” letters of intent), his own account. county officials … tax base: Stevens 1991, 201.
conservation leaders … mayors and chambers … Ozark National Rivers Association … organized by Hall … G. L. Davis: Stevens 1991, 200–201 and n. 67. small-town businessmen … St. Louisans: Blevins 2021, ch. 6, the only source for the observation (which calls the group the Ozark Rivers National Monument Association). and friends … cooled their friendship for years: Drey 1998, 16–17 (“Len and I, I’m afraid, parted company on this particular issue”; the fight “kind of cooled our friendship for many years”). “a permanent rural slum” … “just about the last outpost of true wilderness …”: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 109, quoting Hall’s 1960 column and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 24, 1960.
Curtis … Ichord: Blevins 2021, ch. 6. “opposed to setting aside a large part of my district …”: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 109. effigy … mock funeral … court square: Blevins 2021, ch. 6. Udall … Hartzog … Hall … Dalton: Blevins 2021, ch. 6. March 1962 … nine new parks … June … Big Spring: Stevens 1991, 201–2. “We live in this particular area …”: Ragsdale 2017, 28, quoting Sarvis 2000, 12–13.
January 14, 1963 … Symington and Ichord: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 110. easements … hunting and fishing … 500 acres … Payments to the counties: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 109–10; Stevens 1991, 202–3. bought whole unless … did not appear in the final law: Public Law 88-492, sec. 2. Ripley County … Eleven Point … 1968: Blevins 2021, ch. 6; Stevens 1991, 203. An easement is a right in land that belongs to someone else … productive and on the county’s tax rolls … still new in 1964 … early 1980s: Ragsdale 2017, 30–31 (the easement “can preclude new development or inconsistent uses on the burdened tract, yet leave the private owner free to hold title, to continue living on the land, and to continue the customary activities,” and “the property remains productive and taxable”); the definition of an easement is general.
Table 10.1: NPS 1960; Stevens 1991, 200–203; Public Law 88-492.

The law of 1964

August 27 … first national park area built around a river system: Public Law 88-492; U.S. House 2014 (H. Rept. 113-594). four years before: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 110. “unique scenic and other natural values …” … “as free-flowing streams” … “by the people of the United States” … 65,000 acres … two miles … state parks … consent … life … hunting and fishing … seven-member … four counties … $7 million: Public Law 88-492, secs. 1–5, 7–8. Scenic easements did not count either: Ragsdale 2017, 26, after Sarvis 2000. market value less the value of the right kept … Federal Register … ten years … two named by the governor and one by the Secretary: Public Law 88-492, secs. 3, 4, 7. Leonard Hall chaired the advisory commission for a time … removed from it in 1969 … the high point of his conservation work: Hall Papers, biographical sketch (chairman; the “high point” of his conservation work) and shelf list, folder 17 (“LH removed from Advisory Commission, 1969”). life estates followed: NPS 1960, 98–99.
about 4.2 miles below the Prongs … nearly three miles above Buck Hollow … first four miles: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, PDF 44 (figures 34–35, distances counted downstream from the park boundary); Erwin 2021 (address point 0, about 37.0637, −91.6992); measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book; see Reach C. Buck Hollow … westernmost … Texas County … five and a half miles: NPS 2013, 17 (“The westernmost extent of Ozark National Scenic Riverways, known as Buck Hollow”).

Buying the river

1966 … 7,600 acres: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 110. second superintendent, who served in 1966–67 … “kind of the center of the opposition” … “there was quite a bit of support in Eminence, too”: Hennesay 1998, 4, 8–9 (Vernon Hennesay). The Fifth Amendment … fair market value, the price a willing buyer would pay a willing seller: general.
two hundred to three hundred … Cape Girardeau … about thirty-five … later sat as a federal judge … how to stop the project … 1967 … Meredith … Harper … waive juries … Van Buren … two and a half days … one hundred dollars an acre … three United States marshals … juries … 1969 and early 1970: Limbaugh 2013.
Farming was thin … comparable sales … recreation: Limbaugh 2013. “highest and best use,” the most profitable use the law and the ground allow … sales of similar land: the appraisal standard (general). often very low … federal courts routinely … at least twice: Blevins 2021, ch. 6, quoting Sarvis 2000 (the appraisals “ridiculously low”). paid less than neighbors … “And dad, he let them condemn us …” … best land: Gibson 2000, 96–99. A former johnboat guide in Eminence … about three hundred acres and their house below Two Rivers … “trying to see how cheap I can get this land” … a falling-down house up on the Jacks Fork: Dix 1998, 13–16, the only source. Seven million dollars … a little under $108 an acre … upper limits … so many cases ended in court: Flader 2011, 116 (the $7 million led “NPS officials to set upper limits on appraisals, which meant that more than 200 cases ended up in court”); the per-acre figure is arithmetic.
owners of riverside cabins who lived in the cities … life tenancy … easements … no end date: Flader 2011, 117 (“the more urban owners of riverside cabins, who had been expected to sell with life tenancy, instead were offered and opted for easements with essentially perpetual tenancy”). 81,216 … 51,517 … 9,179 … 14,062 … 6,458: NPS 1981, 1, 32–33. timber: NPS 1981, 44. 300 feet: NPS 2016, 11. 1969 … January 1, 1970: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 110; Limbaugh 2013, n. 2. June 10, 1972: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 1. 88 percent … $7 million: Kohler and Schuchard 1984, 110.
1964 and 1969 … July 1969 … historical architect: Brown 1969, 60, 62–63. no trace of the house, or strangers: Gibson 2000, 97. Cardinal Acres … 1966–69 … October 1969: NPS 2013, 22, 24, 26.

Why the resentment lasted

late 1990s … even the park’s strongest supporters: Gibson 2000, 67–68, from interviews for the Park Service in Shannon and Carter counties. “Them using eminent domain …” … government in general … uniformed rangers: Gibson 2000, 67–68. homesteads, roads and cemeteries … sixty-mile round trip … chainsaw: Gibson 2000, 100–103. Another family’s cemetery on the Current … a one-acre parcel … never had to keep up the graves or the road to them: Dix 1998, 17–18, the only source (the Wayland Powell farm and family cemetery; “I suppose the reason they did that, then they’re not responsible for the maintenance”). caretakers … more than a century … recreation project: Gibson 2000, 96, 98–99, 103. 1969 state law … last county: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 220 n. 6.
ticket stories … “We don’t want to be made into another Yellowstone …”: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 215. probably never came … last in Missouri in median household income: Blevins 2021, ch. 6, whose judgment it is.
“saved the river” … “alright” … mixed … most of the people asked: Gibson 2000, 96, 99. A park man who spent some twenty-three years at the Riverways … for a time as its chief of interpretation … “very negative” … “sort of the heart of the Riverways”: Outlaw 1998, preface, 17, 21, 45 (Alex Outlaw, with the park “about twenty-three years, 1972–1995”). “a splendid job” … dwindled: Limbaugh 2013.

Canoes, horses and horsepower

sixteen … 1973 … 1975 … 1976 … 1982 and 1983 … 1985: Ragsdale 2017, 46–48. a kind of licensed monopoly … the price, the manner and the volume … a set term … a fair chance at a profit … a preference: Ragsdale 2017, 42–43, 48 (concessions “a species of government-sponsored monopoly”). A study of the river’s use … falling water quality … felt crowded … without contracts … a rule against commercial outfitting without a permit … a narrower rule … on a public road … let the matter rest … property clause a broad reach … needed to protect federal land and its purposes: Ragsdale 2017, 46–47 (the 1975 and 1976 acquittals in United States v. Williams; then the Park Service, “emboldened by the Supreme Court ruling in Kleppe v. New Mexico, and the Eighth Circuit opinion in Minnesota v. Block,” enforced the rule again, and the district court noted that both courts had found it within Congress’s property-clause power to regulate non-federal lands “if the regulation was deemed necessary for the protection of human life, wildlife, government land or government objectives”). The cases are Kleppe v. New Mexico, 426 U.S. 529 (1976), decided in June 1976, before the second acquittal in November, and Minnesota ex rel. Alexander v. Block, 660 F.2d 1240 (8th Cir. 1981); the district court’s reading is in Free Enterprise Canoe Renters Ass’n v. Watt, 549 F. Supp. 252, 262 (E.D. Mo. 1982). Kleppe itself upheld the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act on federal land and left open how far the clause reaches onto private land, so “a broad reach” is the measure of it here. moratorium … 1970s: NPS 1981, 60. Cases: United States v. Williams (E.D. Mo. 1975, 1976); Free Enterprise Canoe Renters Ass’n v. Watt, 711 F.2d 852 (8th Cir. 1983); Current-Jacks Fork Canoe Rental Ass’n v. Clark, 603 F. Supp. 421 (E.D. Mo. 1985).
1984 … 1989: Ragsdale 2017, 52; NPS 2016, 13. 4,000 acres … Jam Up Cave … unsuitable: NPS 1981, 30, 126. more than a hundred acres of river bottom … the eastern edge of the park’s land … a county road off Highway 106 … Cross-Country Trail Ride … expired … January 1981: NPS 1981, 93 (the Horse Camp, “on the eastern edge of the riverways boundary on the Jacks Fork River,” reached by “2.5 miles of undesignated county road from Missouri 106,” “100+ acres of gently terraced river bottom land,” “the previous location of the Cross-Country Trail Ride”). a ride of 1974 … a mile and a half below Alley Spring: Barks 1978, 29 (August 11–17, 1974, “about 1.5 miles downstream from Alley Spring” and about 4 miles upstream from Eminence); that it was the same site is an inference. trapping … 1986: Blevins 2021, ch. 6. hunting with dogs, motorboat horsepower and the outfitters: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 209.
about twenty-four miles: Ragsdale 2017, 49. May 1990 … twenty to thirty … open range … work horses: Rikoon 2006, 1–2, 4; Rikoon and Albee 1998, 211. a pair … 1950s: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 207. The superintendent of the time told the start of it another way … known of the horses for years … two men claiming to be inspectors for the humane society … a television story: Sullivan 1998, 47–50 (Arthur L. Sullivan, superintendent 1976–95), the only source for this account.
more than 1,200 … signatures: Rikoon 2006, n. 6. café: Kennedy 1998, 1. eight-mile convoy … sheriff … about 3,000 … about 900: Kennedy 1998, 6–7. as many as 300 horses were ridden up to his office: Sullivan 1998, 54 (“they had as many as 300 horses that rode up to my office in protest”). late in 1990: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 205; Rikoon 2006, 2. February 1991 … June 17, 1992 … June 15, 1993: Senate Report 104-312, from the Park Service’s testimony. 1992 … Judge Limbaugh … “one horse to 3,500 acres” … 1993 … only if they harmed it … cultural or historical resource … wild horse act of 1971 … arbitrary … named that standard … gone back to the agency … The dissenting judge: Ragsdale 2017, 49–51 (the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act did not apply to the park but “certainly demonstrates Congressional intent to protect wild horses”; Judge Loken dissenting in the appeals court); the standard of review is the Administrative Procedure Act’s, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); Morrow 2013, contributor note; Wilkins v. Lujan, 798 F. Supp. 557 (E.D. Mo. 1992), rev’d 995 F.2d 850 (8th Cir. 1993). October … More than a thousand … left the horses alone: Rikoon 2006, n. 6; Rikoon and Albee 1998, 211. the Supreme Court declined to hear the case: Sullivan 1998, 52, his recollection, not checked against the Court’s records.
Emerson … November 12, 1996 … no more than fifty: Public Law 104-333, sec. 803; NPS 2016, 10. “wild and free let ’em be”: Rikoon and Albee 1998, 214. less to do with animal rights … condescending power from outside: Blevins 2021, ch. 6 (the controversy “owed less to animal rights activism and more to resentment toward the government agency that had become the symbol for condescending outsider power”). Ragsdale 2017, 52, dates the signing to October 3, 1996; Public Law 104-333 was approved on November 12, 1996 (sec. 803(b), 110 Stat. 4186; 16 U.S.C. § 460m-6, which counts the herd from “November 12, 1996”), and the text follows the law. “As long as the wild horses continue to roam …”: Rikoon 2006, 14 (screen page of the electronic copy).
Sagebrush Rebellion … public domain: Ragsdale 2017, 1, 56. Natural Streams Act … biosphere reserve: Rikoon 2006, n. 15; Rikoon and Albee 1998, 217–18.
A Carter County landowner on the Current, talking in 1998 … “crisscrossing back and forth over that beautiful Jacks Fork” … “crossing over and over” … smell it on the river: Crutcher 1998, 17–18, 46 (Joel Montgomery speaking, who owned a farm with two miles of frontage on the Current below Van Buren; the 1998 interview was a joint one). a few hundred … about 3,000 … special trail-ride events of August and October 2000 … eighty-eight miles … four times: NPS 2022a, citing Chilman and Vogel 2001 and Park, Chilman and Seekamp 2011. The 3,000 are riders counted during the special events; the 3,000 horses in Chapter 17 are a different measure, the largest facility’s estimate for its rides. in 1998 … still in force in 2002 … a cleanup plan in 2004: see Chapter 17. NPS 2022a’s “Between 1998 and 2002” dates the contamination behind the listing, not the listing itself. American Rivers … 2011 … already illegal: Ragsdale 2017, 53.

The plan that lit the fuse

A general management plan … several alternatives … approve a final plan: the planning process under the National Environmental Policy Act (general); see NPS 2014 (GMP). November 8, 2013: NPS 2014 (GMP), 391. boulders … special-use permit … two days … Smith … no permit: Christian Post 2013.
a third … another seventh … about 35 miles … 23-mile: NPS 2013 (draft GMP), 125–26. 100 miles … 3,430 acres: Ragsdale 2017, 54–55. postponed two weeks … January 2014 … Kirkwood … 1,450 … February 7 … 3,094: NPS 2014 (GMP), 384, 391–92.
low water already kept most motors off … “further alienating the local people …”: NPS 2014 (GMP), 402–4. hellbender: KCUR 2014.
February 10 … H.R. 4029: Ragsdale 2017, 62. “tooth and nail”: Ragsdale 2017, 55, quoting the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 26, 2014. 23 to 8 … “does not seem the most prudent step” … “a disgrace”: KCUR 2014. $6 million … 120 … $34 million … April: Ragsdale 2017, 63. May … courthouse lawn … “This is our river” … more oversight: Ragsdale 2017, 54–55, quoting the Kansas City Star, July 26, 2014.
June 10 … H.R. 4182 … “strongly opposes” … “erode the idea …” … 1.4 million … $56 million in economic benefits: U.S. Department of the Interior 2014. 25 votes to 15: U.S. House 2014 (H. Rept. 113-594).
December 2014 … January 22, 2015 … April 1 through September 14 … 25 horsepower … “Gigging at night from johnboats …”: NPS 2015 (GMP summary), 1, 5, 11–12; NPS 2014 (GMP), 402–4. year round … criticism: National Parks Traveler 2015. upper Jacks Fork … left out: NPS 2015 (GMP summary), 5.

Where things stand

April 18, 2022: NPS 2022c (news release); NPS 2022a. 80,785 … 51,654 … 29,131 … 9,257 … 5,400 … suitable for purchase: NPS 2016, 3–4, 10–11, 13. federal land broken by scenic easements and private holdings: Map 10.1 sources. violations go unenforced: Ragsdale 2017, 32.
Table 10.2: NPS 1981; NPS 2016.
the park boundary, about 4.2 miles below them: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, PDF 44; see Reach C.
1954 … public highway for travel by floating or wading: Elder v. Delcour, 269 S.W.2d 17, 25–26 (Mo. 1954); the state reads that … below the high-water mark: MDC, “Trespassing”; McCarter 1995 (the court held the channel a “public highway” “for travel by floating or wading, for business or for pleasure”). from the Meramec: McCarter 1995 (“the waters of the Meramec River are public waters”). a landowner threatened a canoeist … fishing from his canoe, camping on the riverbed … around a log jam … “floatable” … ordinary commercial boats could not use … floating logs: Washington University Law Quarterly 1955 (floatable streams “cannot be used by ordinary commercial vessels” but are “useful commercially to the lumbering industry for floating logs”; the court held the river a “floatable” stream in which the public may travel and fish). as the Jacks Fork had floated its ties: see Chapter 7.
Table 10.3: sources above.

Chapter 11. The River Since the Park

Opening

June 10, 1972: see Chapter 10. Tricia Nixon Cox, the President’s daughter, cut the ribbon: NPS, “Park Establishment History” (the ceremony at Big Spring “presided over by Patricia Nixon Cox who cut the ribbon”); NPS 2014 (fiftieth anniversary), photograph caption (“Tricia Nixon Cox, the President’s daughter, dedicating the park”). more than three million visits … the highest figure: NPS 2014 (GMP), 207.
few models … Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961 … public land or from land given … among the first … buying it … Hartzog’s years … seventy … administrators … newly designated riverways … ready … more canoes … more weight: Flader 2011, 117 (officials “necessarily learning on the job”; outfitters “exercised disproportionate influence on local NPS officials”), the only source for the judgment.
private land … about 4.2 miles below them … federal … gap: see Chapter 10 and Reach C. headquarters … Van Buren: NPS 2022a, 74. one of the park’s districts from Alley Spring: NPS 2021, 41; NPS 2022 (concessions).
Vernon Hennesay, chief ranger in 1965, was the second, in 1966–67: Hennesay 1998, preface. David Thompson followed in 1967–70 … the land office at Eminence did the buying: Thompson 1998, preface. Arthur Sullivan came in August 1976 … January 1995 … warned that hostility from the land buying and the condemnations still lingered … could last for generations: Sullivan 1998, 6–7, 14–15 (“I had been forewarned that there were certain hostilities lingering there because of land acquisition and condemnation”; such acquisition “creates hard feelings that could last for generations”).

Campgrounds a day’s float apart

a day’s float apart, thirteen … nineteen: Flader 2011, 117. so that a party could put in at one: inference from the spacing. In 1981 … major developments … minor … more than forty primitive sites: NPS 1981, 18.
partly developed in the 1930s … A major portion … construction program of 1974 … 209 … 23 … three group sites … ten comfort stations … hot showers … CCC houses … ranger station … carriage shed … laundry, showers … gift shop … amphitheater … two hundred seats: NPS 1981, 81.
seasonal rangers at Alley in the 1970s … Tom Akers: NASA, Akers (summer park ranger at Alley Spring, 1972–76).
roller mill … Storys Creek school … whiskey-making demonstration: NPS 1981, 85. nominated: NPS 1981, 81. the federal list: general. listed on December 8, 1981: NRHP, Alley Spring Roller Mill 1981. It still ground in those years … “Old Red Mill at the Alley Springs Park” … “a museum and an operating grist mill”: Ozark Riverways 1976, PDF pp. 21–24 (the Eminence calendar). sold the corn flour … “our own U.S. public health inspectors got after us”: Sullivan 1998, 29–30 (he names the “Red Mill,” then confirms “That was at Alley Mill”).
Harvey’s … term estate … in 1981 … torn down: NPS 1981, 81; see Chapter 9. “the roller rink and the trampolines”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-17. huge gravel bar … beach … boat ramp … gravel at its foot … let the ramp fill in: NPS 1981, 81–82.
Harvey’s Alley Springs Canoe Rental … two main outfitters: Harvey’s Alley Springs Canoe Rental (the business’s own account of itself, 2026).
primitive camping … random parking … “because of reoccurring major vandalism problems” … burned … “shot up, pulled out, stolen, or destroyed” … highway department … trash: NPS 1981, 86. improvements all the same … vault toilet … canoe landing … primitive camping area … parking: NPS 1981, 116 (development priority 19). Forty years later … close as it is to Mountain View … new restroom … pull-off: NPS 2021, 117 (popular “due to its proximity to Mountain View”).
Two Rivers in 1981 … campground … concession store … ferry landing … canoeists and johnboaters: NPS 1981, 79. Shawnee Creek … six to eight sites … equestrian staging … seven-mile loop: NPS 2021, 187. Bay Creek, Rymers and Blue Spring … Bachers and Baptizing Hole: NPS 2022b; NPS 2022a, appendix E.
general store … visitor contact … point of sale … Jacks Fork … headquarters … interpretive staff … the campground is the largest: NPS 2021, 41. 146 family sites and seventeen group sites: NPS 2022a, C-14. 366 people … not counting campers … 400 people: NPS 2022a, C-15.

Roads to the gravel bars

set back … screened … their own spot, right on the water: Flader 2011, 118 (“Local Ozark families have been visiting the river for generations, and they want to be in their own spot, right on the river, not in a developed campground with others”). some forty … de facto camping and access sites: Flader 2011, 117, citing the 1984 plan. did much as they liked … cut and mowed … reshaped the banks … appeared on no park map … all-terrain vehicle: Flader 2011, 118 (“in the unofficial primitive sites anything goes, including slashing and mowing vegetation and reshaping banks”; the roads “are not shown on any ONSR maps for general visitor use”).
352 … 318 miles … 93, counting the developed areas … older than the park … sixty-two “primitive areas” … 58 percent: Flader 2011, 118, citing Mendiola 1986. Bare ground … ruts on a slope … cuts the ruts deeper: general; see Chapter 8.
1991 … county roads … fifty-four … less than four pages … the people who drove the roads: Flader 2011, 118 (a “short (less than 4-page!) environmental assessment”). probably too slight for the job: Flader 2011, 121, who thought the study weak. the short review federal law requires: the environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act (general). some thirty of the fifty-four: Flader 2011, 120.
By one account … knowing nobody would challenge them … all-terrain vehicles: Flader 2011, 120 (“County road crews brazenly bulldozed new roads to the river, knowing they would not be challenged”), the only source. 2004 and 2005 … GPS … 346 miles … not released … Friends of Ozark Riverways … fifty-eight … seventeen: Flader 2011, 120–21. 91 … at least 136 by 2007 … “There is almost nowhere …”: Flader 2011, 121–22, quoting Friends of Ozark Riverways 2011.
Missouri Coalition for the Environment … 2006 … 2009 … thousands … Yellowstone winter-use … about evenly: Flader 2011, 120 (“reportedly more than on any recent issue except the Yellowstone winter use controversy”). One reading … “gone local” … easier, and perhaps safer: Flader 2011, 124–25 (“a classic case of park management ‘going local.’ New NPS officials assigned to the park recognize the problems when they first arrive, but soon realize that it is easier—perhaps even safer—to give in to vocal local demands”).
April 18, 2022: NPS 2022c. 230.5 … 39 … 77 … 24 … more than 90 miles: NPS 2022a, 3–4. 216.5 … 14 … 49.5: NPS 2022a, 13–14. undesignated stream crossings … seven designated horse-trail crossings: NPS 2022a, 15. alternative the Park Service chose … “move forward to establish a network of roads and trails …”: NPS 2022c.

The trail rides

Much of the horse use … lower Jacks Fork: NPS 2022a, 77–79. early years … three rides a year … a couple of hundred: Cooperman 2023. lease … 1981: see Chapter 10. its old grounds had become a park horse camp, grown up and hard to reach: Smith 1998, 16. private land … Eminence gap … fourteen miles … near the mouth … 2,500 riders and horses … “on all unpaved roads and traces within the park except where posted”: Flader 2011, 119, quoting the 1991 study (“horse use is permitted on all unpaved roads and traces within the park except where posted”).
Tom Akers … trail bosses … twenty years: Kennedy Space Center 2026.
a staff meeting in 1996 … “the biggest issue discussed” … “specifically”: Flader 2011, 122–23, quoting NPS staff meeting minutes, 1996. “We have withdrawn from the rivers …”: Flader 2011, 125, quoting Clary to Emerson, March 14, 1996.
1999 … doubled between 1985 and 1995 … April 2000 … four large maps … digitized for Friends of Ozark Riverways … 83 … 164 … one park staff member and nineteen riders … 259 miles … twenty-five staging areas … apparently dropped … retired … died within a year … has not been established … group size … four big rides: Flader 2011, 123, the only source. routed riders away from the river crossings … by half or more: Smith 1998, 17, his own estimate.
ten days in October 2015 … several sites … 3,688 … 987 … 347: NPS 2022a, 77, C-29. 8,858 … 96 percent: NPS 2022a, 78–79. third in the park: NPS 2022a, C-14. two trail-ride businesses … Hartshorn … 2,500 riders … eighteen times a year: NPS 2022a, 28.
fiftieth anniversary in 2004 … 3,500: Cooperman 2023. 3,003 stalls: Flader 2011, 122. about 2,800 stalls … barn … thirty years … eight multiday rides … 300 to 1,500 … dances … church service: Cooperman 2023. June 2024 … sixtieth annual Summer Fun ride … evacuated … “people trapped on little islands”: KY3 2024.

The herd since 1996

law of 1996 … no more than fifty … agreement with the Missouri Wild Horse League: Public Law 104-333 (16 U.S.C. § 460m-6). veterinary care, health monitoring … fields … adoption … “hands-off approach when possible”: NPS 2024 (wild horses). grows from year to year … passes fifty … younger horses … adoption across the country: Associated Press 2016; Curtis 2021.
By 2021 … four herds … Shawnee Creek … pasture east of Eminence: Curtis 2021 (the photographer Dean Curtis, who published a book about the horses in 2022), the only source for the four herds; KSMU 2022. often meet it: NPS 2021, 187. tend to approach people: KSMU 2022.
In 1991 … believed the herd to descend from a pair turned loose in the 1950s: Rikoon 2006, PDF 4, quoting the Park Service’s 1991 environmental assessment; see Chapter 10. origin unknown … Great Depression … “may have been in the area since the 17th century”: NPS 2024 (wild horses). owner … founding member … drought … seven fillies … Appaloosa stallion … white: Curtis 2021, the only source. the ride’s owner said that the horses had been there all his life … his grandmother … near Two Rivers … run out on the open range and never came back for after the Depression … a little over thirty head, with seven studs: Smith 1998, 8–9 (“about a little over thirty”; “seven studs”), his own count. a visiting sociologist … before the Civil War … cavalry mounts … clear and plow … skid logs: Rikoon 2006, PDF 8 (told to J. Sanford Rikoon), the only source.
two white mares, thirteen or fourteen years old … gray mare … crooked neck … roanish grays … blaze-faced: Rikoon 2006, PDF 7. vice president, then eighty … “there’s always been horses in the woods that nobody owned”: Associated Press 2016.

Rules, fees and reservations

proposed … January 2022 … 408 comments … December 12, 2023 … January 11, 2024 … 1991 … 40 horsepower on the middle reaches … about April 1 … about September 15 … 25 … 18 … 60 and 40 … memorandum since 1999 … cultural ties: 88 Fed. Reg. 86050 (2023); NPS 2023 (horsepower). on the Jacks Fork below Alley: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(a), text in force before 2024. In Sullivan’s years … no motors run on the upper Jacks Fork during the bass season: Sullivan 1998, 27 (“On the upper Jacks Fork … during the bass season we also proposed there would be no motors involved”; the compromise became a limit of five or ten horsepower). A jet unit draws water in … allowed a larger engine: how an outboard jet drive works (general); the rule sets the higher jet limit for that reason (88 Fed. Reg. 86050).
April 15, 2022 … $10 … $5 … $20 … $16 … off-season … Bachers and Baptizing Hole … Forty-three comments … reduced … 96 percent: NPS 2022b.
2025 … reservation-only … Alley Spring and Two Rivers … first come, first served … the federal recreation reservation service from April 15 … established primitive sites … free: NPS 2025 (campgrounds). every backcountry campsite … through that federal service … year round: NPS 2026 (backcountry).
eighteen concession contracts: NPS 2022a, 77. ten-year contracts … Alley Spring Canoe Rental and Two Rivers Canoe Rental … canoes and tubes … shuttles … camp store … firewood: NPS 2022 (concessions).
Feral hogs … fields, springs and historic sites … April 2020 … deer or turkey permit … scatters the rest: NPS 2020 (feral swine). family groups … corral trap … grow wary: general (whole-group trapping of feral swine).

Closed for a season

March … April 9 … commercial services … camping … May 9 … to follow on May 22 … June 5 … full on Friday and Saturday nights several times … Alley Mill: NPS 2020 (COVID-19).
Two Rivers … store … mobile office … water line … footbridge … freeze … Shawnee Creek … concrete vault toilet … Alley Spring Branch: NPS 2018 (flood recovery). The new bridge, on the North River Road … spring of 2019 … that summer: NPS 2019 (river reopened). Larry Johnson … reset … flood-resistant: NPS 2019 (Johnson). Rymers … cancelled in 2019 … heavy equipment: NPS 2019 (Rymers). 2022 … Rymers and Bay Creek … seven … precast concrete: NPS 2022b; NPS 2022 (restrooms).
November 2024 … upper Current … Jacks Fork … Alley Spring campground … several weeks: NPS 2024 (flood).

Counting the visitors

more than three million … 1.5 million … just over 2.3 million … counts as a visitor … pass through: NPS 2014 (GMP), 207. Another series … nearly two million in 1979 … about 1.3 million … canoeists stopped coming … drunken … horses and all-terrain vehicles: Flader 2011, 117, 120.
multiplies the number of visits … goes round again: the Park Service’s visitor spending effects method (general). 2011 … 1,365,960 … $65.3 million … 861 … $326,681: NPS 2013 (budget). Evening programs … Round Spring and Pulltite … Round Spring Cave tours … restroom cleaning … Independence Day: NPS 2013 (budget cuts made). 2023 … 1.3 million … $66.8 million … 908 … $76.8 million: NPS 2024 (economy).
Table 11.1: NPS 2014 (GMP), 207; Flader 2011, 117; NPS 2013 (budget); U.S. Department of the Interior 2014 (2012); NPS 2019 (economy) (2018); NPS 2020 (economy) (2019); NPS 2022 (economy) (2021); NPS 2023 (economy) (2022); NPS 2024 (economy) (2023).

Alley Mill

January 2014 … numerous restoration needs … water and tree roots … top project … mid-April through August … wood-shingle roof … drainage trenches … sheet steel … rotted framing … red paint … photographs: NPS 2014 (Alley Mill). decided to remove … roots … turbine pit … basement … 1992: NPS 2014 (sycamore). A root that finds a crack … softens the mortar: general. ahead of schedule … weekends in July: NPS 2014 (Alley Mill reopening).
June 5, 2017 … quarter … at Alley Spring … the series … the mill: U.S. Mint 2017 (the America the Beautiful quarters). cultural landscape report … historic structure report … September 2018: NPS 2018 (Alley historic district).
Independence Day … picnics … music, square dancing … watermelon and lemonade: NPS 2016 (Independence Day). October … traditional skills … broom making, soap making and moonshining: NPS 2022 (cultural skills). 2022 … Shannon County Museum Association … Ozark Riverways Foundation … “rediscover the history of the Alley community”: NPS 2022 (Alley community). invited families … Two Rivers … Shawnee Creek and Blair Creek … gigging boats: NPS 2021 (Two Rivers). About 1,100 … April 8, 2024 … second-largest: NPS 2024 (eclipse).

Above the park

Above the park boundary: see Chapter 10 and Reach C. South Prong Access, 3.3 acres … six miles north of Mountain View: MDC, South Prong Access. where the river will float a canoe … below the high-water mark: see Chapter 10 and Part Six (MDC, “Trespassing”). A Missouri natural area: MDC, Barn Hollow Natural Area; the definition is the state program’s (general). May 27, 1980 … Barn Hollow, 190 acres … Conservation Department and the Park Service … north of Mountain View: MDC, Barn Hollow Natural Area. meets the river from the right at about mile 5.7 … a mile and a half inside: USGS GNIS (Barn Hollow, 713660, mouth); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book; the boundary at about 4.2 miles, see Chapter 10 and Reach C. Jacks Fork Natural Area, 966 acres … park land … Jam Up … below Buck Hollow: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; NPS 2022a, C-30.
Mountain View resident … Arroll … kayak … lost access … good for the river … good for the towns … Dixon Ford … “a great place to hang out at the river” … “The new owners don’t let anyone enjoy it anymore”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.

The park in the 2020s

caves … hellbender … wastewater spill … renaming: see Chapters 13, 16, 17 and 18.
Bill Black was superintendent in August 2014 … the fiftieth anniversary of the law … Big Spring … a talk on how the park was made … a Park Service film of the early 1960s … Leonard Hall and his wife … newly digitized: NPS 2014 (fiftieth anniversary) (the talk by the Park Service historian Donald Stevens on “the historical background of the park’s establishment”; the film “Produced by the National Park Service in the early 1960s,” “just been digitized and color corrected for preservation”). Larry Johnson … chief ranger … 2015 … January 2020: NPS 2019 (Johnson). Jason Lott … interim … June 2020: NPS 2020 (Lott). fee changes and the roads and trails plan: NPS 2022b; NPS 2022c.
Table 11.2: sources as above; the National Register listing date from NRHP, Alley Spring Roller Mill 1981.

Part Three: How the River Works

Chapter 12. A River with a Basement

Opening

middle of August 2006 … current meters … dozens of points … springs and creeks: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 17, 27–28. 25.6 … August 15 … 138 … two days later: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2). a little under 200 gallons: 25.6 cubic feet × 7.48 gallons. some thirty-nine river miles: measured along the river centerline (Steel Bridge 6.98, the mouth 46.21); Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (table 2), puts the Steel Bridge gauge at river mile 38.5 above the mouth. about 260 feet lower: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2. Johnny … Stillhouse Hollow … Low Gap … dry … Bay Creek … half … Mahans … Shawnee … Blue Spring … Alley: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2). The report’s Stillhouse Hollow, at its river mile 28.4, half a mile below Johnny Hollow, is the Stillhouse Hollow below Bunker Hill, which kept the name in 2011 (USGS GNIS 727108); see Reach F and Chapter 18. about an eighth: the measured tributaries between Steel Bridge and the mouth total about 14 to 15 cubic feet a second of the 112 gained.
spell of low water: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 17. about 99 percent … karst: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12.

Rock carried away

lower Jacks Fork … 1994 and 1998 … hardness … 140 to 180 milligrams per liter … as calcium carbonate: MDC 2001, PDF 92–93 (table Wq02). hard water by any ordinary standard: water of 121 to 180 milligrams per liter is classed as hard on the scale the U.S. Geological Survey uses; general.
1,950 cubic feet of dissolved dolomite every day: Imes and others 2007; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 18. about twelve and a half feet on a side: the cube root of 1,950. nearly 90 feet on a side: the cube root of 1,950 × 365.

Losing streams

the water table … higher than the creek bed: general explanation of gaining and losing streams.
at least 30 percent in dry weather … into the bedrock: MDNR, “Losing Streams.” gravel-filled sinkholes … cracks … widened by solution: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 63. string of pools: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Dye Injection.”
Jam Up Creek … five miles … Pine Hollow … two … Johnny Hollow … a mile: MDC 2001, PDF 26 (table Ge01, after MDNR 1999). state water rules … below wastewater outfalls … may lose large amounts: MDC 2001, PDF 11 (“possibly lose”). about thirty-four miles … Alley Spring … nearly seven: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 60–62 (table 9: 33.9 miles in Alley Spring’s recharge area and 6.8 in Blue Spring’s).
head runs through Mountain View: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 ; see Chapter 18. broad, flat divide between the upper Jacks Fork and the Eleven Point: MDC 2001, PDF 60. half a mile to a mile … half a cubic foot … zero a mile downstream … several large pools … commonly do in Ozark losing streams: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Introduction” and “Dye Injection” (“a common occurrence in losing streams in the Ozarks”). comes back into the creek … different water: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Detection of Dye at Monitored Sites.”
about 29 … 23.6 … VFW campground … August 14 … Route 137 crossing … dry … less than a cubic foot: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (table 2: North Prong 13.5 and 0; South Prong 15.6 and 0.95), 19 (figure 9, which sets the North Prong’s 13.5 near its mouth and its dry site at Route 137); see Reach A. apparent loss … rated fair … about 8 percent … through the streambed: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 17 (fair, within about 8 percent; accuracy limited “where there is considerable flow through the gravel streambed, which cannot be measured”), 28 (table 2, sites 89–92 each rated fair). about five and a half: 29.1 less 23.6. gaining water … no losing conditions: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 34 (“In general, the seepage run showed gaining conditions”; fig. 7).
312 … about two to the square mile … 97: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 59, 60–62 (table 9). less than a tenth: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 63. twenty-foot steps: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 40. densities a twentieth as high or less: MDC 2001, PDF 11 (about 10 sinkholes per 100 square miles at most, after Adamski and others 1995).

Where the water comes out

outlets of cave systems: see Chapter 13. more than 400 known springs: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17. Forty-eight springs … topographic maps … published lists of Missouri springs … Park Service … significantly more: MDC 2001, PDF 11 (from the topographic maps and Vineyard and Feder 1974).
more than 1,100 springs were on record by the early 1980s: Vineyard and Feder 1982, which gives data on 585 of them. A book about the state published in 1904 … “probably the largest in the world”: The State of Missouri (1904), 539, as quoted in Sauer 1920, 51. the Jewels of the Ozarks: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17.
in steps of ten … at least 100 cubic feet a second … between 10 and 100 … between 1 and 10: the standard classification of springs by discharge, general. about 65 million gallons … one of the largest collections … in the world: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17; Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 2. more of them than any other rivers in the country: Weary and others 2014, 7.
1928 to 1939 … 1965 to 1979 … 135 … 54 … October 1934 … seventh-largest … third-largest … Welch: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 9, 32 (table 4), 43–44. about 87 million gallons: 135 cubic feet a second × 646,317 gallons a day. about 125 cubic feet a second, the same as 81 million gallons a day: MDC 2001, PDF 11, PDF 27 (table Ge02, after Vineyard and Feder 1974), gives about 125 cubic feet a second; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17, and NPS 1977 give 81 million gallons a day, which is 125 cubic feet a second. 70 … September 1941 … 65 … 97: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 32 (table 4).
sandstone … lid … a lower cave passage … artesian … rise pool: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 18–19 (fig. 14).
9.8 … 1966 … 10.6 … 2006 … second-largest … 27 percent: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 32, 43, 47 (table 7). close to seven million gallons: 10.6 × 646,317. only been estimated … about 24.5 … Round Spring: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 43, 47 (table 7), after Aley 1976, who applied Round Spring’s ratio of annual mean to 1966 low flow, about 2.5.
Table 12.1: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 32, 43–44; MDC 2001, PDF 27 (table Ge02, after Vineyard and Feder 1974). Locations from the place register. McCubbin Spring is printed “McCubben Spring” in MDC 2001 (table Ge02, after Vineyard and Feder 1974), whose map (fig. Ge01) plots it beside Blue Spring; it is very probably the spring in McCubbin Hollow (Reach D). Clear Spring: MDNR, “Springs” (feature 2150008: 350.1 to 516.1 gallons a minute, undated), converted at 448.8 gallons a minute to the cubic foot a second; MDC 2001, PDF 27 (table Ge02), prints 1.41 for Clear Spring as well as for Big Spring (Howell County), a figure the state layer gives only for Big Spring (feature 910001, 632.8 gallons a minute).

Cold water, blue water

two days each summer … 13.5 and 14.5 … hardly changed between day and night … 13.6 to 13.9: Bowles and others 2011, 8, 28, appendix B. Big Spring … 2001 to 2004 … 13 and 15 … within any one year … less than a degree: Imes and others 2007. Some tens of feet down: general knowledge of ground temperature.
fish use the difference: see Chapter 16. Steel Bridge … swings with the weather: see Reach D.
iceboxes of the hills … springhouse … cream, milk, butter, meat and vegetables: Vineyard and Feder 1982 (springs “once widely used as a means of refrigeration for rural families”; “Practically everyone had a springhouse where cream, meat, vegetables, and other products were stored”). Before rural electric lines: see Chapter 13. McCormacks … McCormack Spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source; see Reach H. cleared it away in 1926–27: see Chapter 10.
A writer floating past Alley, probably in 1934 … “robin’s egg blue”: Dorrance 1938, 34; for the year of the float, see Chapter 9. molecules absorb some of the red end: USGS, “Color and Water.” less than 1 unit: Bowles and others 2011, 28. dissolved minerals … depth … sky … milky: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 11, 17.

Springs that ebb and flow

in 2002 eight were known in Missouri: Missouri Geological Survey 2002. a spring at Chalk Bluff: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, by one account; see Reach F.
only about 26 … 23 known in 1944 … five … three more: Vineyard and Feder 1982, 13. four of the country’s 26 were in Shannon County, and more were known locally: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source for the county count.
During the geological mapping of the Eminence country … September 14 to October 11, 1923 … seven-day water-stage recorder … a graph of its discharge: Bridge 1930, 22 (the spring “on Upper Jacks Fork, is deserving of mention because of its peculiar periodic fluctuations”), and the figure on p. 51 (“Discharge record of Ebb and Flow spring on Jacks Fork, Shannon Co., Mo., Sept. 14 to Oct. 11, 1923. Record made with Gurley 7-day water stage recorder”). The report does not say who tended the recorder. That Bridge’s “Ebb and Flow spring on Jacks Fork” is the spring above Rymers rests on the name; his other Ebb and Flow spring, graphed in 1922, is the one on Thompson Creek. float moves a pen … paper chart turned by clockwork: general description of a float-type stage recorder.
on the left, three-tenths of a mile above Rymers: MDC 2003, miles 15.9 and 16.2 (measured along the river centerline, Rymer Spring 16.21 and the Rymers landing 16.50). A Park Service river folder of 1977 … “flow” … “ebb” … “very irregular and not well understood …”: NPS 1977. cabins … after 1912: see Chapter 9. described as a small ebb-and-flow spring … no separate Ebb and Flow Spring … Thompson Creek: Schaper 2018, 1–3 (“a small ebb and flow spring”).
probably one spring known by both names … about twenty meters … recorded position of Rymer Spring: USGS 1948 (Summersville; the spring symbol lettered Ebb and Flow Spring); USGS GNIS (Rymer Spring); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“Rymer’s Ebb and Flow Spring”); see Reach E. A Park Service proposal of 1960 … largest ebb-and-flow spring of the Current and Eleven Point country … “a reported volume of 14 million gallons daily”: NPS 1960, 6. about 22 cubic feet a second: 14,000,000 ÷ 646,317. 0.36 … before 1974: MDC 2001, PDF 27 (table Ge02, after Vineyard and Feder 1974). a sixtieth: 0.36 ÷ 21.7. within half a cubic foot a second: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (table 2: 37.7 near Jam Up Cave, 38.2 near Rymer Spring).
natural siphon … chamber … air … breaks: Xiao and Zhang 2021, 109–11. Laboratory models … stops between pulses … ordinary spring: Xiao and Zhang 2021, 116–19.
as early as 1724 … J. T. Desaguliers … found in real spring systems … a stage between passages still full of water and caves … full of air: Vineyard and Feder 1982, 13. a stage record of Rymer Spring … both above and below certain flows … does not ebb and flow … a pattern of its own: Vineyard and Feder 1982, 13, fig. 7 and text (“both above and below certain discharges the spring does not ebb and flow”; “each ebb-and-flow spring has its own pattern of fluctuations”).

Following the water

feathers and wheat chaff … nontoxic fluorescent dyes: MDNR, “Missouri Water Tracing Laboratory.” 1966 to 1973 … Forest Service watershed study … Hurricane Creek south of Winona: Aley 2000; the study was directed by the hydrologist Tom Aley. fluorescein … spores: Schaper, “Big Spring.” club moss: lycopodium, in Schaper’s account.
Cornstalks … Blue Spring … gully washer … no corn: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source; see Reach D.
activated charcoal … nylon window screen: Duley, Boswell and Prewett 2015, 87. a week or two: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Dye-Detection Methods” (packets replaced at one- to two-week intervals). dried for a day … four to six hours … alcohol and ammonia … instrument … 576 nanometers … automatic samplers: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Dye-Detection Methods” (90 percent isopropyl alcohol and 10 percent ammonium hydroxide). in the yellow part of the spectrum: general.
sticks to clay … breaks down … rarely, if ever … Natural compounds … mask … gathers those compounds: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Dye-Detection Methods” and “Quantification of Recovered Dye.” by eye … 2013 to 2015 … some confirmed … missed … did not agree … may have been mistaken: Duley, Boswell and Prewett 2015, 85–88, 90 (table 1), whose authors concluded that some past investigators “may have reported positive recoveries of dye erroneously.” never the route it takes between: Weary and others 2014, 7 (dye traces are “incapable of revealing actual flow paths”). registered with the state … results … overlapping: MDNR, “Missouri Water Tracing Laboratory” (section 256.621, RSMo).
revised recharge maps for Big Spring and about twenty other springs of the southern Ozarks in 2017 … Alley and Welch springs were not among them: Duley and Boswell 2017 (spring groups A–J, mostly in Oregon and Ozark counties, with Mammoth Spring in Arkansas and Big Spring in Carter County; field work from August 2013; legacy traces repeated where they conflicted with water-level data, rested on visual detection or a single recovery, or lacked background data).

Jam Up Creek goes to Big Spring

1972 … 1982 … July 5, 2001 … 50,000 gallons … when it would reach Big Spring and what it would do: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Introduction.” Chapter 17: the spill and its chemistry are told there.
July 10 … 4.5 pounds … 1,200 feet … four places … 7.5, 7.6 and 11.2 … July 21 … twelve hours: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Dye Injection and Recovery Procedures.”
No dye … August 12 … August 21 … September 20 … thirty-eight miles in forty-two days … thirty-five to forty … 17 percent … three-quarters of a pound … 0.028 micrograms … fifty-four private wells … 1.7 miles east: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Introduction,” “Detection of Dye at Monitored Sites,” “Quantification of Recovered Dye at Big Spring” and “Dye Injection” (0.77 pound recovered). 244 and 342 cubic feet a second: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Quantification of Recovered Dye at Big Spring.” counted in 2000 as the longest groundwater trace in the country … Eleven Point River … 39.5 miles … sixteen days: Aley 2000. MDC, “Big Spring,” gives the same distance and time for a trace from “a losing stream” near Mountain View without naming the stream; it is not the Jam Up Creek trace. as far as fifty miles: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 18.
drains northeast … southeast under the hills … below Van Buren … about thirty-eight miles: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Introduction” and fig. 1; MDC 2001, PDF 11.
one of the largest karst springs in the world … about 288 million gallons … as far as fifty miles: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17–18. early 1920s … 426 square miles … 30 to 200 years: Imes and others 2007.
Early in the twentieth century it was credited with 223 million gallons a day and a stream a hundred feet wide: Sauer 1920, 51, citing E. M. Shepard’s U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Papers of 1904–07; the figure predates the gauge. about 800 million gallons a day: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17 (peak flow). about 1,300 cubic feet a second by estimate … 840 million … June 1928 … the record kept to the early 1970s: Vineyard and Feder 1982, 12, tables 1–2 (maximum about 840,000,000 gallons a day in June 1928; 1,300 cubic feet a second, estimated). a great flood on the Jacks Fork: see Chapter 14.

Two watersheds

about 444 square miles: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 48 (table 8).
Forest Service and the state … 1970s and 1980s … southeast … losing … taking: MDC 2001, PDF 11. cross one another, overlap, and run long distances … hardly at all: Weary and others 2014, 7, 14–15 (“little consistency between surface-water flow and groundwater flow”).
147 … 56 … Most of Blue Spring’s … 159 … 51 percent … A trace reported in 2006 … moved west: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 43–45, after Aley and Moss 2006b. 540 … 37 percent … 108 cubic feet a second, 78 percent … 48 percent: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 46, 48 (table 8).
a square mile of recharge for every cubic foot a second … Alley Spring fits the rule closely … more than twice … shared with Alley’s: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 43, 47 (table 7: 1.09 and 2.29 square miles per cubic foot a second of annual mean), after Aley. about 13½ inches: a cubic foot a second for a year over a square mile, computed. 45 inches or so of rain: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 36 (45 inches a year at Eminence). most of the rest goes back into the air: general.
Table 12.2: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 43–48 (tables 7 and 8); Imes and others 2007.
single successful dye trace … north-northeast: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 43. Alley and Welch … may move: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 45.

The river in a dry week

a household budget: general explanation of a seepage run. current meter … Width times depth times speed: general explanation of the standard current-meter method of the U.S. Geological Survey.
255 measurements … August 14 and 18: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 17. two-thirds of an inch … nearly half an inch: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 30.
Table 12.3: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2), rounded.
nearly triples: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (table 2: 51.1 above the spring branch, 137 below it), 47 (table 7). 71 percent … nearly all the river’s flow at Alley … spring water: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 44–45, 47 (“Approximately 100 percent”). as much as 90 percent: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 11.
The seven largest springs … about 60 percent of the base flow: Barks 1978, 6 (from the 1966 seepage run and later spring measurements).
about 200 … an eighth … 29 percent … 72 percent: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 32 (table 4). about 43 percent: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 47 (table 7).
October 31 to November 3, 1966 … 27 … 26 … 9.8 … eleven measurements in September 1941 … 32.8 … 70 … 103: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 9, 32 (table 4). run lower than they used to: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.

Fast water and slow water

slugs … 42 … 11 … 10 … three miles a day … hardly filtered: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 43. discrete recharge … diffuse recharge … Hurricane Creek … 63 percent … 37 percent: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 59, after Aley.
answer a hard rain within hours, almost as fast as the creeks: Barks 1978, 6 (the large springs “respond to intense rainfall within hours, almost as quickly as nearby streams”).
Ozark aquifer … unconfined … household wells of southeastern Missouri: Weary and others 2014, 14. nearly 42 percent … tight Cambrian beds buried below the Potosi … unconfined … feeds the springs: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 43 (the aquifer “extends from the buried Cambrian confining unit below the Potosi Dolomite” to the surface).
A well drilled at Alley in 1933 … 434 feet … Eminence Dolomite … 1970 … 650 feet … 301 feet … Cardinal Acres in 1957 … 106 feet … lower Gasconade … Bunker Hill ranch in 1962 … 330 feet: Barks 1978, 11 (table 1: the Alley Spring maintenance-building well, 434 feet, cased 306; the Alley Spring well of 1970, 650 feet, cased 301; Cardinal Acres, 106 feet, 1957; Bunker Hill Ranch, 330 feet, 1962, both open to the lower Gasconade). probably the new well that was to replace the older ones: Barks 1978, 11–12 (at each area “a new well … which will replace the old wells and become the primary water supplies”); that the 1970 well is the new one at Alley is inferred, since it is the newest of the three Alley wells in the table. seals the hole off: general. a Civilian Conservation Corps camp: see Reach H.
Blue Spring and Alley Spring … most open land … least forest: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 1; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 44. about half open … less than half a square mile … two-fifths … 31 square miles … 1,800 people … 200 certified wells … 180 miles: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 60–62 (table 9).
riparian … “does not have a need to regulate water usage”: the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, quoted in Mittelhauser 2025, 199. large well … reduce the spring’s flow: Mittelhauser 2025, 209–10, the only source.

Table 12.4

Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 9, 32, 43–45; Imes and others 2007; Imes and Fredrick 2002; MDC 2001, PDF 11, 26–27; Schaper, “Big Spring”; Aley 2000; Bowles and others 2011; Duley, Boswell and Prewett 2015; USGS NWIS (gauge 07065200, from October 2001). The 1974 compilation is Vineyard and Feder 1974; the 2009 report is Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009. The 1923 recorder: Bridge 1930, 51 (figure). The 1928 Big Spring maximum: Vineyard and Feder 1982, tables 1–2. The 1933 well: Barks 1978, 11. The 2017 maps: Duley and Boswell 2017.

Chapter 13. Under the Bluffs: The Caves

Opening

About ten miles … eight … 280 to 350 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13); see Chapter 2.
more than 7,500 known caves: Colatskie 2023.
nearly 600 … only Perry County: MSS, “Shannon County.”
fifty-seven caves and rock shelters … a few more: MSS 1982, contents and reports (fifty-four reports with text, three with a map only, and six caves named without a report).
fewer than 3 percent: Weaver 2008, 127. a few hundred feet counts as ordinary: MSS 1982, 34 (“an average length cave for the upper Jacks Forks Valley”).
deeper into the hill than it is wide … wider than it is deep: Weaver 2008, 6.

Rock that dissolves in the rain

carbon dioxide … carbonic acid: NPS, speleothems (Ozark); Weaver 2008, 125. bicarbonate, which stays dissolved: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13.
about forty-five inches of rain: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13.
joints … bedding planes: Weaver 2008, 126.
stands still … stops dissolving … steep fall from the Ozark uplands: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13–14 (dissolving water soon reaches saturation; a steep hydraulic gradient between the uplands and the valley floors keeps it moving).
called a “cave factory” … most intense episode: Weaver 2008, 125, quoting the geologist Jerry D. Vineyard (Missouri “has been called a ‘Cave Factory’ because the region is now undergoing perhaps the most intense episode of cave making in its entire geologic history”).
Davis … Bretz … 1947 … Caves of Missouri … great teacher with a fine sense of humor … “that damned period”: Weaver 2008, 110–111.
a long paper on the origin of limestone caverns: Davis 1930. published by the state geological survey at Rolla in 1956: Bretz 1956.
below the water table beneath a layer of sandstone … the more common kind … above a sandstone layer: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13–15.
phreatic … vadose … Jam Up Cave probably began: MSS 1982, 35 (report of the 1960s: “considerable vadose alteration of the original cave, which must have been phreatic”).
Jefferson City Dolomite … hundreds of thousands of years: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 15.
tens of millions of years … perhaps two million years ago: Weaver 2008, 125–126.

The level where caves form

about twenty feet below the base of the Roubidoux: MSS 1982, 4. less than fifty feet below it: MSS 1982, 10. right at the contact: MSS 1982, 34, 49.
held against the underside … the ceiling: MSS 1982, 4, 29, 34; Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 14–15.
two-foot layer of sandstone … the sand in its stream … pure white crystalline sand … more typical of the caves of Pulaski County: MSS 1982, 21–22 (“a meandering characteristic more typical of Pulaski County caves than Shannon County caves”).
about 900 feet … seventy to eighty feet below it … cryptozoon reef … ledge … usually lies seventy to eighty feet above it: MSS 1982, 13.
Gunter Sandstone … most complex cave networks: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 14–15.
more than 3,000 feet: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12. at least 155 feet below the surface: MDC, Alley Spring Natural Area. under pressure … broken through … a lower cave passage: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 13 (fig. 8: “hydrostatic pressure from a confined aquifer forces the water from depth up to the surface”), 18.

Plumbing left high and dry

left dry and open, high in the bluffs: Weaver 2008, 125–126.
rise pool … probably twenty feet deep or more: MSS 1982, 16.
probably an older outlet … a fair idea of what lies behind the spring: MSS 1982, 34 (“Hospital Cave originally developed as an outlet for the ancestral Blue Spring system”; “The cave offers a good look at what may be found if Blue Spring were penetrated”).
About 110 feet into Moss Spring Cave … kneepads and gloves … the Meat Grinder: MSS 1982, 44 (“About 110 feet into the cave the scallops in the floor are so sharp that kneepads and gloves are needed to avoid getting cut”).
a pocket packed with clay: MSS 1982, 56.
cracked silt floor: MSS 1982, 11 (“often flooded by the river judging from the cracked, silt floor”). frequently backflooded: MSS 1982, 13.

How caves fall apart

owes most of its size to it … great blocks: MSS 1982, 34. Ceiling falls … in recent years: NPS 2026 (Jam Up).
loosened where they lie, weathered apart in place: MSS 1982, 13.
collapsed through its basal sandstone: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 19.
slid down along a joint … the joint forming its far side … as so many natural bridges and arches do: MSS 1982, 61 (the shelter is “a good example of 1 way in which natural bridges or arches form in the Ozarks”; “a natural bridge will exist as do so many in the Jacks Fork drainage”).
natural tunnel: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.
heads in Mountain View: USGS NHD; Imes and Fredrick 2002.
captured in this way by the cave beneath it … diverted underground: MSS 1982, 35 (report of the 1960s: “Jam Up Creek was captured by the lower cave, diverting the stream flow underground”). runs into Jam Up Cave … river entrance: MSS 1982, 34–36; Johnson 2007, 27–29.
turns up at Big Spring: Imes and Fredrick 2002.
captured a whole hollow … pinnacle … rock island: MSS 1982, 28.
probably pirates water: MSS 1982, 4.

Stone that grows

gives off some of its carbon dioxide … soda … calcite: NPS, speleothems (Ozark). Iron, manganese and the tannins: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 16.
soda straw … stalagmite … column … drapery … flowstone: NPS, speleothems (caves program).
rimstone … cave pearls … helictites … internal canals: NPS, speleothems (Great Basin); NPS, speleothems (caves program).
soda straws in Hospital Cave: MSS 1982, 34. soda straws and draperies in Simpson Hole Cave: Johnson 2007, 22–23.
rimstone dams … natural arch … six-foot waterfall … twenty-five by forty feet: MSS 1982, 44.
mostly crushed or otherwise disturbed: MSS 1982, 26.
helictites, aragonite crystals … boxwork, golden calcite … soda straws: Weaver 2008, 138. spathites … petals: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17 (“not common to caves outside the park”).
rainfall and the temperature outside: NPS, speleothems (Ozark).
extremely slow … in sight for generations: NPS 2024 (caves and karst) (“extremely slow, and physical damage may remain in evidence for generations”).
dating such breaks … old earthquakes … Round Spring Cave: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17.
deadlier than any other stones … “drip rock”: Weaver 2008, 119, quoting the folklorist Vance Randolph, Ozark Superstitions (1947): “an odd belief that stalactites and stalagmites are somehow deadlier than any other stones, and that even a slight blow from a piece of ‘drip rock’ is generally fatal.”
1885 and 1925 … mantels … rock gardens … tombstones: Weaver 2008, 80–81.
lay a dance floor back inside a cave, out of the heat: Weaver [n.d.] (“In the hot summer months, somebody would build a dance floor back inside of a cave”).
a writer on Ozark caves … “been deprived of great quantities …”: Weaver 2008, 82, quoting Luella Owen, Cave Regions of the Ozarks and Black Hills (1898).

Caves that breathe

probably in 1934: Dorrance 1938 gives no year; see Chapter 9. “a-muleback” … “an aperture twenty-four inches across …”: Dorrance 1938, 31.
between about 56 and 60 degrees: Weaver 2008, 31.
a cascade of cool air plunges down the hollow: MSS 1982, 18 (“In summer a cascade of cool air plunges down the hollow, alerting one to the cave’s presence”).
a steady wind … Vineyard … thought the same … 375 feet … three entrances: MSS 1982, 32 (“I, like Vineyard, noted a strong blast of air and surmised, as he had, that there may be a large cave system here. I was wrong.”), 34.

The caves and the springs

cave openings that discharge groundwater: Weaver 2008, 6.
the deep, water-filled conduits: Weaver 2008, 125.
one of the larger springs in the Current River basin … rises in a pool inside a cave: MSS 1982, 16.
given as 81 million gallons a day: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 17; NPS 1977. A local history of 1980 gives 80 million (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53). about 87 million: see Chapter 12 (135 cubic feet a second, the mean of the gauge record).
Summersville … fifteen miles … richest cave life: MDC, Alley Spring Natural Area.
dumps … septic systems: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 39–42.

Life in the dark

more than 1,100 kinds of animals … entrance zone … dripline … twilight zone … dark zone: Colatskie 2023.
phoebes: MSS 1982, 11.
wood rat nests … cave crickets … two kinds of spider … brown recluse … heliomyzid flies: MSS 1982, 11, 18, 49, 51, 56, 58.
cave salamanders and a long-tailed salamander: MSS 1982, 35.
the beauty of its many formations … pipistrelles … amphipods: MSS 1982, 44 (“notable for the beauty of its many formations and its diversity of life”).
cave salamander … twilight zone … tail: MDC, “Cave Salamander.”
grotto salamander … working eyes … pale tan or pink … two or three years … as long as six … at least nine years … occasionally eat bat guano … many bats … on genetic evidence … a northern and a southern grotto salamander … Ozarks: MDC, “Grotto Salamander” (the northern grotto salamander, Eurycea nerea, and the southern, E. spelaea, “separated as distinct species based on genetic analysis”).
three blind fish … 1992: Dorrance 1938, 29; Wilkerson 2001, 27.
split into several species that look nearly alike … Salem Plateau cavefish … an inch and a half to two and a half inches … long, flattened head and no eyes … pinkish white … tiny crustaceans, small crayfish … slow metabolism … February through April … gill chamber for four or five months … as many as fifty … more than ten years: MDC, “Salem Plateau Cavefish” (Typhlichthys eigenmanni; the department’s field guide gives the range as the underground waters of the central and southern Ozarks and the lifespan as unknown but “believed to be longer than 10 years”). That the Jacks Fork’s cavefish are this species is inferred from that range.
Salem cave crayfish: Wilkerson 2001.
entirely in Missouri … Camden and Crawford counties south to Oregon and Ripley … Current and Eleven Point drainages … translucent white … two and a quarter to nearly four inches … long, narrow pincers … 1981 … fertilizer spill … thousands: MDC, “Salem Cave Crayfish” (it “occurs within our borders and nowhere else in the world”; the spill “seeped into the ground and wiped out thousands of these animals”; the field guide does not say where).
at least seven troglobites … one of the most biologically diverse caves: MDC, Alley Spring Natural Area (“one of the most biologically diverse caves known in Missouri”).
a fifth of the whole species … fifteen caves … hundreds of thousands … over water … Asiatic oak weevils … 1976 … a single disturbance … recovering well: MDC, “Gray Myotis (Gray Bat)” (“a single disturbance can wreck a colony’s reproduction for the year”). 541,518: MDC 2026 (bats), 52 (table 18, current gray bat count, from the department’s statewide bat database, 2022).
recorded in the Jacks Fork watershed: Wilkerson 2001. holding strong throughout its range: Colatskie 2023.
Indiana bat: NPS 2023 (caves).
first federal list of endangered species, published in March 1967: 32 Fed. Reg. 4001. about 40 degrees … stays damp … hundreds of bats … a few square feet … loose bark … shagbark hickory: MDC, “Indiana Myotis” (“cool caves with stable temperatures of around 40F and relative humidity of 66–95 percent”). a quarrel over timber sales … a local timber man … “They found a few bats in the bat caves” … “they shut all these sales down” … “the caves are right next to the rivers”: Gibson 2000, 86–87 (“the current controversy over the Indiana bat, an endangered species found in caves in the ONSR area”), the only source for the timber man’s account.
tricolored bats … three colors … alone or in pairs … dew: MDC, “Tricolored Bat.”
more than $3.7 billion a year: Boyles and others 2011.
wintered in caves … rare by the 1850s … forty-three … plain Bear Cave being the most common … eleven “bear” caves … from Arkansas: Weaver 2008, 25–29.
about 550 feet … a pool where the ceiling meets the water: MSS 1982, 2, 4.
short-faced bear … dire wolf … Powder Mill Creek Cave: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 28–29. probably the most dangerous bear Missouri ever had: Weaver [n.d.] (“probably the most vicious and dangerous bear that we had living in Missouri”).

What people did with caves

chert … clay … water … burials … a third of Missouri’s known rock-art sites: Weaver 2008, 6–9.
215 caves on fourteen tracts … thirty … nine: Zedeño and Basaldú 2003, 13, after Price and Hastings 1999, 19–22.
Arnold Research Cave … nine thousand years: Weaver 2008, 8.
probably the work of amateur archaeologists: MSS 1982, 4 (“deep holes, probably a result of amateur archaeologists”).
a felony: RSMo 194.410.
springhouses … walled … doors … dams … 1950s … more than two hundred … Shannon and Texas … Potato Cave … Sweet Potato Caves: Weaver 2008, 31–35.
early 1950s: Weaver 2008, 31.
by one account dated 1938: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source (“A concrete wall across the entrance is dated 1938”); see Reach D. whose purpose is unknown: MSS 1982, 16 (“the purpose of which is unknown”). retaining wall: Johnson 2007, 24.
saltpeter … county records … refuges: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 3.
potassium nitrate … hoppers … wood ashes … boiled the liquor down: general (the old leaching method of making saltpeter from cave earth). a cottage industry: Weaver [n.d.] (“gunpowder manufacturing and saltpeter mining was a cottage industry in our Ozarks”).
more than forty caves … three of them in Shannon County: Weaver 2008, 45.
copper kettle … quite possibly the remnant of a still … very active along the Jacks Fork: MSS 1982, 49 (“quite possibly the remnant of a onetime moonshine operation”; such operations “were very active along the Jacks Fork before, during, and after the prohibition period”).
more than one Missouri cave is named for them … does not hold veins of gold or silver … no one has ever found treasure … spoil piles: Weaver 2008, 70–75, 138 (a statewide count of caves named for treasure).
Jesse James hid out in nearly every cave in the state: Weaver [n.d.] (“the legends down there you would think that Jesse James hid out in every cave in Missouri”). Camped on the Current near Van Buren … buckskin maps, pine knots buried in significant positions and arrows scratched on walls … “in which Frenchman or Spaniard …” … Old Jake Hepburn … the wind blew … a plain, ordinary earthquake … “Yessir, Leo …”: Dorrance 1938, 43–45, the only source (told at the campfire of Leo Anderson, a Current River man; the cave of the story is on the Current and is not named here).
at least one vandal with green spray paint: MSS 1982, 22.
That same year … polished by the passage of many bodies: MSS 1982, 32. packed hard … browner: Johnson 2007, 23–24.
remains of a campfire … some broken formations … visited heavily enough to need a gate: Johnson 2007, 22–23 (“highly visited”; the party suggested a gate).
seventy-eight broken formations … thirteen caves … mid-1980s: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 39–42.

The stories

“yawning hole in the bluff” … “There is a crudely lettered sign …”: Dorrance 1938, 29.
“a cave on Current River. Named because …”: O’Brien 1939, 62.
“In the bare-rock cliff on the left …”: NPS 1977.
“was supposedly used as a hospital during the war”: NPS 2015 (place names).
wrong place … could not learn who had reported it: MSS 1982, 32.
Old Eminence … February 1863: Eddleman 2022.
about 220 feet of passage: Johnson 2007, 30–31.
“According to legend …”: NPS 1977. a meeting place in the troubled days: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“was used as a meeting place during the troubled days of the War Between the States”). generally said to come from the Civil War period: NPS 2015 (place names) (“takes its name from the Civil War period”).
Union and Confederate forces did sometimes use a cave entrance as a meeting point: Weaver [n.d.] (“Sometimes the Union and Confederate forces would use a cave entrance as a rendezvous point”).
a church gathering as well as a war council: the name is not among the Civil War names O’Brien collected in Shannon County (O’Brien 1939, 155–156), and the cave survey of 1980 to 1982 does not mention the cave.
house of worship: Merriam-Webster, “meetinghouse.”
July 18, 1888, about six in the evening … Summersville … Constable Charles D. Dorris: State v. Renfrow 1892 (“on the eighteenth day of July, 1888, in the town of Summerville, Texas county, Missouri, about six o’clock in the afternoon”); the Missouri Memorial roll gives the same date and hour. Eddleman 2026 gives July 25. a cave near home … a break from the Springfield jail … capture in 1898: MSS 1982, 49; Weaver 2008, 52; Eddleman 2026.
In the fullest telling … confronted John Hughes … a lawsuit against Will … over the left eye … five days later … August 6, 1891 … February 7, 1893 … late January 1893: Eddleman 2026, a broadcast history drawn from the newspapers of the time. change of venue: on the term, standard legal usage.
October 10, 1892, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the conviction: State v. Renfrow 1892. The Missouri Memorial roll puts the affirmance in November 1892.
a cliff, reportedly reachable only from above: Eddleman 2026; Weaver 2008, 52.
Current Wave: Eddleman 2026, citing the Current Wave, June 29, 1893.
would not say where it was: Weaver 2008, 53.
Doniphan club house in northern Ripley County: Eddleman 2026; Weaver 2008, 53. Lawrence County, Arkansas: Ann Arbor Argus 1898.
to life by one account: Weaver 2008, 53 (May 12, 1898); MSS 1982, 49. twenty-five years by another … Dockery … May 1905 … barbecue … buried near Summersville: Eddleman 2026 (May 17, 1898).
about 220 feet … very hard to find, even in winter … the wrong place … “real” … several: MSS 1982, 24, 46, 49 (“very difficult to find, even in the winter”).
Peter Cave: MSS 1982, 49.

Mapping the caves

seventeen, all of them show caves: Weaver 2008, 109.
Hawksley … Dahlgren … Vineyard … Nashville … 437 … permanent repository … more than 120 caves a year … 1985: Weaver 2008, 110–117.
born in 1935 near Dixon … Pulaski County … forty years … assistant state geologist … a particular interest in the cave survey … 2017: Vineyard obituary 2017. one of four compilers … Catalogue of the Caves of Missouri: Vineyard and others 1957. Gerald Feder … first published in 1974: Vineyard and Feder 1982 (revised edition of Springs of Missouri). Missouri Ozark Waterways: see Chapter 9.
the Survey and the Cave Research Foundation: Weaver 2008, 116.
The Lord of the Rings … “not appropriate”: MSS 1982, 26.
May 1980 … R. Scott House … nearly a hundred caves: MSS 1982, 1.
December 1979: MSS 1982, 23, 39, 48.
December 29, 1980 … New Year’s Day: MSS 1982, 15, 18–19.
October 17 to 19, 1980 … 1,749 feet: MSS 1982, 36 (map).
April 1963 and August 1967: MSS 1982, 34–37. a small cave in the pinnacle … March 1971: MSS 1982, 28.
“barely worth the effort”: MSS 1982, 28. “Some people feel that the waterfall …”: MSS 1982, 51–52. “by leaping into the limbs of a tree …”: MSS 1982, 43–44.
Loyd Rainbolt: MSS 1982, 26, 51.
about twenty caves and shelters … posted … nobody should visit: MSS 1982, 1, and the Leatherwood Creek reports, 24–61.
“CONSERVE MISSOURI’S CAVES”: MSS 1982, society page.
April 2007 … nine people … twenty-four miles … Scott House: Johnson 2007, 20.
about twenty-eight miles: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12.

Counting the caves

partial catalogue of 1952 … 210 … 686 caves in fifty-seven counties … 25 in Shannon County, 26 in Texas County and 3 in Howell: Vineyard and others 1957, introduction and table 1.
“over 300”: MSS 1982, 1. 5,000 … 403: Thomson 1990. 571: Weaver 2008, 138. nearly 600: MSS, “Shannon County.”
7,000 … January 2016: MSS 2016. more than 7,500: Colatskie 2023.
more than 300: NPS 2023 (caves). more than 400 … more caves than any other unit … sixty … seven: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12.
twenty-three caves: Wilkerson 2001, from the Missouri Natural Heritage Database.

The closure

winter of 2006 to 2007: Colatskie 2023.
millions … forty-one states and five Canadian provinces: USGS 2025.
90 percent … spores: NPS 2023 (caves).
April … Pike County … May … five gray bats and a northern long-eared bat … 2012, in Lincoln County: St. Louis Public Radio 2012; MDC 2011. north of St. Louis … a little brown bat from one public cave and two tricolored bats from another … Madison, Wisconsin: MDC 2012 (bats).
86.8 percent: MDC, “Tricolored Bat.”
375 Missouri caves and mines in 2015 … 2,684 … seven: KY3 2017.
closed every cave … “all caves along the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers”: NPS 2023 (caves); Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 39–42. Round Spring Cave … Devils Well … karst window … underground lake: NPS 2024 (caves and karst). Big Spring Cave … Cave Spring … shade line: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1). stairway: NPS 2018 (Devils Well), which gives the lake as much as 80 feet deep. about 400 feet long and up to 200 feet deep … largest cave lakes: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12 (after Vana-Miller 2007).
“a falls and pool inside the cave”: NPS 1977.
river-facing section … “Forbidden Pool”: NPS 2026 (Jam Up).

What a cave can do to a person

hypothermia … three dependable sources of light: Weaver 2008, 127.
Large logs clutter … cavers in 1963 … floods during heavy rains: MSS 1982, 35 (Tucker, April 1963: “Many large logs clutter this entrance, and it obviously floods during heavy rains”).

The law, and the silence about locations

about seventy percent … permission: MSS, “Privately Owned Lands.”
force of federal regulation … itself an offense: 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(f).
Cave Resources Act of 1980: Weaver 2008, 116.
class A misdemeanor … gate: RSMo 569.135. a separate offense: RSMo 569.137.
Cave Resources Protection Act … a year … three years: 16 U.S.C. § 4306.
bars agencies from releasing the specific location: 16 U.S.C. § 4304.
In 1893 a newspaper account: Weaver 2008, 53.
nobody visit: MSS 1982, 1.
names and locations … withheld: St. Louis Public Radio 2012.

Chapter 14. Highs and Lows

Opening

Friday afternoon, April 28 … stalled front … southeast Missouri into Arkansas and Oklahoma … warm front … moisture from the Gulf … a series of low-pressure waves … the same ground … four to eight inches … some areas … ten to twelve … 9.25 inches … a little over seven: National Weather Service, Springfield 2017 (Mountain View RAWS 9.25 inches; Eminence 7.11 inches). forest ranger station at Winona … 9.29 inches … nearly twelve … May 10 … second-wettest April in Missouri in 123 years: Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 3 (April 2017 “the second wettest April on record in Missouri (123 years of record)”), 15 (fig. 8: Winona Forest Ranger Station, 9.29 inches April 28–30 and 11.92 inches April 28–May 10).
23.29 feet … 94,200 … 27.72 feet … 106,000 … 179,000: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1). The Weather Service’s crest history gives the 2017 flow at Alley as 92,400. the highest water known there: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, crest history; the next highest is 27.00 feet in 1904). about 233 cubic feet a second: USGS NWIS, gauge 07066000, monthly statistics 2002–2025 (Table 14.1). close to 800,000 gallons: 106,000 × 7.48. nearly eight hundred Alley Springs: 106,000 ÷ 135, Alley Spring’s average flow over its gauged years (Wilson 2001, 2; see Chapter 12). some 450 times: 106,000 ÷ 233. less than a quarter … close to three-fifths: 398 ÷ 1,667 square miles; 106,000 ÷ 179,000 (Heimann and others 2025, 6, table 1).
July 29, 2012 … 12.9 … the lowest since: USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200, daily values and daily statistics, 2002–2026. April 2017 … 1,625: USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200, monthly statistics.

Three gauges

a mile and a half below the mouth of Mahans Creek … 1921 … half a mile above … Alley Spring Branch … 1928 to 1939 … 1965 to 1979: MDC 2001, PDF 68 (which dates the Eminence record from October 1921; the daily values in USGS NWIS begin November 1, 1921). 398 … 298 … 185 square miles: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1). since 1993 … February 2000 … 1921 to 1975 … just below the mouth of the Jacks Fork: Wilson 2001, 2 (“below the junction”). flow in October 2001: USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200.
every fifteen minutes … satellite radio every hour: Heimann and others 2025, 4. forecasts … Alley and Eminence: Heimann and others 2025, 1–2. no forecast for … Highway 17: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7).

What a gauge reading means

about seven and a half gallons … about 1,700 gallons: 233 × 7.48.
836.06 … 656.95: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1). 616.18: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, NAVD 88); consistent with Heimann and others 2025, table 3 (a 6-foot stage at 622.18 feet). Heimann and others 2025, table 1, prints 546.60 for Eminence, the figure given for the Current above Powder Mill. stage … above a fixed zero: Heimann and others 2025, 4.
a crew stretches a line … the speed of the current with a meter … rating … redrawn … no crew can wade a flood: general practice of stream gauging; on ratings (“stage-streamflow relations”), Heimann and others 2025, 4–6. about 6,960 … 14,100 … 32,800: National Weather Service, gauge pages (ALYM7, flood categories). 23.29 feet about 94,200: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1). In 2001 … 6.4 feet … about 3,100: Wilson 2001, 3. about 3,560: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7).

The river’s year

one of the wetter parts … nine … 43.21 … 1936 and 1995 … 13.35 … 8.81 … about five … about two and a half … as little as 20 inches … 64.5: MDC 2001, PDF 68 (5.01, 2.61, 20.04 and 64.53 inches).
Table 14.1: USGS NWIS, monthly statistics for gauges 07065200, 07065495 and 07066000, calendar years as shown; drainage areas from Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1).
in full leaf … back into the air: general hydrology (evapotranspiration by the leafed-out forest in the growing season). the season with the least rain: MDC 2001, PDF 68 (December to February, 8.81 inches).
almost eight times … about five … nearly four times … a little over twice: Table 14.1 (485 ÷ 63; 1,155 ÷ 233; 233 ÷ 63; 398 ÷ 185). Blue Spring and Alley Spring: see Chapter 12.
1927, 2020, 1985 and 1973 … 1954, 1936 and 1934 … 2012 … 2020: USGS NWIS, annual statistics for gauges 07066000 (calendar years 1922–2025: 992.8, 982.2, 971.8, 942.0; 161.2, 173.8, 176.7) and 07065200 (2002–2025: 89.7; 346.6).
The biggest rise of 1934 at Eminence … September … only 4.6 feet … 1954 about 5.5: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, crest history: September 15, 1934, 4.6 feet, 1,270 cubic feet a second; May 28, 1954, 5.5 feet, 3,400), the only entries for those years in a list that runs down to 4.58 feet. The list is not a complete file of annual peaks, hence seems to. action stage there, 6.4 feet: see Table 14.4.

Low water

base flow … most of it … from springs: Wilson 2001, 2 (“derived mostly from inflow from springs”). ten percent … ninety percent … about seven to one … Eleven Point River near Thomasville … 22.9 … three times: MDC 2001, PDF 70, 78 (table Hy02, after Skelton 1976; Eminence 6.8).
much flatter curve … northern Missouri: Wilson 2001, 2 (flow-duration curves).
In the dry year 1913 the Current at Van Buren averaged 1,151 … 540: Sauer 1920, 50 (“a mean discharge of 1,151 second feet in 1913, had a minimum discharge nearly half as great, 540 feet”; a second-foot is a cubic foot a second).
Averaging seven days: on the measure, Wilson 2001, 2 (“the average of the annual minimum 7-day consecutive daily average discharges”). about 122 … about 86 … about 76: MDC 2001, PDF 70. recalculated … thirty-three more years … nearly 14 percent … 1966: Wilson 2001, 2–3.
64 … August 28, 1936 … 67 … September 16: MDC 2001, PDF 79 (table Hy03). September 22, 1956: USGS NWIS, gauge 07066000, daily statistics.
record low … late August … about 14 … about 35 … 119: USGS NWIS, daily values, July 20 to December 31, 2012, gauges 07065200 (12.9 on July 29; 13.9 on August 24), 07065495 (34.9 on August 24; 34.5 on August 25) and 07066000 (119 on August 23 and 24, the year’s lowest). almost 1.8 times: 119 ÷ 67.
August 2006: see Chapter 12.

The springs that stopped

a federal hydrologist and an oral historian: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1 (Robert B. Jacobson, research hydrologist, U.S. Geological Survey, and Alexander T. Primm, Oral History of the Ozarks Project). A flashy river: on the term, general hydrology. Jacks Fork and Little Piney Creek basins: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 38–40 (table 6). “flashier” … between 1920 and 1992 … less water … larger floods: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1, 55 (“larger flood peaks”).
a logger and farmer born in 1926: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6); quotation, 55. born in 1908 … farmed and logged: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6); quotation, 55. born at Alley Spring in 1907 … sawmill camp: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6); quotation, 55–56. moved to the upper basin in 1911: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6); quotation, 56.
since 1935 … “get up and stay up …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 56. a sawyer born in 1914 … Bay Creek … “there’s too much runoff”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 56. farmed on the North Prong from the 1920s … South Prong … “the river just spread …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 56 (“in the last 5 years”).
459 … 427 … 502 … 578: USGS NWIS, gauge 07066000, annual statistics, calendar years. about 8 percent … about 20 percent … except May, June and July: MDC 2001, PDF 68–69. trended upward from the middle 1950s to 1999: Wilson 2001, 2. 1936 and 1956: USGS NWIS, gauge 07066000, daily statistics.
drought of 1913, which ran from April through August … “wells have failed …”: Sauer 1920, 34, quoting a report from Springfield in the Monthly Weather Review, vol. 41 (Hazen, p. 1211). The report speaks for the Springfield country; that the Jacks Fork springs failed that year is not recorded. about a hundred miles west of Eminence: measured, about 107 miles in a straight line. some of the people interviewed were small children: three of them were born between 1904 and 1908 (Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39, table 6; see Chapter 15).
big springs … keep flowing: see Chapter 12. Several causes … changes in the woods and the streamside timber … through the gravel: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 55 (“land-use changes that altered annual and storm runoff, climatic changes that altered runoff independent of land-use changes, increased flow of water through aggrading channel gravel, or a combination of these mechanisms”); on vegetation, storage and flow resistance, 1. between its stones: general hydrology. Some people who know the river today: see Chapter 12.

Why the floods come fast

narrow and steep-walled … generally thin: Heimann and others 2025, 2. holds little of a heavy rain: general hydrology. hollows that run only after rain: see Chapter 2. 9.5 … 5.8: Wilson 2001, 2 (after Alexander and Wilson 1995: 9.50 and 5.80 feet per mile).
sinkholes and losing streams: see Chapter 12. fast runoff from the steep slopes … recharging through the ground: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 36 (after Alexander 1990).
weather systems generally move east … little or no rain has fallen where they are: Wilson 2001, 3 (large flows can catch recreational users downstream off guard “if they have experienced little or no rain at their present location”). two feet an hour … falls more slowly … two or three days: Wilson 2001, 3. highest flows … April and May … late August and early September: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 36.
moved to the area in 1979 … Pebble Dam … both of their vehicles: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.
about 41 river miles … sixteen hours … a little over two and a half miles an hour: Wilson 2001, 3 (2.6 miles an hour). at breakfast … late that night: sixteen hours.

Floods before the gauges

spring of 1890 … Klepzig … post office … all summer … 1893: Perry [1978], sec. 8.
In May 1892 the Current rose 27 feet in about eight hours: Sauer 1920, 50–51, after Rodhouse (the Big Piney rose 30 feet between 4 p.m. and midnight that month, and “the Current River during this same month rose 27 feet in about the same time”).
1895, 1897, 1904 and 1915 … cleared and grazed … great damage: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 85 (after Reed and others 1992: “could have been extremely effective in destabilizing channels”). Horse Hollow … cut the river off … a house: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source; see Reach I. Pine Hollow by Mahans Creek … Delaware School … foundation … a church: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61, the only source. long remembered as the largest on the Jacks Fork: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71 (“March, 1904 was the largest flood remembered on the Jack’s Fork”). crested on March 8 at 27 feet: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, historic crests). also given as 25 feet, measured at another place or on another datum: Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 6 (table 1: historical peak stage 25.0 feet, 1904, “obtained at different location or datum from current streamgage”). 29 feet … about 153,000 … 113 years: Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 6 (table 1: 153,100 cubic feet a second and 29.0 feet, 1904; the same table gives the first recorded peak at Van Buren as March 26, 1904, so the Van Buren crest may belong to a later rise of that March than the Eminence crest of March 8), 16 (the previous stage records on the Jacks Fork and the Current “had stood since 1904”). the largest in the regular record at Van Buren, which began in 1913 … 125,000: Wilson 2001, 4 (“the peak flood of record”); the record years from Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1: 1904, 1913 to present). until 2017: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1: 179,000 on April 30, 2017). a very wet one across the Ozarks … June and August broke the monthly rainfall records … more than ten inches above … Grain rotted … two to five times … for days at a time: Sauer 1920, 33, 51 (after the state’s Climatological Data; 1915 “one very wet” year among three dry ones, 1911–15).
grew up on a farm on the Current … 1915 … shocked corn … “It just cleaned off …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 60.
wettest: USGS NWIS, gauge 07066000, annual statistics (calendar 1927, 992.8). spring of that year … headgate … four bridges recently built: Perry [1978], sec. 8, continuation p. 2; Perry’s note 10 cites the Game and Fish reports for 1925, 1926 and 1930 but none for 1927 or 1928. June 1928 … the park’s new store: Stevens 1991, 182, as given in Chapter 8; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53 (“In 1928 a big flood washed the store away”); Stevens (189, note 35) cites the Annual Report of the State Game and Fish Commissioner for the Year Ending December 31, 1928, 45–46. nothing in 1927 higher than 8.8 feet: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7: June 2, 1927, 8.8 feet, 10,900 cubic feet a second).
18.24 feet and about 40,000 … June 13: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7). June 15 … ten-year flood: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56 (bracketed note: “June 15, 1928, 40,000 ft3/s at Eminence, approximate 10-year recurrence interval”). “’26, ’27 flood” … “that year it come …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56. On Bay Creek … ruined most of the small farms … mule barn … drowned several mules: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source; see Reach F. Alley Hollow … gravel bars … a truck parked a quarter of a mile up the hollow … into the spring branch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source; see Reach H.

The gauged floods

16.54 … 17.03 … 17.15 … 17.58: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7). third-wettest: USGS NWIS, gauge 07066000, annual statistics (calendar 1985, 971.8). February 9, 1966 … April 1974 … three people in a camper: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source; see Reach H.
15.83 feet on April 22, 1974, about 40,600: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, crest history). September 23 to 25 … heights of 13 to 25 feet … moved campers off the primitive and backcountry sites: NPS Morning Report 1993a (“Flood waters reached heights between 13 and 25 feet on the Jacks Fork”). 16.32 feet on September 25: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7).
21.97 … November 14 … 19.82: National Weather Service, gauge pages (ALYM7, EMCM7). 48,700 … 31,800: MDC 2001, PDF 69, 79 (table Hy03). about 58,500: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, crest history; the November 1993 flood falls in water year 1994); MDC 2001, PDF 79 (table Hy03, after USGS 1999), prints 48,500. 100- to 500-year event … a little larger than a 25-year flood: Wilson 2001, 4 (Van Buren, 92,900 cubic feet a second). nearly a 50-year flood: 58,500 against Table 14.3 (50-year flood, 59,500).
More than eight inches … “the largest flood in the history of the Current River” … a capsized boater … state patrol helicopter … disaster area: NPS Morning Report 1993b. Jacks Fork district fourteen restrooms … more than ten feet … Harvey’s motel … six to seven feet … three feet in its living quarters … Alley center had a foot and a half … fee booth quarters and office had three feet … appliances and furniture … asphalt off one loop of the Alley campground … picnic tables, grills, lantern posts, signs and trash cans … About 250 hunters … no visitor or employee was killed or hurt: NPS Morning Report 1993c (the park’s follow-up, filed November 16; “Fourteen comfort stations,” “the Alley Center is under 18 inches of water,” “The fee booth quarters and office had three feet of water inside”). The report lists the restrooms, tables and fee booth by district, not by place, so only the motel, store, Alley center and campground loop are put at Alley here. For Harvey’s by the Highway 106 bridge, see Chapter 11.
May 8, 2002 … 27.68 … 43,700: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1). still stands: Heimann and others 2025, 4; National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7). about 17 feet: National Weather Service, gauge pages (ALYM7 17.10; EMCM7 17.22).
More than seven inches … two days … first major flood since 1993 … a visitor’s car … ranger station at Alley … two feet … closed for a day … strainers: NPS Morning Report 2002. trees lodged in the current … pin a boat or a swimmer: general.
March 2008, August 2009, April and May 2011, July 2014 and May 2019: Heimann and others 2025, 2 (after National Park Service 2024a). 21.9 … 16.15: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7, EMCM7). Burr Oak … gravel and sand … roof and part of the walls … nearly a million dollars: NPS 2016 (flood) (“heavily impacted by gravel and sand deposited across the landscape”).
nine to twelve inches … December 26 and 27 … heaviest along the Interstate 44 corridor … the year’s most serious weather … thirteen people died in the flooding … wettest December on record … West Plains had 9.04 … third-wettest: National Weather Service, Springfield 2016 (the office’s review of the weather of 2015, which ranked the December flood first: “Very heavy rain fell centered along and either side of the interstate 44 corridor,” “Many places received 9 to 12 inches,” “13 confirmed deaths”; Springfield 11.43 inches, and West Plains third-wettest, under its eighth event, “Wettest December on Record”).
Table 14.2: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7, ALYM7, EMCM7), crest histories; flows from Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1), MDC 2001, PDF 79 (table Hy03; Alley, 1993), and the National Weather Service crest history (Eminence, 1993). The 1974 row is added for the Alley Hollow flood of that month (Reach H). A selection: the crest histories also list, for example, Eminence 16.32 feet (September 25, 1993) and 16.2 feet (April 26, 2011), and Alley 14.84 feet (May 1, 1995). The Weather Service marks some recent Highway 17 crests as preliminary.
A reading on the gauge can be turned into ground under water … about 6 feet … 15 … 18 … about 13 … 16 … 20 … about 28 … June 1928 … 1904 and 2017: Map 14, drawn from the modeled flood-inundation map libraries of Heimann and others 2025 (one outline per foot of stage at the Alley and Eminence gauges; at Eminence with the Current River at its lowest modeled stage). The outlines are modeled, not observed, and the stages are rounded to the foot; the crests are from Table 14.2.

April 2017

seven of the eight … The exception: Heimann and others 2025, 1, 4. 24.2 feet: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7). 8.4 feet above its old high mark of 1904: Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 16. 26 feet … 27.72: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, impacts and crests).
Eminence, Van Buren and Doniphan … $86 million … rescue: Heimann and others 2025, 1–2 (after State Emergency Management Agency 2017). Rangers rescued … visitors: NPS 2017 (reopening). about a foot … four feet … Storys Creek School: National Parks Traveler 2017. 33 … 99 … most of the assessment: NPS 2017 (reopening) (about 84 percent assessed). “We’ve never seen …”: National Parks Traveler 2017 (Superintendent Larry Johnson). a second rise crested at Eminence at 14.32 feet on May 4: National Weather Service, gauge pages (EMCM7, crest history); for the rain that went on to May 10, Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 1. By May 19 … Buck Hollow to Alley … “until safety hazards …”: NPS 2017 (reopening).
Two Rivers … trail-ride camp … campgrounds: see Chapter 11. Alley footbridge: see Chapter 8. gravel and the swimming holes: see Chapter 15.

November 2024

November 3 … nine to twelve inches … Montauk to Round Spring … 23.23 … about 32 feet … 26.08: NPS 2024 (flood). new records at Montauk and at Akers: Heimann and others 2025, 2, 6 (table 1, note 3). 25.14 … second-highest … 15.41 … 16.89: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7, ALYM7, EMCM7). expected to stay closed for several weeks: NPS 2024 (flood); see Chapter 11. near Blue Spring: see Reach D.

What a 500-year flood means

1 percent … 0.2 percent: Wilson 2001, 4; Heimann and others 2025, 1. about one in four … about one in seventeen: 1 − 0.99³⁰ ≈ 0.26; 1 − 0.998³⁰ ≈ 0.058.
Table 14.3: MDC 2001, PDF 70, 79–80 (table Hy04, after Alexander and Wilson 1995). highest flow of each year … fit a smooth curve: general practice of flood-frequency analysis. Estimates made in 1995: see Table 14.3. larger than a 500-year flood: 106,000 against 102,000. 200 to 500 years: Heimann and others 2025, 1 (after Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018).
about 0.2 percent, a 500-year flood … 0.47 percent, roughly a 213-year flood … two-in-three confidence … 0.2 percent a year to 1.8 percent … 12,600: Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 22 (table 3: annual exceedance probability of each 2017 peak with its 67-percent confidence interval; Eminence 0.20 percent, interval 0.2 to 1.8; Van Buren 0.47 percent; the 50-percent, or 2-year, flood at Eminence 12,600 cubic feet a second, 95-percent limits 10,700 to 14,800). nearer a 55-year one: 1 ÷ 0.018. nearly a century of yearly peaks: 96 annual peaks at Eminence through 2017 (Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 6, table 1).
25-year size … major damage: Wilson 2001, 4. 50-year flood … does not mean that a bridge fails: Wilson 2001, 4.

Reading the gauges

action stage … about bankfull: Heimann and others 2025, 1. Table 14.4: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7, ALYM7, EMCM7), flood categories and impacts. At Highway 17 the Weather Service’s category table gives 640 cubic feet a second for the action stage of 4 feet; the Survey’s provisional rating (rating 5.0, shift of October 6, 2026) gives about 990 at 4 feet. close the river to floating: Wilson 2001, 3 (table 1); see Part Six. about 6.7 times … seven days a year … five days in 1998: Wilson 2001, 3.
earlier warning: Wilson 2001, 3 (“will offer faster flood detection and warning capability”).

Table 14.5

Perry [1978], sec. 8; Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56, 85; Wilson 2001, 2–4; MDC 2001, PDF 68–80; Stevens 1991, 182; National Weather Service, gauge pages; Heimann and others 2025, 1–2, 6; NPS 2016 (flood); USGS NWIS, gauges 07065200, 07065495 and 07066000. Added rows: Sauer 1920, 33–34, 50–51 (1892, 1913, 1915); Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 55, 61 (1895); Heimann, Holmes and Harris 2018, 6, 16 (1904 at Van Buren and the 25-foot reading); NPS Morning Report 1993a and 2002 (September 1993; May 2002).

Chapter 15. Gravel and the Changing Holes

Opening

April 2013 … a writer … Buck Hollow … “the spring feeds an excellent swimming hole”: Dufur 2013, 18–19 (Brett Dufur). The float date is not given; it was a spring float before the April 2013 issue, probably in 2012.
In 1995 … 2009, 2012 and 2014 … 2020 … a narrow channel: Fig. 22, traced from dated aerial imagery, 1995–2026. a big rock that swimmers used for jumping: see Reach D (Fig. 16).
Nearly three miles: Reach D (legacy miles 6.8 and 9.6; measured miles 6.98 and 9.79). two people … the deepest water at the bridge and along the bluff … a gravel bar … jump from the bluff: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06 and SV-20.
thin bars through 2012 … a new bridge … by 2020: Fig. 21.

Shoals and pot-holes

A geographer who studied the Ozarks a century ago … “a rapid succession of riffles and pools …”: Sauer 1920, quoted in Martin 2005, 23–24. probably 1934 … a writer floating the river … “shoals and pot-holes, jest shoals and pot-holes” … under a bluff: Dorrance 1938, 26; for the year of the float, see Chapter 9.
Riffles tend to form at the crossings: general river geomorphology; see Chapter 2. thrown against … the outside of a bend: see Chapter 2.
roll it or lift it … on its floor rather than in its water: general; on the threshold of motion (“critical shear stresses that must be exceeded to transport sediment”), Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 9. ford at a riffle … for generations: see Chapter 8.

Where the gravel came from

chert … mantle … Chert does not dissolve: see Chapters 1 and 2.
apart perhaps from porphyry, “the most durable material in the Ozarks” … flattened pieces with curved, shell-like faces … moves with difficulty … “little smaller and little less angular than the chert on the hillsides” … works sideways … twenty times the width … “shallow pits dug in the bed of a creek …”: Sauer 1920, 16–18 (“in many instances twenty times the width of the stream at ordinary water stages”).
the federal hydrologist and the oral historian … two Ozark basins … record from 1921 … land surveys … census returns … aerial photographs from 1938 … interviewed older residents in their homes: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1–2, 4, 10–12 (Robert B. Jacobson, U.S. Geological Survey, and Alexander T. Primm, Oral History of the Ozarks Project).
An 1877 description … “rapid-flowing and clean, with narrow fertile valleys”: Williams 1877, quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1994, 34. rarely described gravel bars … large quantities of gravel in the banks and beds … probably always held gravel … a mixed load: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1 (“a mixed sediment load of gravel bedload and silty overbank sediment”). generally narrower and deeper: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 33 (“presettlement streams generally were narrower and deeper”).
In 1855 the state’s first geological survey … “many of our streams abound in water-worn pebbles …” … “for roads and streets”: Swallow 1855, 66, 169, as quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1997, 14. unstable spells before settlement … dated by radiocarbon … much more gravel and sand: Jacobson and Primm 1997, 2–5 (after Jacobson and Pugh 1992: “pre-settlement period episodes of stream aggradation and instability”; the post-settlement episode “involved much greater volumes of gravel and sand than the previous episodes”).
timber boom … roads along the creeks and across the bars … 1895, 1897, 1904 and 1915 … burned … open range … By models of how land use governs runoff and erosion … the most damaging: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1–2, 85 (“Models for land-use controls on annual runoff, storm runoff, and soil erosion indicate this period should have been the most effective in creating stream disturbance”). probably the most direct and damaging link: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 32 (“probably the most direct and damaging land-use link to stream instability”).
Ozark floods of that time … undercut the banks, uprooted trees, tore down fences, carried off haystacks and shocks of grain … “overspread with gravel and driftwood”: Sauer 1920, 51 (a general description of Ozark floods, following his account of the floods of 1914 and 1915). Floating the Black River … “incredible” … “At every bend in the stream …”: Dorrance 1938, 9–10. By the mid-1940s it was popularly accepted: Jacobson and Primm 1997, 33 (after Bauman 1944). a writer and conservationist … 1958 … “The thin topsoil washed away …” … “grew in gravel-choked streams”: Leonard Hall, Stars Upstream (1958), 43, 50, as quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1997, 33; see Hall 1969 and Chapter 10.
small valleys and the valley bottoms … stored: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 87. cut headward … released stored gravel: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1 (their hypothesis: “headward migration of channels, resulting in extension of the drainage network and accelerated release of gravel from storage in the small valleys”). roamed the Big Piney and Jacks Fork basins … “The gravel was there …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 57. born on an upper-river farm in 1904 … “was already in the river …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 58. never used for floating ties … tie drives were not needed: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 86.

A wave of gravel

every time a crew measures the flow … average height of the bed: the mean streambed elevation computed from gauge measurements (Jacobson 1995, as described in Martin 2005, 13). rose quickly around 1940 and then fell steadily: Martin 2005, 13, after Jacobson 1995. trailing edge … before the gauge was built: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 88 (“the recessional limb of a passing wave of land-use-induced sediment that began before gage construction”). bridge at the gauge site: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 5 (fig. 3). Long lags: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 88. a limited distance in each: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 9 (“sediment tends to travel finite distances before being retained temporarily in storage”).
the longer span from 1921 to 1990, beside three other Ozark gauges … nearer 1930 … Little Piney Creek … two gauges on larger rivers … built up and wore down by turns … runs of wet and dry years … even without any change in land use … tangled together: Jacobson and Primm 1997, 2–5 (after Jacobson and Pugh 1992, who reviewed the bed at the four gauges and found “a trend of streambed degradation after 1930 in two smaller basins,” multiple episodes “in two larger basins,” and “an apparent correlation” with “multiple-year climatic shifts,” and concluded that “climatically induced effects have interacted with a wave of land-use-derived sediment in complex ways”; the two smaller basins, 512 and 1,019 square kilometers, are Little Piney Creek at Newburg and the Jacks Fork at Eminence in their fig. 3). The fall of the bed at Eminence is thus dated from about 1930 by that review and from after a rise about 1940 by Martin 2005, 13.
1996, 2005, 2010 and 2014 … decreasing upstream and increasing downstream: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 11 (table 2), 38–39. same places … below Leatherwood Creek … no sign of the gravel moving progressively downstream: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 34 (“no evidence of progressive downstream movement or accumulation of gravel”). about a third … nearly two-fifths: Erwin 2021, bar layers for 2005 and 2014, duplicate polygons counted once (32.4 and 38.1 percent).
first 35 kilometers … Roubidoux Formation: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 12. Between walls of rock a flood cannot spread out: general river geomorphology. 24 meters … 18: Erwin 2021, geomorphic metrics, points 22–23. 1 to 4 percent: Erwin 2021, bar layers, points 23–49 (3.2, 1.4, 4.2 and 1.9 percent). gathered year after year: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 38 (persistent accumulations at river kilometers 20, 35–50 and 65–80; the holes lie near kilometers 4 and 9).

How a hole fills

older residents said in 1993 … especially the deep pools: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 57 (“especially the deep pools that provided swimming holes and fish habitat”).
family came to the upper basin in 1932 … eight or nine … “6 to probably 8 feet …” … lily pads … “a foot or two deep, full of gravel” … “there’s nothing there now, except gravel”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 57. Hiker Hole … “The gravel bar has just extended …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 58. A pool can also fill from the bottom: general river geomorphology; see Fig. 15.2.
born in 1916 … Rymer’s ranch … guided … Dark Hollow Hole … “now they say you can wade in there” … “where it straightens out …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 57. about 9 feet below the riffle: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Reach F. born in 1935 … thirteen or fourteen … “full of gravel” … “knee deep now”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 57. “about waist deep …” … “swim a horse in” … “one big continuous riffle”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 58. moved to the upper basin in 1911 … “you can wade it …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 58.
born in 1917 … North Prong … “it kept in its channel” … middle 1960s … “just kept changing …” … “lost its depth …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 50–51.
“Sometimes it’s filled up …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 57. South Prong since the 1930s … “It wasn’t anything …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 57. new hole … flushed the next … “even 15 years ago” … twenty or twenty-five years: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 58.
aggraded … shallower and wider … varied a great deal from place to place … filled and were dug out again: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 63 (“net aggradation of gravel in the rivers, resulting in a shallower and wider channel”; “great spatial variability”). one pool and riffle … a significant event … several tens of kilometers … offset: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 9.
Lynne Norris … Bluff Hole … “about gone last time I was there”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-17; for her swimming at Alley, see Chapter 11.

Gravel taken out

A geologist who mapped the country around Eminence for the state, in a report of 1930 … boulders, gravel, sand and silt … 20 or 30 feet thick … “an important, but as yet slightly developed resource”: Bridge 1930, 133, 183, as quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1997, 32–33.
born in 1908 … about a hundred truckloads … “We got all our gravel …” … “until the Scenic Riverways got it …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 52. WPA … “truckload after truckload …” … Route 137: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52.
born at Alley Spring in 1907 … “down here at the bridge” … State Route 17 … “they used to go in there every year …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 52; the bracketed identification is the interviewers’.
four gravel operations … deepens the channel … wider and shallower … the water table under the floodplain drops … the channel can shift: MDC 2001, PDF 83–84, 96 (after Roell 1999). cut back upstream: general river geomorphology (headcutting above an in-channel pit). March 15 to June 15: MDC 2001, PDF 99. South Prong … for a mile … “really in bad shape” … “There is no way in the world …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52. Most of the people interviewed saw no harm: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 63 (“with no apparent adverse effects”).
both upstream and downstream of it: MDC 2001, PDF 84 (“both up and down stream from the bridge”). Eminence … scouring in some places and leaving gravel in others: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 37 (after Covington 2002: “creating scouring in some areas and gravel deposits in others”). boat ramp … 1981: see Chapter 11. 2001 to 2005: MDC 2001, PDF 84, 96. 2005: National Bridge Inventory; see Chapter 8. 2006 and 2007: Fig. 21. “changed the river and the swimming hole quite a bit”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20; see Chapter 8.

Grass and trees on the bars

“clean” … paths … “As sycamore brush grows up …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 53–54.
farmed in the upper basin from 1935 … “in the creek, of course” … “The hollows were full of them”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39 (table 6), 54. 1960s … “Since the riverways …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 53 (incorporation in 1965).
six times between 1991 and 1997 … bands … low ridges … narrower channel … deeper and swifter: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 26–27 (fig. 14, a Jacks Fork site that the source does not name; “As gravel is deposited in the vegetation bands, the channel flow is constricted, resulting in a narrower channel and deeper, swifter flows along the opposite side of the channel”). about ten miles west of Eminence … peaked in 1996 … grass and shrubs … forest: Martin 2005, 32, 79, 90.
map only bare gravel: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 9–10; Erwin 2021, metadata.

Channels that move

2.1 to 6.2 hectares … 1955 and 1996: Martin 2005, 62. 4 to 30 meters a year: Martin 2005, ii. Excess gravel clogs the channel … about fifty years: Martin 2005, 89–90 (“Excess gravel clogs the channel and directs water flow against the outer banks, causing lateral migration”). roots strengthen a bank only as deep as they reach … slumps into the stream … loose sediment: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 26–27 (undercut banks “slump into the stream, supplying readily transportable sediment”).
about 65 feet … some 75 years … gravel bars … open water … 1917 … 500 feet or more … near miles 27, 28, 30 and 31: Map 11, which sets the river lines traced from USGS 1948 (Summersville, miles 0 to 25.7) and USGS 1917 (Eminence) (miles 25.3 to 32.3) against the channel of the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025); the 1948 line’s median distance from today’s channel is about 65 feet. The 1917 line also lies 500 feet or more off from mile 25.3 to about 26.3, at the sheet’s upper edge, probably an error in fitting the old sheet; the departures near miles 30 and 31 reach about 800 to 900 feet. See the Open Ledger.
raise an island: Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 11. 25 of its 341 … about six clusters … 53 meters … about 100 meters: Erwin 2021, geomorphic metrics, points 42–47 (river median channel width 35 meters).

The record from the air

April … before the leaves … four to five times summer flow … different method: Erwin 2021, metadata; Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 11 (table 2); flows from USGS NWIS, gauges 07065495 and 07066000, April 16–17, 1996.
Table 15.1: Erwin 2021, bar layers for 2005, 2010 and 2014: union of polygons within 150 and 600 meters of the Blue Spring point and gauge 07065200, square meters converted at 10.764 and rounded; flows from USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200, daily values on the photograph dates (in 2014, 31.9 falling to 20.4, with 53.6 on August 8).
quarter mile upstream … a third to a half mile downstream … higher flow: Erwin 2021, points 44 and 49–50; Erwin 2021, metadata. mapped share of gravel rises and falls with the method: Erwin 2021, bar layers, points 23–49 (1.4, 4.2 and 1.9 percent in 2005, 2010 and 2014). March 2008 flood: the highest daily mean at Alley between the 1996 and 2014 photographs (USGS NWIS, gauge 07065495); see Chapter 14. about a quarter mile downstream: Erwin 2021, point 25.
Water hides gravel: see Table 15.1 and the flows on the photograph dates. recorded nothing of the bed rising or falling: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 38 (“did not include information on vertical adjustment”). bluffs and streamside trees shade them: Martin 2005, 38–39 (“shading effect of bluffs and riparian vegetation”).

Blue Spring, 1995 to 2026

1995 … 2026: Fig. 22.
December 2015 … 21.9 feet … fourth-highest … April 30, 2017: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7); see Chapter 14. pronounced changes in the shape of the channel: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 18 (the 2017 flood “caused pronounced geomorphic changes in its channel”). after the last of the bar mapping: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 39 (the flood “resulted in notable geomorphic change” after the period that study covered). November 2024 … second only to 2002: National Weather Service, gauge pages (JKFM7).
probably 1934 … “deep and clear and indigo” … “long, full-lipped ways between the shoals”: Dorrance 1938, 29; for the year, see Chapter 9.

Steel Bridge, 1995 to 2026

1995 … 2005 … 2006 and 2007 … 2010 … 2012 … 2020 … 2026 … stayed where it was … narrowed: Fig. 21 (the same frame and fixed points in every year). new bridge: see Chapter 8.
every summer day of 1984, 1985 and 1986 … right at the crossing: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-06. “it was all gravel bar” … west side of the road … “all up and down the bank by the bluff” … “the deepest water was along the bluff in the 70’s and 80’s”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. within about forty meters: the two places marked on maps (records SV-06 and SV-20).
Whitbeck Hole … just below the bridge … north-shore bluff: see Reach D.

Testing the explanations

fall of 1966 and August 2006: see Chapter 12. more water in the river in recent decades: see Chapter 14.
Part of a gravelly river’s low flow travels out of sight … the finer soil in them is carried off and the chert stays behind … more gravelly … carries more of the base flow underground: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 37 (after Vana-Miller 2007 and Panfil and Jacobson 2001: “Increased gravel content can lead to shallower streams because base flow moves more easily through gravel than finer sediments”).
May 8, 2002: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1).
three-thread … not released: Erwin 2021; Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 8 (table 1).
In the 2020 image: Fig. 22 and the 2020 frame from which it was traced.
dated 2005 in federal bridge records: National Bridge Inventory; see Chapter 8. 2006 and 2007: Fig. 21. gravel was taken at the bridge: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52.
deepest line … thalweg … bridge cross-sections … December 2021 and May 2023 … lidar … from the South Prong access to within half a mile of the mouth: Heimann and others 2025, 2, 4, 7; Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025.

Keeping the holes

probably set the limit of how much disturbance: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 86 (“Riparian conditions … probably defined the threshold of instability for Ozarks streams”).
about 29 percent … 14.5 miles … less than three-quarters forested … two-thirds … the two prongs: MDC 2001, PDF 98 (table Hc04; “non forested” there means grassland, cropland and urban cover together at 25 percent or more of the corridor; North Prong 64.9 and South Prong 68.7 percent). 25 percent … twenty-five years … more than 100 feet … North Prong: MDC 2001, PDF 149 (objective 1.1).
authorized fords: see Chapter 8; NPS 2022a.
marked on a map: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06 and SV-20.

Table 15.3

Jacobson and Primm 1994, 1–2, 52, 63, 85, 88; Martin 2005, 13; Dorrance 1938, 29; Jacobson, Femmer and McKenney 2001, 26–27; Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 11, 38–39; Erwin 2021; MDC 2001, PDF 84, 98–99; Dufur 2013, 19; McMurray and Faiman 2023, 18; Heimann and others 2025, 2, 4, 6; National Weather Service, gauge pages; Figs. 21 and 22. For 1921 and 1960s, see Chapters 14 and 10. Added rows: Swallow 1855 and Bridge 1930, as quoted in Jacobson and Primm 1997, 14, 32–33; Jacobson and Primm 1997, 2–5, 33 (the 1930 dating; the mid-1940s view; Hall’s 1958 words).

Chapter 16. The Living River

Two rivers by temperature

one of the warmest and driest years … 26 places … every half hour … probe: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 2, 10 (loggers generally within a few hundred meters of an access or just above and below the major springs, 25 of them recording every 30 minutes through 2012; boat surveys January 18–February 23 and July 30–August 15, 2012, reading every 30 seconds in winter and every 250 meters in summer). Buck Hollow … 2.2 to 32.0 °C: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 5; see Reach D. about 14 °C: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 4, 10 (groundwater taken as a constant 14 °C; 14.2 °C at Alley Spring). near freezing … farm pond: the general behavior of runoff-fed water; Buck Hollow’s 2012 minimum was 2.2 °C.
Rymers and Bay Creek … about 17 °C … warmest … 3 percent … 400 meters … Blue Spring … more than a degree: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 6.
13.4 and 15.7 … about 10 °C … about 5 °C … No other single spring: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 5–6. averaged 14.2 °C, a little under a degree warmer: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 6, 10 (14.2 ± 0.4 °C; 0.8 °C above the mean annual air temperature).

What the river eats

1998 and 1999 … two kilometers above Alley Spring … more than six times … pools used more oxygen … two-thirds … “burial or theft”: Whitledge and Rabeni 2000, 165–69 (July: riffle 749, pool 111 milligrams of oxygen per square meter per hour). shoveled … clear lid … painted black … two hours at midday: Whitledge and Rabeni 2000, 166–67 (substrate in 23-centimeter pans inside plastic desiccator chambers, clear lids for net production and black lids for respiration; incubations from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on July 7–9 and October 12–14, 1998, and May 25–27, 1999). sometimes left on the bed for some weeks: Whitledge and Rabeni 2000, 166 (“which is sometimes done … to allow periphyton to recover”; the pans were also kept out because the chambers had to be moved to the right depth and current just before each run). probably part of the reason … chemistry of their tissues … guts: Whitledge and Rabeni 2000, 170 (the extent of pools “may partially explain” the dependence), citing Whitledge and Rabeni 1997, which used stable isotopes and gut analysis.
200 kinds … since 1961: MDC 2001, PDF 112. 2005 and 2014 … three permanent stations … late fall and early winter … mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies … 4.4 … unimpaired … fewer kinds … about 50 … about 41: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 67–68, 71–73 (the communities “largely intolerant”). low and clear: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 67, 73 (samples taken November to early January; turbidity “nearly always below 10 NTU”). 20 inches on a side … scrubbed the cobbles: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 68 (Slack-Surber sampler, 0.25 square meter, 500-micrometer mesh; three samples from each of three riffles). tolerance score … averaging the scores: Bowles and others 2011, 22 (the Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, 0 to 10).

Fish

1941 and 1997 … 67 … 16 families … Thirty-seven … carp and goldfish … 80,000 … since 1980 … since at least 1985: MDC 2001, PDF 109–11. Table 16.1: MDC 2001, PDF 119–22 (table Bc01; the text, PDF 109, gives 67 species, the table names 66), families assigned from the scientific names; the studfish is the source’s northern studfish (see Sculpins and studfish).
Seventeen … paddlefish … walleye … freshwater drum … American eel … gilt darter … American brook lamprey … southern cavefish … 1992: MDC 2001, PDF 109–10, 128 (table Bc03); see Chapter 13.
One account of about 1980 … jack salmon … walleye … drum, chain pickerel and “occasionally shovel bills” … a few trout once lived in Alley Spring … seldom taken from the river: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source (“There is also the fisherman’s prize, the jack salmon, in the river”; the list also names grass pickerel, buffalo, carp, shad, redhorses and “long nose gar and other gars”; it does not say what it means by shovel bills). the Ozark name for the walleye: see Chapter 9.
register … 1889 to 1940: see Chapter 9.
2005 to 2009 … October or November … boat … three permanent stations … good to excellent … upper Current … middle and lower Current: Dodd 2013, 2, 5, 11 (pulsed-DC electrofishing from a boat, with towed-barge or backpack gear). 0 to 100 … darters, sculpins and madtoms … spawn on clean gravel … green sunfish, bluegill and bullheads … 60 to 80 … above 80: Dodd 2013, 4 (the index of biotic integrity of Dauwalter and others 2003, seven metrics; channel catfish are also counted among the tolerant kinds); mainstem means 62 to 89, Dodd 2013, 5. Table 16.2: Dodd 2009, appendix 2 (stations J1–J3), summed over 2005–07 (station totals 2,211, 3,343 and 4,017); Dodd’s “northern studfish” is given as studfish (see Sculpins and studfish).
All four of the commonest kinds … spawn on the river’s gravel: from the four accounts that follow. shelflike extension of the lower jaw … algae and ooze … mid-March to late May … shallow pit nests in small gravel: MDC, “Central Stoneroller” (the account is of the central stoneroller; Table 16.2 counts the stonerollers together). three and a half to four and a half inches … bright red … midwater over clean gravel … drift past on the current … late April to early July … a few to a hundred or more … gravel nests and pits that other fish have made: MDC, “Bleeding Shiner” (spawning “most often … over the gravel nests and pits made by other fish,” in groups of a few to a hundred or more). creek perch or sun perch … blue-green speckled with yellow and emerald … ear flap … mid-May into August … small chert gravel … rims nearly touch … more than two weeks: MDC, “Longear Sunfish.” three inches … most abundant darter … smallest headwater creeks … late March into May … eight to eleven blue-green bars … buries the lower half of her body in the gravel … the pair vibrate together: MDC, “Rainbow Darter” (the female “stops and buries the lower half of her body in the gravel”).

Smallmouth and goggle-eye

brown bass, brownie or bronzeback … clear streams … silt-free … out of the main current … fish, crayfish … 60 °F … saucer-shaped … 2,500 eggs … 10,000 … guards the eggs and then the fry … about twelve days … 10 to 20 inches … ten or twelve years: MDC, “Smallmouth Bass.” shadow bass … goggle-eye: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.
study … 18-inch … one smallmouth … Creel surveys … 1990 to 1998 … catch and … anglers … fallen: MDC 2001, PDF 110, 129–30 (table Bc04; a preliminary analysis). rules in force today: see Part Six; MDC 2017 gives the special area and its limits at that date.
disagreed … overfishing … more fish … since the middle 1930s … 12-inch … “I can’t believe …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 60–62.
20 and 24 °C … 2080s … more than 40 kilometers: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 8, 10–12. about 3.5 °C cooler: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 8 (table 3, under both climate models).

Sculpins and studfish

no swim bladder … broad and flat … pectoral fins … prickles … under rocks … at night … crayfish, insect larvae, snails and small fish … cavity … upside down … about a month: MDC, “Banded Sculpin.”
most widespread … larger and warmer Ozark streams … warmer water: MDC, “Banded Sculpin.” eats young crayfish: DiStefano and others 2003, 356. 2010 … Current, Eleven Point and White … knobs … males … most abundant bottom fish: MDC, “Knobfin Sculpin.” commonest fish in most: Bowles and others 2011, 28 (with “banded sculpin” and “knobfin sculpin” dominant in most springs).
near Alley Spring … illustration … 2017 … Tennessee River system: Hundt, Berendzen and Simons 2017, 462, 470–71 (the northern studfish’s range there includes the Buffalo River of Tennessee).
named in 2025 … Fundulus cryptocatenatus … Tennessee drainage alone: Fast and others 2025, 309–28 (F. catenatus restricted to the Tennessee drainage, F. caddo named for the Ouachita Highlands, F. cryptocatenatus for the rest of the former range; type locality the North Fork of the White River, Ozark County, Missouri, 319).
Six … Ozark madtom … Ozark sculpin: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area, the state’s list for the natural area. Black River madtom: Dodd 2009, appendix 2 (Noturus maydeni). knobfin sculpin: MDC, “Knobfin Sculpin.” conservation concern … ten in three years: MDC 2001, PDF 143 (table Bc07); Dodd 2009, appendix 2. Paranotropis: MDC, “Ozark Shiner” (Paranotropis ozarcanus). once ranked a subspecies … Etheostoma erizonum: ITIS, Etheostoma erizonum (TSN 1148994; raised from E. euzonum erizonum by Near and others 2011). The rank differs among authorities.

Gar

only gar of the clear, fast streams of the central Ozarks … larger, deeper pools … backwaters among the water plants … first few days … almost nothing but fish … by ambush … headfirst … about three feet … about five feet and thirty pounds … eleven years … twenty or more … late April … early May to mid-June … without making a nest … six to eight days … highly toxic to warm-blooded animals … worthless nuisance … billfish and billy gar: MDC, “Longnose Gar.” cruise the clear pools: Dufur 2013, 19. Gar Hole, whose place is now uncertain: see Chapter 18.

Mussels

straining plankton … Raccoons, otters and fish … sperm … gills … glochidia … two to four weeks … drop … a century or more … lure … packets: McMurray 2017.
slippershell … banded sculpin … upper Jacks Fork … fragile papershell … freshwater drum … once … 1982: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, 37–38.
Ouachita kidneyshell … spring of 1994 … dozens of tiny larval fish … in rows inside the gills … about 300 glochidia … four eyespots … water leaving her gills … sticky thread … twirls in the current … bursts the eyespots … twelve kinds of fish tested as hosts … only darters: Barnhart and Roberts 1996 (the packets lined up “like matches in a matchbook”). now makes up most: see Thirty-five years of counting. one fish in seven: Table 16.2 (1,308 of 9,571).
Nineteen kinds … forty-three in the Current’s: Vana-Miller 2007, viii.
1967 to 1979 … 1982 … field notes … 2002 … 2017–19 … 17 new sites … good mussel habitat: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 11–12. at least two searchers … by hand … kept time: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 12–13 (timed tactile and visual searches of all habitats, wading or snorkeling).
about 28 … per person-hour … about five and a half … 14 to 5 … Alley and … Eminence … 1,058 … six species … kidneyshell: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 13–17. 206 … 17 … 184 … 173: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 17 (table 4, live counts at the 11 sites). Table 16.3: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 13, 17 (tables 2 and 4; 34.5 and 69.5 percent).
above Leatherwood Creek … Ratcliff Ford … Rymers … 30 or more … 331 … prongs: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 14–15. The source gives sites by river kilometer only; the place names here are located from those distances, and the stretch also held two poor sites, near Steel Bridge and at Rymers.
randomly placed points … two 45-minute searches … less than about a meter: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, 6 (three surveyors, two 45-minute searches within 500 meters of each point, in water under 1 meter; rocks larger than cobble were not moved). 3.4 … 14.6: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, 35 (“possible continued decline”; the authors caution that the designs differ). perhaps because … larger, more stable stones … Five of the 18 … four species … Seven species … hundreds or thousands … more live mussels than either stretch of the Current: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, 18–19, 35, 41. richest site: see Reach D.
No single cause … many American streams: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 18 (“As is the case for many streams in the USA, the mussel decline in the Jacks Fork is enigmatic and its causes are unknown”). 2017 … freshly dead shells … fecal bacteria … ammonia: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 18. great flood: see Chapter 14. measured below Alley in 1999 and 2000 … did not differ significantly: Davis and Richards 2002, 34; see Chapter 17. riffles … loose sand, gravel and cobble … gravel waves: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, 36; see Chapter 15. spotted bass and bluegill: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, 38 (after Morrill and others 2023).
two of them only as old shells: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 15–16 (giant floater and spike as weathered or subfossil shells).
short-lived species went first … kidneyshell and the Ozark pigtoe … raising young … extinction debt … as the remaining adults die: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 16–18 (no colonization by any species at the 11 sites; local populations “hold an extinction debt from which additional extirpations should be expected,” after Gotelli 2001 and Vaughn 2012).

Crayfish

golden … Ozark … spothanded … Hubbs’ … fifth lives underground: MDC 2001, PDF 111; DiStefano and others 2003, 345; see Chapter 13. fourteen kinds … Black River drainage … top conservation priorities of the Ozark Plateaus … range of habitats they need: Vana-Miller 2007, viii, xi (“because of the taxonomic richness and diverse habitat requirements of its crayfish species”).
1991 to 1998 … Ratcliff Ford … Blue Spring … square-meter frame … two-thirds to three-quarters … that year’s young … backwaters … water willow … highest measured in any stream … midge larvae and mayflies: DiStefano and others 2003, 346–49, 357–58 (“some of the highest crayfish densities measured in any streams”); see Reach D. angle iron … three to five minutes … six inches … 63 to 65 squares … by day … at night: DiStefano and others 2003, 347–48 (frame 0.51 meter high, 2-by-3-millimeter mesh, raked to at least 15 centimeters). at least ten … more than twenty: DiStefano and others 2003, 349 (golden crayfish per square meter).
pools, backwaters and vegetation … largest and fastest-growing … very low numbers: DiStefano and others 2003, 343, 345, 349, 355 (golden crayfish 68 percent in summer, 76 in autumn, p. 349).
Clearing … livestock … gravel mining … fine sediment … Madtoms, young smallmouth and banded sculpins: DiStefano and others 2003, 356, 358–59. smallmouth, hellbenders: MDC, “Smallmouth Bass”; USFWS 2020, 6.

The hellbender

up to nearly two feet … skin … large flat rock … crayfish … few dozen square meters … fall … few hundred eggs … about six weeks: USFWS 2020, 4–6 (adults 11–22 inches; home ranges 28–81 square meters; 150–350 eggs).
“Hell-bender” was in print by the 1810s … alligator: Merriam-Webster (river words), “hellbender” (first known use 1812); Frétey and Raffaëlli 2021, 35–51 (Barton’s account of 1814, whose title gives the animal as known “in the United-States, by the names of alligator and hell-bender”). Where the name came from is not known … tortures of the underworld … undulating, wrinkled skin … bent on getting back there … mud-devils, water-dogs, alligators of the mountains and walking catfish … irritate … not dangerous: Briggler 2004 (the name linked to “horrible tortures of the infernal regions”; one angler’s “a creature from hell where it’s bent on returning”; the slime “a mild skin irritant”); Pritchard 2025 (the etymology “unclear”). snot otters and “old lasagna sides”: MDC 2011 (hellbenders); Pritchard 2025 (“ol’ lasagna sides”).
1943 … Current River at Big Spring Park, in Carter County: USFWS 2020, 2 (“from a specimen collected from the Current River in Carter County”); Frétey and Raffaëlli 2021, 35–51 (the type locality “Current River at Big Spring Park, Carter County, Missouri,” after Grobman 1943). Missouri listed it as endangered in 2003: MDC, “Ozark Hellbender.” 2011: USFWS 2020, iii.
1992 … 13 to 17 inches: USFWS 2020, 17. two sites … none was found: USFWS 2025, 6 (“eDNA sampling at two sites in 2019 did not result in any positive detections,” citing Crabill 2020, unpublished data).
ten or fewer … about 350 … since 2007: USFWS 2020, 18–20 (table 3-1). still ten or fewer in 2025 … a few may remain: USFWS 2025, 6–7 (table 1, 7). skin cells and slime … filtered: the general method of environmental-DNA sampling. large rocks, bedrock bottoms and ledges: USFWS 2020, 24. 10 and 16 °C … least spring water: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 8.
fall of 2011 … first time anywhere … Wild-bred adults … outdoor streams … two of them … forty feet long and six feet deep … natural gravel and big rocks … November 15 … fewer than 600 … as many as 8,000: MDC 2011 (hellbenders). The adults kept indoors at the zoo came from the North Fork of the White River; the release does not say where the spawning pair came from, or in which of the two streams the eggs were laid. October 2022 … tagged, zoo-raised male … 128 eggs: Pritchard 2025. 2019 … official state endangered species: MDC, “Ozark Hellbender.”
since bred Current River hellbenders … 1,410 … 34 artificial nest boxes: USFWS 2020, 42–43. silt … boats and vehicles … rocks: USFWS 2020, 31–32. Driving through the river: see Chapter 8.

The spring branch at Alley

about 800 meters … just under 14 °C: Bowles and others 2011, 6 (table 2), appendix B. Twenty-one kinds … mosses, bulbous bittercress and watercress: Bowles and Dodd 2016, v, 3–4. watercress … commonest non-native … star duckweed: Bowles and others 2011, 11–12.
most kinds of aquatic insects: Bowles and others 2011, 22. fish community … sculpins: Bowles and others 2011, 26–28.
gray bats … cave salamanders … southern cavefish … Salem cave crayfish: see Chapter 13.

Bluffs, talus and the plants of a colder time

more than 200 feet … about 250 near Jam Up Cave: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13): the right-bank face at about mile 12.76, about 250 feet, and Red Bluff, on the left at 13.14 to 13.33, about 230; see Chapter 2 and Reach E. MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area, gives “as much as 200 feet.” three miles … red cedars … 450 … 966 acres … May 27, 1980: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area. Barn Hollow … north of Mountain View … forked aster … along the creek … moist north-facing bluffs … 100 feet … May 27, 1980: MDC, Barn Hollow Natural Area.
dry cliffs and moist cliffs: MDC, “Cliffs.” harebell … colder past: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area (relicts); see Chapter 1. spruce forest: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 4. As of 1999 … 1980s: MDC 2001, PDF 143–47 (table Bc07, from the state’s Natural Heritage Database: harebell 1984, northern bedstraw 1987, false bugbane 1985). still grows on the natural area’s cliffs: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; Dufur 2013, 21, names harebell and false bugbane as present.
fire pinks … columbine … limber honeysuckle … phlox and violets … walking fern … maidenhair: Dufur 2013, 21. one place … Ozark woods … “a botanical mix at the temperate center of the continent”: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork stop 9.
talus … trees … salamanders … snakes: MDC, “Talus.”

Cottonmouths and watersnakes

reputation for cottonmouths … “as big as a man’s arm and six feet long” … climb into boats … run fishermen out of the water … surface lure for bass at night … slap of a strike … flashlight … big cottonmouth: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 31, the only source (the man “liked to jitterbug for bass at night”; “his Junker was a large cottonmouth”). Leatherwood Creek: see Reach F.
heavy-bodied, venomous … dark olive-brown to nearly black … three to four feet … a little more than six … cotton-white lining … head up and its back out of the water … southeastern lowlands … scattered populations in the Ozarks … cool, spring-fed, rocky creeks and small rivers … crevices along the bluffs … fish and frogs … two to fifteen young … August or September … every other year: MDC, “Northern Cottonmouth” (“known to reach 75 inches”). take the harmless watersnakes for it: MDC, “Northern Cottonmouth”; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 31 (“Many people mistake banded water snakes and other harmless creatures for the viper”). clear, cool, gravel-bed streams … bites hard … foul-smelling musk … no venom … lighter in build … smaller head … no pit … no light line … killed by mistake: MDC, “Northern Watersnake” (the midland subspecies, of the southeastern third of the state, prefers “clear, cool, gravel-bed streams”).

Glades and fens

bedrock … south-facing … prairie … rhyolite … woody invasion: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 2–3 (woody invasion “the most significant threat,” by a study completed for the park). cannot sprout again from the root: the general fire ecology of eastern red cedar. Sixteen dolomite glades … Five fens … two deep-muck fens: MDC 2001, PDF 97. occasional fens in the valley bottoms: MDC 2001, PDF 33.

Fire in the woods

20 to 60 … 100 to 200: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 2. “lofty forests of pine” … “a high-land prairie …”: Schoolcraft 1821, quoted in Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 5. less than 1 percent: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 5.
about 160 acres … 1778 … 1730 … 1624 … 39 fires … 1706 and 1915 … five and a half years … twelve years … 1886 and 1887 … 1845 … a fifth … 1915: King and Muzika 2014, 79, 81, 84. 44 pines and 39 oaks … 19 sections … nine more … Four of every five … nine: King and Muzika 2014, 79–81 (all overstory trees over 30 centimeters in diameter in the 64 hectares; the nine further sections from the Missouri Tree-Ring Laboratory; 80 percent of the 25 remnant samples scarred, with 1 to 9 scars each). wide ring … narrow one … calendar year: the general method of cross-dating. fire of 1753: see Chapter 4, which tells it with the Osage.
Table 16.4 … to green up the range and clear land: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 6 (table 1, after Guyette and Cutter 1997); see Chapter 5.
1925 … 1931 … 1938: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 8–9. pole-sized trees: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 9. trams never reached … 1930s … logging … 1930 and 1955: King and Muzika 2014, 84–85 (the 1930s disturbance “likely reflects logging of the site”). Fewer than one in five: King and Muzika 2014, 81 (17 percent of living trees predate 1850).
1994 and 2000 … 53 … more than half in two woodland types … canopy trees: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 8–11 (table 4: 54 and 59 percent; the park’s fire managers link the slow return to the survival of the canopy trees). early spring … low intensity … In 2008 … later in the spring and in summer … may kill more of the big trees: Smith, Swanson and Leis 2008, 11 (growing-season burns “have potential to affect canopy species mortality”).

Birds and the bars

herons … kingfishers … pileated woodpeckers … wood ducks … parula … sulphur … zebra swallowtails … turtles … gar: Dufur 2013, 18–19. red-shouldered hawk … Louisiana waterthrush … phoebe … yellow-throated warbler … cerulean warbler: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.

Fur-bearers

beavers and other fur-bearers had disappeared from the rivers and then come back: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 63 (photograph caption: “Beavers and other fur’bearers disappeared from the rivers but have made a remarkable comeback”). early 1900s … released along the river in 1933 … abundant again by 1980 … a count of 1934 found four otters on the Jacks Fork and the Current … only rarely reported: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75, the only source (“A survey by Bennett and Nagel in 1934 listed 4 otters on Jack’s Fork and Current River. Beavers disappeared in the early 1900’s. They were released along the river in 1933 and are now abundant”; “A rare otter is reported”). By one account an otter … Boiler Hole … December 1904 … fur sold: see Reach I (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54). In 1980 … 35 to 70 … remnant swamps of the Bootheel … 1982 … 845 … Louisiana … 43 streams in 35 counties … eleven years … more than 15,000 … headwater creeks in the central Ozarks … anglers and pond owners … 1996: Hamilton 2007 (“In 1980, we estimated that only 35 to 70 otters survived in the few remnant swamps and wetlands in Missouri’s Bootheel region”; the releases are not said to have included the Jacks Fork). Around 1980 … Lost Hollow … several feet deep … beaver dams: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30; see Reach E.

Newcomers

Asian clam … 1982 … 16 of the 28: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 11, 14. Watercress: Bowles and others 2011, 11.

What the living river needs

See the notes above; Chapter 17.

Chapter 17. Clean Water

Opening

“about hip deep” … “watch the minnows play around”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 61 (an interviewee recalling the 1920s). 134 miles … one of a handful: Vana-Miller 2007, ix, 35 (the park “is probably one of a handful of areas” with such clarity). “pure”: Barks 1978, 17.

Why the water is clear

about 60 percent: Vana-Miller 2007, viii, 35. tributaries … sinks: Vana-Miller 2007, 35; see Chapter 12. three-quarters forest … 92 percent … pasture or hay: Davis and Barr 2006, 4 (76 percent forest, 23 percent agricultural).
16 milligrams per liter … between storms: Barks 1978, 27 (Jacks Fork above Two Rivers; no samples were collected during storm runoff). turbidity … nearly always very low: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 72–73 (“nearly always below 10 NTU”; samples taken November to January). how much light a sample scatters: the general definition of turbidity, measured in nephelometric turbidity units.
carbon dioxide from the soil dissolves the dolomite: see Chapter 1. more than 90 percent: Barks 1978, 1. 121 to 180 … above 180 … 159 … 259: Barks 1978, 12, 19, 37 (spring water less mineralized than well water “presumably because of less exposure to the soluble rocks”; the hardness classes after Brown and others 1970; table 16, ten samples above Two Rivers, 1973–75, mean 159 milligrams per liter as calcium carbonate; 21 well samples, mean 259); MDC 2001, PDF 82, also rates the Jacks Fork hard by the Geological Survey’s definition. clay and silt … chert gravel: Vana-Miller 2007, 33; see Chapter 15.

Fast water, little filtering

bacteria and viruses … die: Vana-Miller 2007, ix. within hours: Barks 1978, 6. three miles a day … holds back little: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 43 (after Vana-Miller 2007). many aquifers … a few feet a year … within a week: Vana-Miller 2007, 32 (“typical lateral groundwater movement in many aquifers in the United States is only a few feet per year,” after Aley 1975).
about half … outside: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 44 (51 percent of the combined Blue and Alley recharge area); see Chapter 12. narrow strip: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 68 (about 4 percent of the Current River watershed).
some of the most open land … figures: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 1, 59–63 (table 9); see Chapter 12. most open land … sinkholes … almost no public land: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 1, 60–63 (0.3 of 56 square miles public). may put it among the recharge areas in the park most at risk: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 44, summarizing Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009 (“may be more at risk for contamination or misuse”).

The first measurements

Clean Water Act … presidential veto in October 1972: Public Law 92-500, enacted October 18, 1972, when Congress overrode the president’s veto.
April 1973 to May 1975 … 19 wells … 5 tributaries: Barks 1978, 1. natural sources: Barks 1978, 21. pollution had barely touched … nuisance: Barks 1978, 34, 39 (“basically unaffected by pollution”). four main river stations … storm runoff … about twenty pesticides and for PCBs … 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T … below Montauk … timber in the upper watershed: Barks 1978, 26 (the compounds tested, about twenty, include those added for July 1974; 0.03 micrograms per liter of each herbicide, in the storm sample of July 23, 1974, “probably caused by spraying herbicides on timber in the upper part of the watershed”).
nitrate, the form most nitrogen takes: general chemistry. thirteen times: Barks 1978, 15. 0.2 … 0.4: Barks 1978, 21. Alley and Montauk … fertilizer … no detectable difference: Barks 1978, 23.
200 colonies: Barks 1978, 29 (after Federal Water Pollution Control Administration 1968). Thirty samples … 57 … Routine sampling: Barks 1978, 28 (table 19). drawn through a filter … colony: Barks 1978, 9 (the membrane-filter method); the description of the method is general. fecal streptococci … six-tenths … livestock: Barks 1978, 28 (ratios of fecal coliform to fecal streptococcus “generally less than 0.6, indicating that numbers and distribution of livestock probably influence bacteria densities”).
Independence Day weekend of 1972 … doubling to tripling … horses were crossing: Barks 1978, 29–30 (summarizing Maxwell 1974). August 1974 … more than a hundred swimmers … 21 … 29: Barks 1978, 28–29.
August 11 to 17, 1974 … 1,300 … 500 horses … 2,000 … August 14 … midmorning … brushing their teeth … 1,000 … four miles: Barks 1978, 29–30 (fig. 7; the midmorning peak is from the August 14 and 16 samples, graphed for August 16). low share of coliforms to streptococci: Barks 1978, 29.

The bacteria years

grew on the lower Jacks Fork: see Chapters 10 and 11. 3,000 horses … seven weeks: Davis and Barr 2006, 3. private land in the gap: see Chapter 11.
5 of 31 … recreation season: MDC 2001, PDF 82. 1998 … Eminence to the Current … five miles: Davis and Richards 2001, [2]; Davis and Barr 2006, 1; MDC 2001, PDF 85. eight: Davis and Richards 2002, 1. 2002 … seven miles: Davis and Barr 2006, 1; Vana-Miller 2007, 15. Clean Water Act … total maximum daily load … shared out among the sources: Davis and Barr 2006, 2. suspects: Davis and Barr 2006, 1.
Table 17.1: compiled from Barks 1978, 28–30; Davis and Richards 2001; Davis and Richards 2002; Davis and Barr 2006, 1, 5, 12.
Phase I … 42 sites … 4 … 62 … 16 … 180 … two sites … five … tributaries: Davis and Richards 2001, [4], [5] (medians and tributaries on [4]; exceedances at sites 95 and 110 in June and at 95, 110, 140, 150 and 165 in August on [5]; the fact sheet’s [3] is a foldout map); Davis and Barr 2006, 5.
Six guided … August … May and October … few canoes and no swimmers: Davis and Richards 2002, 4–5, 20. 13 samples … 11: Davis and Richards 2002, 20.
July 15 and 16, 2000 … five or six times … 110 … cows … none were seen crossing: Davis and Richards 2002, 21, 27 (the elevated counts “may be because of the herd of cows that resides in the pasture adjoining the river, although the cows were not observed crossing the river during sampling”).
a few hours … a few months: Davis and Richards 2002, 15. bed and the water rose … four ways: Davis and Richards 2002, 27.
ten sites … five times … every one … during a trail ride … never exceeded … three sites: Davis and Barr 2006, 1, 12, 30.
large gravel bar where boaters and swimmers stop to picnic … outside the park boundary … 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. … 110 an hour … 500 horses … October 7, 2003, and August 10, 2004 … 720 … 1,200: Davis and Barr 2006, 12, 17 (“a large gravel bar where boaters and swimmers tend to stop, picnic, and oftentimes swim”). Fig. 17.1: after Davis and Barr 2006, figs. 8–11.
7,300 … 780 … probably … five colonies or fewer … generally did not come from the plant: Davis and Barr 2006, 12, 26, 30.

Whose bacteria

library … four cattle herds … outside the basin: Davis and Barr 2006, 9. about 660 … 215 … 229 … 215 … 80 percent similar: Davis and Barr 2006, 9 (rep-PCR DNA fingerprinting; library isolates collected in the basin, August 2002 to March 2005). bar code: the general method of DNA fingerprinting. experimental … 40 percent of its 65 … 29 percent … 11 percent: Davis and Richards 2002, 1–2, 27–29 (ribotyping; of 65 isolates from water, 26 sewage, 19 horse, 7 cow and 13 unknown, matched against isolates from University of Missouri veterinary farms, selected places in southwest Missouri and the Eminence area); Davis and Barr 2006, 22. 85 to 94 percent: Davis and Barr 2006, 23. Strains vary … share a strain: Davis and Barr 2006, 9; Davis and Richards 2002, 27.
Table 17.2: Davis and Barr 2006, 1, 25 (table 4). pigs, dogs … geese, ducks: Davis and Barr 2006, 11. five of the seven … two heavily used: Davis and Barr 2006, 26.
22,000 head: Davis and Barr 2006, 4. June 2003 … two dry-weather dates … no cattle … One possible source: Davis and Barr 2006, 26, 30 (August 6, 2003, and October 5, 2004; the riverbed is the survey’s suggestion). survive there for weeks: Davis and Richards 2002, 15. cannot always explain … inconclusive: Davis and Barr 2006, 17, 22.
Boaters and swimmers were not the main source … above all from horses: Davis and Barr 2006, 1; see also 30 (“recreational users (including boaters and swimmers) are not the primary source of fecal coliform bacteria in the Jacks Fork; rather, the presence of fecal coliform bacteria is associated with other animals, of which horses are the primary source”).

Green holes

about 1985 … “Mossy and green …” … “green with slime on them” … “nasty and dirty old slimey river”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 61 (interviews of about 1991–93).
“huge algae blooms” … “you just can’t fish” … “were not there 20 years ago” … generally agreed: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 61, 63.
phosphorus … shortest supply: Vana-Miller 2007, 15, 36. five municipal plants: Vana-Miller 2007, xi. one to one … “particularly on the South Prong”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 50. a foot of rise for every foot across: general. sixteen atoms of nitrogen to one of phosphorus … poor soils … small increase in phosphorus: Vana-Miller 2007, 36 (phosphorus limits algal growth where the N:P ratio exceeds 16; low phosphorus “not surprising given the infertile soils”; park waters “may be sensitive to small increases in P”). streamside timber: see Chapter 15.
phosphorus rose … seasons … recreation: Davis and Richards 2002, 2. Alley Spring still carried more nitrate … ammonia … not … significantly: Davis and Richards 2002, 34 (Alley Spring median nitrite plus nitrate 0.58 milligrams per liter); see Chapter 16. benchmark: Vana-Miller 2007, 15 (0.068 milligrams per liter). analyzed in 2002 … not statistically significant … chlorophyll: Vana-Miller 2007, 36 (after Raymond and Vache 2002, an analysis of data of 1973–98, and NPS 2005; the upper Jacks Fork trend judged “based on visual inspections of scatter plots”). three stations on the upper river … plants and filamentous algae together … 11 percent … November and early January: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 67, 69, 71–73; see Chapter 16.

The spill at Mountain View

divide … head of Jam Up Creek: see Chapter 12. quarter of a million gallons: MDC 2001, PDF 83 (0.250 million gallons a day, 1994). half a mile to a mile … thirty-eight miles: Imes and Fredrick 2002; see Chapter 12.
July 5, 2001 … partially treated: Imes and Fredrick 2002 (“partially treated”). untreated sewage: Vana-Miller 2007, 33, 38. trace … August 21: Imes and Fredrick 2002; see Chapter 12.
July 12 … 1,200 feet … 35 of 67 … coprostanol … caffeine … cholesterol … DEET … detergents … July 10 … August 17 … phenol … public toilet … 196 million … 3,900 times … below what the laboratory could measure: Imes and Fredrick 2002, “Effect of Wastewater on Water Quality at Big Spring” and table 1.
probably because of Big Spring’s size … severe ecological damage … threat to public health: Vana-Miller 2007, 33 (the report credits the spring’s size; “severe ecological damage and public health threats could have occurred”).
2022 … more than $6 million: Howell County News 2022. $5.98 million … $2.48 million … $3.5 million … collection system … overflows … October 2026: MDNR 2025.

Wells, septic tanks and sinkholes

July 1879 to June 1880 … month-old child’s from typhoid … Delaware Township in 1880 … a young man of twenty-three, dead of it in April: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 61 (deaths reported in Delaware Township in 1880), 68 (deaths “in and adjacent to Eminence,” July 1879 to June 1880), the only source; names withheld. spread by water or food fouled with the waste of an infected person: the general epidemiology of typhoid fever.
untreated water from private wells … 308 … 119 … 38.6 … 40.6 … rough idea: MDC 2001, PDF 83 (“a rough insight”). any coliform at all: MDC 2001, PDF 83 (a well “is considered unsafe if any coliform colonies result from the sample”); the reading of a coliform as a sign of a path from the surface is general.
100 gallons … 410,000: MDC 2001, PDF 84 (410,300 gallons, after Aley and Aley 1987 and a 1972 state figure). scattered pattern of settlement … close together: MDC 2001, PDF 84, quoting Aley and Aley 1987, a groundwater study for the park (the “dispersed pattern of settlement in the study region is of great help in reducing groundwater contamination problems resulting from sewage disposal”; problems are “centered on areas with concentrated settlement”). septic tank … drain field: general. garbage dumps … septic systems: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 41; see Chapter 13.
13 active mines … 22 past producers … surface: MDC 2001, PDF 83. two of four samples … atrazine … national water-quality assessment … Ozark Plateaus … study units … single groundwater sample … 1993 … 39 of 43 … 18 sites … 73 of 215: MDC 2001, PDF 82 (deethylatrazine, thiobencarb, atrazine and metolachlor; the Pesticides National Synthesis Project of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program, after Bell and others 1997 and Adamski 1996). used mostly on corn and sorghum: general. seven water-pollution incidents … fish kills: MDC 2001, PDF 85 (table Wq04, impacts since 1990).
riparian … reasonable use … no state law … 100,000 gallons … register once and report: MDNR 2018; see Chapter 12. 147 million … 40 million: MDC 2001, PDF 86.

What protects the river

three Outstanding National Resource Waters … 46.5 miles … into Texas County … 2014: MDNR, “Outstanding National Resource Waters” (the layer gives the Jacks Fork as “Mouth to Headwaters,” Shannon County to Texas County, with its upper end in Sec. 29, T28N, R7W). Tier III … may not be allowed to decline: Vana-Miller 2007, 14; Davis and Barr 2006, 2. sorts its waters into tiers … existing uses … important social or economic reason … after public notice: the federal antidegradation rule, 40 C.F.R. § 131.12 (tier I, existing uses; tier II, high-quality waters, lowered only where necessary for important economic or social development after public participation; tier III, Outstanding National Resource Waters, maintained and protected). decline measurably: Davis and Barr 2006, 2 (Missouri’s tier III policy “allows no measurable increases in pollutant loading”). 2004 … 25 … 200: Davis and Barr 2006, 2–3; Vana-Miller 2007, 15. at least four evenly spaced samples: Davis and Barr 2006, 11. January 21, 2004: MDNR 2020 (fact sheet). took the Eminence plant’s low counts … Tier III … go on discharging effluent that clean: MDNR 2020 (the plan found the plant had kept “relatively low bacteria counts in their effluents”; “Since Jacks Fork is a Tier III Outstanding Resource Water, continued maintenance of these high quality effluent discharges is assumed in this TMDL”). assigns each water its uses … in 2007 … livestock and wildlife watering … cool-water fishery … boating and canoeing: Vana-Miller 2007, 14 (table 4).
approved in May 2006: EPA 2006 (among the provisions approved, the “Adoption of E. coli bacteria criteria for the protection of recreational uses”). by 2020 … no longer used fecal coliform at all: MDNR 2020 (fact sheet: “Fecal Coliform is no longer the bacterial parameter used by the Department, as E. coli is now used”). 126 … April 1 through October 31: MDNR 2014. 10, 100 and 1,000 … 370 … cube root: arithmetic. only at ordinary flows: Davis and Richards 2002, 3; Davis and Barr 2006, 2.
30 percent: MDNR, “Losing Streams”; see Chapter 12. five discharge permits: MDC 2001, PDF 83, 94 (table Wq03).
spray-irrigation plants … Alley Spring, Round Spring and Big Spring … 1976 … half a mile … a fifth of a mile and two miles … new well at Alley … 1970 … 650 feet … 301: Barks 1978, 11–12 (table 1, well 18). judged to be of good quality … worth watching: Barks 1978, 37 (“it would be useful to monitor ground-water quality in areas of new development, such as the three new spray-irrigation sewage-treatment sites”).
straight to the river … state permit of 2020 … tertiary … screening … grit … oxidation ditch … two clarifiers … three sand filters … ultraviolet light … 292,000 … 239,000 … 126 … 630 … carried over from its earlier permit … consistent with the 2004 bacteria plan … phosphorus and nitrogen every quarter … no limit: MDNR 2020 (permit MO-0055328 and fact sheet, which gives the treatment as “Tertiary”; receiving water the Jacks Fork, classified segment 2681, at no distance; effective June 1, 2020). a third stage of cleaning … oval channel where bacteria break the waste down … kills most of the bacteria: the general working of tertiary plants, oxidation ditches and ultraviolet disinfection.
seven existing … undesignated … water quality: NPS 2022a, 3–4, 15; NPS 2022c; see Chapters 8 and 11. outside the park boundary: Davis and Barr 2006, 12; Davis and Richards 2002, 21.
since the 1960s by five agencies … Stream Teams: MDC 2001, PDF 81. since 1973: MDC 2001, PDF 82. six samples: Markland 2023, table 1. long-term bacteria monitoring: Davis and Richards 2001, [2]; Vana-Miller 2007, 15. 2005 to 2014: Bowles, Morrison and Cribbs 2018, 67. recreation season: Vana-Miller 2007, x, 36.
No livestock counts … effective way: MDC 2001, PDF 84–85. logging roads and skid trails … late 1980s … not counted among the pollution hazards: MDC 2001, PDF 84, quoting Aley and Aley 1987 (forestry not “significant enough to be designated … as a hazard area”; erosion “related primarily to logging roads and skid trails in rugged terrain,” so that logging “undoubtedly contributes to the sediment load of the springs in the Riverways”). wider wooded corridors: see Chapter 15. Jam Up Creek … Shawnee Creek and Barn Hollow: MDC 2001, PDF 149. greatest long-term threat: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 44 (after Bowles and others 2011; the park’s geologists’ ranking).

After rain

May 5, 1999: Davis and Richards 2001, [4]. May 25, 2000 … 450 and 490: Davis and Richards 2002, 15. June 2003 … more than 600: Davis and Barr 2006, 12. July 1973 … 4,000 … a week later: Barks 1978, 28. did not apply in such conditions: Davis and Barr 2006, 2.
immediately after a heavy rain … swallowing … open sores … livestock: MDHSS 2013. gauge at Highway 17: see Chapter 14. Wading, swimming and fishing … springs: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 44; see Part Six.

Part Four: River Life

Chapter 18. What We Call Things

Opening

Buck Hollow … sign: see Reach D. twelve people … seven different answers … Steel Bridge … 17 Bridge Hole … Buck Hollow … Highway 17 … “Buck hollow or steel bridge” … “17 Bridge/Buck hollow” … “Buck hollow or it used to be referred to as the Steel Bridge”: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-05, SV-06, SV-09, SV-12, SV-15, SV-19, SV-20, SV-22, SV-23, SV-24, SV-25.
grandparents, parents, an uncle, a husband, fathers-in-law, neighbors, friends and “new acquaintances” … maps: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-05, SV-09, SV-12, SV-15, SV-19, SV-20, SV-22, SV-23, SV-24. Who Jack was: see Chapter 4. holes, bars and shoals … spoken kind: USGS GNIS; O’Brien 1939, dictionary, passim.

Two sets of names

U.S. Board on Geographic Names … 1890 … same name … A state board recommends: general (the board dates from 1890); BGN 2016 sets out its policies and procedures. Geographic Names Information System … 40 named streams and 92 named valleys … Baptizing Hole and Muck Forty Hole: USGS GNIS, Domestic Names file for Missouri, matched to the watershed in Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
first state … 1928 … eleven graduate theses … 82 … twelfth: O’Brien 1939, iv (about 17,000 names; the work begun under Allen Walker Read and continued under Robert L. Ramsay). Anna O’Brien … slip of paper … asked people: O’Brien 1939, iii, vii, 1. branch railroad … common carrier … bread-truck driver or the rural mail carrier: O’Brien 1939, v. family car … “a sort of busman’s holiday”: O’Brien 1939, ix–x (the professor is Robert L. Ramsay). Shannon and Dent … lumber and mining camps … receding forest … doubtless been missed: O’Brien 1939, vi–vii (“Many of these names have doubtless been missed”). Cora Ann Pottenger … Howell County … many of the creeks, hollows, schools and post offices: Pottenger 1945; O’Brien 1939, dictionary, passim. Apart from Chimney Rock, Jam-Up Hollow, Hospital Cave and the names around Alley: O’Brien 1939, dictionary, passim.
a merchant, the postmaster, a state senator … ninety-year-old prosecuting attorney … eight who explained the Texas County names … four … Houston and Summersville … Arroll: O’Brien 1939, bibliography, iii–vi (informant list).

How the old names were made

one asterisk … two: O’Brien 1939, 1 (two asterisks mark a name unsolved, one a name in reasonable doubt, and R one that Ramsay helped solve). “named for a family who lived at the head of the creek”: O’Brien 1939, 80. William Mahan … James and Jane … Bohannon or Pummill Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 54 (“Bohaman or Pummill Hollow”), 61 (“Bohannon or Pummill Hollow”); see Reach I. Gill Branch … Samuel K. Gill … about 1872: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 22, 40. Moore’s Hollow … by 1867: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 69. Peters Creek … Harmon branches: see Reach A (Lewis 1980). fords: see Chapter 8.
Hellum … Helm … “ellum” … Rushing … McCollouck … “seems to have lost its names”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 46; see Chapter 5. Spout Spring … piped its water up the hill: see Reach B (Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 99).
Horse Hollow … Hospital Cave: see Chapters 6 and 13. church groups … Baptizing Hole: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork stop 2; see Chapter 19.
John “Muck” Reece … yellow suckers … pine knots … clay mud … forty “foot” … teased him: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork stop 3. Reese … near Blue Spring for many years: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27. Muck Forty Hole: USGS GNIS; see Reach D. Of four people asked: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06, SV-12, SV-20, SV-23.
Possum Trot … hollow, a school and part of early Mountain View: see Chapter 5 (O’Brien 1939, 108; Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 15). two Possum Trot Hollows … between Alley and Eminence … Winona Township: USGS GNIS (724782, Alley Spring sheet; 751722, Low Wassie sheet); U.S. Census Bureau, Geocoder (township of each mouth); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (724782 enters from the left). O’Brien 1939, 108 (“A valley in Winona Township”), probably means the second. Nirvana … a joking name for a sleepy place: O’Brien 1939, 93 (“probably used here as a humorous name for a quiet place”). Montier … Nip … section foreman or a dog: O’Brien 1939, 86.
Chimney Rock … “so named because of its chimney-like shape”: O’Brien 1939, 27. 109 Americanisms: O’Brien 1939, viii, 228. plants gave more names … oak in eighteen … pine in thirteen … cedar in nine: O’Brien 1939, 178 (99 floral names of towns, churches and schools among 362 environmental names, 78 of them from trees). cave … spring: O’Brien 1939, 27. Open Hollow: O’Brien 1939, 97. Hay Hollow: O’Brien 1939, 58. Pine Creek … banks: O’Brien 1939, 103. along the ridge: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 84. Pin Oak Hollow: O’Brien 1939, 105. Sugar Tree Hollow on Leatherwood Creek: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. Sugartree Bottom … several large ones: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“once the home of several large sugar maples”), where it is spelled Sugar Tree Bottom; PDF p. 31 spells it Sugartree; see Reach E. Sugar Tree Grove … “named for the maple trees which grow in the district”: O’Brien 1939, 130 (a Dent County school of the same name was “Named for a maple sugar tree grove”). Bee Bluff on the middle river has its own honey story: see Reach F. Bee Bluff School, District 83, near Eminence … “near a bluff on which grew bee trees”: O’Brien 1939, 11; which bluff is meant is not said; the river’s Bee Bluff lies far upstream, above Bay Creek (Reach F), and the school near Eminence probably took its name from another. probably took its name from another bluff: see Reach F. hollow trees where wild bees stored their honey: the general sense of bee tree. Panther Hollow … “Habitat of panthers in early days”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 81. “wolf hunting in the vicinity is good sport”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 116. Blue Spring Park … “was chosen to describe the water”: O’Brien 1939, 17.
“the peculiar geological formation found there”: O’Brien 1939, 68. “making a jamming of the water; hence the name”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 53; see Chapter 12. Barn Hollow … preferred in 1945 … “barren” … bare of timber: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 4 (“I judge the name is a mispronunciation of ‘Barren’”; informants said the valleys were “practically barren of timber during the early days”); see Chapter 5.
Button Rock School, District 85 … “butts on” … popular etymology … filed as one in 1939: O’Brien 1939, 22, 205 (“Button Rock (Butt-on Rock)” among the popular etymologies). built from the sound of the word: the general sense of the term. east side of the Current: NPS 2016 (Buttin Rock School). a second Buttin Rock on the Current: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 77 (map, at Thompson Creek Bottom); see Reach J.
Spargo Branch … Sanders Branch … 1948: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs); see Reach A. nobody explained in the 1930s and 1940s … Fly Blow … Coppermine Hollow: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; none is explained in O’Brien 1939 or Pottenger 1945. Spurgeon Hollow … 1938 state highway map … a little north of Eminence … unsolved: O’Brien 1939, 127 (“A narrow valley on Jack’s Fork a little n. of Eminence,” marked with two asterisks); see Reach I. Two hollows below Eminence carry the Coppermine name … by one account each runs toward old mine workings: see Reach J.

The bridge with three names

Buck Hollow Ford … before the Civil War: Wehmer 2024; see Chapter 8. first bridge there, finished in 1914: see Chapter 8. 1934 … “Buck’s Holler”: Dorrance 1938, 26 (the year is inferred; see Chapter 9). The hollow’s own creek: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (the creek entering at about mile 7.0).
Five … “Steele” … Two more … newcomer of 1979 … “used to be referred to as the Steel Bridge” … Eminence, Birch Tree or Springfield … Highway 17: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-05, SV-06, SV-09, SV-12, SV-15, SV-19, SV-20, SV-22, SV-23, SV-24, SV-25. 2005: see Reach D.
Howell County historian … “the Seventeen Bridge” … “Cardinal Acres” … “Rat Cliff” … “mental visions …” … “pronounced locally ‘Rat-liff,’ and by me ‘Rat Cliff’” … “kind of offended” … “but that’s the oldest name for it”: Wehmer 2024 (Lou Wehmer), the only source. Cardinal Acres: see Chapter 9.
Four … River Hill … Buck Hollow, “South 17,” “Just 17” … “17 Bridge Hole”: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-05, SV-09, SV-15, SV-19, SV-20, SV-22, SV-23.

Low Water, the Forks and the Prongs

South Prong Access: MDC, South Prong Access. Most … Low Water … as one of them tells it … old, low Highway Y bridge: see Chapter 8 (Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20, the only account of the name’s origin).
access … junction: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06, SV-22. each prong … its own culvert pipes: see Chapter 8 (Table 8.1). “the low water bridge on Jacks Fork road”: record SV-05. a map of 1980 … “Low Water Bridge”: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 12 (map, “The Forks”); see Chapter 8. “Low water bridge,” “Low water crossing” … “The Forks bridge”: records SV-06, SV-05, SV-20. “above low water”: record SV-22.
“A low water crossing …”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-19. The term’s earlier use, Dorrance’s “first ‘low water bridge’” on the Black River, is in Chapter 8.
North Prong … South Prong … three: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-05, SV-09, SV-24. tourist map of Texas County in 1936 … North Fork and the South Fork … place-name dictionary: O’Brien 1939, 94, 125. two people … still say: records SV-19, SV-20. Steiner’s Fork: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9, the only source; see Reach A. “The Forks” to four … “the Prongs” to three: records SV-05, SV-09, SV-12, SV-19, SV-20, SV-23, SV-24. “most people start at The Forks …”: record SV-20. same person … Slick Rock: record SV-22. Slick Rock Hollow … Little Shawnee Creek drainage below Eminence: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (a hollow along Little Shawnee Creek). “Jammed Up”: record SV-03.
Two Rivers … the Junction: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-09, SV-12, SV-15, SV-19, SV-20, SV-23, SV-24, SV-25.

It depends where you’re from

Arroll … a mile and a half north of the North Prong: USGS GNIS (Arroll), measured to the river centerline. “People from different towns …” … “even on official maps”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
Table 18.1: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-05, SV-06, SV-09, SV-12, SV-15, SV-17, SV-19, SV-20, SV-22, SV-23, SV-24, SV-25, by the town each gave as where they grew up (SV-12 and SV-23 did not say; SV-05 moved to Mountain View from Oklahoma in 1979 and is counted in the first column).
came mostly from … one person whose hometown is not recorded … River Hill and the Forks: Table 18.1; record SV-23. “Neighbors and yes”: record SV-20. “Cullpepper Shoot, Steel Bridge Hole, Powell Springs (River split)”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15, which gives “17 Bridge Hole” separately for the Highway 17 crossing and for its hill. Culpepper Chute and Powell Spring … one above the town and one below it: see Reaches I and J. probably Eminence’s own … steel bridge of 1917: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (“The hole of water above the bridge site is called the Steel Bridge Hole”; the narrow steel bridge was finished in March 1917); see Reach J. The record does not say where the hole is, and the other reading, the Highway 17 hole under its Mountain View name (Reach C), cannot be ruled out.
Bluff Hole … three … “Tall bluff …”: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-12, SV-15, SV-25 (marked on maps within about 600 meters of one another). “about gone last time I was there”: record SV-17. Float Rock … two … two: records SV-12, SV-15, SV-20, SV-25.
King’s Mountain Draw … near Willow Springs: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 15 (Cane Creek, Willow Springs Township). seems to be a word of the high Ozarks … thirty-eight times … Shannon County … rare elsewhere in Missouri: O’Brien 1939, 190 (“seems to be one which is found commonly in the high Ozarks, but rarely in other sections of the state”); see also 233, where hollow is listed among the Americanisms. None of the 96: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Names that live without a place

Gar Hole first … “Gar Hole near Y highway”: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-24. Six … mile and a half below … Belew Hollow: record SV-05 (marked on a map at about mile 8.6). Four … not sure where … one did not know it: records SV-03 (“Heard of it, not sure where”; her “near Y highway” comes with the name only, not with a place she marked), SV-06, SV-19, SV-20; SV-12. “When I was a kid …”: record SV-19.
“Same as gar hole”: record SV-19. “Lots of places get called blue hole on the upper”: record SV-20. blue in its deep places … “to strike blue water”: Dorrance 1938, 4–5. “bye ’n bye ye’ll strike blue water”: Dorrance 1938, epigraph. Blue Hole Hollow … “the very deep portion of the stream …” … “A good fishing place”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file, “Blue Hole Hollow” (a valley drained by a small stream flowing into Dry Creek, in Siloam Springs Township, off the Jacks Fork’s watershed).
Jerktail Landing … between Round Spring and Two Rivers … “jerk tails”: NPS 1977, Current River float table and stop list. Five … Four … “On the Current” … one had heard: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-06, SV-12 (“On the Current”), SV-19; SV-20 (heard of it).

Names that moved

Alley: see Chapters 4 and 5 and Reach H. Jam-Up Hollow … only by horseback … Rhymer’s Ranch: O’Brien 1939, 68; see Chapter 9. Jam Up Hollow … Mahans Creek: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
For decades … four proposals … Table 18.2 … fifty years … seven-tenths of a mile … no local name … 1917 … 1938 … 1939 … no one living in the area: MBGN 2011. from that highway map alone … nobody there could explain: O’Brien 1939, 2, 186 (among the unsolved names). about a mile and a half farther down: measured along the river centerline from the short valley lettered Stillhouse Hollow on the 1968 Jam Up Cave quadrangle (mouth at about mile 19.85, right bank) to the corrected hollow (21.39); the 2011 minutes give “approximately 2.5 miles apart.” The Stillhouse Hollow at mile 17.34 is a different valley, which keeps the name (USGS GNIS 727108; MBGN 2011, “The closest is just less than four miles upstream”); USGS 1968 (Jam Up Cave). Map 08: see the atlas.
Tom Akers of Eminence: MBGN 2011 (“Proponent: Col. Tom Akers; Eminence, MO”). St. Louis in 1951 … 1969 … two degrees … Rolla … 1972 through 1976 … Alley Spring … principal … four years … 1979 … Edwards … 1987: NASA, Akers. four … Ulysses … first flight of … Endeavour … three-person spacewalk … Intelsat … new rocket motor … two of the five … Hubble … Mir … 800 hours … 29 hours … colonel in 1999 … 2010: NASA, Akers; Kennedy Space Center 2026. small farm near Eminence … trail boss … twenty years … land surveying … May 2026 … Hall of Fame: Kennedy Space Center 2026.
first heard … May 2011 … drew opposition … until November … three of its members: MBGN May 2011, 5. already in local writing by 1980: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 40, 44 (Bee Hollow below Bee Bluff; Island Branch, “named because the river use to make a large island where the hollow comes in”), 47 (map); see Reaches F and G. November 8, 2011 … commissioners … Park Service … no documents … would know best … 1968 … “a cartographical error rather than a field error” … want of a second … one abstention … note: MBGN 2011. gathered correctly on the ground … when the map was drawn: a gloss on the distinction the minutes draw.
adopted all four changes on January 12, 2012: USGS GNIS (records 727109, 748765, 2710695 and 748570, each “Board Decision,” 01/12/2012).
Fifteen … three of them in Shannon County: MBGN 2011 (from GNIS). Stillhouse Branch … another Stillhouse Hollow … about four miles above: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (the Stillhouse Hollow entering on the left at mile 17.34, named from a GNIS valley record; the corrected Stillhouse Hollow, entering on the right at mile 21.39); MBGN 2011 (“closest” Stillhouse Hollow “just less than four miles upstream”). “Little stillhouse” … “Nickelloff”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (given for the two hollows entering at those mouths).
Bee Bluff … on the Current: NPS 1977, Current River stop 12. Blue Spring: see Chapter 12. Pine Hollows … Spring Hollows: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Spellings that drift

Table 18.3: Button Rock: USGS GNIS (“Buttin Rock”); O’Brien 1939, 205; Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-12, SV-17, SV-20. Baptizing Hole: NPS 1977; USGS GNIS; records SV-06, SV-12, SV-20, SV-23. Ratliff Ford: see Chapter 8. Lodder: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56; record SV-23. Mahans Creek: O’Brien 1939, 80. Rymers: O’Brien 1939, 112 (“Rhymer’s Ranch”); see Chapter 9. Montier: O’Brien 1939, 86, 203. Jam Up: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 53; Dorrance 1938, 32. Whitbeck: see Chapter 9. Steel Bridge: records SV-03, SV-06. Jacks Fork: O’Brien 1939, 67; see Chapter 4; records SV-20, SV-23, SV-25; BGN 2016, 50 (“Apostrophes suggesting possession or association are discouraged within the body of a proper geographic name”).
“Button Rock” … “Buttin Rock” … “Ive heard Button and Buttin”: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-20, SV-12, SV-17.
Howell County newspaper columnist … “who occasionally had quirky pronunciations …”: Whitaker 2025 (Lonnie Whitaker), the only source. Radcliff: see Chapter 8.

The creeks nobody named

285 … 96 … federal maps or in the federal names file … 189 … 108 … eighteen … five square kilometers … nearly thirteen square miles … about six miles … 90 … 31 … Sixty-one … 21 … 13 … one: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (the largest unnamed creek, on the South Prong, 33.4 square kilometers, 9.5 kilometers long). grid of ground heights in cells about 40 meters across … lowest neighbor: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (3DEP 1/3 arc-second elevations at about 40-meter cells); the tracing method is the standard one. Map 18.1: to be drawn from the same data.
“Spring hole” … “Big bear”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23. football field and First Street … Jam Up Creek … nine miles … by its channel: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (about six miles in a straight line); see Chapter 12. the name of the creek it becomes … “Runs into Jacks Fork” … “Most of the little creeks …”: record SV-20 (written “Ham Up Creek,” taken here as Jam Up).

The words for water

“shoals and pot-holes, jest shoals and pot-holes”: Dorrance 1938, 26; see Chapter 15. “rimes” … eddies … still stretches in between: Dorrance 1938, 13–14 (“quiet stretches in between”). riffle, the pool and the bar: see Chapter 15.
Gar Hole … Swift Current: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-09, SV-15, SV-22, SV-23, SV-24, SV-25. “Watering hole or The Creek”: record SV-22. Four of thirteen: records SV-09, SV-15, SV-17, SV-22.
“rapid” … “wet weather spring” … “wet-weather creek” … “Going to the river”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. float trip: see Chapter 20.
“holler”: Dorrance 1938, 26. “also pronounced ‘holler’ locally”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file, “Blue Hole Hollow.” bluff … gravel bar: see Chapter 2. low-water bridge: see Chapter 8.
checked against the standard dictionaries in 1939 for a list of Americanisms … bluff … 1737 … Branch … 1674 … fork … 1753 … Prong … 1860 … “a branch or arm of a creek” … Lick … 1751 … sink … Hollow … 1550s … great numbers: O’Brien 1939, 224–25, 227, 231, 233, 236, 238 (the appendix of 109 Americanisms, with the dictionaries’ earliest dates; prong after Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms, 1860; hollow not an Americanism in two of the dictionaries, earliest example 1553, but “used in many place names in the U.S.”). Johnboat … 1894 … Crawdad … 1878 … goggle-eye … 1840: Merriam-Webster (river words), “johnboat,” “crawdad,” “goggle-eye” (dates of first known use).
wassie, in the dialect … rain wash or a swamp … Shannon County village of Low Wassie … Pomeroy … Low Wossie in 1892 … sinkhole close by … 1925: O’Brien 1939, 79.

Chapter 19. Swimming, Baptizing and Gigging

Opening

“Going to the river”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (what people said when they set out for the river).
thirteen people … twelve … ten … Six: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03 to SV-25 (thirteen records name what people did on the river: swimming in all but SV-23; fishing or gigging in SV-03, -05, -06, -09, -15, -19, -22, -23, -24 and -25; church, baptisms or gatherings in SV-06, -09, -15, -20, -22 and -25).

Learning the water

“lived on the river”: Gibson 2000, 41 (old-timers interviewed for the Park Service in the late 1990s). old boat or two tied up … none of them had motors … “a lot of time on the river, swimming and fishing”: Gibson 2000, 37.
Luther Rowlett … army … pith helmet … “Retriever” … drowned … glass … buckets … newspaper … Florida … “Luther taught us all to swim” … “Pied Piper” … “The town babysitter actually”: Gibson 2000, 41–42 (an interviewee who learned from him as a child in Eminence; no dates are given).
Chicago writer … Texas County farm north of the river in 1935: Lyon 1941 (Marguerite Lyon), about a farm bought in 1935; see Chapters 8 and 9. about a mile … “Jack’s Forks” … “It was nice …”: Lyon 1941, 42. to the drop how much rain … Barn Hollow to swimming depth: Lyon 1941, 150. after a wet spell the family swam there: Lyon 1941, 294. “wet stringy hair” … came rattling up the hill … “Sech goin’s-on”: Lyon 1941, 213.
writer who homesteaded … pond … basin of stone … warm shallows … “preparing our toddlers to swim in the nearby Jacks Fork River”: Carey 1994, 22 (Ken Carey).

The swimming holes

bluff … pool … bar … current runs fastest … drops its gravel: see Chapters 2 and 15. riffle of coarse gravel … low natural dam … holds the water up: see Chapter 15. 8 to 10 feet … Lower Kelly Hole … Dark Hollow Hole … Jam-Up Hole and Fish Trap Hole: each pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Reaches E, F and G.
“most summer afternoons” … “with the rest of the people from that area” … dam, a bridge and a swimming hole … “a large rock to jump off of”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (marked on a map at the dam); see Reach A. Arroll Road … Houston Rural Cemetery: see Reach A. Dixon Ford: see Chapter 11. South Prong a short way above the junction: see Chapter 8. “changed the river and the swimming hole quite a bit”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20; see Chapters 8 and 15.
along the bluff … gravel bar … several places to jump: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20; see Chapter 15 and Reach D. every summer day of 1984, 1985 and 1986: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-06. Howell County columnist’s family … Ratliff Ford … unless … camping at Alley: Whitaker 2025 (Lonnie Whitaker, writing in the Howell County News). Blue Spring … jumping rock … resort … jumping bluff: see Reach D and Chapter 15. changed since the 1990s: see Chapter 15.
camped at Rymers … uncle’s Jeep … neighbors’ fields: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-06.
1926 and 1927 … swimming hole with a beach and a beach house on the spring branch: Stevens 1991, 182 (after the Annual Report of the State Game and Fish Commissioner, 1926 and 1927); see Chapter 9 and Reach H.
born in 1967 … “all along the Alley access …” … “Tall bluff with well beaten paths …”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15 (marked on a map at Bluff Hole). Birch Tree … 1940s … Bluff Hole: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-25. “Bluff Hole, Button Rock, in Eminence at the bridge, about anywhere you wanted to” … “about gone”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-17 (Lynne Norris).
Button Rock … boys-only … Naked Hole: Gibson 2000, 41. near the Circle B campground: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-12 and SV-20 (marked on maps). Button and Buttin: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-17; SV-12 wrote “Buttin Rock.” Pickin’ and Grinnin’ … Jack’s Fork campground: Gibson 2000, 75. Lick Log Hollow: see Chapter 17.

Jumping

rite of passage … belly-flop: see Reach D (Wehmer 2024). “well beaten”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15. rope swing … “treacherous”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
homemade fiberglass canoe … a friend and his father … “reckless daredevils … ridiculously high bluffs”: Whitaker 2025 (the canoe built by Royce Yardley and his father).
Gravel moves: see Chapter 15. rules on jumping and rope swings: see Part Six.

Down to the water

By 1906 … 83 percent … sixteen counties … three-quarters: Blevins 2021, ch. 4. immersion … laid back under the water … burial and rising … baptistry: the practice of the Baptist and Disciples churches, given as general explanation. 1885 and 1910 … picnic … debate … close of the school term … brush-arbor revival: Gilmore 1984 (publisher’s description, which sets baptizings among the public diversions of rural Missouri with picnics, brush-arbor revivals, debates and closing-of-school programs).
Buck Hollow Ford … rocky crossing: see Chapter 8. seems to have served as a baptizing place in all weathers into modern times: Wehmer 2024, the only source (the ford “seems to have been used in all weathers into modern times as a baptizing hole”). about waist-deep … one at a time: the usual order of a river baptizing, given as general explanation; Wehmer 2024 pictures the candidates walking out “waist-deep” to wait their turn. 36°F: see Chapter 16 and Reach D.
March 21, 1913 … “Baptists Baptise Sunday” … Crane and Gulley … “Owing to the threatening weather …” … “than usual” … the next Arroll column … light snow: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Mountain View Standard, March 21, 1913.
whose paper printed the notice … Mount Olivet Baptist Church … 1875 … reorganization in 1906 … 1913 … Union Baptist Association … newly organized Howell County Baptist Association … 1938 … First Baptist Church of Mountain View: SHSMO R987 (the collection’s description of the church’s centennial booklet of 1975: founded as Mount Olivet in 1875; “no records exist prior to reorganization in 1906”; in the Union Baptist Association until 1913, when it joined the newly organized Howell County Baptist Association; renamed in 1938; the booklet itself not seen). Nothing in it ties Reverends Crane and Gulley to this congregation.
March 1958 … in the Jacks Fork … Reverend Fuller … Church of God of Prophecy at Montier … “fiery sermons” … “I did not want to take any chances …” … family graves at Montier … detours up Highway 17 to Buck Hollow … Floyd Gentry … baptistry behind the choir loft … “Perhaps,” … “he was not taking any chances either”: Whitaker 2025 (the “Jacks Fork dunking”; he does not say where on the river).
“seemed to pause at this wide level bank …” … “Church groups often gathered …”: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork stop 2. Four people … Baptizing Hole … Baptism Hole … the two who have marked it on a map put it below the spring: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06 (“Baptism Hole”), SV-12 (“Baptising Hole, Bachers”; not marked on a map), SV-20 and SV-23 (marked on maps at about miles 10.6 and 10.1 on the river centerline, below Blue Spring at 9.8; the federal place-name record puts Baptizing Hole at about 10.0). See Reach D.
daughter who was baptized in the Jacks Fork: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (“My daughter was,” of anyone baptized in the Jacks Fork). “big baptizings” … “just more gatherings …”: Gibson 2000, 45 (a Van Buren resident). 2013 … permit … congressman: see Chapter 10.

The river at night

three or four barbed tines … blacksmith: Turner 2014. pine … fourteen feet long: Randolph 1931, 231 (pine poles about fourteen feet long, in the southwestern Ozarks). northern hog sucker … yellow suckers: Turner 2014. broad head … mouth set underneath … turning over the small stones: the habits of the northern hog sucker, given as general natural history; the river’s fishes are in Chapter 16. almost invisible against the gravel … 8 to 15 inches … eleven years … Smallmouth bass, longear sunfish and minnows … trail … hog molly and box head … bony head … less meat: MDC, “Northern Hog Sucker” (its coloring “makes it almost invisible” on a gravel bed; 8 to 15 inches, at most about 17; “can live for 11 years”; other names hog molly and box head; smallmouth, longear and minnows “commonly follow foraging hog suckers”; a less desirable food fish because its bony head is much of its body). golden redhorse … larvae of midges, mayflies and caddisflies … much of the redhorse harvest by gig and snag … black redhorse … white sucker: MDC, “Golden Redhorse” (other names yellow sucker and golden sucker; 9 to 15 inches, living 11 years or more; “Much of the gigging and snagging harvest of redhorse suckers in Ozark streams is of this species”; the black redhorse, “white sucker,” is included in that harvest). Which fish … when: see Part Six. clear … among the few places in the country: Gibson 2000, 74. feed a family through the lean months of winter: Turner 2014. after the tourists have gone … a local kind of fishing: Gibson 2000, 74 (“Because gigging takes place in the Winter, that is, in the low tourist season, it is a purely local mode of fishing”). “When the water’s hot, the fish are no good” … very cold water: Wohleber 2011 (a gigger of seventy-four; he held that the fish must come from very cold water to be good to eat), the only source.
April or early May near the heads of gravelly riffles: MDC, “Northern Hog Sucker.” crowd onto the shallow gravel shoals … dogwoods: the spring spawning run of suckers on gravel shoals, given as general natural history. “The dogwoods bloom when the suckers are shoaling”: Gibson 2000, 75 (“several people told us”).
nothing archaeologists have found … middle 1800s … southern Appalachians … frogs and small game: Rochon 2010, 3–4 (after Bilger 2000, Everts-Boehm 1996 and Hastings 2008; it names the settlers as Scots-Irish), the only source; held to “by one account.” seventy-four in 2011 … great-great-grandfather … 1820 … since the first settlers reached the river: Wohleber 2011 (“from what records I’ve got, it was going on back then”; he believed people had gigged the fish for food since settlers first came). big sawmills closed … turned to gigging: Rochon 2010, 4 (after Hastings 2008: lumber-mill closures in the early 1900s left many men without work, and many gigged to support their families), the only source; see Chapter 7.
dugout canoes twenty to thirty feet long … plank-built gigging canoe: Stevens 1991, 50; see Chapter 9. “fire fishing” … one man … poled … a mile and a half or two miles … “firejack” … pine knots … split that day … “That was the only light you had”: Gibson 2000, 38–39 (giggers “built fire boxes in the middle of the boat”). metal basket: Turner 2014 (pine knots burned “in metal baskets”). base of a pine limb … full of resin: general explanation. “burning on clay mud in the middle of their John Boat”: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork stop 3. Muck Forty: see Chapter 18.
Carter County boatbuilder … bow … stern … “more good than a dozen men a trying”: Gibson 2000, 39–40. about twenty miles … seven in the morning and noon … poles about ten feet long … gravel bar: Gibson 2000, 40, the only source (the same man, poling a friend’s boat home up the Current from below Gooseneck; “generally it’s 20 miles”).
Black River … 1934 … bare to the waist … “strapped to the wrist with a deer-hide thong” … ball of wire … white with ash: Dorrance 1938, 19–20; see Chapter 9. Fig. 19.1: after Dorrance 1938, 19–20; Gibson 2000, 38–40; NPS 1977, stop 3.
kerosene lamps … generators … batteries running LED lights … noise of a generator … flat-bottomed … rail: Turner 2014 (battery systems running LED lights; “eliminating generator noise adds to the evening’s enjoyment”). gasoline burners on a pipe … both sides … electric lights: Gibson 2000, 39. gas lanterns … wooden johnboats … no motors: Wohleber 2011. By 2010 … gasoline engine and halogen lamps: Rochon 2010, 1 (“typically” at night from a johnboat with a gasoline-powered engine and halogen lights). “It’s just like lightin’ up the river bottom” … shield … cannot see the men behind it: Gibson 2000, 38 (“So they don’t see your motion”). no propeller … impeller … grate … riffles only inches deep … sport: Turner 2014 (jet motors have no propeller and “use an internal impeller”; they made shallow rivers easier to navigate and “helped turn gigging into sport”); the working of the jet unit given as general explanation. motor limits … gigging season: see Chapters 10 and 11.
bends light … “You anticipate where the fish is gonna be …” … string … jerk … “high school to college”: Gibson 2000, 38 (“you’ve got to take that refraction in the water”). folklorist … southwestern Ozarks … “as loudly as anybody” … four to six feet … “more like shooting quail on the wing …” … “scores ten or twelve misses …”: Randolph 1931, 230–33 (Vance Randolph, on the southwestern Ozarks).
many years … first gig given to them: Turner 2014. Herb Ellerman … “it throws straight and slices the water”: Gibson 2000, 40–41. 1996 … gigmaker of Doniphan … apprenticeship to Paul Martin of Bunker … 2003, 2007 and 2011: Missouri Folk Arts Program 2019 (from an oral history recorded at Doniphan in April 2018; “his 1996 apprenticeship to the late Paul Martin of Bunker”; he “taught his own apprentices in 2003, 2007, and 2011”), the only source. Reynolds County hills east of the Current: general geography. display gigs … widely admired … gigging off bridges … deep water of the Current near Doniphan … pride and amazement … “one of the best giggers in the country” … “He can run the boat with one leg …”: Gibson 2000, 74. “and try not to fall in the river”: Gibson 2000, 119.
seven towns … Winona, Birch Tree, Eminence, Van Buren, Grandin, Fremont and Ellsinore … 2009 … close to twenty-four years … about nineteen … eleven times a season … five or six … friends or … a parent … more than a quarter … women … Nearly half … yellow sucker … preferred … about a third the hog sucker … October … December and November … one gigger in seven … opening day: Rochon 2010, 29, 41–43 (a mail questionnaire of August–November 2009 to licensed anglers in the seven zip codes of those towns, next to the two rivers; 404 of 1,011 returned it, and the figures rest on the 254 who had gigged; mean 23.74 years of gigging, begun at 18.81; 11.31 trips a season; a party of 5.53; learned from friends 46.2 percent, from parents 40.7; 71.5 percent men; the fish preferred, yellow sucker 47.6 percent and northern hog sucker 35.7; the best time for a trip, October 26.0 percent, December 20.0, November 17.2, opening day 14.4). Wohleber 2011, from the same research, rounds these to about 25 years and 11 trips a season.
Saturday night … gravel bar … men … gigging, the cleaning and the cooking … “lying to everybody …”: Gibson 2000, 74. small forked bones … close, shallow cuts … cornmeal … light brown … Eleven Point River angler … hog lard … opening night … boat ramps: Turner 2014 (the scoring “helps dissolve the bones during frying”). December fry on the Current in Shannon County in 2011 … ironing boards … gravel bar … scale, fillet and bone … boat launch … campfire and propane burners … crinkle-cut fried potatoes … biscuits … cinnamon and sugar: Wohleber 2011 (datelined Eminence, December 19, 2011; the photographs set the gigging on the Current in Shannon County).
probably added to the decline … Carter County fishing club’s register … after 1900 … sportsmen: Stevens 1991, 155 (after Callison), the historian’s judgment that the gigging and illegal dynamiting of fish by residents “also contributed” to a decline that sportsmen’s catches alone did not explain; see Chapter 9. “not a serious menace to the game fish in my section of the Ozarks”: Randolph 1931, 230.
statutes of 1929 and 1931 … game fish … gar, grinnel … hickory shad … any time of year … February through May … February 1938 … Reynolds County … two hog suckers … prosecuting attorney … attorney general … March: Missouri Attorney General 1938 (citing Revised Statutes of Missouri 1929, secs. 8271–72, and Laws of Missouri 1931, 226; the man charged is not named in the text). bowfin: grinnel is a regional name for the bowfin, given as general explanation. spring spawning runs: see above. took office in 1937 under the amendment of 1936: the Conservation Commission took office on July 1, 1937, under the constitutional amendment of 1936, given as general history; see Chapter 9. banned gigging outright … clubs and associations … short fall and winter season: Rochon 2010, 4 (after Fleener 1974 and Everts-Boehm 1996), the only source, hence “by one account”; the attorney general’s opinion of March 1938 treats gigging of nongame fish as lawful outside February–May under the statutes and mentions no commission ban, so the date of the ban is uncertain. Today’s season and limits are in Part Six.

Fishing the holes

float-fishing trade: see Chapter 9. fish: see Chapter 16. “but it was also part of your subsistence”: Gibson 2000, 37.
Powell Spring … mouth of Big Shawnee … about a mile up the Jacks Fork … quilt, biscuits, jelly and butter … sycamore poles … “We got one!”: Gibson 2000, 42. The speaker also set the spring “across the river from Alley Spring”; his route puts it at the Powell Spring below Eminence, at about mile 42.6 (see Reach J).
with their hands … grabbling: see Chapter 9 (Dorrance 1938, 33). Chicago writer’s farm … “disgusted at the ways of furriners …”: Lyon 1941, 165. Sally Hole … “which they don’t know how deep it is”: Lyon 1941, 124.
as a child in the 1920s: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 50. “what they called Catfish Bluff and Loader Ford” … “had deep holes. And that’s where people fished a lot.”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56. shallow: the 2021–23 riverbed survey shows no pool 4 feet or deeper within about a quarter mile of Upper and Lower Catfish Hole (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Reach F.
Gar Hole … “fish for the day” … could not find: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-19 (“walk in there and fish for the day”); see Chapter 18 and Reach C.

Gatherings

Fourth of July picnics … 1890s: see Chapter 9. one man … squirrel, gigging or rabbit season … “Meet at granddad’s …” … hundred or two hundred … “and the kids could swim …”: Gibson 2000, 41. Eminence high-school student … Fourth of July: Gibson 2000, 119.
cisterns fed by rain off the roofs … ponds: general explanation of upland water supply; Lyon 1941, 176, for the dry ponds and low cisterns.
Baptist minister Robert Lowry … Brooklyn … summer of 1864 … river of the water of life … Revelation: Lowry 1865 (first printed as “Beautiful River”); the place, the summer of 1864 and the text, Revelation 22:1–2, from Lowry’s own account as given in Reynolds 1976.
late 1930s … drought … ponds … cisterns … washboards, a boiler … carryall … wood wagon … new car … wagon with sideboards … “Wash day became a glorified picnic” … “Shall We Gather at the River” … knee-deep … stock … thunderstorm … cisterns: Lyon 1941, 176–79 (the chapter “Knee-Deep Rinsin’”; Lyon writes “Last summer” in a book of 1941 about a farm bought in 1935; one of the cars was “a new 1935 car”).

What the park changed

rules: see Chapters 10 and 11 and Part Six. banks are private: see Chapter 11. bridge of 2005: see Chapter 8 and Reach D.
Steel Bridge … Blue Spring … filled or narrowed: see Chapter 15. Bluff Hole: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-17.

Chapter 20. Floating the Jacks Fork

Opening

johnboat guides … canoe boom: see Chapter 9.

Two kinds of float water

six classes … Class I … Class II … Classes III to VI: the International Scale of River Difficulty, given as general explanation. Class I and II: MDC 2003 (“Difficulty: I and II”).
about 9 feet a mile … 8 … 7 … 6 … 5: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2. The float guide gives 8.6 feet a mile from the Prongs to Highway 17, 8 to Bunker Hill, 7 to Alley Spring and 6.3 from Alley to the Current (general gradient 7.3), averages over its own stretches that agree with the measured fall to within about a foot a mile. about sixty feet: computed from the measured fall over the 6.98 miles from the junction to the Highway 17 bridge.
close to a canyon … no bottomland fields … twenty-five floatable miles: MDC 2003 (“Its deep valley is nearly a canyon, with no bottomland fields for the first 25 floatable miles”).
about thirty feet wide … frothing riffle … six feet across … inches under the canoe … small, steep, fast and unusually clear: Dufur 2013, 18–19 (“The 30-foot wide stream has narrowed into a frothing riffle only 6 feet wide”; “scant inches above the gravel bottom”; “steeper, faster, tighter, smaller, and clearer than most river runs in Missouri”; a spring float, made when “The river is low”). April and May … Class II water: Windy’s Floats 2026.
only large spring is Blue Spring: see Chapter 12. about an eighth … 63 … 485: see Chapter 14, Table 14.1 (Highway 17, 2002–2025: April 485, September 63 cubic feet a second).
loaded canoes above Alley … spring … good summer rains: MDC 2003 (“Trips with loaded canoes above Alley Spring are recommended only in spring or after good summer rains”). mid-to-late summer … Buck Hollow and Bay Creek usually runs low … harder floats and fewer people: MDC 2026 (“water levels are traditionally lower from Buck Hollow to Bay Creek accesses, providing more challenging float trips, but also less river traffic”). “often more fun to float during late winter and spring …”: NPS 1977, “Floating the River” (general panel, of the upper stretches of both rivers). “can be floated year-round if you have learned to ‘read’ the water currents …” … “sacrifice some aluminum” … spring: NPS 1977, Buck Hollow panel.
grew up at Arroll … many times … June through September … does not hold with the idea … prettiest stretch … harder float than Alley Spring to Two Rivers: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (raised at Arroll; on the best months, the prettiest stretch and the harder of Low Water to Highway 17 and Alley Spring to Two Rivers; disagreeing that “Above Blue Spring, the river is only worth floating after a rain”).
more water than the whole river above it: see Chapter 12. 1963 … “not without their partisans”: Sports Illustrated 1963 (a float from Akers to Round Spring on the Current, with no byline shown: “So to my friends it is the prima inter pares of floaters’ rivers, though Jack’s Fork and the Eleven Point are not without their partisans”). Class I … floatable in every month: Windy’s Floats 2026; Dufur 2013, 23 (“the river is floatable from Alley Spring down year-round”). first-timer … Alley Spring to Eminence: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.

Boats

since the 1960s … nearly nine craft in ten … nine in ten … rented … locally: see Chapter 9 (Table 9.2 and the early-1980s studies).
draws little water … tight bend … drag over a shoal: general explanation. johnboat … long and flat-bottomed … fishing boat: NPS 1977, “Floating the River” (“long, flat-bottom boats that may be more suitable than canoes for fishing”). in the late 1990s most local people still did not fish from canoes: Gibson 2000, 39 (“Most local people did not and still do not fish from canoes”).
seventeen-foot canoes … twelve-foot single and fifteen-foot tandem sit-on-top kayaks … six people … cooler … authorized … johnboats: Windy’s Floats 2026. Concessioners at Alley Spring and Two Rivers: see Chapter 11.
usually goes in a kayak … normal water … a few stops: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
wooden johnboat was all but gone from Ozark streams … canoes or in aluminum johnboats: McLaughlin 2001 (“The wooden john boats are all but gone from Ozark streams”; “Today, most float fishermen use canoes or aluminum john boats”), of Ozark streams generally. See Chapter 9. jet motor … bank of lights … rail … giggers’ boat: see Chapter 19 (Turner 2014).
“draw” … “pry” … parallel with the current … “‘barreling’ through …” … “step out and walk the canoe or boat through, or portage around” … canoe demonstrations for beginners … trips of more than a day: NPS 1977, “Floating the River.” reaches out to the side … levers it outward: the two strokes, given as general explanation.

Putting in and getting back

few on the upper river … road and history: see Chapter 9. down gravel roads … too rough for a car with low clearance: NPS 2026 (backcountry) (“down gravel roads”; “some roads are unsuitable for vehicles with low clearance”).
Table 20.1: MDC 2003 (quoted at its miles 0.0, 6.8, 9.6 and 44.6; the others paraphrased; “Take-out at Lions Ball Park on right side, one-quarter” mile below the Highway 19 bridge at its mile 37.3). Miles measured along the river centerline from the junction of the prongs (the Highway Y access 0.40 up the South Prong; Buck Hollow 6.98, Blue Spring 9.79, Rymers 16.50, Bay Creek 25.90, the Highway 106 bridge at Alley 32.03, Eminence at the Highway 19 bridge, 38.55 (the guide’s 37.3; its Lions Ball Park take-out a quarter mile below), Shawnee Creek 43.45, the mouth 46.21). Joshua T. Chilton Memorial Landing: MDC, Joshua T. Chilton Memorial Landing (Eminence); see Reach J.
backcountry campsites: see Chapter 11 and Reach D. Low Water: see Chapter 8.
Dixon Crossing … one place to begin until its owners closed it … “It’s possible to start at Dixon Crossing” … “but most people start at The Forks” … now called the Prongs: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (“It’s possible to start at Dixon Crossing, but most people start at The Forks (Now it’s called the Prongs)”; of Dixon Crossing, “The new owners don’t let anyone enjoy it anymore”); see Chapter 8 and Reach B. moved there in 1979 … the Prongs: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.
rented canoes … with the floaters … “at a scheduled time and place” … “vehicles at both ends of the planned trip”: NPS 1977, “Floating the River.” two-day float … local outfitter shuttled the floaters’ own truck down to Bay Creek: Dufur 2013, 23 (published April 2013; the float itself is undated). “does not allow us to move your vehicle” … 6 p.m. … 7 p.m.: Windy’s Floats 2026.

The usual floats

“the favored access for a long, fast one-day float trip or a lazy, two-day trip to Alley Spring”: NPS 1977, Buck Hollow panel. “17 Bridge to Alley Spring” … two-day: Windy’s Floats 2026. about nineteen miles … leisurely two-day float in spring: Dufur 2013, 18 (“leisurely two-day canoe float”; his figure is “a distance of 18 miles”); measured along the river centerline, Highway 17 to Bay Creek is 18.9 miles.
fishing on the Jacks Fork excellent … twenty-five miles from the 17 Bridge to the Highway 106 bridge … best … most primitive: Windy’s Floats 2026 (“Fishing on the Jacks Fork is excellent. The 25 miles of river from 17 Bridge to Hwy 106 Bridge at Alley Spring, is best”; the sentence follows the one on fishing, so “best” probably means the fishing; “Due to lack of access, it is the most primitive of rivers in this region,” said of the upper river, the Prongs to Alley Spring); measured, 25.1 miles. no road into it: Dufur 2013, 20 (“accessible only by canoe”). Jam Up Cave: see Chapter 13 and Reach E. Blue Spring to Rymers prettier than Rymers to Bay Creek: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
premier spring float stream for smallmouth bass, sunfish and goggle-eye: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area (“one of the premiere spring time Ozark float streams,” for smallmouth bass, sunfishes and goggle-eye).
standard list … twenty different trips … “depending on the water levels”: Windy’s Floats 2026. few miles just above Alley Spring … wide and shallow … walked in low water: MDC 2003 (“the few miles immediately above Alley Spring are especially wide and shallow and may have to be walked in low water”).
Table 20.2: miles measured along the river centerline (the Highway Y access 0.40 up the South Prong; Buck Hollow 6.98, Blue Spring 9.79, Rymers 16.50, Bay Creek 25.90, Alley Spring 32.03, Eminence 38.55, mouth 46.21); the float guide’s own distances (MDC 2003) run 0.2 to 1.6 miles shorter; outfitter’s figures, Windy’s Floats 2026; usual times, Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (240, 300, 180, 210, 360, 480 and 240 minutes; craft kayak, water normal, “a few stops”). The legs are not consistent with one another (240 + 360 is not 480; 300 − 240 leaves one hour, not three, from Highway 17 to Blue Spring).
44.6 … 46.21 … a mile and a quarter … more than a mile and a half: MDC 2003; measured channel as above.
one hour … thirteen to Two Rivers: NPS 1977, “Average floating time in hours from BUCK HOLLOW.” roughly three miles an hour: computed from the measured miles (25.1 miles in eight hours to Alley; 39.2 in thirteen to Two Rivers). four hours … a mile and a half an hour … twice the folder’s two: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20; NPS 1977 (eight hours to Alley, ten to Eminence); the pace computed from the measured 6.5 miles.
Arkansas outdoors editor … July 2013 … about a mile above the mouth of Alley Spring’s branch … five hours … swimming and lunch … seven miles: Putthoff 2013 (a float of July 3 by a party that met at Eminence, “the 7-mile trip,” that reached Alley Spring’s branch about a mile below the put-in, in five hours with “plenty of stops for swimming and lunch”); the put-in is inferred from the stop “a mile downstream” where Alley Spring joins; the seven miles is the party’s figure, not a measured one, and the take-out is not named; the pace, about 1.4 miles an hour, computed.
“most people float too fast and miss the best of it” … rental companies’ float times … gravel: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (agree; not sure; agree). See Chapter 15.

Reading the water

riffles, pools and bars: see Chapters 2 and 15.
“rocks lie dangerously close to the surface …” … “the smooth water shaped like a ‘V’ pointing downstream” … “the water in the chutes runs faster”: NPS 1977, “Floating the River.” funnels between two rocks … smooth tongue … V that points upstream … rock: general explanation of reading moving water. eddy … slack water … upstream … line between the eddy and the main current … spin … angled a little upstream … pillow: general explanation of reading moving water.
swings to the outside: see Chapter 2.
“Watch for rootwads!” … “Water rushes under and through them …” … tubes and air mattresses … “most common in the spring flooding season …” … asking a ranger … step out and walk: NPS 1977, “Floating the River.” Water passes through … pin: general explanation. Hazards and safety: see Part Six.
narrow run just below Blue Spring can be difficult: MDC 2003, mile 9.6 (“Narrow run just below spring may be difficult”); see Reach D. last few miles above Alley: MDC 2003. shoal at Panther Hollow … hardest spot on the river: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (“the shoal at Panther Hollow”); see Reach C.
“only a few thin shoals …”: NPS 1977, Buck Hollow panel. “portages have to be made around exposed gravel bars”: NPS 1977, “Floating the River.” Dorrance … 1934: see Chapter 9.

When to go

winters are mild … almost the year around: NPS 1977, “Floating the River” (“Mild winters allow almost year-round use of the Riverways”).
three … gauges … through the day: see Chapter 14. rule of thumb … 2 feet or more on the local gauge: Dufur 2013, 23 (“Look for 2 feet or more on the local gage to float the upper Jacks Fork River”), the only source; the gauge is not named. height above the gauge’s own zero point … depth: see Chapter 14. Eminence gauge carries Alley Spring’s water: see Chapter 14.
floods … rise quickly … no rain at all: see Chapter 14. about 4 feet … action stage … bankfull: see Chapter 14, Table 14.4. Closures at high water: see Chapter 14 and Part Six. Rain also raises the bacteria: see Chapter 17.

Nights on the gravel

Floods rework a bar … bare: general explanation; see Chapter 15. gravel washes … natural communities of the Jacks Fork Natural Area … dolomite cliffs and glades … forests: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area (“gravel wash, dolomite cliff and glade,” forest and woodland and cave communities).
immense gravel bar just below Jam Up Cave … popular primitive camping site: Dufur 2013, 23 (photo caption, “the immense gravel bar located just downriver from Jam Up Cave” as “a popular primitive camping site”). “on gravel or sand bars” … “the brilliant Ozark stars”: Windy’s Floats 2026.
well above the river if there is any chance of sudden rain: MDC 2003 (“camp well above river level if there is any chance of sudden rain”). no floodplain … stands higher against the walls: general explanation; see Chapter 14. “Pick campsites well above river level” … “flash flood warnings …” … “choose a campsite that can’t be seen from cabins or other structures along the river”: NPS 1977, safety panel and “Floating the River.” Where camping … is allowed: see Part Six. campgrounds: see Chapter 11.
Rymers … “across neighbors fields to get there”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-06.
June camp … towering wall of gray dolomite … boulders the size of cars … deep green water … riffle … bullfrogs, a green frog and trilling toads … warm slough: Bullard 2026, 18 (Loring Bullard, in the state’s conservation magazine; the campsite is not named and the year of the night is not given). barred owl … screech owl: Bullard 2026, 20. nine-step scale … John Bortle published in 2001 … class two … structure … black gaps: Bortle 2001; the scale is given as general explanation. a little over two … Milky Way … horizon to horizon after midnight … few places in Missouri: Bullard 2026, 20 (“There are few places in Missouri with a Bortle rating as low as this stretch of the Jacks Fork”). red headlamps, satellites … planes … “the faint skyglow from Mountain View …”: Bullard 2026, 19. has floated the Jacks Fork at night: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (agree, “I’ve floated the Jacks Fork at night”).

Leaving it as found

offers … trash bag … pack out: Windy’s Floats 2026. volunteer stream team: see Chapter 9. rules: see Part Six.

Part Five: The River Mile by Mile

A. The North Prong

Opening

about nine miles south of Raymondville … southeast … a short way below the Highway Y bridge: MDC 2001, PDF 1, 5; USGS 1948 (Clear Springs).
17.04 miles … about a mile longer than the South Prong … about 59 square miles … 88: measured along the prong centerlines traced for the maps in this book; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (basins of 151.8 and 226.6 square kilometers). The state’s figures are 17.3 miles and 58.7 square miles: MDC 2001, PDF 21, 28–30.
All of it lies in Texas County, outside the national riverways: MDC 2001, PDF 66–67 (no Park Service land in the North Prong unit); USGS GNIS.
Through this reach the prong falls about 30 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); the North Prong heads at about 1,420 feet. See Chapter 2.
about 130 feet … between about 35 and 55 … about 16 … about 12 … roughly 500 feet: MDC 2001, PDF 31–32 (tables Ge04–Ge05: 130.1, 55.9, 35.3, 15.8 and 12.2 feet per mile over 0.9, 1.7, 3.1, 7.7 and 4.0 miles).
about 9 feet a mile as far as Steel Bridge: the same profile (Map 12); the 2003 float guide gives 8.6 (MDC 2003, introduction).
About 15 of the prong’s 17 miles are mapped as permanent stream: MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03: 15.4 of 17.3 miles).
lowest eight miles … the seven above them: MDC 2001, PDF 90–91 (table Wq01, from Missouri’s designated uses: class P, 8.0 miles; class C, 7.0 miles).
August 14, 2006 … 13.5 cubic feet a second near its mouth … dry at the Route 137 crossing: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 19 (figure 9, a seepage run by U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists); see Chapter 12.
fewer than one to a hundred square miles: MDC 2001, PDF 11.
about seven-tenths … a little over a quarter … about a fifth for the whole watershed: MDC 2001, PDF 65 (table Lu05: North Prong forest 66.4 percent, woodland 3.7, grassland 28.1, cropland 1.6; whole watershed grassland 20.8, cropland 1.9).
about 11 of the prong’s miles: MDC 2001, PDF 98, 107 (table Hc04: 11.2 miles, 64.9 percent).
wider wooded strips … highest class, second only to Shawnee Creek: MDC 2001, PDF 149, 155 (figure Mp01, the Missouri Department of Conservation’s riparian priorities).
The man who knew the Hiker Hole … family came to the upper basin in 1932: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39–40, 57; see Chapter 15. “Back then, the fields was little islands …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 42.
About a fifth … Gist Ranch: MDC 2001, PDF 66–67 (table Lu07: 19.8 percent public, all state conservation land).
about 11,240 acres: MDC 2022. Smith Flooring Company … 1997 … springs and fens … glades … ponds … shooting range … about a dozen miles of trail: MDC, Gist Ranch Conservation Area (which calls Gist Ranch “a local name” and gives no origin).
one of three local names … the Kinnard Ranch and the Stoner Ranch … none of them has been traced … game refuge … deer and wild turkey: MDC 2017 (Gist Ranch), area history (“known locally as the Gist Ranch, the Kinnard Ranch and the Stoner Ranch”; “During the 1940s, the area was leased and used as a ‘game refuge’ by the Department,” one of the few places where deer and turkey remained in the state). The purchase from Smith Flooring in March 1997 agrees with the conservation area’s own description.
About 7,400 acres … None of the prong’s permanent water: MDC 2001, PDF 66–67 (table Lu06: 7,400.9 acres of state conservation land in the North Prong unit; no permanent stream miles).
A woman born in 1917 … the 1920s … until 1989 … middle 1960s: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 39, 50–51. “that blue hole” … “about filled up …” … on which prong: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 61 (the hole’s location is not given).
“there was a quarter inch of mud …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 60. The bracketed route number is added.
two stretches … 1982 … about five and a half … about eleven and a half … none, alive or dead: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 12, 15 (table 3, North Prong sites at river kilometers 9.0 and 18.5, both 1982 sites). The miles are converted from the paper’s river kilometers and are approximate.
June 1, 1994 … Sternberg Museum of Natural History … at least twelve kinds … rainbow and fantail darters: Sternberg Museum of Natural History, Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas, fish collection, catalog nos. FHSM 9991–10003 (water body “North ‘Prong’ Jacks Fork River,” Texas County; collector and exact place not recorded). Common names follow the scientific names on the lots (Campostoma anomalum, C. oligolepis, Nocomis biguttatus, Semotilus atromaculatus, Notropis nubilus, N. telescopus, Luxilus zonatus, Hypentelium nigricans, Noturus exilis, Fundulus catenatus, Etheostoma caeruleum, E. flabellare).
1966: USGS GNIS, North Prong Jacks Fork (Board on Geographic Names decision).
A tourist map of Texas County made in 1936 called it the North Fork: O’Brien 1939, 94 (North Fork, from the 1936 map); the map’s date, O’Brien 1939, 9. 1977: NPS 1977.
Steiner’s Fork … Steiner … Joseph Deggendorf: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9, the only source.
high-water floats … put in at the Prongs: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-05, SV-20; see Chapter 20.
the main river’s miles are counted downstream from the same point: see Reach C.

Headwaters

main divide: see Chapter 2.
Jackson Township … Joseph W. Brackett … Raymond, Maine … 1870s: O’Brien 1939, 110 (post office from 1876).

Harmon Branch

Harmon Branch … a little over a square mile … slightly more: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
The Harmons were among the early settlers … John Harmon … 1869 … George E. Harmon in 1890: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 9, 11. George E. Harmon was appointed at Grogan in 1900: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9; Rowe 2008 (Grogan: George E. Harmon, December 5, 1900).

Peabody Branch

about a mile and three-quarters … about a square mile and a half: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.69 miles, straight line from source to mouth).
Aaron T. Peabody … 1900: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9; Rowe 2008 (Grogan: Aaron Peabody, March 28, 1900).

Saddle Branch

two and three-quarter miles … nearly three square miles … mile 12.6 … a little over three square miles: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Route 137 and the Nagle and Grogan neighborhoods

about North Prong mile 11.9 … a little below Saddle Branch … about a mile above the mouth of Black Branch: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; USGS 1948 (Clear Springs); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9 (Black Branch enters below the crossing). dry here on August 14, 2006: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 19 (figure 9).
still a gravel road, into about the 1960s … gravel dug from the creeks: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52 (“probably 25 years ago, 30 years ago,” counted from about 1993); see Chapter 15.
came to the area from Oklahoma in 1979 … by the highway: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.
On the hill north of the bridge … the 86th … James M. Embree … William Lawson in 1922 … Mary Jane Lawson … Joseph Nagle … Rocky Ford church: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9. 1901, 1902 or 1904: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9 (from 1901); O’Brien 1939, 90 (1902); Forte, Postal History, Texas County (1904–1925).
Nogle: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs). the name Nagle still marks a place on the upland near here: USGS GNIS (Nagle, 37.1667, −91.8193).
closed in 1925 … C. H. Nagle family … Methodist church … a school … Ozark Township: O’Brien 1939, 90, the only source for the township; Forte, Postal History, Texas County, also closes the office in 1925.
about three miles up the creek … September 1897 to January 1954 … Tyrone … William B. Grogan (also spelled Grogran): Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9 (Lewis spells it Grogran); Rowe 2008 (Grogan: William B. Grogan, September 16, 1897; mail to Tyrone); Forte, Postal History, Texas County (1897–1954). Grogan: USGS GNIS; USGS 1948 (Clear Springs). J. E. Grogan, on whose land it was established … 1899 … southeastern Cass Township: O’Brien 1939, 55.

Black Branch

nearly two miles … a little less than a square mile … about two and a half square miles: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.83 miles, straight line from source to mouth).
The Blacks were an early family here, settled before the Civil War: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9, the only source.

Peters Creek

nearly 12 square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. between five and a half and seven miles … two and a third … lower three and a half miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; MDC 2001, PDF 28–30, 90–91.
the only stream named on the conservation area’s map: MDC, Gist Ranch Conservation Area (area map).
The creek takes its name from a cattle ranch … London in 1881 … 1883 … 28,000 acres … Charles E. Peter … Scotland in 1885 … Peter’s Ranch … About 14,000 acres … about 18,000 acres: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9, the only source (the scan reads “14,00”; read here as 14,000).
Eunice … W. B. Cooper … 1891: O’Brien 1939, 45.

Sanders Branch, Spargo Branch and the old mill

about a third of a mile apart … mile 8.2 … about four miles … three and a half square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Sanders Branch 4.1 miles, straight line from source to mouth).
Every map that names them, from the 1948 topographic sheet on, places them so: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs); USGS GNIS (sources to the west and to the northeast); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 10 (map).
before 1837 … Mahan’s Mill … main beams … walnut … forty feet … four cross members: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9, the only source.
At least three more mills … may have shared one site … Reuben Harlow … 1860 … Campbell Brothers … 1880 … which prong each stood on: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9 (Lewis’s supposition that two shared a site; he does not give the prong); see Chapter 5.
one of its earliest settlers: O’Brien 1939, 57; see Chapter 5.
Jefferson City to Little Rock … 1837 … federal money … never finished … Trails to the West are said to have crossed: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 9, 10 (map, “Jefferson City–Little Rock Road Crossing”); the trails are Lewis’s explanation.

Houston School and the Houston Rural Cemetery

beside Arroll Road … about half a mile above the road’s crossing: measured from the cemetery’s position (Find a Grave, Houston Rural Cemetery) and the crossing; USGS 1948 (Clear Springs).
south side of the creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9.
About ninety burials: Find a Grave, Houston Rural Cemetery (94 memorials).
1948 … benchmark of 1,085 feet: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs).
a map drawn in 1980 … between the old mill and Harmon Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 10 (map).
District No. 15 … T. J. Houston … “who was instrumental in building the school” … Pierce Township: O’Brien 1939, 63.
Houston Scalt, from Arkansas: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9.
about seventeen miles: measured (about 17.3 miles, straight line from Houston to the cemetery).

Harmon Hollow

two-thirds of a square mile: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
Houston School stood near it: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9. an early family on the prong: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9.
The newcomer of 1979 … “Harlow crossing”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.

Pebble Dam and the Arroll Road crossing

A map of 1980 marks a ford a little below Harmon Hollow … a spring on the south side: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 10 (map).
People from Mountain View and Arroll know the place: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-05, SV-09, SV-20 (SV-09 and SV-20 marked the crossing on maps).
“There is a dam and a bridge …” … “the drop off or ledge …”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. summers at the dam: see Chapter 19.
“Arrollo road” … marked on a map near Arroll: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05.
“to power the gist ranch lodge”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-09, the only source.
The federal wetland maps show a pool of 2.79 acres … the largest … the only such pool listed on the prong … probably the pool behind Pebble Dam: MDC 2001, PDF 96, 104 (table Hc01, from National Wetlands Inventory data: eight diked or impounded waters within 100 feet of third-order and larger streams, one of them, of 2.79 acres, in the channel of the North Prong). The match to Pebble Dam is an inference.
nearly swept away … both of their vehicles: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05; see Chapters 8 and 14.
about five and a half miles above the junction: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 15 (table 3, river kilometer 9.0).

Pine Branch and East Fork Pine Branch

between eight and nine square miles … four or five miles … about 140 feet … lower four miles are classed … about three and a half miles … more than three square miles … a little over a mile: MDC 2001, PDF 28–32, 90–91; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; USGS GNIS.
less than one percent: MDC 2001, PDF 107 (table Hc04: 0.01 mile, 0.2 percent).
A cemetery stands on the ridge above Pine Branch … Criders … Farrars … A skirmish … is said to have been fought … Germans from Belle: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11, the only source; he gives no date.

Tracy Hollow and Rocky Ford

about a square mile … about four-tenths of a mile below Pine Branch: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
Rocky Ford … two cemeteries … partly washed away by 1980 … a newer one … said to be of Delaware Indians … Woolseys and Thorps … Rocky Ford church … Joseph Nagle … Ben Meador … may have come into the country with the Delaware: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11, the only source (the Delaware graves and Meador’s coming are his account and supposition).
“Currents” … early 1820s: see Chapter 4.

The 2006 station

“North Prong Jacks Fork below Arroll” … May 16 to July 20 … three water samples … about 930 feet … 55.9 square miles … nothing since: USGS, station 07065160.
July 20, 2006 … carmine and bleeding shiners … Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson: Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, Jackson, fish collection, catalog nos. MMNS 49231 (Luxilus zonatus) and 49232 (Notropis percobromus), “North Prong Jacks Fork, below Arroll,” July 20, 2006, collected by B. G. Justus and the staff of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water-Quality Assessment program, Ozark Plateaus study unit.
about mile 2.0: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Buckhorn Hollow and Arroll

north-northwest … about 1.3 square miles: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
leads north past the Arroll school to the village: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.
Route W: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11 (“Highway W at Arroll”). about two miles north of the junction: measured from the federal names file’s point for Arroll (USGS GNIS).
formed from Carroll Township in 1896 … probably named for Date: O’Brien 1939, 35 (her supposition). June 20, 1892 … February 1, 1896 … Oakside: Rowe 2008 (Date: John H. Derks, June 20, 1892; discontinued February 1, 1896, mail “sent to Oak Side”); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11 (1892 to 1896, mail to Oakside); Forte, Postal History, Texas County (1892–1896). O’Brien 1939, 35, dates the office from 1893.
“clipped off the C”: O’Brien 1939, 5; see Chapter 5.
Turner Cook … ARRALL … ARROLL: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.
July 9, 1898 … November 30, 1914 … February 12, 1938 … May 3, 1957 … Summersville: Rowe 2008 (Arroll: W. M. Smotherman, July 9, 1898; re-established by William Conway, February 12, 1938). The office is also dated 1899–1914 and 1938–1957 (Forte, Postal History, Texas County), July 1898 to May 1957 (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11) and 1900 to 1915, reestablished 1934 (O’Brien 1939, 5). Reuben Harlow from 1849 … became the Arroll office … 1899: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11; Forte, Postal History, Texas County, ends the Jacks Fork office in 1899. Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11, also has the Arroll office in operation from July 1898. 1860 to 1902: O’Brien 1939, 67; see Chapter 4.
William Harvell … hotel and livery stable … In 1980 … a few homes, a church, a cemetery and a couple of stores: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.
“several men attended the bridge meeting at the Buck Hollow Ford”: Wehmer 2024, quoting the Mountain View Standard, March 1913; see Chapter 8.
“it used to be a hopping place” … “always someone at the store …”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
“all of those areas are filling up …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 57–58.
April 27, 1952 … spring coralroot … about two miles southwest of the village: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Botany Department herbarium, specimen V0413362F (J. A. Steyermark, Corallorhiza wisteriana, “2 mi. SW of Arroll, along North Prong of Jacks Fork”). who later wrote the standard flora of the state: Steyermark 1963. His labels of the 1930s: University of Missouri Herbarium, Columbia, specimens 1615102 and 1617905 (“Barn Hollow” canyon, “5 mi SE of Arroll,” August 17, 1934); see Reach C.

the last seven-tenths of a mile: measured along the prong centerline traced for the maps in this book.
county low-water crossing: see Chapter 8. where the river’s miles begin: see Reach C.

Table A.1

Mouths: USGS GNIS where named; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 for the unnamed creeks, drainage areas and banks. Spargo Branch: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs).

B. The South Prong

Opening

rises … southern Texas County … east of Cabool … about sixteen miles: USGS GNIS (South Prong Jacks Fork, source and mouth); O’Brien 1939, 102 (Pierce Township “in the s.e. corner of the county”); the project’s channel traced from USGS 3DEP elevation data. a short way below the Highway Y bridge at Low Water: see Chapter 8 and Reach C. several of its creeks head … in Howell County: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 7–8, 116.
three drainages … the upper prong, Pine Creek and the lower prong … about 88 square miles: MDC 2001, PDF 21 (Figure Ge06: 30.9, 27.7 and 29.9 square miles).
roughly three-quarters … forest and woodland … most of the rest was grass: MDC 2001, PDF 65 (table Lu05).
none on the upper prong, less than a tenth of one percent … three percent … Mark Twain National Forest: MDC 2001, PDF 39, 67.
above the national riverways: MDC 2001, PDF 67 (no Park Service land in the three South Prong units).
one of the first parts … to be settled … best suited to subsistence farming … once carried considerable water … badly filled in … seeped between the holes: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“most suitable land for subsistence farming”; streams that “use to flow considerable water but are now badly filled-in”; “water seeps between the holes”), the only source for the early settlement. Lewis visited the places he described (PDF 2, foreword).
bottoms were cleared for fields and hay: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 51, 58.
Through this reach the prong falls about 30 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); the South Prong heads at about 1,370 feet. See Chapter 2.
lowest eleven and a half miles … about 15 feet a mile … about 130: MDC 2001, PDF 31–32 (fifth-order South Prong 11.6 miles at 14.7 feet per mile; first-order channels 130.1).
lowest six miles … the four miles above them: MDC 2001, PDF 91 (table Wq01: class P 6.0 miles, class C 4.0 miles).
Big Spring runs about 1.4 … Clear Spring between about 0.8 and 1.2: MDNR, “Springs” (Big Spring, Howell County, record 910001: 632.8 gallons a minute; Clear Spring, Texas County, record 2150008: 350.1 to 516.1 gallons a minute; converted to cubic feet a second); MDC 2001, PDF 27 (table Ge02, after Vineyard and Feder 1974), which prints 1.41 for both springs; its Clear Spring figure is probably Big Spring’s carried down a line.
August 14, 2006 … 15.6 … less than one: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (table 2).
cedar-tree revetment … 1991 … bank projects: MDC 2001, PDF 98, 105 (table Hc02, “S. Prong, Cedar Tree Revetment, 1991”).
June 1992 … erosion … sediment and nutrients on both prongs: MDC 2001, PDF 95 (table Wq04, June 11, 1992).
March and April 1996 … survey flight … catalogued: MDC 2001, PDF 98–99.
highest share of channel miles … not forested: MDC 2001, PDF 98 (68.7 percent, 11.2 miles; “non-forested” means grass, crops and buildings together exceed 25 percent of the corridor).
found none, alive or dead: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 14–15.
Louisa and Hattie … wives: O’Brien 1939, 57, 77. Pierce Township … 1852 … Jack’s Fork Township: O’Brien 1939, 102; see Chapters 4 and 5. Sargent Township, formed in 1917: O’Brien 1939, 163.
dates of several of the offices differ from one record to another: throughout this reach the dates given to the day are from the postal appointment records as indexed in Rowe 2008; the set from O’Brien 1939 comes from the 1930s records and recollections; the fuller set with months is Lewis’s (1980), from the appointment records; and a further set is from Forte, Postal History, Texas County.
15.90 … also given as 16.3: measured channel; MDC 2001, PDF 31.
Left and right: as in Reach D (Fig. 1).

Headwaters and Louisa

about ten miles east of Cabool: USGS GNIS (source of South Prong Jacks Fork; Cabool), distance measured. also placed about five miles east of Cabool: MDC 2001, PDF 1, 5 (“approximately 5 miles east of Cabool”).
map point for Louisa … small branch: USGS GNIS (Louisa); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
1910 to 1922 … wife of Jim Embree, the storekeeper and postmaster: O’Brien 1939, 77. 1905 to 1923: Forte, Postal History, Texas County.
1882 … Ralph and Frances Walker … capital of Afghanistan … legend, current in the 1930s … Tahassie, the daughter of Chief Pomona … plunged together over a cliff: O’Brien 1939, 22, the only source for the names; her sources for the entry are the Goodspeed History of Texas County (1889), 488, an article by Eaton in the Missouri Historical Review 13, 69, a local informant and the Cabool Enterprise, May 18, 1938. The name came first … fitted to it afterward: O’Brien 1939, 214, which judged it the most “artificial and obviously ‘ex post facto’” of the local legends in her five counties.

Wyrick Branch

a little over two miles … about three square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
Nigman Branch from the north … Brewer Branch from the west … Holden Branch … from the west lower down … All three names … 1948: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs); USGS GNIS. Wyrick/Nigman Branch: MDC 2001, PDF 30 (table Ge03), 91 (table Wq01, “Wyrick Br.,” class C, 1.3 miles).
permanent pools up to about this point: MDC 2001, PDF 91 (class C ends in section 14, T28N, R9W); placement by section is approximate.

Pine Hollow

about a mile and a quarter … about a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. another Pine Hollow: USGS GNIS; see Chapter 18. In 1948 New Liberty School: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs), at about 37.107, −91.900.

The nameless creek and Varvol

less than half a mile below Pine Hollow … nearly six miles … nearly thirteen square miles … largest … without a recorded name: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (33.4 square kilometers, 9.5 kilometers).
Streams are ranked by order … first-order … second-order … third-order: general explanation of stream order, the ranking used in the state’s 2001 stream tables (MDC 2001, PDF 30–31). very likely the unnamed fourth-order tributary, 6.7 miles long … more than three-fifths: MDC 2001, PDF 30 (table Ge03, JFW010), 31, 107 (table Hc04, 62.7 percent). Below it the prong is a fifth-order stream: MDC 2001, PDF 30–31. The identification of JFW010 with this creek is an inference from its order, length and quadrangle.
Highway HH … concrete culvert of 1956 … “Jacks Fork River”: National Bridge Inventory (structure 6857, “RT HH S over JACKS FORK RVR”).
1892 to 1904 … family who kept the office in their general store … Varvol School: O’Brien 1939, 137. 1891 to 1909 … Varvel: Forte, Postal History, Texas County (Varvel).
Sargent … Stogsdill … renamed by the railroad: O’Brien 1939, 118, 127.

Shuld Branch

a little over two miles … about two square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. runs water only part of the year: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“runs water part of the year”); MDC 2001, PDF 91 (class C, 2.0 miles: may stop flowing in dry weather).

Route 137 bridge

between … Routes U and AZ: MoDOT 2025.
single-lane steel girder bridge of 1932: National Bridge Inventory (structure 8749, “MO 137 S over S FK JACKS FK RVR”). closed the road in the summer of 2025 to replace it: MoDOT 2025; see Chapter 8.
gravel road … gravel dug from the creeks: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52; see Chapter 15.

Mayhan Branch

about a mile and a half … nearly two square miles … heads close to Clear Springs: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
also spelled Mahan and Mayhen … Henry and Debarieth Mahan … about 1850 … Larkin Story: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (Mahan Branch), the only source for the name’s origin; MDC 2001, PDF 90 (Mayhen). may stop flowing: MDC 2001, PDF 90 (class C, 1.3 miles).

Clear Spring and Clear Springs

north bank … below the mouth of Mayhan Branch … half a mile below the Route 137 bridge: Lewis 1980, PDF 7 (map); USGS 1948 (Clear Springs). run to the river … a tenth of a mile: MDC 2001, PDF 90 (table Wq01, class P, 0.1 mile). named for the clearness of its pool: O’Brien 1939, 28 (“the crystal-like quality of the spring pool”).
between 0.78 and 1.15 cubic feet a second: MDNR, “Springs” (Clear Spring, Texas County, record 2150008: 350.1 to 516.1 gallons a minute, undated; converted). MDC 2001, PDF 27 (table Ge02, after Vineyard and Feder 1974), prints 1.41, probably Big Spring’s figure carried down a line. about half a million gallons a day, close to the lower figure: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (about 347 gallons a minute).
took its name from the spring … Clearspring from 1897 to 1910: O’Brien 1939, 28 (“the unusually fine spring in the vicinity”).
July 12, 1880, to October 29, 1953: Rowe 2008 (Clear Springs: Nardon Cross, July 12, 1880; Theodore Cross, November 24, 1885; discontinued October 29, 1953); Forte, Postal History, Texas County (1880–1953). Rowe’s days are those of the first appointment and the discontinuance; Lewis’s months (next note) may mark when the office opened and closed in practice.
August 1880 … December 1953 … Willow Springs … Theodore A. Cross … stood by the spring … on the hill nearby: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (the office “closer to the spring”; the school “nearby on the hill”). Clear Springs School, named for the village: O’Brien 1939, 28. still letters Clear Springs beside the spring: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs), at about 37.095, −91.847. present community … about a mile to the north … Route Y: USGS GNIS, Clear Springs (populated place), about 0.9 mile from the spring.

Pine Creek

about 27 square miles … about twelve miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (70.2 square kilometers, 19.3 kilometers). close to what the prong itself drains above: MDC 2001, PDF 21 (Upper South Prong 30.9, Pine Creek 27.7).
head near Sterling: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 84. Frisco station … John Sterling … Illinois … entered land: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 102. Joe Fisher: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 36; see Chapter 5.
Esling Hollow … from the south … largest side branch … nearly four square miles: USGS GNIS (Esling Hollow, mouth at 37.0550, −91.9092); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (3.76 square miles). named for its pines … along the banks by one account and along the ridge by another: O’Brien 1939, 103 (banks); Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 84 (ridge); see Chapter 18.
lowest eight miles … flow all year: MDC 2001, PDF 91 (class P, 8.0 miles); Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“runs water all the time”).
1932 Route 137 bridge: National Bridge Inventory (structure 8748). March to June 2026: MoDOT 2026. Rebel Road … one-lane concrete slab of 1950: National Bridge Inventory (structure 17965).
Willow Springs landfill: MDC 2001, PDF 94; see Chapter 17. national forest in this drainage: MDC 2001, PDF 67.
Oak Ridge School … Solid Rock … Pleasant Grove … Pine Creek School: Lewis 1980, PDF 6, the only source for their positions. named for the creek: O’Brien 1939, 103.
Spout Spring Hollow … about four miles above its mouth: USGS GNIS (mouth at 37.0549, −91.8843), distance measured. hillside north of King’s Mountain … late 1930s … good-sized spring … strong stream … Harrison Godsey … piped the water up the hill … Godsey Spring: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 41, 99 (“a good-sized spring bubbling in a strong stream from the side of a hill”; “put in pipes for carrying the water up the hill into his home”). high point on the divide … every direction: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 56 (“a high central point, or watershed from which streams run in every direction”). other sides drain to the Eleven Point: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 15; see Chapter 18. Queen’s Mountain as its sister: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 89 (“more recently given the name Queen’s as a sister mountain”). said to run through Spout Spring Hollow to the Jacks Fork in Shannon County: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 99 (“through Spout Spring Hollow into Jack’s Fork in Shannon County”). late 1930s: Pottenger’s fieldwork; her entries speak of 1937 (see Chapter 18).
Maps of 1850 and 1855 call it King’s Mount … a man named King … the height alone … King’s Mountain, in South Carolina: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 56 (citing Missouri As It Was in 1867, 275, and two informants), the only source. Pottenger herself thought the name most probably came from the height.
Rebel Hollow … a mile and a half above its mouth: USGS GNIS; National Bridge Inventory (structure 17965), distance measured. said to date from the Civil War: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“during the Civil War days”), the only source. several sizable branches with no recorded name: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Flinger Branch

a mile and a half … nearly two square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. runs water all the time … may stop flowing: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“runs water all the time”); MDC 2001, PDF 90 (class C, 1.7 miles).

Little Pine Creek, Big Spring Creek and Big Spring

about ten square miles … about six miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. carries water all year: Lewis 1980, PDF 6. northern Hutton Valley Township: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 8. Big Spring Creek … short run: USGS GNIS (Big Spring Creek, about 100 meters).
The township took its name from the Hutton Valley post office … laid out in 1873 … a Mr. Hutton, the first settler of that valley … about 1841: Pottenger 1945, Howell file pp. 52–53 (Hutton Valley; Hutton Valley Township).
Big Pine Creek … large pine timber: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 7 (“much large pine timber in that region”). to tell it from the larger stream: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 8 (“to distinguish it from Big Pine Creek into which it empties”). Pine Creek was a separate stream: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 84. The identification of the old Big Pine Creek with today’s Little Pine Creek is an inference. 1948 topographic map … Little Pine Creek … no Big Pine Creek … Big Spring: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs).
“Pine Creek”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
Moore’s Hollow … Hugh and Thomas Moore … 1867: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 69.
a little over the Howell County line, at the short run of Big Spring Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“just over the Howell County line”); USGS GNIS (Big Spring, Big Spring Creek). ordinary size … good water to most of the community: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 8 (“not unusually large, but it affords good water for most of the community”). 1.41: MDC 2001, PDF 27; MDNR, “Springs” (Big Spring, Howell County, record 910001: 632.8 gallons a minute). about a million gallons a day: Lewis 1980, PDF 6.
small unnamed branch … a quarter mile below: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Dixon Ford

Dixon Ford … Dixon Crossing … below Route 137 … “a great place to hang out at the river” … “a couple of good places …” … a float could start … closed: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20 (marked on a map, measured on the prong’s traced channel); see Chapters 8, 11 and 20.

Stillhouse Branch, Guild and Union Star

a little over two miles … nearly three square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. runs water … said to have once had a whiskey-malting operation: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“runs water”; “once housed a whiskey malting operation”), the only source.
ridge west of the branch … half a mile south of the prong: USGS GNIS, Guild, after the USGS Clear Springs 15-minute quadrangle, 1945.
1910 to 1928 … several people still remembered the office … none of them could explain its name: O’Brien 1939, 55 (“several residents remembered the post office, but no one could offer an explanation for its name”). June 1908 to March 1932 … Hattie: Lewis 1980, PDF 11; Rowe 2008 (Guild: Luke W. Parker, June 18, 1908; mail to Hattie); Forte, Postal History, Texas County (1908–1932).
Union Star School, also called Mount Olive … ridge above Stillhouse Branch: Lewis 1980, PDF 6. topographic maps of the 1940s … Mount Olive School … east of Guild: USGS GNIS, Guild, after the Clear Springs quadrangle of 1945; compare USGS 1948 (Clear Springs). two districts that kept both names … Star Union … sounded better: O’Brien 1939, 127 (“kept both names”; “usually called Union Star, as that name is more euphonious”). Mount Olive … Baptist church: O’Brien 1939, 88.

Hattie and Rose Spring

a mile and a half northeast of Guild: USGS GNIS, Guild. southeast part of Pierce Township … wife of John Cross: O’Brien 1939, 57. John P. Cross … from 1902 … near Rose Spring: Lewis 1980, PDF 11; his map (PDF 12) letters Hattie post office and Rose Spring on the South Prong; Rowe 2008 (John P. Cross, January 21, 1902). July 14, 1891 … July 2, 1894 … March 29, 1898 … May 3, 1957 … Mountain View: Rowe 2008 (Hattie: Shelby Bertram, July 14, 1891; discontinued July 2, 1894, mail “routed through Date”; re-established by Jacob L. Walker, March 29, 1898; discontinued May 3, 1957, mail “re-routed through Mountain View”). The office is also dated July 1891 to April 1957 (Lewis 1980, PDF 11), 1891/1957 (Forte, Postal History, Texas County) and 1893 to 1932 (O’Brien 1939, 57). small spring on the farm of John Rose: O’Brien 1939, 114 (“a small spring in Pierce Township”). Hattie on the north bank: USGS 1948 (Clear Springs), section 24; USGS GNIS (Hattie).
grew up … 1930s … has owned a farm on it since 1960: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6). floods … timber at the lower ends of the big holes … “Same thing with Hattie Hole …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 58. The link between the pool and the post office is an inference from the name.
small unnamed branch … from the south: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.

Wolf Creek

northeastern part of Hutton Valley Township: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 116. about five miles … nearly seven square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. may stop flowing: MDC 2001, PDF 91 (class C, 5.2 miles). name … wolf hunting of the 1930s: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 116 (“wolf hunting in the vicinity is good sport”); see Chapter 18.

Places not yet pinned down

Gatons hole … spelling is uncertain … “the next year …” … “the water has cut through …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 51, 58 (the published transcript marks the spelling with a question mark).
A South Prong farm of the 1920s … “Instead of that …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 51.
remembered as an early trading place on the Jacks Fork … Clarie … 1863: Lewis 1980, PDF 6 (“an early trading spot along Jack’s Fork”), the only source. trading post … east of present Mountain Grove … Wright County: O’Brien 1939, 87–88.
1860 to 1902: O’Brien 1939, 67. December 1849 … Arroll … South Prong in 1871 … probably moved between the prongs: Lewis 1980, PDF 11 (the moves are his supposition). mapped on the South Prong between Hattie and Wolf Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF 12 (map).
Clyde … 1871 … Ira Martin: O’Brien 1939, 29.
counted among the early South Prong schools with New Liberty: Lewis 1980, PDF 6. District 26 … Freedom Church: O’Brien 1939, 49.
27 feet: MDC 2001, PDF 2, 96 (dam-safety records).

On to Low Water

“just above the bridge” … most extensive … a mile: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52; see Chapter 15.

C. Low Water to Steel Bridge

Opening

both banks are private except the state’s South Prong Access: Erwin 2021 (park boundary at address point 0); MDC, South Prong Access.
Through this reach the river falls about 9 feet a mile, the steepest stretch of the main river: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12), which gives about 9 feet a mile from the junction to Highway 17 and less in every reach below; the 2003 float guide gives 8.6 (MDC 2003, introduction); see Chapters 2 and 20.
within about a mile has cut down into the dolomite beneath: see Chapter 1.
Below the long bends of the Big Bend the valley narrows … tall bluffs on both sides … a canyon: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14.
Less water is said to flow past Buck Hollow than upstream: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source. August 14, 2006 … 23.6 cubic feet a second … an apparent loss of about 5.5 cubic feet a second: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28 (seepage-run table: 23.6 near VFW Campground; 13.5 and 15.6 on the prongs, their sum calculated); see Chapter 12. The loss is apparent only: each of the three measurements is rated fair, within about 8 percent, and flow through a gravel streambed cannot be measured (Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 17); the same report found gaining conditions in general and no losing conditions along the Jacks Fork on its water-table map (34).
The park boundary … about 4.2 miles below the junction … a mile and a quarter above Ratliff Ford: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, PDF 44 (figures 34–35, distances measured from the park boundary); Erwin 2021 (address point 0, about 37.0637, −91.6992); distances measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book.
lists Ratliff Ford among its fords: NPS 2022a, 19; see Chapter 8. shares Barn Hollow Natural Area: MDC, Barn Hollow Natural Area; see Chapter 11.
In 2017–19 timed searches … five sites up the two prongs … 21 … 22 at Harlow Ford … 111 a little above Ratliff Ford … the richest stretch: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 15 (table 3, sites at river kilometers 74.8, 71.2 and 66.4); see Chapter 16.
The man who knew the Hiker Hole … the VFW camp … up both prongs: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 57–58; see Chapter 15 and Reach A.
counted from the junction … mile 7.0: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (6.98 miles to the Highway 17 bridge).

Low Water: the Highway Y bridge and South Prong Access

about 3.3 acres: MDC, South Prong Access.
The bridge, the low bridge before it and the name: see Chapters 8 and 18.
named the hole at the Highway Y bridge as the one that has changed most and the one to warn people about: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.

The low-water slab

runs from Route W at Arroll to Route Y: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.
concrete low-water slab laid across the meeting of the prongs: Plate A3 inset, drawn from recent aerial imagery; see Chapter 8.
An earlier low-water bridge … washed out more than once: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11, the only source.
local names: see Chapter 18.

The Prongs

around a broad loop past the mouth of Buckhorn Hollow: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; see Reach A. about 88 square miles against the North Prong’s 59: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; MDC 2001, PDF 21.
the Forks or the Prongs: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-19, SV-20; see Chapter 18.
Richard House, known as Rich House … Confederate army … Rich House Ford … A graveyard on the hill above Rich House Spring … settlers and Indians … four acres: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 11, 12 (map), the only source.
Indian village sites: see Chapter 3.
Beckelshymer Spring … Indiana … ginseng … William Baskett … the Union side: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11, the only source. a niece of the poet Oliver Wendell Holmes: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11; unsourced there, and not checked.
A short branch … on the right … less than a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.72 square mile). Beckelshymer Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 12 (map). The identification is an inference from the map’s position.

Chimney Rock

a broad cut … a former power line: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.
As the river rounds its first bend, Chimney Rock stands out on the right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11; USGS GNIS (Chimney Rock, cliff).
named for its chimney-like shape: O’Brien 1939, 27, from the 1936 tourist map of Texas County.
Its face rises about 180 feet: the right-bank face at about miles 0.15 to 0.57, tallest at 0.42, measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13).
on private land: above the park boundary (see the opening).
remembered no stories about the rock but had climbed it: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
A small spring … on the left below the bend … another … through a slough … on the right about half a mile farther down: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.

Chimney Rock Cave and Chimney Rock Spring

out of sight from the river: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 11.
takes its name from the cave, out of which it issues: O’Brien 1939, 27 (“Named for the cave from which it issues”). about mile 0.8 … right bank: USGS GNIS; USGS 1948 (Summersville); measured.

Grassy Hollow, Bell Hollow and Grassy Hollow Hole

about six square miles … its lower miles may stop running in dry weather: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (6.07 square miles); MDC 2001, PDF 28–30, 90–91.
A small spring … on the left above its mouth and another … below: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14.
Bell Hollow, also called Bob Bell Hollow … a little over 200 yards above the river … run water part of the year: USGS GNIS (Bell Hollow, mouth on Grassy Hollow about 200 meters above the river, measured on the river centerline); Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map, “Bob Bell Hollow”).
Bell School, District No. 2 of Carroll Township … Warren Bell: O’Brien 1939, 10. Bell Cemetery near the school: USGS 1948 (Summersville). The tie between the hollow and the Bell family is an inference.
Grassy Hollow Hole … Ike Hole … a good spring … through a slough on the right: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source.

Harlow Ford and Cold Springs

solid rock bottom: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14. letters a road crossing here as Harlow Ford: USGS 1948 (Summersville); USGS GNIS.
marked the ford on a map at the same place: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-19 (marked on a map within a few yards of the federal names file’s point).
The old Cold Spring Road, a trail said to be older than settlement: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source; see Chapter 8.
In 1913 backers of a bridge at the Harlow Crossing: see Chapter 8.
said to be a son of Reuben Harlow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 9. one of the county’s earliest settlers: O’Brien 1939, 57; see Chapter 5.
12 horsepower … upright saw … 1869 … 100,000 feet … $1,000 … 600 bushels … $300 … 6,000 pounds … $180 … In 1879 … four feet … 600 bushels of wheat and 8,000 of corn … Sam: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14, the only source; the figures appear to come from the federal censuses of manufactures, which have not been checked.
Harlow’s Mill post office … February 1875 to February 1876 … only postmaster: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14; Rowe 2008 (Harlow’s Mills: Greensberry Harlow, February 25, 1875; discontinued February 7, 1876); Forte, Postal History, Texas County (1875–1876).
north side … below the Big Bend: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source.
Sam Harlow’s granddaughter … the film actress Jean Harlow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 14, the only source.
born Harlean Carpenter in Kansas City in 1911 … her mother’s name, Jean Harlow … a Samuel D. Harlow, a real-estate agent in Kansas City, Kansas: McClure and Richardson 1999. whether he was Greenberry’s son Sam has not been traced: no census or family record yet ties him to Greenberry Harlow’s household (The Open Ledger).
Harlow School and the Harlow Cemetery: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source.
A small spring … from under a rock with a tree … Cold Springs Hole … two springs reputed to have been very cold … left bank … Cold Springs Cemetery … thirty or forty graves … old cedars … Roark: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map). Cold Spring Cemetery: USGS 1948 (Summersville).

Landers Hole and the Big Bend

spring-fed slough … Landers Hole … Tune Ford … five big pools … Tune Hole … Rock-in-the-Hole … four small springs on its south side … scouring rush … A big spring … dammed … gristmill: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source.
nearly three miles to gain about a mile and a quarter: measured along the river centerline and in a straight line.
had heard the names Big Bend and Tune Hole: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
The Stoops mill … upright, hand-forged saw … lumber and ties … 1850s … 1876 … 1880 … Joseph Stoops … Hugh Stoops … Pennsylvania: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source for these details. the Stoops grist and sawmill: Stevens 1991, 34; see Chapter 5.

The VFW campground and the Blue Hole

July 9, 1974 … “Jacks Fork above VFW Campground”: USGS, station 07065180. in August 2006 its crews measured the river near the campground: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 28; see Chapter 12. probably on the right bank along the run below Rock-in-the-Hole, about miles 4.3 to 4.7: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 16 (map: “VFW Campground” lettered south of the river with the Stoops mill, on the run from Rock-in-the-Hole to the Blue Hole), the only source for the bank. at about mile 4.3: USGS, station 07065180 (37.0639, −91.6974, interpolated from a map), measured on the river centerline (4.28); the camp lies below this point. The 2006 site’s river mile (41.4 above the mouth) converts, against the Highway 17 gauge (38.5; measured 7.02) and the Alley Spring gauge (14.1; measured 32.05), to about mile 4.0, a little above the 1974 point.
lived at the camp in the early 1990s … “I can tell you in particular the big Blue Hole …”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 58.
the deepest hole on the upper Jacks Fork … Gar Hole … a crevice in the rock … a short way above Coon Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 14, 16 (map), the only source. at the bend … about mile 4.8: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 16 (map: the Blue Hole lettered where the river turns from east to southeast, with the spring on its left bank, above the mouth of Coon Hollow), measured on the river centerline (Coon Hollow’s mouth 5.01).
shallow at low water today: the 2021–23 riverbed survey shows no pool 4 feet or deeper between about miles 4.6 and 5.2 (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12).
“Gar Hole near Y highway” … not sure where the hole was: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-03 (she gave the name among local words, had heard of the hole but was not sure where it was, and did not mark it on a map); see Chapter 18.
came to Mountain View from Oklahoma in 1979 … a Blue Hole a little below Highway 17 and a Gar Hole near the mouth of Belew Hollow: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05 (marked on a map); see Chapter 18 and Reach D.

Coon Hollow and Coon Hollow Spring

A good spring … above the mouth … rough, rocky and snaky … half a mile up … pools deeper than a person’s head … sinks into the gravel: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 20.
nearly six square miles … lower miles may stop running: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (5.87 square miles); MDC 2001, PDF 90–91.
a renegade band of Shawnee, the Coon Klan: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 16 (map, “Shawnee Camp”), 20, the only source.

White Bluff and Gobblers Knob

left bank … White Bluff … a small, noisy spring … Gobblers Knob … a small rock overhang … Spain … Potosi to Santa Fe … the Osage: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 16 (map), 20, the only source.
about 170 feet: the left-bank faces at about miles 5.18 to 5.26, measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13).
Other treasure stories: see Chapter 13.

Ratliff Ford

also called Morley Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 16 (map, “Morley (Ratliff) Ford”), 20. the crossing nearest Mountain View … 1928 … Radcliff … Ratcliff … Ratliff … Rat Cliff: see Chapters 8 and 18. County Road 4666: Plate A3.
A camp for girls from the Kansas City area … right bank … late 1920s … footbridge … pilings … 1980 … A spring enters on the right above the pilings … Mountain View Health and Recreation Club … several old cabins … privately owned and run: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 16 (map), 20, the only source. probably those of the outing club … 1928: an inference; see Chapter 9.
A Howell County columnist’s family, when not camping at Alley, swam at the ford: Whitaker 2025 (“unless my family was camping at Alley Springs, our favorite swimming hole was upstream from the Highway 17 bridge at Ratliff Ford”); see Chapter 19.
From 1991 to 1998 … crayfish: DiStefano and others 2003, 346–349; see Chapter 16.

Barn Hollow and Barn Hollow Natural Area

about fourteen square miles … about nine miles … northern Howell County: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (14.22 square miles; 14.7 kilometers); Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 4. for most of its length it may stop running: MDC 2001, PDF 90–91.
vertical bluffs up to a hundred feet … deeply entrenched and meandering … small deep pools, short riffles and beaver ponds … forked aster … Louisiana waterthrushes … eastern phoebes … ringed salamander … slimy and cave salamanders … southern leopard and pickerel frogs … Blanchard’s cricket frogs … small caves and dolomite boulders … 190 acres … May 27, 1980 … own it together … half-mile trail … overlook … Sue Hubbell … A Country Year: MDC, Barn Hollow Natural Area. the same day as the Jacks Fork Natural Area: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; see Chapters 11 and 16.
Julian Steyermark … August 17 and 18, 1934 … May 1935 … showy lady’s-slipper … American barberry … between the hollow and Highway 17: University of Missouri Herbarium, Columbia, specimens 1615102 (Cypripedium reginae, August 17, 1934, “moist limestone bluffs at base of canyon, ‘Barn Hollow’ Canyon”), 1659156 (August 18, 1934), 1565255 (Berberis canadensis, May 25, 1935, “edge of limestone precipice along bluffs of Jack’s Fork of Current River, between Barn Hollow Canyon and Hwy 17”) and 1682181 (May 26, 1935). who later wrote the standard flora of the state: Steyermark 1963.
spends most of the year underground … rainy nights in autumn, mostly in September and October … fishless woodland ponds … six to eight months or more: MDC, “Ringed Salamander.” two small fishless ponds, about an acre of water: MDC 2016 (Barn Hollow), area summary (fishless pond, 1 acre, in two ponds).
bought its land in the hollow in 1979 … 115 acres … 30 more in 2007 … the 45 acres beside them: MDC 2016 (Barn Hollow), area history.
1972 … first husband … ninety acres … early 1980s … about 300 hives … struggling honey business … St. Louis Post-Dispatch … New York Times … died in Maine in 2018: Bangor Daily News 2018.
Gill Branch … flows into Barn Hollow … Samuel K. Gill … about 1872: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 40.
Winningham Hollow … Isaac Winningham … 160 acres … 1869 … log barns … “barren”: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 4; see Chapter 18. its spring and its school: see Chapters 5 and 18.
Bear Cave … Bat Cave: see Chapter 13.

Panther Hollow and Panther Hollow Shoal

heads in Howell County … panthers: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 81; see Chapter 18. a little over four square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (4.34 square miles).
all but wiped out in Missouri in the nineteenth century … 1927 … December 1994 … raccoon hunters … Peck Ranch in Carter County: Hamilton 2006.
A spring … from a dripping bluff … rough rocks … low water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source. Panther Hollow Shoal: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 24 (map).
the hardest spot on the river to get through: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.

River Hill and the Old Quarry

River Hill: see Chapter 18. probably … the Mountain View side: an inference. The people who call the descent River Hill are mostly from Mountain View, south of the river, and one person from Arroll calls it “South 17” (Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-09, SV-19, SV-20, SV-23); Plate A3 letters River Hill south of the river; the 1980 map letters the road hill on the north side Buck Hollow Hill (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 24). No record states the side.
accidents and deaths … Vernon Campbell … lime quarry … mid-1950s: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 19, 24 (map), the only source. on the right bank just above the bridge: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 24 (map: the quarry symbol south of the river, between the channel and the highway, just upstream of the bridge); Plate A3.

Places not yet placed

Hellum … Rushing … McCollouck … 1937: Pottenger 1945, Howell file p. 46; see Chapter 18.
The Hiker Hole … 1960 … half of it had filled: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 58; see Chapter 15.
the dam and gristmill … the Stoops mill: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 16 (map).

On to Steel Bridge

mile 7.0: measured (6.98).
Buck Hollow Bluff Hole … favorite swimming and picnic place … Summersville and Mountain View … at least three people: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 19, 24 (map), the only source.
probably the hole Mountain View calls the Steel Bridge hole: see Chapter 18 and Reach D.
Rules for the river: see Part Six.

D. Steel Bridge to Muck Forty

Opening

Through this reach the river falls about 8 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2.
inside the national riverways: see Chapter 10. Buck Hollow landing … Bluff View … Blue Spring … Baptizing Hole: NPS 2022a, appendix E and map 10; NPS 2026 (backcountry); see Chapter 11.
narrower here than above the bridge … never held many people: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19.
close to a canyon, with no bottomland fields … the twenty-fifth mile: MDC 2003, introduction (“nearly a canyon, with no bottomland fields for the first 25 floatable miles”).
Gasconade Dolomite … most of the caves: MSS 1982, 13–14, 37. cryptozoon reef … at the waterline: MSS 1982, 13–14; see Chapters 1 and 13.
Buck Hollow and Belew Hollow: Weary and others 2014, pamphlet, 14; see Chapter 1.
almost eight times: USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200, monthly statistics 2002–2025 (Table 14.1: April 485, September 63 cubic feet a second). below twenty cubic feet a second: USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200, daily values (13.9 on August 24, 2012); see Chapter 14.
about ten cubic feet a second … more than a third: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 32, 43, 47; see Chapter 12.
May 8, 2002, at 27.68 feet: Heimann and others 2025, 6 (table 1). November 5, 2024 … 25.14 feet … second-highest: National Weather Service, gauge page and crest history, Jacks Fork near Mountain View (JKFM7); see Chapter 14.
narrowed: Figs. 21 and 22; see Chapter 15.
miles … counted from the junction … mile 7.0 … mile 9.8: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (6.98 and 9.79).

Steel Bridge

3.6 miles north of Mountain View: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.
Buck Hollow … 17 … Steel Bridge: see Chapter 18 (Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-03, SV-05, SV-06, SV-20 and others).
before the Civil War … 1913–14: see Chapter 8. The 1980 account dates a steel bridge here “about 1918” and says freight wagons would not use the narrow bridge because the horses were afraid to cross it (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19); the contract of June 1913 and the bridge’s use by February 1915, reported in the Mountain View Standard (see Chapter 8), put the bridge earlier.
dates from 2005: National Bridge Inventory (MO 17 over the Jacks Fork, built 2005).
parking and a short river trail: NPS 2022a, appendix tables. usual put-in … about a century: NPS 1977; see Chapters 9, 11 and 20.
favorite place for families from Summersville and Mountain View to swim and picnic: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19; see Reach C.
went in from the gravel bar at the foot of the hill … along the bluff: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20. The swimmer of record SV-06 also swam the hole by the bridge, every summer day of 1984 to 1986, and marked its deepest water beside the crossing; see Chapters 15 and 19.
gravel was dug from the pool after floods: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 52; see Chapter 15.
1995 to 2026 … has not moved … grown … narrowed: Fig. 21, traced from dated aerial imagery, 1995–2026; see Chapter 15.
swift, narrow, rocky chute … a lot of canoes: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source.
since February 2000: Wilson 2001, 2. October 2001: USGS NWIS, gauge 07065200.
about 36 °F to about 90 °F … widest range: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 5; see Chapter 16.

Buck Hollow and Roadside Spring Cave

about two and a half miles … about two and a half square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (2.55 square miles; 4.24 kilometers).
Stallman School … Oakside … March 29, 1890 … John L. C. Richards … large cemetery: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source.
about 500 feet from the river … December 29, 1980 … about 850 feet … about a quarter of a cubic foot a second … thirty feet wide and two or three feet high … too low to enter … real entrance may have been missed … another cave recorded in the wrong place: MSS 1982, 52 (the visiting cavers’ own doubt).

Camp Witbeck, Cardinal Acres and Whitbeck Hole

in a row on a narrow terrace … each with a view of the river: NPS 2013, 33, 48–51.
renamed Cardinal Acres in 1941 … early 1920s … 600 acres … 1969: see Chapter 9 (NPS 2013; Wehmer 2024).
5.4 acres … the largest group of cabins … two cabins and two privies … seven-foot chimney … cisterns … pumphouse … retaining walls … daffodils and irises: NPS 2013.
does not remember the resort … explored the old cabins: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-20.
small pool rimmed by a rocky bluff on the left … Whitbeck Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source; lettered Whitbeck Hole on his map (PDF p. 24). where the river bends back to the southeast at about mile 7.2 … a separate pool from Buck Hollow Bluff Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (Buck Hollow Bluff Hole, then the chute below the bridge, then the cabins, then Whitbeck Hole) and the map on PDF p. 24 (Buck Hollow Bluff Hole lettered above the bridge, Whitbeck Hole at the top of the bend below it), measured on the river centerline.
The camp’s bluff was a jumping place: Wehmer 2024; see Chapter 19. probably the bluff at the bridge pool: an inference from Wehmer’s name for the bluff, Buck Hollow Bluff, which is the 1980 name of the bridge pool (Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 19, 24); Wehmer does not say which pool.
every Fourth of July at Buck Hollow from the 1970s on … almost fifty … hundreds … Buck Hollow Bluff: Wehmer 2024 (“a nice pool of water with a shallow bank leading out to a nice bluff”).

Royal Hole

The pool known as Royal Hole … backwater and rocks on the right … wild goats: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source; lettered on his map between the bridge and Lily Pad Hole, PDF p. 24. a short way below Whitbeck Hole … about mile 7.5: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (text order) and the map on PDF p. 24 (Royal Hole lettered on the right where the river runs southeast from the bend at Whitbeck Hole, above the springs and Lily Pad Hole), measured on the river centerline.
on the park’s list of primitive campsites in 1981: NPS 1981, 127 (the first Jacks Fork site on the list, ahead of McCubbin Spring and Baptizing Hole). a short park road carries its name: NPS 2022a, PDF 262 (Royal Hole Road, NPS 789, 0.06 mile, map 10); map 10 sets NPS 789 by State Highway 17, just above Buck Hollow River Access.
came to Mountain View from Oklahoma in 1979 … a pool a little below the bridge as Blue Hole: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05 (marked on a map); see Reach C and Chapter 18.

The unnamed branch and the mussel bed

about three-quarters of a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.76 square miles).
richest mussel site … six species … five of them alive … purple lilliput: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, appendix E, table 12.
larvae are known to grow on green and longear sunfish: MDC, MOFWIS, “Purple Lilliput” (glochidial hosts Lepomis cyanellus and L. megalotis; state rank S1, global rank G2).
1982 … nineteen live mussels in 2017–19 … took longer: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 15 (table 3).

Lily Pad Hole

The pool known as Lily Pad Hole … high bluff on the left … pines and cedars … lily pads … a hundred feet … two small springs … slick rock … roar out of holes in the bluff … slough … thicket on the left: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source.
about 7 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12).
At or a short way below the hole … from Texas County into Shannon County: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19.

McCubbin Hollow and McCubbin Spring Hole

a little over two miles … about two square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (2.14 square miles, 3.72 kilometers).
dark, rough and narrow … three layers: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19.
a quarter of a mile up … slabs of rock on its right side … a million gallons a day … largest spring on the river to this point … over a gravel bar … small spring … a shelter: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source.
William McCubbin … 1850s … still standing during the Civil War: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (citing a Union patrol report). on the spring branch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19 (text). on the river a little below Belew Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 24 (map). November 1863: see Chapters 5 and 6.

Belew Hollow

about three-quarters of a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.73 square miles).
two wet-weather waterfalls … half-horseshoe … thirty-five feet wide … twenty feet deep … splash pool … sinks into its bed … back wall … base of the Roubidoux: MSS 1982, 10–11.
Belew Cave … thirty-five to forty feet: MSS 1982, 7.
overnight trips: MOHerp.
three species near it: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, table 12.
Gar Hole … near the mouth of Belew Hollow: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05 (marked on a map); see Reach C and Chapter 18.

Simpson Hole

good fishing hole … smallmouth bass and goggle-eye … small spring … shelter … large sycamore: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source; lettered on his map, PDF p. 24.
vertical bluff … thirty feet wide and twelve high … the remains of a campfire, some broken formations … two dozen pipistrelle bats … a gate: Johnson 2007, 21–23.
Double Cave … two large entrances … 1984: Johnson 2007, 20–21.
a little over a square mile … largest creek … without a recorded name: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.12 square miles).

Beaver Hole and Slant Rock Hole

Beaver Den Hole … bluff on the right … Little Bottom Hole … bluff on the left: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 19, the only source; Beaver Hole on his map, PDF p. 24.
prettiest hole … high bluff stands on the right … large rock slants … gravel bar on the left … camp: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source; the photograph caption on PDF p. 26 calls it “perhaps the most beautiful hole along the river.”

Bluff View and the Salvation Army camp

1920s … national officers … several buildings … on the left: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23. kept a camp on the left bank: MDC 2003, mile 9.2 (“Salvation Army camp on left”).
Route O and County Road 437: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; NPS 2022a, appendix E. a quarter of a mile above the Blue Spring campground: NPS 2022a, map 10.
lily pads on the right … red streaks of iron oxide: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23.
thirty-eight live mussels … slippershells: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 15 (table 3).

The Blue Spring bluff

cleft … pinnacle … rock island … saddle … sinkhole … captured that hollow’s water: MSS 1982, 28.
window about forty feet above the river … flue: MSS 1982, 28; Johnson 2007, 23.
Blue Spring Natural Tunnel … thirty feet … dry … remnant: MSS 1982, 16.
three entrances … small opening in a steep draw … wide break in the bluff … hard to find: MSS 1982, 32, 34; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23.
375 feet … “from the passage of many bodies” … steady wind … soda straws … older outlet: MSS 1982, 32, 34.
the earliest record of which is a hand-lettered sign seen in the 1930s: Dorrance 1938, 29; see Chapter 13.
Loop Cave … twenty-one feet … six feet … pillar … would make “an excellent shelter”: MSS 1982, 43.
at least fourteen cave entrances … probably more: MSS 1982, 34 (the cavers expected more).

Blue Spring Ford

cut-off road … Lead Mines Trail … Virginia Warriors Path … Springfield–Van Buren road: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 23–24 (text and map), the only source.
driven at low water by high-clearance vehicles: NPS 2022a, 19 and map 10; see Chapter 8.

Blue Spring

tightest bends … large gravel bar … campground: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23; NPS 1977; Fig. 22. about 240 feet high: the left-bank face at about miles 9.73 to 9.92, measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13).
fallen rock … sixty-five feet wide … twenty-five feet high … concrete dam … fifteen to eighteen feet … twenty feet deep or more: MSS 1982, 16–17; MDC 2003, mile 9.6.
by one account was dated 1938: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source (“A concrete wall across the entrance is dated 1938”); see Chapter 13.
“a pool of goblin blue in a v-shaped cleft of the floor” … three blind fish: Dorrance 1938, 29; see Chapters 9 and 13.
about ten cubic feet a second … seven million gallons … second-largest: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 32, 43, 47; see Chapter 12.
fifty-six square miles … north-northeast … sinkholes cluster: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009; see Chapter 12. no water runs off on the surface: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23.
Drop-In … Bell Flat … early in the twentieth century … water running through its bottom … cornstalks: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source.
more open land and less public land: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 44; see Chapters 12 and 17.
long been a favorite swimming hole … big rock: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23; Dufur 2013, 19; Fig. 16; see Chapter 19.
between the aerial photographs of 2014 and 2020: Fig. 22; see Chapter 15.
narrow run … can be difficult: MDC 2003, mile 9.6; see Chapter 20.
1991 to 1998 … spothanded crayfish: DiStefano and others 2003, 346–349, 355; see Chapter 16.
only in the Ozarks of Missouri and Arkansas … about four and a half inches … September and October … through the spring … about two years: MDC, “Spothanded Crayfish.”
Blue Springs in 1939 … Field Museum in Chicago … more than two hundred … blackspotted topminnow: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, fish collection, catalog nos. 60397–60400, 60404, 60405, 60575, 60577, 60645, 60723 and 60724 (L. P. Woods, 1939, “Jack’s Fork of the Current River at Blue Springs”; 229 specimens in these lots, among them 72 Fundulus catenatus, 57 Notropis identified as N. rubrifrons, 56 Dionda [Notropis] nubila and 26 Notropis zonatus; a lot of six catalogued under the old name Ceratichthys tenellus is not named in the text).
change the river’s temperature: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 6.
Sections 31 and 32 … OO … third choice … living-history development … around 1910: Brown 1969, 64, 70–72.
July 4, 1887 … Current River Land and Cattle Company … 500 … sixteen Hereford bulls … Flint, Michigan … fell through: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source.
“a very fine deep spring” … Blue Spring Park: O’Brien 1939, 17.
rock house … said to have been built by a man named Brown … oil drilling … park ranger: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source.
By one account Brown was tied to a tree and left to die in the 1950s: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source (“Brown was tied up to a tree and left to die about 25 years ago,” written in 1980).
By 1977: NPS 1977.
backcountry campground … County Road 493: NPS 2026 (backcountry); NPS 2026 (campsite descriptions); see Chapter 11.

Work Shanty Hole

The first hole below Blue Spring, known as Work Shanty Hole … small and shallow … good spring … Brown house … slough lies on the left: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 23, 27, the only source; lettered on his map, PDF p. 29.

Baptizing Hole

high gravel bar on the right … bluff on the left … several rocks … good fishing hole … small spring … heard: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27.
comes out of the bluff and cascades over boulders … Baptizing Hole Spring Cave: Johnson 2007, 24–25; see Chapter 13.
fork of the Blue Spring road … ford … Summersville … Routes O and 17: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 23, the only source.
church and group picnics: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27. the gatherings and the name: see Chapter 19.
Baptizing Hole, or Baptism Hole: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06, SV-12, SV-20, SV-23; USGS GNIS; see Chapter 19.
two backcountry campsites … counted with Blue Spring’s: NPS 2022a; NPS 2022b; see Chapter 11.

Muck Forty Hole and Hughes Hollow

bluff on the right at a bend … good fishing hole … small dripping spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27.
Hughes Hollow … about a third of a square mile … from the north: USGS GNIS; drainage traced from USGS 3DEP elevation data (0.8 square kilometers).
John “Muck” Reece … pine-knot light … forty “foot”: NPS 1977; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27 (spelled Reese); see Chapter 18.
Bay Mill Hole … beside it, at springs on the right bank: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 29 (map), the only source. not known locally: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-06, SV-12, SV-20, SV-23.
Muck Forty … Muck 40: USGS GNIS; NPS 1977.

Places not yet placed

Bachers … Bacher Landing … about three miles of gravel: NPS 2026 (campsite descriptions); NPS, Bachers Campground; NPS 2022a, map 10. counts it with Blue Spring’s: see Chapter 11. family’s … apostrophe: see Chapter 8. as federal mapmakers drop them: BGN 2016, 50, which discourages “apostrophes suggesting possession or association … within the body of a proper geographic name.”

On to Reach E

Hughes Hollow Hole, long and shallow … Daveys Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27.

Table D.1

Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; USGS GNIS. Miles measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book.

E. Muck Forty to Rymers

Opening

five and a half miles: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book. a deep canyon: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25. Through this reach the river falls about 7 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2. climb to nearly 300 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13); the tallest face in the reach, about 290 feet, is the bluff on the left at the Round Blue Hole, about mile 11.4, and the faces at Jam Up and Red Bluff reach about 250 and 230 feet; the state’s natural-area page gives “as high as 200 feet” (MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area). old red cedars grow from their ledges: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area. gravel bars between them are wide: Johnson 2007, 29; Dufur 2013, 20.
For about three miles … Jacks Fork Natural Area: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; Dufur 2013, 20. on the outside of a hard bend, the right-hand bluff: NPS 1960, 4.
inside the national riverways: see Chapter 10. first public landing below the natural area: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; see Chapter 11.
Gasconade Dolomite near the water and the Roubidoux Formation above … ledges and overhangs: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25 (fig. 19); MSS 1982, 13–14; see Chapter 1.
dry week of August 2006 … about 38 cubic feet a second … near Jam Up Cave and near Rymer Spring … past Blue Spring: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2); see Chapter 12.
94 live mussels near Muck Forty, 49 near Lost Hollow and 63 a little above Rymer Spring … only 2 at Rymers … first searched in 1982: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 15 (table 3, river kilometers 56.5, 50.5, 50.1 and 48.2). The source gives sites by river kilometer only; the place names here are located from those distances. four species alive … near Angel Ridge and near Rymer Spring: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, appendix E, table 12 (sites 5A and 1A); see Chapter 16.
about six and a half miles: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book. a local floater … about three and a half hours: see Chapter 20 (Table 20.2).
miles … counted from the junction … mile 12.8 … 16.5: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book.

Hughes Hollow Hole and Daveys Hollow

Hughes Hollow Hole, known as a long, shallow pool: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source.
swings hard around the mouth of Daveys Hollow: Plate A5. draining less than half a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.4 square miles). said to carry running water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27 (“Davey’s Hollow runs water”), the only source.
without an apostrophe: USGS GNIS; BGN 2016, 50 (federal names policy discourages possessive apostrophes).

Round Blue Hole and the Holden Place

Round Blue Hole … noisy spring … long bluff on the left streaked with red … Holden Place … reached through it: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source.

The Jacks Fork Natural Area

966 acres … May 27, 1980 … same day as Barn Hollow: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; see Reach C and Chapter 11.
about four and a half river miles below the Highway 17 bridge and about two below Blue Spring … about three miles: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; Dufur 2013, 20.
gravel bars, the dolomite cliffs and glades … caves … more than 450 native plants … forty native fishes and four kinds of crayfish: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; Dufur 2013, 20, 23; see Chapter 16.
no logging tram reached them … wagon to the mills at Birch Tree: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; see Chapter 7.
about 4,000 acres around Jam Up Cave … unsuitable: NPS 1981, 30, 126; see Chapter 10.
where the river turns south … on the left bank, hidden by trees from the water: Dufur 2013, 20 (“the west-facing slope”); Johnson 2007, 26 (“the east bank”). Both describe river left of a south-flowing stretch. courtyard … two smaller openings … an alcove … about 140 feet long … some of them broken … footprints … Three Entrance Cave: Johnson 2007, 26. Its exact position has not been fixed: the arch is not lettered on Plate A5.

Bear Hollow, Bear Hollow Hole and Bear Hollow Bluff

about a square mile and a half: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.6 square miles).
high, flat, gray bluff on the right … by one account the largest bluff … to this point … small spring seeps … a mile and a half to the north a large marshy basin: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source.
about 25 feet high and 30 wide … columns and stalagmites … about 120 feet … Little Black Bluff Cave: Johnson 2007, 26.
out of deference to whoever first named the cave … Bear Hollow Bluff: MSS 1982, 13; see Chapter 13.

Fenninghauser Hole and Spring Hollow

Fenninghauser Hole begins a big bend … high bluff on the left … spring on the right below the pool: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source; the spelling is the 1980 text’s and map’s (PDF pp. 27, 29). just above the mouth of Spring Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 29 (map: lettered along the run that ends where Spring Hollow comes in); Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (marked on a map at about mile 12.1); the mouth of Spring Hollow: USGS GNIS (726934), measured on the river centerline (12.26).
spells it Fennenhauser … camping, picnics and fishing: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23.
about a third of a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.3 square miles). said to be named for a spring that rises through its floor … pool at its mouth … Two more springs … cascading … early in the year: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source.

Jam Up Bluff and Jam Up Cave

by one account the high point along the Jacks Fork: NPS 1960, 19 (“the high point along Jacks Fork”), the only source. Taller faces stand above it, on the left at the Round Blue Hole (about 290 feet), and downstream; the tallest on the river, about 350 feet, is the face on the left bank across from Grandma Rocks (Reach G; Map 13).
about 250 feet … about 210 feet: the right-bank faces at about miles 12.74 to 12.77 (tallest 12.76) and 12.84 to 12.98 (tallest 12.93), measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13). The cave mouth and its slope of boulders probably lie in the break between the two faces, by the mouth of Jam Up Creek (12.80).
80 feet high and 100 feet wide: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; Dufur 2013, 21. half buried in fallen rock: Johnson 2007, 26.
rings … bandshell … about 125 feet … close under the rim: NPS 1960, 5, the only source. The faces beside the mouth measure about 210 and 250 feet (Map 13). seen from far upstream … stream comes out on the left among the rocks: Johnson 2007, 26–27. slope of dolomite boulders: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.
relatively fresh rockfall scar … east of the cave in 2007: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25 (fig. 19); see Chapter 1.
natural tunnel: MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area; see Chapter 13.
about 25 feet … 350 to 400 feet … half-light … deep pool in a pit … cliffs about 20 feet high … waterfall … logs, sticks and leaves … partial dam … 15 to 20 feet: NPS 1960, 5. blocks the size of houses … bluish: Johnson 2007, 27.
sinkhole about 60 feet across, a window … threading among fallen blocks: NPS 1960, 4–5. smaller skylight: Johnson 2007, 28; MSS 1982, 35.
October 1980 … 1,749 feet: MSS 1982, 36 (map).
a section of the roof fell in, by that account in the late 1990s: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-12. ceiling falls have happened in recent years: NPS 2026 (Jam Up); see Chapter 13.
mushrooms … about 1900 … a horse that fell through the sinkhole: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 27, 31, the only source.
September 1, 1940, Leslie Hubricht … a tiny spring snail … a freshwater limpet: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, invertebrate collection, 283182 (Fontigens aldrichi, “Jam Up Cave”); University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, mollusk collection, 176189 (Ferrissia, “Jam Up Cave”).
B. F. Bush … national attention … magnesium-rich dolomite … Roubidoux sandstone … lady’s-slippers, grass-of-Parnassus, American barberry, harebell and northern bedstraw … Appalachians … relic colony: NPS 1960, 19–20 (as Cypripedium reginae, C. candidum, Parnassia grandifolia, Berberis canadensis, Campanula rotundifolia, Galium boreale); see Chapter 16.
among the representative dolomite cliffs in the state’s classification of cliffs: MDC, “Cliffs”; see Chapter 2.
Plants pressed at Jam Up … herbaria as far apart as Columbia, St. Louis and San Diego: the specimens below. collected in 1931 and 1932 … purple milkweed in the rocky woods and doll’s-eyes on the hillsides … bush clover … narrow-leaved bluets … leafy pondweed growing in the river itself: University of Missouri Herbarium, Columbia, specimens 1616013 (August 13, 1931), 1681456, 1668062, 1634912, 1671893 and 1674505 (collector J. H. Kellogg; May 29 to September 4, 1932). autumn coralroot … November 30, 1935: Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, St. Louis, specimen 3538101 (J. A. Steyermark, Corallorhiza odontorhiza, “Jam-up Hollow, 1 mi E of Jam-up”). a storekeeper and botanist from Courtney … hepatica … April 17, 1936 … seventy-seven … ten months before his death: San Diego Natural History Museum Herbarium, specimen SD00091314 (B. F. Bush 7050, Anemone americana, “Jam Up,” rocky banks; the label gives no county, and the place is taken to be this Jam Up); UNC Herbarium, “Benjamin Franklin Bush” (born December 21, 1858; storekeeper and postmaster at Courtney; died February 14, 1937), after Palmer 1937. November 1960 … red-stemmed feathermoss: Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, specimen 90170667 (P. L. Redfearn Jr., Pleurozium schreberi, November 28, 1960, collected along Jam Up Creek and at Jam Up Cave and the bluffs along the river; also New York Botanical Garden, 624319, the same day). May 1971 false bugbane … pressed on Jam Up Bluff: Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, specimen 3507791 (Arthur Christ, Trautvetteria caroliniensis, May 11, 1971, “Jam-up Bluff along Jack’s Fork of Current River”); on the 1960 list, NPS 1960, 19.
“Jimjam Cave”: Dorrance 1938, 32; see Chapters 9 and 18.

Jam-Up Hole and Jam Up Creek

full of large rocks: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 27, the only source, which calls the pool deep. about 8 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12).
about 21 square miles … heads in Mountain View … largest branch … about two and a half square miles … a little over half a mile above the mouth: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Jam Up Creek, 20.7 square miles). sinks into its bed … Big Spring: see Chapter 12.
Devil’s Backbone: Johnson 2007, 28. also given to the ridge between the river and Johnny Hollow on the right bank above Rymers: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“above the river to the left of Johnny Hollow, by Rymer’s Ranch”) and the map on PDF p. 33 (“Devils Backbone” lettered south of the river, between it and Johnny Hollow, above Rymer’s Ranch).
probably once ran north … broke through into a cave passage … Lost Hollow: NPS 1960, 4; MSS 1982, 34. very rare: NPS 1960, 4 (“almost unique”); see Chapter 13.
an immense gravel bar has built up … long used as a camp: Johnson 2007, 29; Dufur 2013, 21; see Chapter 20.

Red Bluff and Bearny Hollow

About half a mile below Jam Up: Plate A5. iron oxide in the clay … good pool: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 31. about 230 feet high: the left-bank face at about miles 13.14 to 13.33, tallest at 13.23, measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13).
visible from the river through the trees … 10 feet wide and 20 high … within 40 feet … pack rats’ nests: Johnson 2007, 29.
about half a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.5 square miles). known as Bearny Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 31 and map, PDF p. 29, the only source. “Spring hole”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23; see Chapter 18.

Blowing Spring Hole, Sugartree Bottom and Boulder Chute

about 5 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12).
small, noisy spring … Sugartree Bottom … large sugar maples … high cut bank of clay … Boulder Chute … large rocks: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 30–31, the only source.
Gilmore Pond: Plate A5; USGS GNIS.
Angel Ridge separates the river from Lost Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30. Angel Ridge Bluff: MDC, “Cliffs”; see Chapter 2.

Lost Hollow, Fly Blow Hollow and Indian Field

about five square miles … a little over half a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Lost Hollow 5.0 square miles; Fly Blow Hollow 0.6).
abandoned valley … same grade … perhaps 20 feet lower … two streams cutting against each other: NPS 1960, 4–5. Fly Blow … faults: Weary and others 2014, 10; see Chapter 1.
“Flyblow” … runs all year … “Pipe spring” … “Simms track”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23.
Around 1980 a good stream … beaver dams … three large springs … water pipe … Old Simms Place … by one account one of the more beautiful homesites … grown up in brush: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.
Jenny Ridge: USGS GNIS.
old road from Birch Tree to Summersville … McIntire Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source. McIntyre Ford: USGS 1948 (Summersville).
Indian Field … old Indian campgrounds: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source; see Chapter 3.

Swirl Hole and the Blue Hole

Swirl Hole … deep pool … the Blue Hole … one of the deepest holes: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.
about 5 feet … about 8: each pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12), on which the deepest pools of the river measure 8 to 10 feet.
a second Blue Hole … distinct from the one in Reach C: Plate A5; see Reach C and Chapter 18.
primitive campsite called Blue Hole … between Baptizing Hole and Flat Rock: NPS 1981, 127.

Meeting House Cave

about mile 15.5: Lewis 1980, map, PDF p. 33 (left bank, between the Blue Hole and Woodriff Hole). The cave is not lettered on Plate A5.
Meeting House Cave Hole … long bluff on the left … bur oak: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source for the oak. one of the largest entrances … pinches down quickly … about 220 feet: Johnson 2007, 31.
“Church house cave”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23.
both sides used it during the Civil War: NPS 1977; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30; see Chapter 13.
gnarled red cedars … oldest trees in the Ozarks … no use as timber and hard to reach: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.

Bill Hollow, Rock Hollow, Flat Rock Hollow and Woodriff Hole

Jenny Ridge separates … Bill Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30.
about three square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Bill Hollow, 3.1 square miles).
Rock Hollow: USGS 1948 (Summersville).
about five square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Flat Rock Hollow, 5.1 square miles). holds water in several places and by one account runs only in wet weather: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source. The hollow was running at about 0.9 cubic foot a second on August 16, 2006, during a drought (Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28, table 2).
Woodriff Hole, by one account a favorite swimming hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.
primitive camping area called Flat Rock … since at least 1981: NPS 1981, 127; NPS 2022a, E-6 (Flat Rock Primitive Area).

The club cabins

rough divided chute … a couple of turns: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.
incorporated the club in 1912 … ten cabins … Ebb and Flow Spring: Stevens 1991, 151–52; NPS, “Rymers Ranch History”; see Chapters 9 and 10. west bank: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30.
October 1934 … “Ebb-and-Flow Camp” near Birch Tree: University of Missouri Herbarium, Columbia, specimens 1603926, 1609772 and 100324590 (H. W. Rickett, October 13–14, 1934, “banks of Jack’s Fork S of Ebb-and-Flow Camp, near Birch Tree”; “bottoms of Jack’s Fork near Ebb-and-Flow Camp”; “top of bluff south of Ebb-and-Flow Camp”). That the camp was the club’s is an inference.
still standing, in poor repair, around 1980: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30; see Chapter 9.

Ebb and Flow Spring and Rymer Spring

About three-tenths of a mile above the Rymers landing, on the left: MDC 2003, miles 15.9 and 16.2.
known both as Ebb and Flow Spring and as Rymer Spring … one spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“Rymer’s Ebb and Flow Spring”) and map, PDF p. 33; USGS 1948 (Summersville; the spring symbol lettered Ebb and Flow Spring lies about 20 meters from the point the federal names list gives for Rymer Spring); USGS GNIS; see Chapter 12.
round basin above the level of the river … through the rocks at the river’s edge: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30. short spring branch: USGS GNIS; Plate A5.
road built in 1916 … Devil’s Backbone … the later site of Rymer’s ranch … crossed the river to the club: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source. the ridge between the river and Johnny Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 33 (map).
April 2007 … spring branch on the left … distinctly blue … the way to Rymer Spring: Johnson 2007, 31.
capillary beak-rush … July 16, 1932: Missouri Botanical Garden Herbarium, St. Louis, specimen 3545552 (J. A. Steyermark, Rhynchospora capillacea, “along Jack’s Fork of Current River, near Ebb and Flow Springs N of Montier on moist shaded limestone bluffs”). Leslie Hubricht took a bladder snail … the next day: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Ann Arbor, mollusk collection, 176926 (Physella gyrina aurea, July 17, 1932, “Ebb & Flow Spring, 5 mi. n.w. of Birchtree”). Fish taken at the spring in 1939 … hornyhead chubs, banded darters, northern studfish and rock bass: Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, fish collection, 60370, 60722, 60576 and 60629 (L. P. Woods, 1939, “Ebb and Flow Spring 7 mi. NE of Montier”). spothanded crayfish taken there on August 26, 1939: Field Museum of Natural History, crustacean collection, 10936 (Orconectes [Faxonius] punctimanus).

Rough Hollow

a little over a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.1 square miles).
April 2007 … as far as they could … brush closed in: Johnson 2007, 31.
“Ebb n flow”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23.

Rymers

landing and backcountry campground: NPS 2022a, E-6 (Rymers Backcountry Area); see Chapter 11. county road from Highway M: NPS 1977; MDC, Jacks Fork Natural Area.
Rymer’s Rustic Ranch … 1920s and 1930s: see Chapter 9. Rymer, Rhymer and Rymer’s: O’Brien 1939, 112; see Chapter 18.
cable … carrying water in a bucket: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.
Rymers Ranch Stretch … long bluff on its right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 and map, PDF p. 33, the only source.

Places not yet placed

The Turnip Patch … right bank below Red Bluff … Hickory Flat Hollow and Birch Prairie … Jam Up Creek country: Lewis 1980, map, PDF p. 29, the only source.
cold-air blow-hole … 1934 … above Jam Up: Dorrance 1938, 31; see Chapters 9 and 13.

On to Reach F

Johnny Hollow … Bunker Hill: Plates A5 and A7; USGS GNIS.

Table E.1

Drainage areas and miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. Names: USGS GNIS (“federal map”); Lewis 1980, map, PDF p. 29 (Bearny Hollow); USGS 1948 (Summersville; Rock Hollow).

F. Rymers to Bay Creek

Opening

about nine and a half miles: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (Rymers landing 16.5, mouth of Bay Creek 25.9). longest stretch between public landings on the upper river: the landings in Chapter 20 (Table 20.2) and Chapter 11, measured on the same centerline. No bridge … no public road: Plates A7 and A8; NPS 2022a, maps A-11 to C-11.
falls about 7 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2.
long loops … north … east … north again … Bee Bluff: Plates A7 and A8. Bluffs … gravel bars and a few small fields … only flat ground: MDC 2003 (“nearly a canyon”); Plates A7 and A8; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 34, 37, 40 (Calhoun Bottom, the Alfalfa Field, Center Field). largest side stream: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. about three miles above Bay Creek: measured along the river centerline (22.7 to 25.9). valley begins to widen and the bars grow larger: Erwin, Jacobson and Jones 2021, 12, 34; see Chapter 15.
Gasconade Dolomite … Roubidoux Formation higher: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 25; see Chapter 1. Cryptozoon chert … a little above Rymers to a couple of miles above Bay Creek: Weary and others 2013, GIS data (field observations of Cryptozoon chert); see Chapter 1. Houston fault … a couple of miles below Rymers: Weary and others 2013 and 2014, GIS data (faults), laid against the river centerline; see Chapter 1.
about 38 … about 45 … hollows … dry … half a cubic foot: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2: Jacks Fork near Rymer Spring 38.2, August 16; Jacks Fork upstream from Bay Creek 44.9, August 17; Johny Hollow, Stillhouse Hollow and a spring near Stillhouse Hollow 0; Bay Creek 0.50); see Chapter 12.
warmest in the Riverways, about 63 °F … Rymers … Bay Creek: Westhoff and Paukert 2014, 6; see Chapter 16.
331 live mussels … about a mile below Rymers … 300 … Ouachita kidneyshells … more than at any other site: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 16 (table 3, river kilometer 46.4). a site between Bee Hollow and Bay Creek, first searched in 1982 … 203 … Bay Creek held 7: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 16 (table 3, river kilometers 34.6 and 33.4). The source gives sites by river kilometer only; the place names here are located from those distances. four species alive below Rymers … three near Bee Hollow … only an empty shell near the mouth of Bay Creek: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, appendix E, table 12 (sites 9A, 37A and 97A); see Chapter 16.
Bunker Hill is a privately owned retreat: see Chapter 9. Chalk Bluff … private foundation: NPS 2015 (Chalk Bluff). part of the valley of Leatherwood Creek: MDC, Leatherwood Creek Natural Area (1,440 acres of the valley, L-A-D Foundation).
Bunker Hill Cave, Moss Spring Cave: MSS 1982, 18–22, 44; see Chapter 13. Sycamore Cave: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34; named by stretch only. about twenty caves and shelters … posted: MSS 1982, 1, 4–61 (the Leatherwood Creek reports), as counted in the cave catalog compiled for this book; see Chapter 13.
floated as a trip of its own: see Chapter 20 (the Mountain View resident’s comparison of Blue Spring to Rymers with Rymers to Bay Creek; the outfitters’ trips). two-day float of about eighteen miles from the Highway 17 bridge: Dufur 2013, 18; see Chapter 20.
miles … counted from the junction … 21.6 … 22.7 … 25.9: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book.

Pipe Spring Hole, Johnny Hollow and Johnny Hollow Hole

Pipe Spring Hole … Johnny Hollow Hole … said to divide at the mouth … said to run a good stream of water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 35, the only source.
about a third of a mile below the landing: measured along the river centerline (16.5 to 16.8). more than six square miles … Floyd Hollow … unnamed branch of more than two square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Johnny Hollow 6.4 square miles; the unnamed branch 2.3); USGS GNIS (Floyd Hollow).
a mile of its bed … losing streams: MDC 2001, PDF 26 (table Ge01, after MDNR 1999); see Chapter 12. put nothing into the river: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2, “Johny Hollow,” August 16).
a logger born in 1916, who worked at Rymer’s ranch in the 1930s … salt … ranged from there down to Alley: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 53 (“ran from there to Alley”; Oliver Beavers; his work at the ranch, 39–40, table 6); see Chapter 5.
Devil’s Backbone … road of 1916 … Johnny Hollow side: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30 (“to the left of Johnny Hollow”), the only source; see Reach E.
Pipe Spring Hole, about 5 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 16.55).

Bunker Hill

on a knoll on the left bank: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30; USGS 1948 (Summersville; “Bunker Hill Ranch,” building cluster); measured along the river centerline (about 17.2).
privately owned retreat … fishing camp of 1929 … teachers’ camp from 1947 … Friends of Bunker Hill … 2013: see Chapter 9 (which opens it to public booking in 2013).
said to come from the sawmilling days … Bunker-Culler Lumber Company … town of Bunker … late in the 1800s or early in the 1900s … flash flood … mules … Pine Grove: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 30, 35, the only source.
Samuel and George Culler … Mountain View early in the 1900s … Reynolds and Dent counties … in 1907 Sylvanus J. Bunker … more than 250 new houses … about a thousand people … more than 100,000 feet: KRCU 2025, which dates the town’s founding to 1907 and the mill’s move only to “early in the twentieth century.” That the company had a mill at Bunker Hill rests on the 1980 account alone (above).
A German family … tobacco … brush piles … Ozark Trail … green box … went to the teachers: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 30, the only source.
Bunker Hill Ranch … 1938 … nobody could explain the next year: O’Brien 1939, 21 (listed among the unsolved names; her only source the 1938 state highway map).
well drilled at the ranch in 1962 … 330 feet … lower part of the Gasconade Dolomite: Barks 1978, 7 (table 1, site 15).

Stillhouse Hollow below Bunker Hill

about a square mile and a half … about mile 17.3: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.5 square miles); measured along the river centerline.
Stillhouse Hollow since at least 1968 … corrections of 2011 … about four miles downstream: USGS GNIS (727108, a valley record that still carries the name; 727109, the corrected hollow, Board decision of January 12, 2012); USGS 1968 (Jam Up Cave), which letters Stillhouse Hollow both here and on a short valley entering on the right at about mile 19.85; MBGN 2011 (the valley that lost the name was 0.6 mile long, and “the closest” other Stillhouse Hollow was “just less than four miles upstream”); measured along the river centerline (17.3 to 21.4); see Chapter 18.
Big Stillhouse Hollow … whiskey … more than once: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 35, the only source.
“Little stillhouse”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23.
dry … a spring near it: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2, “Stillhouse Hollow” and “Spring near Stillhouse Hollow,” August 17, at river mile 28.4 above the mouth, half a mile below Johnny Hollow at 28.9, which places them at this hollow).

Low Gap Bluff and Low Gap Hole

curves … long Low Gap Bluff … Low Gap Hole … good stream … on the right … logs and fallen trees: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 35, the only source. on the outside of the bend: Plate A7. rises about 240 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 17.6 to 17.8; see Chapter 2.
“Low gap bluff”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (the name given for a long curving bluff below Bunker Hill with several holes along it). The name may carry the Low Gap name down the bluff line to the Lodder holes; the 1980 account keeps the two bluffs apart (see the Lodder holes, below).

Dark Hollow and Dark Hollow Hole

less than a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.8 square miles). steep-sided and dark … the pool there bears its name … said to be divided: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 35, the only source. on the right at the head of a turn to the north: Plate A7; USGS GNIS (716669).
The logger who salted his cattle at Johnny Hollow … guided fishermen … fifteen feet … wade it … gravel: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 57 (Oliver Beavers; 39–40, table 6); see Chapter 15.
marked the hole on a map at the mouth of the hollow: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (marked on a map about 150 meters from the mouth of the hollow).
about 9 feet deep today, among the deepest pools on the river: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 18.05); the deepest named holes measure 8 to 10 feet.
A branch of about half a square mile … about mile 18.5: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (unnamed, 0.46 square miles); measured along the river centerline.

The Lodder holes, Lodder Bluff and Lodder Ford

Upper, Middle and Lower Lodder Hole … long, high bluff … begins below the upper hole … Lodder family … filled in … dripping bluff … spring comes in on each side … below the ford … favorite spot for hunters: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 34–35, the only source; on the left: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 35 (“on the north side of the river”) and PDF p. 37 (map). a separate bluff from Low Gap Bluff above Dark Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 35 (the curve around Low Gap Bluff, then Dark Hollow, then “A long bluff starts on the north side of the river below the Upper Lodder Hole”) and the maps on PDF pp. 33, 37; on the river centerline the two bluffs stand on the outsides of separate bends, and at the turn at Dark Hollow (about miles 17.8 to 18.3) the left bank is the inside of the bend. who they were has not been traced: see Chapter 8.
rises about 340 feet … one of the tallest faces on the river: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the faces on the left at about miles 18.7 to 18.8 (about 330 feet) and 19.0 to 19.1 (about 340); the floaters of 2007 read more than 300 feet from the federal topographic map (Johnson 2007, 20, 31). Floaters in April 2007 … abandoned side channel … moved south: Johnson 2007, 20, 31.
middle hole about mile 18.7 … lower hole about 19.2 … the ford … by the mouth of Sycamore Hollow: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (places marked on a map, laid against the river centerline).
Loader Ford and Catfish Bluff … deep holes … “and that’s where people fished a lot”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56 (Willa Cowan; 39–40, table 6); see Chapters 18 and 19.

Sycamore Hollow and Sycamore Hole

nearly three square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (2.9 square miles); USGS GNIS (727414). Sycamore Hole … good spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source.
who knows the hollow, it has changed: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23.

Eighteen Foot Hole and False Teeth Hole

turns north into Eighteen Foot Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 37 (map); Plate A7. giggers … sixteen-foot gig pole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source for the name’s origin.
False Teeth Hole … false teeth … roasting ear: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source. The scan prints “roasting car,” a misprint for roasting ear.

Catfish Bluff and the Catfish holes

Upper and Lower Catfish holes … bluffs … under the water … good home for catfish … small springs: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source; the upper on the left and the lower on the right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 37 (map).
where the bluff rises about 150 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the right at about mile 20.75, the only right-bank face within a quarter mile of the lower hole’s place, and so probably the 1980 map’s Lower Catfish Bluff.
Catfish Bluff is on the left a little above Boat Hole: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (marked on a map at about mile 20.9 on the left).

Boat Hole, Calhoun Bottom and the Spring Hole

Boat Hole … just above Calhoun Bottom … Spring Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source. a field on the left: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 37 (map); Plate A7.

Stillhouse Hollow and Nickelhoff Hole

head of Chalk Bluff … about mile 21.4: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (mouth about 250 meters above the Chalk Bluff point); USGS GNIS (727109, 715702). three and a half miles long: MBGN 2011. about four square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (4.0 square miles).
Until the 2011 corrections … Bee Hollow … moved the Stillhouse name here: MBGN 2011; USGS GNIS (727109); see Chapter 18. The short valley that lost the name, lettered Stillhouse Hollow on USGS 1968 (Jam Up Cave), enters on the right at about mile 19.85, measured on the river centerline; MBGN 2011 gives it as 0.6 mile long, its name “verified by USGS fieldwork in 1968.”
Chalk Bluff comes into view after they pass Still House Hollow: NPS 1977, stop 8.
whiskey stills … good spring a quarter of a mile up: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source.
Nickelhoff Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 34, 37. “Nickelloff”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23. Nickeloff Field: NPS 1981, 127.

Chalk Bluff

long, high … on the outside of a sharp bend to the left: NPS 1977, stop 8; Plate A7; USGS GNIS (715702, right bank). pale: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34 (“the white face of Chalk Bluff”). Its face rises about 200 feet above the water: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the right at about miles 21.5 to 21.6; McKee 1996 also gives 200. The right-bank wall continues around the bend to about mile 21.85, where a face rises about 280 feet. about 120: NPS 2015 (Chalk Bluff). “whitish” … wider and lined with rolling hills: McKee 1996.
Chalk Bluff Stretch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 37 (map). Nearly every bluff on the river is dolomite: see Chapter 1. took this one for chalk: NPS 1977, stop 8.
spring on the right above the bluff … round, solid rock … edge of the gravel below … ebb and flow … Fodder Jones and Carl Seaman … about ten minutes: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source; the lower spring is also listed among ebb-and-flow springs on PDF p. 30.
spring near the upper end of the bluff: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (marked on a map at about mile 21.5, right bank). knows of a spring at Chalk Bluff but could not mark where: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-05 (“heard of it, not sure where”).
Iron Stake Woods … good place to hunt … iron stake … logging days … tram reached the head of Bee Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source.
belongs to the L-A-D Foundation … inside the national riverways … late April 2015 … 12 feet by 24 … pleaded guilty … federal court … $4,097.96 … three volunteers … Cave Research Foundation … two days … water, vinegar and wire brushes … June 29: NPS 2015 (Chalk Bluff).

The Kelly holes and Big and Little Bear hollows

runs west past Upper Kelly Hole and turns north at Lower Kelly Hole: Plates A7 and A8.
Upper Kelly Hole … mouth of Big Bear Hollow … Lower Kelly Hole … Little Bear Hollow, a short way below … filled with gravel … Big Bear is the hollow the federal maps call Spring Hollow … rough and brushy … large spring … Little Bear is also said to run water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34 (“The Upper and Lower Kelly Holes are at the mouths of Big and Little Bear Hollows”), the only source; the pairing follows the order of that sentence and the map on PDF p. 37, which brings Spring (Big Bear) Hollow and Big Bear Spring to the river at the west end of Upper Kelly Hole, where the river begins to turn north, and aims Little Bear Hollow at the northward run below the turn. The mouth of Spring Hollow: USGS GNIS (726936), measured on the river centerline (22.08), where the river begins to turn north. on the left: Plate A7; USGS GNIS (726936, Spring Hollow). a little over half a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.6 square miles).
“Big bear”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-23 (name given for Spring Hollow).
Lower Kelly Hole is still about 10 feet deep at low water, the deepest of the river’s named holes: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 22.17).

Leatherwood Creek

on the left through a big gravel bar: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source. about twelve miles … about twenty square miles … Sugar Tree, Walnut and Dry hollows … North Prong … South Prong: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (19.5 kilometers; 20.1 square miles); USGS GNIS.
heads at Oakside … runs water all the way … many springs: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41, the only source. lowest five and a half miles flow all year … South Prong … more than seven miles … no permanent flow: MDC 2001, PDF 28–29 (table Ge03: Leatherwood Creek 5.6 of 5.6 miles; South Prong Leatherwood Creek 0.0 of 7.4).
A man born in 1926 … “now there isn’t much water”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56 (Will McVicker; 39–40, table 6).
early settlers … leatherwood … north and east slopes … first in the Ozarks to bloom … pale yellow tubular flowers … bark and branches … baskets and … tying: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source.
late March and April … calyx … no petals … tied in knots … withes … cordage, baskets and sandals … bitter … blister some people’s skin: MDC, “Eastern Leatherwood” (Dirca palustris), which also puts the shrub on north- and east-facing valley slopes, as the 1980 account does.
April 2025 … 1,440 acres … L-A-D Foundation, which manages it through the Pioneer Forest … Leo Drey … 1951 … Roubidoux sandstone … Gasconade … 400 feet … cliff, forest, woodland and fen … more than 500 native plants … glacial relicts … Great Lakes states … north-facing slopes … darters … no facilities: MDC, Leatherwood Creek Natural Area.
that year … 1953 … 90,000 acres belonging to National Distillers … to be clear-cut … New York … single-tree selection … 1962 … 2004 … 2015, at ninety-eight … 143,000 acres in six Missouri counties: St. Louis Public Radio 2015. The year of the first purchases is Drey’s own (Drey 1998, 3: “1951, I bought the first land”), and the state gives the forest’s founding as 1951 (above); the obituary dates them to 1950. See Chapter 10.
In 1977 the park pointed floaters to the creek mouth: NPS 1977, stop 9; see Chapter 16.
A lot of families … Loss Millman … sawmill … 1928 … three miles up: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41, the only source.
John Woolsey … before the Civil War … trail … over the ridges to his brother’s place on the North Prong … probably buried … point between Leatherwood and Rough Hollow … six to twelve graves … Link: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41, the only source; the graveyard is marked “Cem.” on the map, PDF p. 37. Woolseys buried on the North Prong: see Reach A.
November 1863 … Woolsey’s trail … Miles and Jack Stephens: Stevens 1991, 61–62, quoting the Official Records; see Chapter 6. near the mouth of the creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 34, the only source for the place.
Peter Renfro … 1888 … hidden in a cave on Leatherwood: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41; MSS 1982, 46, 49; see Chapter 13.
Mule Corral … sawmill … Big Basin … Low Gap … South Prong and Walnut Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41 and the map on PDF p. 38, the only source.
Dogwood Basin … Tin Roof … cattleman … tin was stolen: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41 and the map on PDF p. 37, the only source.
good place to make whiskey … Harley Patterson … good whiskey and a lot of it … cottonmouths … “mobbed”: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41, the only source.

Center Field

on the right, in the sharp bend … Bee Bluff: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40 and the map on PDF p. 43, the only source; Plate A8.

Rough Hollow

nearly two square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.9 square miles); USGS GNIS (725594). second Rough Hollow: USGS GNIS; see Reach E.
run water for some distance … hard going: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source. part of the Leatherwood Creek Natural Area: MDC, Leatherwood Creek Natural Area.
J. U. Woolsey … ridge: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 41, the only source.

Bee Bluff, Bee Bluff Hole and Spring Bluff Hole

outside of a hairpin bend … north to east: Plate A8; USGS GNIS (736242, left bank). rises about 240 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 23.3 to 23.4.
honeybees’ homes … holes high in its uneven face: NPS 1977, stop 10. George Ipock … long ladder … Bee Bluff Hole … Spring Bluff Hole … small spring … pipe: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source.
Spring Bluff Hole, about 6 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 23.57).
Forsite Place … Justis: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source.
“Bee Bluff to Bay Creek”: NPS 1981, 127.

Bee Hollow Ford

Oscar and Adolf Kooler … logging days … log … big rocks … spring flood … Bee Hollow Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source.

Bee Hollow, Bee Hollow Branch and Bee Hollow Hole

about seven-tenths of a mile below Bee Bluff: MBGN 2011; measured along the river centerline (23.3 to 24.0). about a square mile and a half: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.5 square miles).
official only since the 2011 corrections … Island Branch: MBGN 2011; USGS GNIS (748765, 2710695); see Chapter 18.
Bee Hollow Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 43 (map); Plate A8.
tram of the Cordz-Fisher company … Pine Hollow … head of Bee Hollow … quarter of a mile from the river behind Chalk Bluff … Birch Tree … pine knots … boiler: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 34 (“the railroad came out of Pine Hollow and into Bee Hollow … to a point about one-fourth mile from the river,” told with the Iron Stake Woods behind Chalk Bluff) and 40 (the Cordz-Fisher tram “branched off into the upper part of Bee Hollow”), the only source; read together here as one tram. See Chapter 7.

Spring Hollow below Bee Bluff

a hollow known as Spring Hollow … on the left … small spring … Leech … whiskey … dead cedar … almost no smoke: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40 and the map on PDF p. 43, the only source. about mile 24.1: Plate A8 (an unlettered valley from the northwest), read against the map on PDF p. 43.

The Flat Hole and the tie yard

between Bee Hollow and … Turkey Roost Hollow … filled in … shallow … slow … tie yard … chute … Jabe Searcy’s cabin … on the left … George Dyer Place … Forsite Place … over the hill toward Bee Bluff … Bay Creek … old Justis Place … favorite place to camp: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source; see Chapter 7. Turkey Roost on the right: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 37, 43 (maps). about mile 24.7 … its turn north toward Dyer Bluff: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 43 (map: Turkey Roost Hollow entering on the right at the foot of the Flat Hole, above Dyer Bluff); Plate A8 (an unlettered right-bank stream at about mile 24.7); measured on the river centerline.
north bank … from Highway 106 … campsites strung along it down to Bay Creek: NPS 1977, “Bay Creek.” in 2007 … about two miles upriver … campsites scattered: Johnson 2007, 33.

Dyer Bluff, George Dyer Bluff and Big Rock Hole

big bluff … rimmed by the river … Dyer Bluff … only a shelter … steep slope: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source; on the right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 43 (map) and Plate A8 (bluff at about mile 25.0).
It rises about 310 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the faces on the right at about miles 24.7 to 25.1.
George Dyer Bluff … between Bay Creek and the old George Dyer Place … Big Rock Hole … six feet … dove off it … By 1980 the rock could no longer be seen: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source.
rises about 280 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about mile 25.5, beside Big Rock Hole on the 1980 map (PDF p. 43); a lower face of about 150 feet stands on the left just above the mouth of Bay Creek (about mile 25.8).

Bay Creek

about mile 25.9 … about fifteen square miles: measured along the river centerline; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (15.4 square miles); USGS GNIS (713753). a mile of its nine flows all year: MDC 2001, PDF 28–29 (table Ge03: 1.0 of 9.2 miles). half a cubic foot: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2).
always runs water … hardly notices it … Watered Hollow … holds water … Burk Heiney Spring … Dry Hollow … no visible water … road … Joab Dyer Place: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source.
swing to the right … Clay Bank Hole … straight past … none flowed through the old channel: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40 and the map on PDF p. 43, the only source; see Chapter 15.
landing and a backcountry campground … gravel road from Highway 106: NPS 2022a, E-6 to E-7 (Bay Creek Campground) and map C-11; NPS 1977, “Bay Creek”; see Chapter 11.
Archaeologists … around 1980 … prehistoric chipped stone, including large dart points … late-nineteenth-century ceramics and bottle glass: Lynott 1981, 74, 124–25; see Chapter 3.
April 2007 … high gravel bar … a hundred yards … “pockmarked with holes” … midnight … perhaps forty feet away … small black bear … reported in the vicinity … coolers at the Bay Creek campground: Johnson 2007, 33.
nearly disappeared by the early 1900s … 1930s and 1940s … 1958 and 1968 … 254 bears … Minnesota and Manitoba … by 2024 … about a thousand … 8 percent a year: MDC 2025 (bears) (an estimate of 998 bears for 2024).
Joab Dyer Place … hill between Bay Creek and Dry Hollow … thirty to forty graves … Dyers, Donaldsons, Hardwicks, Ipocks, Stuarts, Coops and Cookys: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source. The scan prints “Stu1ut,” read as Stuart.
About twenty families … big flood of 1928 … two sawmills … Kooler’s mill … mule barn … drowned mules … Cleve Hoberry … Babcock … three miles up … father-in-law … California … Black Pond: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source; the June 1928 flood: see Chapter 14.
A sawyer born in 1914 … near Bay Creek … forty-six years … acorns … hogs: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 40 (table 6), 45 (Jess Plowman); see Chapter 5. “a lot of bays along the river, that the water come up but there wasn’t no current through it” … drifts: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 56.
another Bay Creek, on the Current … Goose Bay: O’Brien 1939, 9.
ten Union militiamen … Bay Creek … same patrol: Stevens 1991, 61–62; see Chapter 6.

Places not yet placed

“Rymer, Fifteen Foot Hole, Nickeloff Field, Bee Bluff to Bay Creek”: NPS 1981, 127. remembered as fifteen feet deep: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 57.
Jones, Searcy, Upper Dixon and Lower Dixon … 2022: NPS 2022a, E-6 to E-7 and maps A-11 to C-11. Dixon Ford on the South Prong is a different place: see Reach B.
Alfalfa Field: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 37 (map), the only source.

On to Reach G

Dyer Ford … small bluff on the left … Flat Top Bluff … Island Branch: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 40, 43–44, the only source; see Reach G.

Table F.1

Banks and miles: the river centerline traced for the maps in this book, with the mouths of the creek network; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 37, 43 (maps) for Little Bear Hollow, the Spring Hollow below Bee Bluff and Turkey Roost Hollow. Drainage areas: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. Names: USGS GNIS; MBGN 2011; Lewis 1980.

G. Bay Creek to Alley

Opening

about five and a half miles: measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (mouth of Bay Creek 25.9, head of the Alley Spring Campground about 31.3; see the note to On to Reach H). swings east … Flat Top Bluff … Island Branch … north along Grandma Rocks … east again at Fish Trap Hollow … Boyd Branch … big bend at Rail Tree Hollow … north for the last two miles: Plate A9; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 43–44, 47 (text and maps). floated as a trip of its own … the link between the upper river’s floats and the lower river’s: see Chapter 20 (Windy’s Floats 2026; MDC 2003).
falls about 7 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2.
nearly a canyon: MDC 2003; see Chapter 20. widens in places to half a mile … some of the largest bluffs … few caves compared with the bluffs upstream: Johnson 2007, 33 (which gives about 200 feet and, from the topographic map, close to 300). 200 to 300 feet … across from Grandma Rocks, the tallest on the river: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13): faces of about 200 to 300 feet on the right below Island Branch (about miles 27.2 to 27.7), at the big bend above Rail Tree Hollow (29.5 to 29.6) and across from Buxton Hole (30.0 to 30.3), and about 350 feet on the left across from Grandma Rocks (28.3); see Chapter 2. from a little above Alley Spring on down … crops were more common: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 54 (“Crops were more common downstream from immediately above Alley Spring where the valley begins to widen”). Large gravel bars … main features: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 46 (photograph caption).
Low Wassie fault … a short way below Bay Creek … Hartshorn fault … about a mile above Alley: Weary and others 2013 and 2014, GIS data (faults), laid against the river centerline; see Chapter 1.
By one account of 1980 … perhaps more than any other part … few places … a hole of water … shifted again and again … sloughs and bays … several chutes … a mere creek: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 40, 44, the only source. causes were the stripping of the forests … yearly burning … chert … clearing of the banks … gravel … buried under the soil: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 40, 45, the account’s own explanation; see Chapter 15.
topographic sheet of 1917 … 500 feet or more … four places, near miles 27, 28, 30 and 31 … unsettled: the river line of USGS 1917 (Eminence), traced and laid against today’s channel on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 11): 150 to 225 meters apart near miles 27 and 28, from 30.1 to 30.8 and from 31.3 to 31.5. Above Bay Creek the 1948 sheet’s line runs within about 65 feet of today’s channel along most of the river. See Chapter 15.
photograph … about 1925 … wide, steady channel … 1992 … extensive gravel bar: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 68, 71 (fig. 24, “The Jacks Fork upstream from Alley Spring, Missouri, about 1925 and 1992”). aerial photograph of November 1990 … new gravel … productive field: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 35 (fig. 17, “Jacks Fork—extensive gravel aggradation on top of a once-productive field”).
The logger who salted his cattle at Johnny Hollow, and who guided fishermen down near Alley … “they’d clean out the main channel … washing out”: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 51 (Oliver Beavers); see Reach F and Chapter 5. straighten and fill: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 57; see Chapter 15.
about 45 … above Bay Creek … about 51 at the Alley gauge, above the spring branch: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2: Jacks Fork upstream from Bay Creek, site 83, about 1.8 miles above the mouth of the creek, 44.9, August 17, 2006; Jacks Fork at Alley Spring gauge 51.1); see Chapter 12.
wide and shallow … walked in low water: MDC 2003; see Chapter 20. Cavers … April 2007 … up several inches … scraped gravel … never had to get out … outfitters at the time would not rent … beat them up: Johnson 2007, 33.
A floater, probably in 1934 … “wider, deeper, longer”: Dorrance 1938, 33; see Chapter 9.
2017–19 … none, two and six at three sites spread through the last four miles above Alley: McMurray and Faiman 2023, 16 (table 3, river kilometers 29.0, 26.2 and 24.3). The source gives sites by river kilometer only. Converted to this book’s measured miles they fall at about 28.2, 29.9 and 31.1, but the source’s kilometers and the centerline used here were measured on different traces, so the positions are uncertain by a few tenths of a mile. 2023 … one species alive a little below Bay Creek … none at two sites a mile or so above the Alley access: Westhoff, Laszlo and Huggins 2026, appendix E, table 12 (sites 113A, 43A and 79A); see Chapter 16.
mile 25.9 … 27.1 … 28.5 … 29.7 … about 31.3: the river centerline traced for the maps in this book, with the mouths of the creek network; for the head of the campground, see the note to On to Reach H.

Dyer Ford, the castle bluff and Boneyard Hollow

Dyer Ford … mouth of Bay Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 43 (map, “Dyer Ford (Bay Creek)”), the only source; Joab Dyer Place: see Reach F.
small bluff … between Dry Hollow … and Boneyard Hollow … three upright rocks … fortifications of a castle … no visible water … dead farm animals: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 40, the only source. comes down beside Bay Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 40, 43; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (unnamed channel entering at 25.91, left); see Reach F.
Spring Bay … cut into … thirty to forty feet … left bank of the field below Bay Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source.

Flat Top Bluff, Watson Hole and Island Branch Ford

Flat Top Bluff … left … spring with a pipe … no longer ran all the time … two islands … cut bank on the right … Watson Hole … wide … shallow … lower end of the bluff … family … farm to the right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source; map PDF p. 43 (Boneyard Hollow, Flat Top Bluff and its spring, the hole below).
Island Branch Ford … Buffington Place: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map), the only source.

Island Branch

unnoticed by most floaters … small spring … few hundred yards … two miles farther up … whiskey … large island: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source.
about three square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. about mile 27.1: the river centerline; the creek network’s mouth falls at 27.05 and the federal stream point at 27.20.
Allen Branch until the 2011 corrections … Bee Hollow: MBGN 2011; USGS GNIS (748570); see Chapter 18 and Reach F. By 1980 the local name had been written down for this stream with the story of the island: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map lettered “Island Branch” at this mouth).

Cooley Hole and the ledge

Cooleys … rocky hole … big and deep … Roy Cooley … cutting corn … 1940s … cramps … drowned … rock ledge: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source; map PDF p. 47 (“Cooley Hole”, “Shelter”).
rises about 300 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the right at about mile 27.26.

Grandma Rocks, the Buffington Place and Black Bill Lynch Ford

runs north for about a mile … rocks on the right: Plate A9; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 47 (map). mapped as a bar on the right side of the channel: USGS GNIS (736243, Bar), laid against the river centerline (28.41, right).
the bluff on the left rises about 350 feet, the tallest face on the river: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 28.27 to 28.33 (about 347 feet), with a second face of about 310 feet just below it (28.37 to 28.43); see Chapter 2.
named by Henry Younger … seines … flat rocks … “grandmaing” … community fish fries: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source; see Chapter 19.
1977 … the deepening river after the sharp right turn through Grandma Rocks … favorite fishing spot: NPS 1977, stop 11 (“the deepening river after a sharp right turn through Grandma Rocks”).
Buffington Place … small spring … Two fords … Island Branch Ford … Black Bill Lynch Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map), the only source. apparently below Bay Creek, since at least 1981: NPS 1981, 127 (the list ends “Bee Bluff to Bay Creek, Buffington’s”).

Fish Trap Hollow and Fish Trap Hole

turns sharply right: NPS 1977, stop 11; Plate A9. a mile and a third … nearly two square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (2.2 km of traced channel; 1.8 sq mi). small spring … small bluff on the left … John Martin … sawmill: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map, “Fish Trap Spring”, “Martin Sawmill”), the only source.
fish traps … pioneer days … crate … spring suckers and redhorse … bushes: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source. That the names come from the traps is an inference; no source says so.
Walmsley Law of 1905 … fish traps … July through March … gill nets, gigging and trotlines: Richards 2003 (the law excepted the Missouri and Mississippi rivers).
below a big rock on the left … one of the deepest spots … crystal clear … nearly twenty feet: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source.
about 8 feet deep today, among the deepest pools on the river: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 28.62); the deepest named holes measure 8 to 10 feet.
An Eminence resident who has done park work … Fish Trap Hole … Fish Trap Hollow … Boyd Branch … Rail Tree Hollow: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-12.

Boyd Branch and Joe Boyd Ford

shallow and choppy … solid rock … boy … drowned … 1800s … edge of the field: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map, “Grave”), the only source.
mile 29.0 … about a square mile and a half: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (28.95, right; 1.47 sq mi); USGS GNIS (748982).
knee deep … quarter of a mile … Boyds who owned the mill at Alley: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source. The mill passed to Ellen J. Boyd in 1895 (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48); see Reach H.
Thornton “Fodder” Jones and Bill Dyer … pie supper … gander … fence … Joe Boyd Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map), the only source.

Big Bend Hole and Rail Tree Hollow

big bend … Big Bend Hole … just above Rail Tree Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map), the only source; Plate A9.
a bluff on the right that rises about 240 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the right at about miles 29.5 to 29.6. about 8 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 29.55).
from the southeast on the right at about mile 29.7 … about half a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (29.67, right; 0.46 sq mi); USGS GNIS (751799), whose point falls on the right of the river centerline at 29.69; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 47 (map, Railtree Hollow from the right). second short hollow … left … 29.8: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (29.83, left; 0.54 sq mi), which also files this channel under the Rail Tree Hollow name.

Buxton Hole and the Buxton farm

a bluff of about 200 feet across the river on the right: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the faces on the right at about miles 30.0 to 30.3. below Rail Tree Hollow … end of Buxton Lane … farm on the left … Robert Powell … Lieutenant Boyd … Julianna … twin girls … bed … yard … burned the cabin … Union lines near Rolla … pneumonia: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47 (map), the only source for this telling.
November 1863 … John W. Boyd … by the Leatherwood trail … ten miles down the Jacks Fork to the Widow McCormick’s: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746–47; see Chapter 6. two other tellings: see Chapter 6.
William Buxton … 1880s … winter of 1886 … ten-pound jack salmon: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 44, the only source; see Chapter 19. Ozark name for the walleye: see Chapter 9. not collected … since 1980: MDC 2001; see Chapter 16.
In the Current … twelve feet deep or more … boulders or sunken logs … shallower water at night … half a pound to about eight pounds … bigger ones: MDC, “Walleye.”

The last miles to Alley

north-northeast … widest and shallowest: Plate A9; MDC 2003; see Chapter 20. unnamed branch … a little more than half a square mile … 31.3: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (31.27, left; 0.58 sq mi).
1998 and 1999 … about a mile and a quarter above Alley Spring … 5 to 25 meters … pools more than 2 meters deep … chambers: Whitledge and Rabeni 2000, 166; see Chapter 16.
road cut … about three-quarters of a mile west of Alley Spring … Gasconade Dolomite … Roubidoux Formation: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 15 (1.2 km, citing Lowell and others 2010).

Places not yet placed

“Bee Bluff to Bay Creek, Buffington’s”: NPS 1981, 127. Lower Bay Creek backcountry area … Buffington primitive area … after the Bay Creek campground and before Alley: NPS 2022a, E-6 and map C-11. old Buffington Place: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 44, 47.
Buxton Hollow … Buxton Lane … farm: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 47 (map), the only source. not on the federal maps: USGS GNIS; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
Barton Bay: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 47 (map), the only source. sloughs and bays … most of them had filled in: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 49.
Alley Hill … toward Island Branch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 46 (photograph caption, “Looking upriver from Alley Hill toward Island Branch”). The hill’s identification is an inference.
described only as upstream from Alley Spring: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 35, 68, 71.

On to Reach H

last small branch on the left … head of the Alley Spring Campground at about mile 31.3 … Davis Ford … Bluff Hole above the Highway 106 bridge: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 47, 51 (maps), 49, 52; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (unnamed branch, 31.27, left); see Reach H. The 1980 maps of this stretch meet at Davis Ford, in the shallow stretch flanked by the campground; laid on the river centerline, both put the ford at about mile 31.2, and the line between Reaches G and H is drawn just below the branch, at about 31.3.

Table G.1

Banks and miles: the river centerline traced for the maps in this book, with the mouths of the creek network; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 43 (map) for Boneyard Hollow. Dry Hollow is the creek network’s unnamed channel entering at 25.91, matched to the 1980 account’s Dry Hollow by position. Drainage areas: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. Names: USGS GNIS; MBGN 2011; Lewis 1980. The left-bank hollow at 29.8 is filed under the Rail Tree Hollow name in the creek network; the federal name’s point lies beside the right-bank hollow.

H. Alley

Opening

head of the Alley Spring Campground, at about mile 31.3 … campground on the right … bluff on the left … Highway 106 bridge at mile 32.0 … half a mile below the bridge … from the left: Plate A10; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 49, 51 (text and map); miles measured along the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (bridge 32.03; mouth of Alley Branch 32.57 by the creek network, 32.59 by GNIS). a little less than half a mile north of the river: USGS GNIS (Alley Spring, 713233), about 650 meters from the centerline.
falls about 7 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2.
nearly triples: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2: 51.1 cubic feet a second above the spring branch, 137 below it), 44–45; see Chapter 12. floated in any month … cooler in summer and milder in winter … most of the river’s canoes: see Chapters 9, 16 and 20.
most of them on the flat floor of Alley Hollow, which runs on to the northwest: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 2–3, 5–6 (the Alley Hollow area of the district holds the spring, the millpond and most of its buildings); Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 47, 51 (maps). Highway 106 comes in from the south over the bridge: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 6; Plate A10.

Davis Ford and the campground river front

shallow stretch … a field on one side and the Alley Spring Campground on the other … Davis Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 49, the only source; his map (PDF p. 51) puts Davis Ford above the Alley Bluff Hole and the campground south of the river. Davis Ford lies at the edge of both his maps of the stretch (PDF pp. 47, 51); laid on the river centerline, they put it at about mile 31.2; the place is read from sketch maps and is approximate.
“at that first crossing above Alley”: Gibson 2000, 32 (the source gives its interviewees pseudonyms); see Chapter 6.
on the right bank, upstream of the highway: Plate A10; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map). built most of it in 1974 … the largest campground in the park: NPS 1981; NPS 2022a; see Chapter 11. 8 feet … three of its loops … 13 feet: National Weather Service (Alley Spring, ALYM7, flood impacts); see Chapter 14, Table 14.4.
hillside beside it … 39 fires between 1706 and 1915: King and Muzika 2014, 79, 84–85 (“adjacent to Alley Spring campground”); see Chapter 16.

Alley Bluff Hole

Where the river turns east, a little more than half a mile above the bridge … bluff on the left: the river centerline (the channel turns from north-northeast to east at about mile 31.4; bridge 32.03); Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 49 (“Just ahead Highway 106 crosses overhead”), 51 (map, “Alley Bluff Hole” lettered on the left where the river turns east below Davis Ford), 52 (“above the bridge”); Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-15, SV-12 and SV-25 (marked on maps on the left bank at about miles 31.3, 31.6 and 31.8); Plate A10 (left-bank bluff at about 31.9).
Alley Bluff Hole … the favorite place to swim … “thousands of local swimmers and campers hours of enjoyment”: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 49, 52.
Bluff Hole Trail: NPS 2022a, appendix C (Alley Spring trails). a small river access on the campground side: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 3 (the Bluff Hole river access point, with a small gravel lot, in the district’s southwest corner); the place register (Bluff Hole “in Alley Campground”).
A swimmer of the 1970s … well-beaten paths … sand bar: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15; see Chapter 19. “about gone”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-17; see Chapter 15. The name Bluff Hole: records SV-12, SV-15, SV-17 and SV-25; see Chapter 18.

Alley Ford and the Highway 106 bridge

Alley Ford … just above the present bridge … deep … a ferry worked at Alley from 1906 for several years: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source.
Old photographs … a wagon ford and a low-water slab: Stevens 1991, 174–75 (figs. 44, 45); see Chapter 8. 1939–40: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 12 (reinforced concrete piers). steel girder … about 385 feet: National Bridge Inventory (384.8 feet); see Chapter 8. only highway crossing between Highway 17 and Eminence … footbridge … 2017 and 2018 … 2019: NPS 2018; NPS 2019; see Chapter 8.
gauge … since 1993 … above the mouth of the spring branch … 23.29 feet, on April 30, 2017: USGS NWIS (07065495); see Chapter 14.
Alley River Access … Burr Oak picnic area: NPS 2022a, appendix E; NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 6, 12. gravel bar … beach and landing … paved ramp nearby filled with gravel: NPS 1981; see Chapters 11 and 15.
Harvey Staples … store and recreation spot … across the river … large canoe rental … did not live to see it pay: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source (“The spot became a very profitable enterprise, although Staples failed to live long enough to see it”). postmaster in 1942: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53 (Harvey R. Staples). That the postmaster and the founder of Harvey’s are one man is assumed.

Lawrence Hollow

from the south a little below the bridge … a little more than three square miles … Drewell Hollow … a square mile and a quarter: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Lawrence Hollow, 3.14 sq mi, mouth at about mile 32.2 on the right; Drewell Hollow, 1.21 sq mi, into Lawrence Hollow); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map). Highway 106 climbs south up its valley: Plate A10.
Lawrence Hollow Spring … families who once lived in the hollows: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source.

The deep half mile

half a mile of deep water, twelve to fourteen feet … swam their horses … Pulliam from Birch Tree … 1930s: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source.
from Bluff Hole down to the place where the spring branch comes in: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15; see Chapter 19.

The mouth of the spring branch

about half a mile long: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 2; Bowles and others 2011, 6 (about 800 meters); see Chapter 16.
Alley Branch … about sixteen square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (16.1 sq mi); USGS GNIS (Alley Branch, 713229). Its valley is Alley Hollow: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 2–3, 5–6; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 47, 51 (maps); see Alley Hollow and the natural area. Cartwright, Conner, Kingfisher, Pipestem and Peter Cave hollows: USGS GNIS (715456, 716201, 720620, 724427, 724251), all draining to Alley Branch on the elevation model; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55.
Pipestem … named for its shape: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source. Peter Cave Hollow … Peter Renfro: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55 (“Peter Renfro was to have hidden in Peter Cave”); MSS 1982, 49 (Peter Cave “near Pipestem Hollow” reportedly named for him); see Chapter 13.
Pipestem Hollow is now a state natural area within the Angeline Conservation Area: MDC 2018 (Angeline plan; Pipestem Hollow is one of its three natural areas, with Alley Spring and Spurgeon Hollow).
three or four different places … a dare … back and forth between the river and the cold spring water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source (“Swimming in and out of the cold water was a daring experience”).
Spring Branch Trail … three-tenths of a mile … bedrock: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 13; NPS 2022a, appendix C. richest plant life: Bowles and Dodd 2016, v, 3–4; see Chapter 16.
1926 and 1927 … swimming beach … beach house: Stevens 1991, 182; see Chapter 19. four bridges … 1927 or in 1928: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2 (spring 1927, “across the spring branch”); Stevens 1991, 182 (June 1928, “at Alley Spring State Park”); see Chapter 14. footbridge … 2018 … road bridge … wood in 2019: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 13 (the Alley Spring Branch Vehicular Bridge, County Road 106-308; the Spring Branch footbridge).

Alley Spring

“Just after the bridge … get out and walk a short way up the spring branch” … base of a high, concave cliff: NPS 1977, Jacks Fork panel (Alley Spring). given as 81 million gallons a day: NPS 1977; NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 6. from the gauge records, about 87 million: USGS NWIS; see Chapter 12. a thrill to swim across the spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source.
slopes back under the hill: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53. a slope of gravel … west wall … about 100 feet: Carrell, May and Garrison 1980, 26, 32, 67. more than 3,000 feet … rises under pressure: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 12–13, after the Ozark Cave Diving Alliance’s map of 2005 (its known western edge is about 100 feet below the pool). at least 155 feet below the surface: MDC, Alley Spring Natural Area. See Chapters 12 and 13.
September 1978 … 450 feet … 135 feet … any trace of early people … crayfish … from about 100 feet … milky blue to beige … storms to the north: Carrell, May and Garrison 1980, 26, 32; see Chapter 3. closed to the public since 2010: see Chapter 13 and Part Six.
Barksdale Spring: Brown 1969, 15; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53. Mammoth Spring, the name given for the first mill’s site about 1869: Perry [1978], sec. 8 (“Mammoth (now Alley) Spring about 1869”); see Chapter 5. the McCaskills’ name: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53. about 1900: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53; Brown 1969, 15, gives 1901.
1811 … twelve hours … five feet … 1917 … sinkhole … fifteen miles … muddy: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source.
buried camp of Dalton times: see Chapter 3. township plat of 1821 … Indian village … archaeologists have looked for it: see Chapter 4 (Price 1992). also remembered a village at the spring: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15.

The millpond and the dam

a little over an acre … triangular … small islands … part of the dam: Perry [1978], sec. 7, 1 (1.047 acres); NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 6. earth, river rock and concrete … about 170 feet east from the mill … two spillways with wooden gates: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 9; Perry [1978], sec. 7, 1. dirt … hauled from the side opposite the mill: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source.
about a hundred feet below the spring: Perry [1978], sec. 8. spring of 1890: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1; see Chapter 14. nearly two hundred feet: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1. Robert Brock of Eminence repaired or rebuilt it: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 24 (“Repairs--or possibly reconstruction--of the mill dam were done around 1894 by Robert Brock, who was from Eminence”).
Late in 1899: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 24 (the text gives the Current Wave of November 30, 1899; its note 50 cites the issue of April 13, 1899); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, gives December 14, 1899. Fritz Lahmeyer … barge … raised by divers a few years before 1980: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source. 1903 and 1904: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 24–25.
concrete spillway in 1914 … gone by 1923: Stevens 1991, 162, after Flanders and Morrow 1985. a large section of the dam … headgate … spring of 1927 by one account: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2; see Chapter 14. 1933 and 1934: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 10. 20-foot section … five feet … a stone for demonstrations: Perry [1978], sec. 7, 1.

Alley Mill

In 1868 … heirs of the pioneer James McCormack … Ike Barksdale and John Daugherty … brothers-in-law … Dent County … overshot … eight-foot fall … eight horsepower … corn meal … small sawmill … steam engine … blacksmith shop and a store … 1879 … a thousand bushels of wheat and two thousand of corn: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48. a rough shed: Perry [1978], sec. 8 (“a rude shed over the mill stones”). Perry dates the first mill about 1869, Brown 1969, 15, to 1870 (“possibly by William Barksdale”), and NPS, “Alley Mill,” to “by 1868.” one of only two mills … 1874: Perry [1978], sec. 8; see Chapter 5.
lost men in the war … captured in Shannon County in 1864 … clerk and recorder in 1867: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48, the only source (Barksdale’s brothers Henry, at Neosho in 1861, and Waller, in Confederate service at Pine Bluff; Daugherty in the Fourth Missouri Volunteer Cavalry, discharged for disability, captured in August 1864 and held at Rolla).
1881 … German immigrant … 240 acres: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1 (Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48, calls him a Prussian). 320 acres across the river … the only Germans … lower Rocky Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48, the only source. After the flood of 1890 he shut the mill … February 13, 1893 … $1,500: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1; see Chapter 14.
Walter … 1912 … rebuilt the small mill … 1930 … Klepzig Mill … kept by the park: NPS 2013 (Klepzig Mill), 22–23 (Walter Klepzig, son of the “Prussian German” Charles Klepzig; Walter moved to another farm in 1925 and left this one to a son, and Walter’s son Claude rented the mill for its last year, 1930). The same report says that McCaskill bought the Alley mill and farm at auction, and that he had bought and sold a farm on Rocky Creek in 1890.
Summersville … Richmond City Mill Works: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1. John … more than twenty mills … in charge … winter of 1893–94 … Sprague … Holloway … December 1894: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48. July 1894: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48; NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 23. fifty barrels … “Straight Fancy Roller Process Flour” … January 1895: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1 (citing the Current Wave, January 3, 1895); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48, gives a capacity of sixty barrels.
two and a half stories … 32 by 42 … 40 feet … limestone blocks … pine … wood shingles … headrace … turbine pit under the east porch: Perry [1978], sec. 7 and 7, 1. Leffel turbine … still sits: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 9. given as 35 inches and as 46: NPS, “Alley Mill” (35); Perry [1978], sec. 7, 1 (46). wheel on the porch … belts … silk: NPS, “Alley Mill.” steel rollers: Perry [1978], sec. 7 (a Gray’s Patent Noiseless Roller by Edward P. Allis and Company, Milwaukee, and Mawhood rollers by the Richmond City Mill Works).
merchant mill … larger than most: Stevens 1991, 211; NPS, “Alley Mill.” among the most modern in the Ozarks: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1. wheat flour … corn: NPS, “Alley Mill.” waited days: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1. paid in grain: NPS, “Alley Mill” (the toll). one-eighth … a fourteenth: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source. “large for its day, but too small to compete in the 20th century” … Minneapolis … roads: Perry [1978], sec. 8 and 8, 2.
tornado … May 1894 … lost interest: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48, the only source. The Boyds … 1895 … 1897: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48 (Ellen J. Boyd, 1895); NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 24 (A. B. Boyd, 1895); Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2 (Ellen J. Boyd, 1897). Lahmeyer in 1899 … Phillips in 1901 … Knotts in 1902: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48; Stevens 1991, 105 (Knotts, 1902–12). Lewis also lists W. R. L. Blackburn in 1903, which does not fit Knotts’s ten years and is left out. 1912 … about $15,000: Stevens 1991, 157; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48. about 1922: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 20, 26. 1927: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2.
white about 1900: Perry [1978], sec. 8, n. 12. Liebinger … white with green trim … Taylor Gates … “Baz the Sucker …”: Stevens 1991, 162, after Flanders and Morrow 1985. the mill used to be green and white: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15. photograph … planting trees … dark red … 1933–34: Stevens 1991, 188 (fig. 52). work order of February 28, 1934: Perry [1978], sec. 8, n. 12. No historical reason: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 3 (“No historical justification can be found for this choice”). By 1980 … painting it white again … nobody then remembered it white … landmark … left red: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source for the objection; the state had it painted red, PDF p. 48.
restored the mill in 1933 and 1934 … Ozarks museum … stone burr: Perry [1978], sec. 7, 1; sec. 8, 2. 1958: Brown 1969, 62. 1964: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 3. 1981 … 2014 … quarter in 2017: see Chapter 11. about a foot of water: see Chapter 14.
a man in overalls, carrying a lunch pail … footbridge … phantom campfire … across from the mill: Steed 2013 (the chapter on Alley Spring Mill), the only source. In October of 2017 and of 2019 … storytelling … Ozark legends and folktales … Eminence High School drama club … The Curse of Healing Spring … old tunes in the mill: National Parks Traveler 2017 (Haunting in the Hills; the skit billed as “Curse of Healing Spring,” the tunes played in the mill by a local musician); NPS 2019 (haunted night, October 12).

The hamlet

photograph … about 1896 … from the bluff above the spring … white general store: Stevens 1991, 106 (fig. 16); NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 23–24 (fig. 13; the white building is the Boyd store).
post office, a general store, a blacksmith shop, a sawmill … school … about a dozen … twice as many pupils: Perry [1978], sec. 7 (the sawmill shaft), sec. 8 and 8, 2. Most of the families: see Chapter 5.
1884 … Shannon and Alley … presumed … John Alley … three miles east … apocryphal: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 1; see Chapters 5 and 18. David Alley … 1830s … two miles southeast … moved it to the store: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source. postmasters followed the mill’s owners until 1912 … Alley Spring in 1950: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53 (Klepzig 1884, McCaskill 1893, Emily Boyd 1895, Lahmeyer 1900, Phillips 1902, Knotts 1903); see Chapter 5.
Boyds … south of the mill in 1895: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 24. James Smith … Ink: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53. “prints, green coffee, granulated sugar … trace chains and hames”: Stevens 1991, 105 (an 1899 advertisement, James H. Smith). Knotts … Pennsylvanian … coupon books … 1909 … sardines: Stevens 1991, 105, after Flanders and Morrow 1985.
“pleasure resort”: Stevens 1991, 157. added a picnic ground … swings … shelter house … casino … east side … footbridges: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 25; McCaskill’s earlier picnic ground by the pond is in Chapter 9. Conrad Hug … camp on the branch: Stevens 1991, 161. 1913 … boomtown front … water … gymnasium … dynamo … clutch: Stevens 1991, 109, 161–62, after Flanders and Morrow 1985. “a summer resort of extraordinary merit” … rainbow trout: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 8, 25 (a brochure of 1922). sold to the state: see Chapter 10.
among the first in Shannon County … Saxton … McKinley … quitclaim … 1889 … two-year high school … 1930: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52; the McKinley deed rests on this source alone. Church services: Stevens 1991, 123; see Chapter 5. Storys Creek School … 1896 … 1971: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 12. between the picnic shelter and the mill … Edna Staples: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53 (“between the pavilion and the mill”). gave it to the park: Stevens 1991, 214.
2,000 … popcorn … moonshine … fights … Vaughn … John Stubblefield … Long Brothers’ Circus: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53, the only source.
Someone who went to many of the picnics … rode their horses in … three or four days … steam merry-go-round … a nickel … “right straight across from the shelter hole …” … bandstand … cold-drink stand: Gibson 2000, 46 (a published oral history; the speaker is not named or described; the Gates brothers’ names are real). Odd Fellows: Stevens 1991, 161; see Chapter 9.

Alley Spring State Park

427 acres … $31,500: Stevens 1991, 179; Perry [1978], sec. 8, 2; see Chapter 10. fourth state park: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48. Mac Ellerman … overseen the property: Stevens 1991, 179. first superintendent … Noke Jones … twenty-four years from 1944 … tourism: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48 (the full roll: Ellerman 1924, Alan Drewell 1927, Marion Lawson 1935, Luther Jadwin 1936, Red Omley and Noke Jones 1944, Lloyd Rainbolt 1968).
Big Spring, made a state park on October 17, 1924, is also counted as the first: Missouri State Parks, “History” (“On Oct. 17, 1924, Big Spring State Park became the first Missouri state park”).
1926 and 1927 … rustic store: Stevens 1991, 182; see Chapter 10. June 1928 took that store: Stevens 1991, 182; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 53; see Chapters 8 and 14. Keepers’ houses were built or rebuilt in 1930: Stevens 1991, 189.
by one account of First World War veterans: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, 6 (“a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) work camp for World War I veterans”); Stevens 1991, 189, describes the CCC’s enrollees generally as mostly young men. eleven buildings and two roads: Stevens 1991, 189. planted trees: Stevens 1991, 188 (fig. 52). maintenance shop … pump house … seasonal cabins … picnic shelter … West Trail … 1933 and 1934: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 8, 10, 15–17. Horse Trail … Overlook Trail … a mile and a half … overlook: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 14. general store … about 1939 … 2003: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 11. reunions: Gibson 2000, 65. 259 acres … historic district in 2023: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, 1.
laid a new floor in the mill: NPS, “Civilian Conservation Corps” (which also calls the Alley camp one of many built for First World War veterans).
1970: Perry [1978], sec. 8, 3; see Chapter 10. most people thought … destroyed … poor planning, wasteful spending … asphalt: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52. Around 2000 … fondly … grinding again … whiskey exhibit … school: Gibson 2000, 144.

Alley Hollow and the natural area

valley of Alley Branch … flat, open floor … the spring, the millpond, the mill and most of the old park’s buildings … gravel bank along its southern edge … feed the spring branch from the north: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 2–3, 5–6 (“a flat, open valley called Alley Hollow”; “Alley Hollow Creek, which feeds the spring branch from the north”; the Alley Hollow area “includes the floodplain associated with the two creeks, as well as Alley Spring and the mill pond,” and “The gravel riverbank of the Jacks Fork River runs along the southern edge of the area”). runs on to the northwest: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 47, 51 (maps, Alley Hollow lettered up the creek northwest of the mill); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Alley Branch, with Conner and Cartwright hollows along it). The name is not in the federal names file (USGS GNIS). Highway 106 runs north from the bridge along the west side … turns west to climb the ridge: NRHP, Alley Spring 2023, sec. 7, 6 (“runs north-south along the western side of Alley Hollow,” then “curves to the west, exiting the district near the top of a ridge”). road from Eminence to Summersville … on up the hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source. families … 1928 … gravel bars … Joe Chilton’s truck … February 9, 1966 … April 1974 … three people in a camper: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 52–53, the only source.
2007 … 795 acres … owned by the Park Service and managed with the state … at least seven … grotto salamander … Branson Cave … most biologically diverse: MDC, Alley Spring Natural Area; see Chapter 13. closed … since 2010: see Chapter 13 and Part Six.
brown or dark gray larva … gills, working eyes and a broad tail fin … two or three years, sometimes six … pale tan or pink … covered by the lids … three to five inches … at least nine years … caves with many bats: MDC, “Grotto Salamander.”

McCormack Bay and the hollows below

McCormack Hollow … about mile 32.8 … a little over a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.19 sq mi); USGS GNIS (McCormack Hollow, 722058). Graveyard Hollow … near the Alley Spring Cemetery: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55. bench above the river … James L. Day … 1879 … about 150 graves … Barksdales … Dent County: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52. August 22, 1879, at twenty-two … Matthew Columbus “Mac” Ellerman (1877–1945), probably the state park’s first superintendent: Shannon County cemetery readings (Alley Spring Cemetery: James L. Day, December 10, 1856–August 22, 1879; Matthew Columbus “Mac” Ellerman, January 8, 1877–December 12, 1945). That he is the Mac Ellerman of the state park is an inference from the name; the readings do not say so.
Samuel McCormack … sixties … early 1820s … Spring Valley … James … January 15, 1858 … James Tackett: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48, the only source; James McCormack probably came in the 1820s, Stevens 1991, 27 (see Chapter 5). is said to have kept a hand-dug well … spring house … McCormack Spring … McCormack Bay … ice-skate: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source; his map (PDF p. 51) puts the bay and the spring on the right bank.
Mary McCormack, called Polly (1838–1912) … George Franklin Chilton … by one family record … probably this one: Shannon County cemetery readings (Old Eminence Cemetery: Mary “Polly” McCormack Chilton, December 15, 1838–September 1, 1912, with the compiler’s note “Daughter of James McCormack & Elizabeth”). That her father is the James McCormack of Alley is an inference; the readings do not say so.
Widow McCormick’s … November 1863 … burned the buildings: OR, vol. 22, pt. 1, 746–47; see Chapter 6. That it was the McCormack place at Alley is an inference from the name and the distance, ten miles down the Jacks Fork from the Stephens house; the report does not place it.

Places not yet placed

One picnic-goer … shelter hole: Gibson 2000, 46. A ferry worked at Alley from 1906: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 52, the only source. old campground … left bank between the bridge and the spring branch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map, “Old Campground”). Lawrence Hollow Spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55.

On to Reach I

turns north at about mile 33.0 … Effie Smith Hole, Horse Hollow … Angeline: Plate A10; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 51, 55; see Reach I and Chapter 7.

Table H.1

Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026; USGS GNIS; miles measured along the centerline used for the maps in this book (Lawrence Hollow 32.16, Alley Branch 32.57, McCormack Hollow 32.84; the place register gives 32.59 for Alley Branch and 32.88 for the McCormack and Graveyard hollow system).

I. Alley to Eminence

Opening

about five miles … Effie Smith Hollow, Low Gap Hollow and Horse Hollow … swings east … Pistol Barrel and Possum Trot … bends northeast under Cane Bluff and back south past Stair Steps Hole … Mahans Creek … northeast again past … Storys Creek: Plate A11; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 51, 57 (maps); the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (the channel heads northeast at mile 36.0 and south at 36.5). Highway 106 … right bank: Plate A11.
falls about 6 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2.
A Mountain View floater … first-timer … Alley Spring to Eminence … floated here in every month: see Chapter 20.
valley opens a little below Alley … terraces at the bends and creek mouths: see Chapter 3.
A mile or two below Horse Hollow … Gasconade … Eminence Dolomite: Weary and others 2013, GIS data; Weary and others 2014, GIS data, laid against the river centerline; see Chapter 1. the one formation on the river named for a place on it: see Chapter 1. fault named for Possum Trot Hollow … a short way above Eminence: Thornberry-Ehrlich 2016, PDF 97 (geologic map, Jacks Fork to Two Rivers); see Chapter 1.
Angeline Conservation Area … around this stretch … name of the old logging camp: MDC 2001, PDF 38, 51 (fig. Lu08, “Public Land”), 66 (table Lu06), 67 (table Lu07, Angeline Conservation Area in the Mahans Creek and Jacks Fork–Alley units); see Chapter 7.
about 39,600 acres … 1940s … grazing and fire … Clow, Alley Spring and Flat Rock … 1995 … Kerr-McGee … Moss Tie Company … most of its shortleaf pine: MDC, Angeline Conservation Area (39,590 acres); MDC 2018 (Angeline plan; 39,583 acres; the West Eminence mill “operated from 1909 to 1927” and “harvested most of the shortleaf pine on the area”).
August 2006 … Mahans Creek … a little less than six … Low Gap Hollow was dry: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2, 5.7 cubic feet a second); see Chapter 12.
gauge at Eminence, a mile and a half below the mouth of Mahans Creek … 1921: MDC 2001, PDF 77 (table Hy01, “1.5 mi below Mahans Creek”); USGS NWIS (07066000); see Chapter 14.
about mile 33.3 … 33.8 … about 35.7 … 37.1 … 37.6 … 38.55: the river centerline traced for the maps in this book, with the creek mouths of Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 and the place register’s position for the Highway 19 crossing. Pistol Barrel Hollow’s mouth: see the note to its entry. south for half a mile: the river centerline, about miles 36.4 to 36.9.

Effie Smith Hollow and Hole

Effie Smith lived near the mouth … Bill King … flood stage … swept downriver while attempting to cross … found … eleven days later: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source. The source says he was found “in the Culpepper field.” Effie Smith Hollow … Effie Smith Ford … Effie Smith Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map), with Plate A11. unnamed hollow of a little less than a square mile … about mile 33.3 … probably it: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.95 square miles, mouth at 33.30, left); the 1980 map draws Effie Smith Hollow from the northwest to the river below McCormack Bay, and the channel at 33.30 is the only one that fits.
Gregory Place … across the river … Ralph Branson … Jim and Jane Smith … Eminence Trail Rides … June … August … several hundred riders … Missouri and surrounding states: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source; trail riding in the park: see Chapter 11. Bethie and Lillie Gregory, two elderly ladies … 1930s … Shedd and Tripp … Halloween masks … pulled off … knocked them in the head and burned the house … Sheriff Freeman Powell … three days later: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source. The source spells the women’s surname “Greorgy” beside “the Gregory Place,” gives the two men’s surnames only, and does not say whether the women died. The same page has a Mrs. Tripp in the buggy accident of 1906; the source does not connect the two.

Low Gap Hollow and Mac Ellerman Hole

a little over a square mile … a few hundred yards above the mouth of Horse Hollow: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Low Gap Hollow, 1.22 square miles, mouth at 33.55, left; Water Branch at 33.77); USGS GNIS (Low Gap Hollow, valley, falls at 33.59). Mack Ellerman lived near its mouth: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55. Mac Ellerman Hole: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map, “Mac Ellerman Hole”); Plate A11.
probably the Mac Ellerman who ran Alley … first superintendent: an inference from the name; see Reach H (Stevens 1991, 179; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 48).

Horse Hollow and Water Branch

Water Branch … Angeline Hollow and Horse Hollow … about eleven square miles … Sinking Branch … Keeling Hollow … Hines Hollow: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Water Branch, 11.02 square miles, mouth at 33.77, left; Sinking Branch, down Keeling Hollow, 4.18; Hines Hollow, 1.95); USGS GNIS (Water Branch, stream; Horse Hollow, valley). said to take its name from John Alley’s horses … raiders … Civil War: O’Brien 1939, 62; see Chapter 6. Horse Hollow Ford: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map).
Strains, Bells and Russells … flood of 1928 … most of their farms … 1895 … “so big it cut the river off” … Sue Plowman’s house above the Culpepper Place … wet weather … water … does not run … used to run all the time: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source.
climbed the hollow from the river: Stevens 1991, 90; see Chapter 7. a track also ran on up the river into Alley Hollow in 1907 … torn out … main line … Horse Hollow past Angeline … Flat Woods … Spring Valley: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 52 (“In 1907 a tram was built up the river and into Alley Hollow,” after an earlier tram to Horse Hollow), 56, the only source. crew … laying track … car load of steel … Engine Number Two head-on … boiler ruptured … Bud Suesbury … Suesbury Curve … John Taylor … runaway cars loaded with logs … buried: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source. The source puts the wreck “on West Main in upper Horse Hollow.”

Angeline

big camp: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55; see Chapter 7. 1909 or 1910 … 1929 … two stories explain its name: see Chapter 5 (Forte, Postal History; O’Brien 1939, 3). the mail went to Alley: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, which also lists the postmasters. school ran for many years after the logging days: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55. forty-two years … Storys Creek school … Angeline school … sophomore: Gibson 2000, 44 (the source spells it “Story’s Creek School”).
stood in Horse Hollow: Stevens 1991, 90 (“In Horse Hollow, the company built a logging camp named Angeline”); Lewis 1980, PDF p. 56 (“The main line continued up Horse Hollow past Angeline”). placed it lower, not far above the river … one did not know the name … one had heard it but could not place it: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-12 (marked on a map about 270 meters north of the river near the mouth of Horse Hollow, at about mile 33.9), SV-20 (“Doesn’t know it”) and SV-17 (“Heard of it, not sure where”); the Angeline School was “near Alley” in 1939 (O’Brien 1939, 3). Sinking Branch and Hines Hollow … Angeline Hollow … may have stood there: USGS GNIS (Angeline Hollow, valley, 713298, whose lower end lies beside the mouths of Sinking Branch and Hines Hollow, about two kilometers from the river); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (Water Branch, Sinking Branch and Hines Hollow).

The Blue Hole and Shingle Mill Hole

“The Blue Hole is the bluff hole below Horse Hollow”: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55; map PDF p. 51. one of several pools of that name: see Chapter 18. shingle mill … mouth of Shingle Mill Hollow … the hole … bears the same name: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54; maps PDF pp. 51, 57 (Shingle Mill Hollow from the north).

Boiler Hole and the Culpepper Cemetery

Boiler Hole … steam engine boiler thrown into a gully by the river to stop erosion: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source. December 15, 1904 … Mose Jones … otter … Funsten Fur Company … David L. Bales … 11 feet from the tip of his tail to his nose: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source.
Culpepper Cemetery … John Alley farm: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54. near the mouth of Buzzard Hollow … small grist mill in the hollow … favorite roosting spot for black and turkey buzzards: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55. back from the right bank, across from Shingle Mill and Boiler holes: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 51, 57 (maps, “Morton Cem.” south of the river opposite Shingle Mill and Boiler holes). John Alley’s post office: see Reach H.
first … Grace Alley, John Alley’s wife, in 1877 … Alley Cemetery, then the Morton Cemetery … Culpepper Cemetery … no longer used … about 100 graves … Alley, Branson, Culpepper, Morton, Plowman, Russell … Strain … early MacCormacs are probably buried there: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source; the source lists about thirty names. McCormacks at Alley: see Reach H.
Grace Mahan Alley, born October 17, 1837 … October 22, 1832, to February 1898: Shannon County cemetery readings (Culpepper Cemetery). probably of the Mahan family: an inference from her name.
Joe and Sarah Culpepper … Tennessee in 1889 … sawmills at Angeline … dentist and made false teeth … 1925 … dynamite blast … stump … ground hogs: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source.

Culpepper Chute

still provides thrills for floaters at times … Gum Hollow … a couple of small springs … normally does not run water: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54; map PDF p. 57 (Gum Hollow from the south). about mile 34.9: Plate A11.

Pistol Barrel Hollow, Possum Trot Hollow and Adam Kidd Hole

Pistol Barrel Hollow … runs along the left side of the valley floor … with Possum Trot Hollow at about mile 35.7: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 57 (map, Pistol Barrel Hollow lettered along the north bank from Boiler Hole to the mouth of Possum Trot) and p. 54 (“The Adam Kidd Hole is just below Pistol Barrel and Possum Trot Hollows”); Plate A11 (a left-bank channel from about 34.6 parallel to the river, joining Possum Trot about 35.7); the place register’s elevation-data check of the federal valley point, which drains to the system entering at 35.71. The creek network instead gives Pistol Barrel Hollow its own mouth at 35.27; the conflict is unresolved. Possum Trot Hollow … about 35.7: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (1.19 square miles, mouth at 35.70, left, unnamed in the network); USGS GNIS (Possum Trot Hollow, valley, 724782, falls beside it at 35.72). springs in and below Pistol Barrel … Adam Kidd Hole … Barnes Bluff Hole … Adam Kidd lived at the mouth of Possum Trot … Barnes … early family … south side: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54; map PDF p. 57 (Barnes Bluff south of the river).

Cane Bluff and the Barnes fords

Cane Bluff … left … outside of the bend … northeast to south: Plate A11; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 57 (map); the river centerline. rises about 120 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 36.4 to 36.5, at the outside of the bend. Upper Barnes Ford … between Barnes and Cane Bluffs … Lower Barnes Ford … below Cane Bluff … Barnes Spring … below the Cane Bluff Hole … bay … excellent fishing spot: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source.
railroad ran along the foot of Cane Bluff … old photograph: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 57 (map, railroad along the north bank), 60 (photograph, “The railroad at Cane Bluff on the Jack’s Fork”). about 1910 … 1992 … less gravel … more stable, vegetated banks: Jacobson and Primm 1994, 68, 72 (fig. 25, “Replicate photographs of the Jacks Fork at Cane Bluff near Eminence, Missouri, about 1910 and 1992”); see Chapter 15.
probably the bluff also called King’s Bluff: an inference. A place label on Google Maps puts King’s Bluff on the left bank at the outside of a bend between Possum Trot Hollow and Mahans Creek (Google Maps 2026). The railroad ran along the north bank only above its crossing near the mouth of Mahans Creek, and Cane Bluff is the bluff along whose foot it ran (Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 57, map, and 60, photograph). heard the name without placing it … about a mile lower, on the left a little below the mouth of Mahans Creek: Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-20 (“Heard of it, not sure where”) and SV-12 (marked on a map at about mile 37.4, 27 meters left of the channel); SV-17 did not know it. No bluff face of 50 feet or more stands on the left there; the nearest face, about 100 feet high, is on the right at about miles 37.3 to 37.4 (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13).

Flat Hole, Stair Steps Hole and Jones Mountain

Flat Hole … flat, small, rock bottomed … Stair Steps Hole … bluff hole … Rock Hole … Jones Mountain … Bald Hill … south side … Bud Jones homesteaded: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54; map PDF p. 57. about 5 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 36.83). the Flat Hole above Bay Creek, where ties went into the river down a chute: see Reach F and Chapter 7.

Mink Trap, Counts Ford and the railroad crossing

Mink Trap … above the old tram crossing … three good places to set steel traps … Counts Spring … Lee Ellerman Spring … May 20, 1885 … John W. Counts … 160 acres … mouth of Mahan’s Creek … Rebecca Chilton … Joshua and Elizabeth Chilton … Counts Ford … nearly drowned … untamed horse: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source; map PDF p. 57 (“Mink Trap,” “Counts Ford,” “Piling”).
came north down the Mahans valley in 1907 … crossed … a little above the mouth of the creek … west along the north bank to the mouth of Horse Hollow and up the hollow to … Angeline: Stevens 1991, 90; MDC 2003 (“Site of old R.R. river crossing just above mouth of creek”); see Chapters 7 and 8. trestle: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 56 (“Tressel bridges crossed the Jacks Fork at the mouth of Mahans Creek”). Carthage fishermen … May 24, 1907 … first engine: Stevens 1991, 151–52; see Chapter 7. rails came up in 1929: see Chapter 7. in 1980 the pilings could still be seen … below: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54.

Mahans Creek

about fifty-four square miles: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (53.94 square miles, mouth at 37.12, right); MDC 2001, PDF 21 (fig. Ge06, Mahan’s Creek drainage unit, 54.0 square miles). more than two and a half times: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (the next largest creek entering the river is Jam Up Creek, 20.73 square miles). about thirteen miles: MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03, 13.2 miles total); the creek network traces about 15.4 miles (24.83 km) from the farthest head. fifth-order: MDC 2001, PDF 28–32 (tables Ge03–Ge05); its other fifth-order streams are the prongs above the junction. about twenty-nine feet to the mile: MDC 2001, PDF 31–32 (average gradient 28.6 feet per mile). all year in about its lower nine miles: MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03, 8.7 permanent miles). Mrs. Jeston Bolin … drowned at the mouth … buried in Culpepper Cemetery: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source.
Thirty-five kinds of fish … smallmouth bass, shadow bass, black redhorse, the Arkansas saddled darter and the Ozark shiner … Ozark pigtoe … Ozark brokenray … yellow lady’s slipper, ginseng and river cane: MDC, Mahan’s Creek priority area (a conservation priority area of 67,653 acres around the creek, 36 percent of it in public ownership).
one of the first … if not the first … 1779 … hunting party of Shawnee and Delaware … his son … 1808 … William … son of James and Jane Mahan … Pennsylvania via Ohio and Indiana in 1826 … spring below Bohaman or Pummill Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source (“It has been written that…”). The source also cites the census of 1830 for Wayne County, with four Mahan households. The name: see Chapter 18 (O’Brien 1939, 80, has the creek named for a family at its head). April 13, 1860 … incorrectly spelled Mahon’s Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source for the year; Chapter 5 gives the Mahon’s Creek office “by 1867” (O’Brien 1939, 80). About 1855 … small mill … stone burrs … wooden shaft … overshot wheel … Lloyd … late 1870’s: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54; mouth of Bohannon or Pummill Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61. The source gives the mill’s output for 1860 and 1879, apparently from the federal censuses of manufactures.
skirmish of October 1863 … trophies … patrol of that November: see Chapter 6.

Up Mahans Creek to Delaware

first good spring … Bill Smith or Jim Burrus Spring … Willow Hole … use to run a lot of water … Boats … gigging months … Willie Key … four-wheel drive pickup: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61, the only source; map PDF p. 57. Broadfoot Hollow and Big Branch: Plate A16; Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026.
Delaware … junction of Pine Hollow and Mahan’s Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61. Pine Hollow … southwest … Larkin, Jam Up, Dry Camp and Spring Camp … Mahans Creek … south … Open Hollow … Pin Oak … Turnback and Railroad: Plate A16; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 65 (“Mahan’s Creek and Open Hollow run to the south. Pine Hollow runs to the southwest”); MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03: Dry Camp Hollow into Pine Hollow; Pine, Open and Railroad hollows into Mahan’s Creek; Pin Oak Hollow into Open Hollow). two miles … losing stream: MDC 2001, PDF 26 (table Ge01); see Chapter 12. Jam Up Hollow … unsettled: see Chapter 18.
school … washed off its foundation in a flood during 1895 … now a church: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61, the only source. Delaware … 1871 … 1873: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 56 (May 29, 1871, to June 24, 1873; Henry B. Catlett, postmaster), the only source. 1923 or 1924 to 1941: see Chapter 5. Delaware people … early 1820s: O’Brien 1939, 36 (Delaware Township, “Named for the Delaware Indians”); see Chapter 4.
In the 1890s … Cordz-Fisher … tram down Pine Hollow … Dry Camp … one of its camps: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 56 (“in about 1894”); see Chapter 7, which has the tram begun in 1893 and lists Dry Camp among its camps. 1907 … lumber company’s line, later the Salem, Winona and Southern … Mahans Creek … 1909 … loading chute, stock pens … flag station … Delaware: Stevens 1991, 90; Rader 2017, ch. 8; see Chapter 7. Pertz … 1900: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 65 (Edward Von Pertz, postmaster, March 26, 1900).

West Eminence

a short way up Mahans Creek … a mile west of Eminence: Stevens 1991, 90; see Chapter 7. December 18, 1906 … Shade Orchard … his farm … for the town: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 58. construction … began in 1909 and was completed in 1910: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 58. Martin Hub Mill … by the bluff between the Christian Church and the new elementary school … clear white oak … burned about 1926: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61, the only source; map PDF p. 57. County Farm … 1927 … closed in 1948: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61, the only source for the dates. county’s purchase of company land: see Chapter 7, which has it after the town was offered for sale in November 1928. Ruins of the mill can still be seen: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 58. James Mahan … shot … where West Eminence is now: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 61; see Chapter 6.

Storys Creek

about half a mile below Mahans Creek: the river centerline (37.12 and 37.64). “unnoticed” … one of the earliest families: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (“Story’s Creek, named after one of the earliest families to settle in the Ozarks, enters unnoticed on the north side of the river”). a little over five square miles … Spurgeon Hollow and Spring Hollow … unnamed branch … about two square miles … about half a mile up: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (5.36 square miles, mouth at 37.64, left; the unnamed branch, 2.01 square miles, joining about 900 meters up). about four miles … lowest nearly three miles: MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03, 4.1 miles total, 2.7 permanent); the creek network traces about 3.4 miles.
Two Storys … patrol of 1863: see Chapter 6. settled on the creek after the war … Big Shawnee: Gibson 2000, 33. school now stands at Alley: see Reach H and Chapter 5.
Spurgeon Hollow is a state natural area … Bush’s skullcap … only in the Ozarks: MDC 2018 (Angeline plan; Bush’s skullcap “restricted to the Ozark ecoregion”).
ran up the lower part of this valley and around a small knob … cut through the neck: see Chapter 2 (Bridge 1930). rhyolite of Storys Creek: see Chapter 1.

Places not yet placed

December 1905 … Charley Smith … ford below Alley … horses … deep water … team … October 1906 … H. H. Smalley, Mrs. Tripp … two children … George Chrisco’s farm … buggy top … Mr. McFarland, her father … on horseback … unconscious: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 55, the only source.
By 2022 … Horse Creek river access … Old Horse Camp primitive area … below Alley: NPS 2022a, appendix E and map C-11.
Delaware Creek … Indian Creek … rises in Delaware Township and flows n. to Jack’s Fork: O’Brien 1939, 36. may be … Mahans Creek: Mahans Creek flows north out of Delaware Township (Plate A16); no source makes the match.

On to Reach J

head of the Eminence riverfront at about mile 38.0 … Circle B, Button Rock … Eminence Bluff … 38.55: Plate A12; the place register; see Reach J and Chapter 18.

Table I.1

Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (mouths laid against the river centerline); USGS GNIS for the federal names. Effie Smith Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 51 (map). Pistol Barrel Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 54, 57; Plate A11; the place register (joins Possum Trot; the creek network’s separate mouth for it at 35.27 is unresolved, so no drainage is given). Possum Trot Hollow: GNIS valley point beside the unnamed channel at 35.70. The two unnamed right-bank channels enter at 34.87 and 35.10.

J. Eminence to the Mouth

Opening

swings south around a tight loop … Highway 19 bridge … southeast past the town, turns north at about mile 39.5 … bends east at the Hole-in-the-Wall … east-northeast for three miles … Shawnee Creek and Little Shawnee Creek … north again … east along the Garr Town Stretch … the Junction: Plates A12 and A13; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 66, 77 (maps); the river centerline traced for the maps in this book (the channel heads south-southeast at mile 38.0, north from about 39.6 to 40.6, southeast at 41.0, north again from 44.0 to 44.6 and east-southeast at 45.0–45.2). one town on its banks: Plate A12. second half of the lower river’s standard float, a little under eight miles: see Chapter 20 (Eminence to Two Rivers, 7.7 measured miles).
falls about 5 feet a mile: the river profile measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12); see Chapter 2.
133 … at Eminence … 138 at the mouth … Shawnee Creek … a little under five: Mugel, Richards and Schumacher 2009, 27–28 (table 2; Shawnee Creek 4.8 cubic feet a second); see Chapter 12.
Potosi Dolomite … from a couple of miles above Eminence to the Current … oldest rock in its bed … Eminence caldera … western part … nearly a billion and a half years … knobs of its welded tuff … within a few hundred yards of the river: see Chapter 1.
burned house of the Mississippian period … terrace of the lower river … bench above the confluence … earliest times: see Chapter 3. By 1840 a few settlers lived at the mouth … Chiltons … terraces from Shawnee and Little Shawnee creeks up to the site of the town: Stevens 1991, 26–27; see Chapter 5.
outside the national riverways … gap … 1964: see Chapter 10. trail rides … bacteria studies … Shawnee Creek band of wild horses: see Chapters 11 and 17.
38.55 … 40.9 … 43.5 … 43.9 … 46.21: the river centerline traced for the maps in this book, with the place register’s positions for the Highway 19 crossing and the confluence and the creek mouths of Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026. north … from about 39.5 to 40.8, from 44.0 to 44.7 and in the last half mile: the river centerline.

Button Rock and Circle B

Story’s Creek … The next hole is Buttin Rock. This deep hole has long been a favorite swimming hole for many local residents: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69. about mile 38.0, where the river turns from east to south … on the left, on the outside of the bend, across the river from the Circle B campground inside the loop: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (“Circle B Campground, located across the river”), map PDF p. 66 (Buttin Rock lettered on the left side between the river’s turn below Storys Creek and the bridge); Jacks Fork Oral History, records SV-12 and SV-20 (Button Rock pinned on the river at about miles 38.0 and 38.1) and SV-20 (Circle B pinned on the right bank at about mile 37.95); the river centerline (east-southeast at mile 37.9, south at 38.1); Plate A12 (Circle B Road and the campground inside the loop; a bluff drawn on the left at the outside of the bend, below Storys Creek Road); see Chapter 18 (“the jumping rock across from Circle B”). where the bluff rises about 90 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 37.9 to 37.95, at the outside of the bend. a cliff … on the right bank about a quarter mile farther down: USGS GNIS (Buttin Rock, cliff, 715135, at about mile 38.3, right bank, about 65 meters from the channel). about 110 feet high: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the faces on the right at about miles 38.2 and 38.33 to 38.37.
boys’ hole … Naked Hole: Gibson 2000, 41; see Chapter 19. Button or Buttin: see Chapter 18.
William Jones caught a large otter … winter of 1886 … A car rolled across the road on the hill above the bluff and plunged downward landing near the edge of the water. The lady driving the car miraculously survived: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69, the only source.
Buttin Rock Access … 1995 … leased to the city of Eminence in 2012 … about ten acres: MDC 2016 (Buttin Rock Access), 3–4 (9.68 acres; year of initial acquisition 1995; leased to the City of Eminence in January 2012).
Asked whether the river had moved between Button Rock and Eminence over the years … “A little wandering from the floods.”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-12.

Steel Bridge Hole, Eminence Bluff and the bridge

The hole of water above the bridge site is called the Steel Bridge Hole. Along side the hole is the Eminence Bluff: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69; map PDF p. 66; Plate A12. a different pool from the Steel Bridge hole at Highway 17: see Reach C. The river divided at this spot when the first settlers came. A smaller channel flowed along the hillside and rejoined the main channel a mile below: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69, the only source.
Eminence Ford … often impassable during high water … Summer of 1916 … $3,000 … County Court matched … Canton Bridge Company … March, 1917 … narrow, steel framed … soon became obsolete … February, 1934 … concrete bridge … Highway 19 … finished in 1935: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69, the only source. present bridge dates from 2002: see Chapter 8.
March, 1904 was the largest flood remembered: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71. 27 feet … 27.72 … deck of the bridge: see Chapter 14 (the deck is reached at 26 feet).

The Eminence riverfront

second county seat … moved here from the Current after the war: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 64; see Chapter 5.
Hawkins Chute, Orchard Bay, Kell Bluff and McCabe Hollow are named for former residents: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75; Hawkins Chute below the bridge: map PDF p. 66; Plate A12.
one-acre … cooperative agreement … owner … junction of Highways 19 and 106: MDC, Joshua T. Chilton Memorial Landing. Lions Ball Park … one-quarter mile below Hwy. 19 Bridge: MDC 2003; see Chapter 20.
In 2010 … Conservation Commission approved a contract … Eminence city park … boat ramp, a canoe ramp, parking and restrooms … bleachers and cook shack: MDC 2010 (approved August 20, 2010; the City of Eminence and the department as partners under the department’s Community Assistance Program; estimated cost $353,846.51, three-quarters from the federal Sport Fish Restoration Program). probably that access, on the old ball park’s ground: an inference. The release names neither the river nor the landing. The landing is a one-acre area run under a cooperative agreement with an owner the department does not name, on the north side of Highway 106 less than a tenth of a mile east of the Highway 19 junction (MDC, Joshua T. Chilton Memorial Landing); the float guide’s take-out was the ball park a quarter mile below the bridge on the right (MDC 2003); and the release’s bleachers fit a ball park.
Bales Boating Company … 1928: see Chapter 9. A large boat ramp was built on the other side of the Jack’s Fork: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 68, the only source; the source does not say who built it.
Luther Rowlett … “Retriever”: Gibson 2000, 41–42; see Chapter 19. Cross-Country Trail Ride … private land … gap … since 1981: see Chapter 11.
about two square miles … about mile 38.9: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (2.03 square miles, mouth at 38.89, right, unnamed). Town Branch … north through the west side of town: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map); the match is an inference.
Ford below the ball park: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 69 (“Eminence Ford, located below the present ball park”); map PDF p. 66 (“Ford,” below Hawkins Chute).
Old Eminence Cemetery … low hill above the Jack’s Fork … land was donated by Daniel Dye in 1873 … Cora Dye was the first: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 64, the only source. The source lists about eighty family names and puts about two hundred graves there.
Cora Bell Dye lived from August 21, 1871, to September 21, 1873 … Daniel E. Dye, her father by one family record, died in 1884: Shannon County cemetery readings (Old Eminence Cemetery: Daniel E. Dye, March 18, 1841–March 1, 1884; the parentage is the compiler’s note).
Winter of 1876 … James Chilton, son of Joshua Chilton and Ezekial Miller … Chilton’s horse crossed easily but Miller’s horse threw him … swept downstream to his death: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 69, 68 (the account runs from the foot of one page to the head of the other), the only source.
Chilton Cemetery … across the river just above the old Eminence Ford … well kept and still in use: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71; map PDF p. 66. Joshua owned the farm across and down the river: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 71; see Chapter 6. Chiltonsville … across Jack’s Fork from the site of the present Eminence … Josh Chilton: O’Brien 1939, 27.

Old River Bay and the turn north

turns north at about mile 39.5: the river centerline. Old River Bay: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map), the only source. Jacks Fork Campground … right: Plate A13. Pickin’ and Grinnin’ … a favorite riverside hangout … late 1990s: Gibson 2000, 75; see Chapter 19. small creek of a little over half a square mile … about mile 39.4: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (an unnamed right-bank branch of 1.46 square kilometers at about mile 39.44); Plate A13 draws it entering at the campground.
The High Bank Hole is below the Leaning Sycamore Hole. The leaning sycamore … is now only a stump: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75; map PDF p. 66; Plate A13.
about 7 feet deep at low water … about 5: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pools at about miles 39.54 and 39.59).

Orchard Bay, the Coppermine hollows and Cut Bank Hole

north for about a mile and a quarter: the river centerline (about miles 39.5 to 40.8). Orchard Bay … right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map); Plate A13. short hollow of about three-quarters of a square mile … from the southeast … about mile 40.0: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.73 square miles, mouth at 40.01, right, unnamed).
The Coppermine Hollow on the west bank … in the direction of the Casey Mine. The Coppermine Hollow on the east bank … Coppermine Flats and the Slater Mine: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75. federal maps give the name to the western one … less than half a square mile … about mile 40.4: USGS GNIS (Coppermine Hollow, valley, 716304); Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.45 square miles, mouth at 40.43, left). also known as Council Hollow … Shawnees chose to hold council meetings … Gates operated a sawmill in the hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75, the only source; map PDF p. 66 (“Council Hollow,” “Gates Mill”). The Council Hollow of 1939 is put in Delaware Township (O’Brien 1939, 32; see Chapter 4). copper: see Chapter 5.
Falls: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map), the only source. Cut Bank Hole is a long hole with a high yellow clay bank on the right: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75. about 4 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 40.56).
crossing … above Lick Log Hollow … gravel bar … boaters and swimmers … outside the park boundary … as many as 500 horses an hour: Davis and Barr 2006; see Chapter 17.

Lick Log Hollow and the Hole-in-the-Wall

about mile 40.9 … about three-quarters of a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.73 square miles, mouth at 40.87, left); USGS GNIS (Lick Log Hollow, valley). top of the bend … north to southeast: the river centerline (north at 40.8, southeast at 41.0).
named for an early deer lick. Water runs through Lick Log Hollow. At one point the water flows through granite rocks forming a beautiful set of shut-ins. Slater mined some copper out of the upper part: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75, the only source; see Chapter 5.
Hole-in-the-Wall … at its mouth … outside of the bend: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map, Hole-in-the-Wall lettered from the mouth of Lick Log Hollow, at the top of the bend, along the left bank of the run below it to the mouth of Kell Hollow). The bluff rises about 90 feet just below the mouth: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 41.00 to 41.09, tallest at its upstream end. It is the only face of 50 feet or more on either bank between Cut Bank Hole and the low bluff at the mouth of Bald Knob Hollow, and it lies along the run the 1980 map letters Hole-in-the-Wall. old photograph: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 67 (“Hole-In-The-Wall Bluff and Hole”). The old Barnesville Road runs down the river and by the Hole-in-the-Wall: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75. placed the Hole-in-the-Wall at the mouth of the hollow: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-12 (marked on a map beside the mouth of Lick Log Hollow, at about mile 40.9).

McCabe Hollow and Kell Bluff

about two-thirds of a square mile … from the north … a quarter mile below: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.68 square miles, mouth at 41.12, left); USGS GNIS (McCabe Hollow, valley, 722029). Kell Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map). Jim McCabe Hollow … Powell Spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74 (“Powell Spring is at the mouth of Jim McCabe Hollow”); map PDF p. 77.
Kell Bluff … on the left, probably just below the mouth of the hollow at about mile 41.2 … south-southeast to east-southeast … a little below the Hole-in-the-Wall: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 66 (map, Kell Bluff lettered on the left below the mouth of Kell Hollow, where the river turns from south to east, with the dotted Barnesville Road drawn between the lettering and the river), 75 (named for former residents); the river centerline (Lick Log Hollow at 40.87, McCabe Hollow at 41.12, south-southeast at 41.15–41.2 and east-southeast from 41.25). The place is read from a sketch map and is approximate. old Barnesville Road between it and the river: the 1980 map. Kell Bluff is probably low or set back from the water: on the flood-mapping terrain no face of 50 feet or more rises within about 150 feet of the water on the left from 41.1 to 41.4 (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13). Another reading takes Kell Bluff for the lower end of the Hole-in-the-Wall face, which reaches nearly to the mouth of McCabe (Kell) Hollow; the 1980 map and photograph caption (“Hole-In-The-Wall Bluff”) keep the two names apart.

Turkey Pen Hollow, Bald Knob Hollow and the Ferd Powell Stretch

southeast for half a mile and turns northeast: the river centerline (about miles 41.0 to 41.6). A rough shoal with rounded dolomite bedrock juting up through the water marks the stretch above Turkey Pen Hollow. A good spring seeps out of the mouth: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74. on the right at about mile 41.7: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 77 (map, Turkey Pen Hollow from the south at the shoal). box trap made of rails … baited with corn … trench … trigger connected to a door: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74, the only source.
about mile 42.2 … about half a square mile: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.54 square miles, mouth at 42.20, left); USGS GNIS (Bald Knob Hollow). spring there: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 77 (map, “Spring” at the mouth of Bald Knob Hollow). The old river road runs between the Ferd Powell Stretch and a low bluff at the mouth of Bald Knob Hollow. Whiskey was made in Bald Knob Hollow. The Andy P. Bales Hole is deep with a big rock at the lower end: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74, the only source; map PDF p. 77.
probably Andrew Powell Bales … David L. Bales and the Bales Boating Company: an inference from the name. Shannon County cemetery readings (Old Eminence Cemetery) list an Andrew Powell Bales, and David L. Bales and Mae Estelle Powell, as parents of children buried there; Lewis 1980, PDF p. 68 (David L. Bales, and his son Walter’s Bales Boating Company); see Chapter 9.

Powell Spring

mouth of a short hollow on the left … about mile 42.6: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74 (“at the mouth of Jim McCabe Hollow”), map PDF p. 77 (north bank, between Andy P. Bales Hole and Jones Bluff Hole); the river centerline. Andy Chilton Spring … Alex Chilton was supposed to have killed two Union soldiers near the spring … gunned down at the same spot by his uncle, Andy Chilton, on March 25, 1879 … killing of a local hero, was forced to leave … Whitney, Texas: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74, the only source. Barnesville Road … crossed the river at the Powell Spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 75; map PDF p. 77 (“Ford”). He was probably not the Alexander Chilton killed on the Rolla road in 1862: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74 (the 1879 Alex Chilton was Andy Chilton’s nephew); see Chapter 6 (an Alexander Chilton among the prisoners killed on August 30, 1862).
eight or nine … mouth of Big Shawnee … “back up Jack’s Fork about a mile to Powell Springs” … sycamore poles: Gibson 2000, 42; see Chapter 19. “Powell Springs (River split)”: Jacks Fork Oral History, record SV-15.

Jones Bluff

The Jones Bluff Hole is named after Henry Clay Jones. Jones married Susan Chilton, Joshua Chilton’s daughter. Another small spring flows out of the river’s edge along Jones Bluff: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74; map PDF p. 77 (Jones Bluff Hole and Jones Bluff on the north bank above Big Shawnee Creek). old photograph … winter: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 78 (“The Jones Bluff Hole during winter”). which rises about 110 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the left at about miles 43.20 to 43.25, the only face on the left between Powell Spring and Shawnee Creek. southeast for the last quarter mile: the river centerline (about miles 43.25 to 43.48).
1845–1916: Shannon County cemetery readings (Chilton Cemetery: Henry Clay Jones, June 7, 1845–November 8, 1916, “Married; (Susan Chilton)”).

Shawnee Creek

mile 43.5 … about twenty square miles … Black Valley and South Hollow: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (19.97 square miles, mouth at 43.48, right); USGS GNIS (Shawnee Creek, stream, mouth at 43.45). Big Shawnee: O’Brien 1939, 14; Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 74, 79. about ten miles … lower eight and a half … north: MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03, 9.9 miles total, 8.5 permanent, fourth order); the creek network traces about 8.4 miles. Hay Hollow … largest branch … “from which grass is cut for hay”: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (4.15 square miles); see Chapter 18.
Shawnee … early in the nineteenth century: see Chapter 4. One band of Shawnee lived in Shawnee Field between Little and Big Shawnee Creeks. The only evidence of their stay is the two creeks: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74, the only source; map PDF p. 77. Col. Thomas Chilton farmed at the mouth of Shawnee: Stevens 1991, 27; see Chapter 5. Slater … cabin on Shawnee Creek … furnace: see Chapter 5.
George N. Deatherage … Rumsey … constructed by the famous millwright John C. McCaskill … better known for its poker game and corn liquor than the wheat and corn it ground: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source. tie yard at the mouth of Big Shawnee Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79. Either two outlaws or two Union soldiers were killed on Big Shawnee Creek. Their bones were discovered after the Civil War by a local farmer: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74, the only source. In 1864 … Nelson Chilton, son of Joshua Chilton … wounded in the arm … later riding up the road along Big Shawnee Creek … crossed paths with a patrol and both were killed: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source. The source calls his companion “his brother Joshus (son of Thomas Coot Chilton)”; “a kinsman” follows the parenthesis. Union patrols: see Chapter 6.
Shawnee Creek campground … staging area: see Chapter 11. Shawnee Creek band … toward Two Rivers … visitors … often meet it: see Chapter 11. water-quality station … since 1973: MDC 2001, PDF 82; see Chapter 17.

Little Shawnee Creek and Fursman Spring

about mile 43.9 … nine and a half square miles … Slick Rock, Despain and Odell hollows: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (9.35 square miles, mouth at 43.91, right); USGS GNIS (Little Shawnee Creek, mouth at 44.04). less than half a mile below: the river centerline (43.48 and 43.91). about six miles … nearly four: MDC 2001, PDF 28–30 (table Ge03, 6.0 miles total, 3.8 permanent, third order); the creek network traces about 5.1 miles. “named for the Indians who lived along the banks”: O’Brien 1939, 76.
Thomas Dent … North Carolina … Tennessee … farm near the mouth … after the Civil War … small grist mill … Hiriam … until the early 1900’s … water powered. All signs … have disappeared: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 74, 79, the only source. flour mill on the Little Shawnee in 1901 … Hiram Dent: O’Brien 1939, 37.
Betheny Chapel and Cemetery … about 3 miles up Little Shawnee … Bethenia Hawkins Adair … Henry Lee Adair … 1840’s … Adair Family Cemetery … over 250: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74, the only source. The source lists the family names. Little Shawnee School … one and a half miles up the creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 74; O’Brien 1939, 76 (“near Jack’s Fork”). Shawnee … 1891 … 1918: O’Brien 1939, 120; see Chapter 5.
John Chilton was captured by the same Union patrol … his home on Little Shawnee … After allowing him to see his family they shot him: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source.
The Fursman Spring flows from under a small bluff … runs into a small lake down the ravine … The Fursmans lived there during the Depression … sawmill up the hollow from the Fursman Spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source; map PDF p. 77 (Fursman Spring east of the river below Little Shawnee Creek). back from the river: USGS GNIS (Fursman Spring, 718299, about 400 meters from the river at about mile 44.0, right). map drawn from the federal surveyors’ notes of 1821 and 1840 … mill beside a spring near the mouth of Little Shawnee: Stevens 1991, 36 (“Central Shannon County Settlement Pattern 1840,” after Clendenen 1973). Fursman Spring Mill: Stevens 1991, 27, 34; see Chapter 5.
Samuel Andrew West … In 1861, he built a new cabin near what is now called the Fursman Spring. John West, Andy’s father … Andy hid under the bed … Sam shot at them … fatally wounding Mrs. West and killing John: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source for the cabin’s place. Lewis prints a second telling of the deaths of John West and Mrs. Sam West, from John J. Chilton (PDF p. 70). Union patrols: see Chapter 6.

Fursman Hole and the run north

north for about two-thirds of a mile: the river centerline (about miles 44.0 to 44.7). The Fursman Hole is next to a bluff and just below Little Shawnee Creek: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79; map PDF p. 77 (lettered east of the north run, the right bank). a bluff on the right that rises about 80 feet: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the face on the right at about miles 44.11 to 44.18, the only face on either bank of the north run. about 5 feet deep at low water: the pool’s depth below the riffle that holds it, roughly its low-water depth, measured on the 2021–23 riverbed survey (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 12; pool at about mile 44.09). unnamed hollow of about half a square mile … about mile 44.3: Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (0.48 square miles, mouth at 44.28, left).

The Garr Town Stretch

about mile 44.8 … east: the river centerline. Garr Town … Gar Town: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 77 (map, “Garr Town Stretch”), 79 (“The Gar Town Stretch”); Plate A13. bluff on the left at about mile 45: Plate A13. rises about 160 feet, the tallest face on the river below Alley: measured on the flood-mapping terrain (Heimann, Atkinson and High 2025; Map 13), the faces on the left at about miles 44.8 to 45.05; see Chapter 2. got its name from the numerous gar … A good spring comes out of a small hollow above the stretch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source.
longnose … most widespread gar in Missouri … clear Ozark streams … larger, deeper pools and slow backwaters … basks near the surface … about three feet … early May to mid-June … gravelly riffles: MDC, “Longnose Gar.” The longnose is the only gar on the river’s fish list (see Chapter 16), so that the gar of the stretch were longnose is a likely inference.
Doss Chilton’s wife killed a mountain lion with a club that was being attacked by her dogs. She also killed a deer by rolling a large rock off a bluff. They lived on the ridge between the Current and Jack’s Fork: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source.
last known native mountain lion in Missouri … Bootheel in 1927: MDC, Mountain Lions in Missouri.

George Fry Hole

turns northeast and then north: the river centerline (about miles 45.4 to 46.0). small branch … left … about mile 45.6: Plate A13; the branch drains less than a square kilometer and is not in the creek network.
named after a Captain in the Civil War, who lived nearby … flanked by a low bluff on the right. Below the hole is a slick rock spring: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source; map PDF p. 77. his mother was a Galbraith … Galbraith and Fry: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79.

The Junction

mile 46.21: the place register. Junction … Jack’s Fork … Coot Bay … Two Rivers: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79; Klinger and Kandare 1987, 19; see Chapter 18.
The Jack Fork’s confluence with the Current River is just above the deep, swirling Junction Hole … use to be much larger and was called Coot Bay. Thomas “Coot” Chilton lived a short distance downriver: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79. Big Eddy: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 77 (map, “Big Eddy / Coot Bay” lettered on the Current at the confluence). in the Current: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79 (the confluence “is just above” the hole); map PDF p. 77; the motorboat of 1913 ran up the Current from Chilton to Coot Bay (PDF p. 80). June and July, 1876 … lumber camp … “Let down, John, and show us how deep it is” … John Buffington … 11 days later a mile downstream: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source. 1986 … a hole thirty feet deep at the confluence … about four: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 37; see Chapter 3.
By one family record … Thomas Boggs Chilton … Elizabeth (1822–1899) married Joshua Chilton: Shannon County cemetery readings (Chilton Cemetery: Elizabeth Chilton, October 15, 1822–March 31, 1899, with the compiler’s note “Daughter of Thomas Boggs ‘Coot’ Chilton & Rebecca Daniels. Married Joshua Chilton”). The same readings also give Joshua’s father as a Thomas Boggs, “cousin to Thomas Coot,” so the compilers do not keep the two Thomases clearly apart.
John Hyer … about 1880 … Galbraith and Fry … Current River Land and Cattle Company in 1887 … Junction Mill … Galbraith Mill … 40,000 feet a day … the best lumber in the county: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only original source; repeated in Klinger and Kandare 1987, 19. William C. Shedd … Vermont … store … to the Junction: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 80, the only source; a store at the mouth in the 1850s: see Chapter 5.
Brig. Gen. John Davidson … spending the night camped at the Junction … February … 1863 … Pilot Knob: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79; see Chapters 6 and 8. two State Militia men or two renagades were killed while camped at the Junction: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 79, the only source. motorboat … 1913 … Chilton … Coot Bay … Jack’s Fork … 1917 … 1954: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 79, 80; see Chapter 8.
Bertha Russell (nee Hunt) … 1912 … six years old … rented the land for a few years before buying it … ties … rafted … down to Chickopee below Van Buren … Below the present store was an area of rich river bottom that is now gone … 1925 … carpenter … Russell … 1927 … bought the property … Highway V … right-of-way … “the river about six times” … six tourist cabins … 1935 … store and post office … postmaster for 10 years … rented jon boats … float trips … built his own motor and jon boats … a jon boat tied up on either side of the river as a ferry service for local customers … torn down … after the property was acquired by the National Park Service: Klinger and Kandare 1987, 37–39. Chicopee: see Chapter 7. The wagon road: see Chapter 8.
Junction Landing … Cooley Ferry … on the Current: Lewis 1980, PDF pp. 77 (map), 78 (photograph, “The Junction or John Cooley Ferry”). old ferry crossing … 1977: NPS 1977, panel 2; see Chapter 8. campground and landing … bench above the Current: see Chapters 3 and 11. recommended take-out … “Best take-out 0.75 mile downstream at ferry landing”: MDC 2003; see Chapter 20.
The hill across the river is colored with large, reddish colored granite or more correctly rhyolite. The foliage turns pale yellow … does not hold moisture as well as limestone or dolomite: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 80, the only source; the volcanic knobs at the mouth: see Chapter 1.

Into the Current

about forty-six miles: the river centerline (46.21). Owls Bend and Van Buren: see Chapters 8 and 14.

Table J.1

Jacks Fork Creek Network 2026 (the creek mouths at about miles 38.89, 39.44, 40.01, 40.43, 40.87, 41.12, 42.20, 43.48, 43.91 and 44.28), mouths placed on the river centerline traced for the maps in this book; names from USGS GNIS. Town Branch: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map); the match is an inference. Kell Hollow: Lewis 1980, PDF p. 66 (map).

Part Six: On the River

Opening

those in force in the fall of 2026: the federal and park rules as they stood on October 31, 2026 (NPS 2025 (compendium), the fiscal year 2025 edition, as revised June 16, 2026; 36 C.F.R. § 7.83 as current on October 8, 2026), and the Wildlife Code as amended to March 31, 2026 (chapter 6), July 31, 2026 (chapters 5 and 7) and February 28, 2026 (chapter 8); MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), effective March 1, 2026. reissues every year: the compendium’s editions of 2024 (NPS 2024, approved September 24, 2024) and fiscal year 2025; the compendium “is effective on the approval date listed on the first page of this document and remains in effect until revised” (NPS 2025 (compendium), § A.9). park headquarters in Van Buren: NPS 2023 (contacts).

Whose rules, where

the Wildlife Code for fishing, hunting and trapping … the Revised Statutes of Missouri: 3 CSR 10-5, 10-6, 10-7 and 10-8, cited by section below; RSMo 306.100, 306.220, 306.325. Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations and the park’s compendium: NPS 2025 (compendium), sections 1.5 through 7.83.
about 4.2 miles below the junction … runs to the mouth: see Chapter 10 and Reach C; the mouth at mile 46.21 (place register). a little under three miles above Buck Hollow: Buck Hollow at mile 6.98. South Prong Access: MDC, South Prong Access. apply only on land the park owns: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.10(b)(3) (gravel-bar camping “on NPS owned land”) and § 2.1(a)(4) (dead wood “Parkwide, except for any privately-owned property within the boundary”). a gap of land outside federal ownership around the town: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(b)(3), Table 2 (the Eminence Gap); see Chapter 10. The state’s landing at Eminence lies in the gap: MDC, Joshua T. Chilton Memorial Landing.
In 1954 … held the channel of a floatable river, the Meramec, to be a public highway for travel by floating or wading … fish in it: Elder v. Delcour, 269 S.W.2d 17 (Mo. 1954); McCarter 1995 (the river where it crossed a farm in Dent County; the channel a “public highway” for travel by floating or wading, “for business or for pleasure”). See Chapter 10. Who owns the bed of such a stream is not stated here: the department’s statement gives the landowner’s line at the center of a stream too small to float a canoe, and at the high-water mark on a navigable river, and does not say where it runs on a floatable one.
sorts streams into classes … too small to float even a canoe … unlawful without the landowner’s permission … middle-sized stream that will float a canoe … within the stream bed … begins at the high-water mark … gravel bars that are under water for part of the year … permanent island, which is often private property … can vary widely … prosecuting attorney … county assessor … asking permission whenever in doubt: MDC, “Trespassing” (the state’s three classes; on “Public, non-navigable — Middle-sized streams that are capable of floating smaller boats such as canoes,” “you have a right to use public, non-navigable streams for fishing, wading, or boating as long as you stay within the stream bed”; “The stream bed includes gravel bars that are submerged during part of the year”; “The stream bed begins at the high-water mark”; “In practical terms, this is the point where trees and other permanent vegetation grow”; “permanent islands … often are private property”; “opinions can vary dramatically about how to classify a particular stretch”; “The local prosecuting attorney is your best reference”; “When in doubt, always ask for permission”). No court or agency is known to have classed the river above the park: no classification was found in the department’s statements or in the case law; see the Open Ledger. No later decision or statute overruling or codifying Elder was found. float only after rain: see Chapter 20.

Getting on the river

No permit is needed to float: NPS 2025 (gravel-bar camping); NPS 2025 (compendium). no entrance fee: NPS 2024 (fees) (“A pass is not required for entry into the park”).
Table 6.1: miles measured along the river centerline from the junction of the prongs (South Prong Access 0.40 up the South Prong; Buck Hollow 6.98; Blue Spring 9.74–9.83; Baptizing Hole 10.03; Rymers 16.50; Bay Creek 25.90; Alley Spring campground head about 31.3 and the Highway 106 bridge 32.03; Highway 19 bridge 38.55; Shawnee Creek 43.45; mouth 46.21), as in Part Five. Banks and approaches: Reaches D, E, F, H and J. Landings: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 3.8(a)(2) (“Rymer, Bay Creek, Alley Spring, Burr Oak, Shawnee Creek”); NPS 2022a, maps 10 and 11 (Buck Hollow River Access, Bluff View, Horse Creek River Access); backcountry sites: NPS 2026 (campsite descriptions) (“only 1 campsite located at Bachers”). The 3.3-acre South Prong Access: see Chapter 11. Concessions: see Chapter 11. Eminence: MDC, Joshua T. Chilton Memorial Landing; see Reach J.
the park’s float-time table and the state’s float guide give smaller figures … about a mile and a half short by the mouth: NPS 2024 (float times) (7.2, 9.8, 16.4, 25.4, 31.2, 37.5 and 44.8 miles); MDC 2003 (44.6 at the mouth); see Chapter 20. Horse Creek River Access … not been placed on the ground: NPS 2022a, map 11; see Reach I.
two designated road fords, Ratliff Ford … Texas County Road 4666, reached by County Road 3940 … Blue Spring Ford … Shannon County Road OO-493: NPS 2025 (compendium), designated formal road fords “as depicted in the OZAR Roads and Trails Plan” (it gives the ford as “Texas County Road 3940”); NPS 2022a, 19; U.S. Census Bureau, TIGER/Line 2024 (County Road 4666, Pine Crest Drive, crosses the river at the ford and begins at the east end of County Road 3940, which runs along the Howell–Texas county line). Miles: Reaches C and D. only on park roads, in parking areas and on routes designated for vehicles: 36 C.F.R. § 4.10(a); off-road routes may be designated only in recreation areas, seashores, lakeshores and preserves (§ 4.10(b)). Parking on the bars is not allowed: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 3.8(a)(2), designated fords (parking “only authorized in appropriate areas and not on gravel bars”). All-terrain and utility vehicles … county roads … except to cross at an approved crossing and keep going: NPS 2021 (off-road vehicles) (“not allowed on any gravel bar, beach or in the river” unless “at an approved river crossing and then only to cross and continue on”). unattended for more than 24 hours … designated parking area: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.10(a) (“Camping equipment, including vehicles, RVs, and trailers, must not be left unattended for longer than 24 hours”; “Visitors are authorized to leave vehicles unattended, in excess of 24 hours, in designated parking areas only”).
too rough for a car with low clearance: see Chapter 20 (NPS 2026 (backcountry)). needs the park’s authorization: NPS 2026 (permits) (Commercial Use Authorization); 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(d). concessioners at Alley Spring and Two Rivers: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.35; see Chapter 11.

Water levels and closures

Three gauges … sent out through the day: USGS NWIS; see Chapter 14. flood categories for each (Table 6.2): National Weather Service. two feet on the gauge says nothing about how deep: see Chapter 14 (gauge datum).
Table 6.2: station names and numbers, USGS NWIS; Weather Service codes, stages and flows, National Weather Service (JKFM7: action 4 ft, about 640 cfs, minor 11, no moderate or major stage set; ALYM7: action 5.3 ft, about 3,920 cfs, “floating access to the Jacks Fork at Alley Spring is closed,” minor 9, moderate 12, major 16; EMCM7: action 6.4 ft, about 3,560 cfs, “river access to the Jacks Fork is closed due to elevated water levels,” minor 12, moderate 15, major 20; “Forecasts are issued routinely year-round” at Eminence; JKFM7 carries a forecast code with no forecast current), all as they stood in October 2026; park averages and closing levels, NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1), “River Closure Levels.” The impact lists match Table 14.4.
to boats without motors … district ranger judges unsafe … two feet above the average level … 2.75 feet and a closure at 4.00, a rise of a foot and a quarter … 3.40 and a closure at 5.40: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1) (“the Current and Jacks Fork rivers are closed to non-motorized vessels during times of flooding and/or other times deemed unsafe by the District Ranger”; “when the water level exceeds two feet above the ‘average levels’”); NPS 2024 (closure at Highway 17 “with a one and one-quarter foot rise”). The park ties the Highway 17 bridge level to station 07065200 and the Highway 106 bridge level to 07065495 (NPS 2022 (river levels)). No closing level is set for Eminence: the compendium’s table has no Eminence row. the superintendent’s separate power to restrict or close: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(b)(7). An older park statement gave two feet above normal: NPS 2022 (river levels) (“the National Park Service will close the river to non-motorized vessels when the river level reaches two feet above normal”). park headquarters or dispatch: NPS 2023 (contacts); NPS 2024 (river safety).
one writer’s rule of thumb … 2 feet or more on the local gauge … floatable the year round: Dufur 2013, 23 (“Look for 2 feet or more on the local gage to float the upper Jacks Fork River”; “the river is floatable from Alley Spring down year-round”); the gauge is not named; see Chapter 20. a band of about two feet … from about 2 to 4: the rule of thumb read against the compendium’s closing level at Highway 17. No published figure has been found for the gauges at Alley or Eminence: none in the park’s or the department’s guidance as of October 2026. Which way a reading is moving … seen no rain: see Chapters 14 and 20.

Camping and fires

reach it by boat, with a motor or without … only on land the park owns … about 300 yards … 50 feet from any river access or landing … 100 feet from any other party … five days at one site … Leave No Trace … multiday stays … ferry their camping gear: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.10(b)(3) (“Gravel Bar Camping – is allowed by visitors who float-in by motorized or non-motorized vessels on NPS owned land”; “approximately 300 yards away from any Developed Campground or Back-country Campground”; “Must camp at least 100 feet from other gravel bar camping groups”; “limited to a five-day occupancy at that site”; “Gravel bar camping is not intended to encourage multi day stays where guests drive in and/or ferry camping equipment”); § 2.10(a) (“Camping within 50 feet of any river access or landing is prohibited”). Gravel-bar camping needs the designation because a bar always lies within 100 feet of a flowing stream (§ 2.10(b)(3)). no fee, reservation or permit: NPS 2025 (gravel-bar camping) (“It does not require a fee or reservation!”); NPS 2025 (campgrounds) (“Primitive camping remains free and non-reservable”). inside a cave or within 50 feet of a cave’s mouth: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.10(a). buried at least six inches deep: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.14. Where to pick a bar: see Chapter 20.
general management plan of 2015 … half a mile from any designated campground and at least 50 feet from any designated access: NPS 2015 (GMP summary), 34 (“camping is allowed for those accessing gravel bars by motorized and nonmotorized watercraft, as long as the location is 0.5 mile from any designated campground and at least 50 feet away from any designated river access”); the same in NPS 2014 (GMP), table 13, 133. about 300 yards since at least its 2024 edition: NPS 2024, § 2.10(b)(3); NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.10(b)(3). The plan describes practice as of 2014 and is not a regulation; the compendium is the designation made under 36 C.F.R. § 2.10, and the later of the two. hunting buffer … also 300 yards: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1), hunting.
Every campsite in the park now needs a reservation … 877-444-6777 … six months ahead: NPS 2025 (camping) (“All campsites in the park require a reservation”; “Sites can be booked up to 6 months in advance”). reservation-only since 2025, with same-day reservations available: NPS 2025 (campgrounds) (“all developed campgrounds and large group sites are now reservation-only”; “Same-day reservations are available”). Blue Spring, Baptizing Hole, Bachers (a single site), Rymers, Bay Creek and Shawnee Creek: NPS 2026 (campsite descriptions), “Jacks Fork / Middle Current Backcountry Campsites” (reservable in advance from October 1, 2025). must now be reserved … charged the year round since April 15, 2025: NPS 2026 (backcountry) (“Reservations are required for all backcountry campsites”; “Fees apply year-round”; “Starting April 15, 2025, backcountry sites will require a fee year-round”). effective April 15, 2022 … $10 … $20 … $30 … lower off-season rates: NPS 2022b (peak season April 15 to October 15; off-season non-electric $10, electric $20). The 2026 amounts were not published in any park document found; see Chapter 11. 14 days in any 30 … vacated by noon … six people, with two tents or one tent and one recreational vehicle, and two vehicles … special use permit: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.10(a). horse camping is not allowed: NPS 2025 (horseback riding) (“Horse camping is not permitted”).
forbids fires except in the areas it designates … charcoal briquettes or natural firewood: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.13(a)(1) (“The lighting or maintaining of fires is generally prohibited, except as provided for in the following designated areas”; “fuel sources designed and commonly used for warmth … such as charcoal briquettes or natural firewood”). long custom … names no gravel bars: in the fiscal year 2025 compendium the sentence on designated areas, § 2.13(a)(1), is followed by no list, so no gravel bar is designated by name; the park’s gravel-bar guidance refers campers to the compendium. The compendium does allow picnicking “on all gravel bars” (§ 2.11), a separate matter. See the Open Ledger. put out, and the site cleared of litter: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.13(b) (“All campfires and cook-fires will be extinguished and free of litter before any site is left unattended”). Lanterns may not be hung on trees: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.13. notices go up at visitor centers, campgrounds and landings: NPS 2024, § 2.13(a)(1). smoking is forbidden in the backcountry: NPS 2025 (compendium) (“Smoking is prohibited in the backcountry during posted fire bans”).
Dead wood lying on the ground … except on private property … burned in the park where it was gathered: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.1(a)(4) (“Dead wood on the ground may be collected for use as fuel for campfires within the park”; “Firewood must be used in the park where it is collected”). buy firewood locally … emerald ash borer: NPS 2024, § 2.13(a)(1) (“firewood should be obtained locally or collected from dead and down wood within the park”). does not repeat the request: the fiscal year 2025 edition has no such passage. a beetle that kills ash trees: general explanation.

What to carry, and what to leave behind

glass and polystyrene foam on or around the river: NPS 2025 (park regulations) (“Glass and polystyrene foam are prohibited on or around the river”); NPS 2026 (floating) (“Glass and styrofoam are prohibited on or around the river”). The compendium itself has no glass rule, and the federal regulation behind the park’s statement has not been identified; the state statute below covers most of the same ground.
easily swamped, tipped or rolled … a container for something a doctor has prescribed … secured against breaking … sealed so that its contents cannot spill … bag or container for trash, fastened to the boat … class C misdemeanor … houseboats, party barges, runabouts, ski boats or bass boats: RSMo 306.325 (L. 2004 H.B. 841): “any canoe, kayak, or other watercraft which is easily susceptible to swamping, tipping, or rolling,” inner tubes included, “but does not include any houseboat, party barge, runabout, ski boat, bass boat”; no “glass container for beverages on a vessel within the banks of navigable waterways,” except “containers for substances prescribed by a licensed physician”; “Use a cooler, icebox, or similar nonglass container sealed in a way which prevents the contents from spilling into the water”; “Carry and affix to the vessel a container or bag suitable for containing refuse, waste, and trash materials”; “guilty of a class C misdemeanor.”
No park rule limits the size or number of coolers: none in NPS 2025 (compendium). lashing or tying two or more boats or floats together while underway … hard to steer, can catch on a rootwad … beneath it … unoccupied tube: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(2), boats, rafts, tubes and canoes (“lashing or tying together two or more vessels or float devices while underway”; flotillas “are not maneuverable” and increase “the chance of floaters becoming caught on root wads, and potentially drowning if they fall off and become trapped underneath the mass float”; “Unoccupied tubes (such as innertubes with a cooler) are exempt from this restriction”).
into a park receptacle: 36 C.F.R. § 2.14. An Eminence outfitter hands out trash bags: see Chapter 20.
drinking is allowed on the river and on the gravel bars … Alley Mill and the Alley Store … park-owned or leased building, vehicle or boat … picnic pavilions … cans or plastic containers: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.35(a)(3)(i) (closed to consumption: “Alley Mill,” “Alley Store,” “Storys Creek School,” “Any park-owned or leased building, vehicle, or vessel”; not “picnic pavilions or housing units”); § 2.35 (concessions “are currently permitted to sell alcohol in cans or plastic containers”). marijuana included: NPS 2026 (floating) (“Alcohol and drug regulations are strictly enforced, including marijuana”); 36 C.F.R. § 2.35(b)(2). federal rules forbid operating or being in control of any vessel … 0.08 percent or more: 36 C.F.R. § 3.10(a) (“to a degree that renders the operator incapable of safe operation”; “0.08 grams or more of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood”); a vessel is “every description of watercraft, or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on the water” (36 C.F.R. § 1.4(a)). boating while intoxicated … mechanical or sail power: RSMo 577.013; RSMo 577.014 (“eight-hundredths of one percent or more by weight of alcohol in his or her blood”); RSMo 577.001(17) (“to physically control the movement of a vessel in motion under mechanical or sail power in water”).
on board for each person on any watercraft … throwable cushion or ring … wearable one for each person: RSMo 306.100.8 (“All class A motorboats and all watercraft traveling on the waters of this state shall have on board” at least one personal flotation device of type I, II, III or IV, the last being the throwable kind, for each person); RSMo 306.100.7 (“Every vessel, except those in class A, shall have on board at least one wearable personal flotation device” for each person). A child under seven … fully enclosed part … class C misdemeanor: RSMo 306.220 (L. 1989 S.B. 135). one life jacket on board for each person … regardless of ability: NPS 2026 (floating) (“One PFD must be on board for each person”); NPS 2024 (river safety) (“recommended for all paddlers regardless of ability”). the children’s age two ways: NPS 2026 (floating) (“Children under 7 must wear a PFD at all times”); NPS 2024 (river safety) (“children ages 7 and under”). The statute governs.

Boats and motors

published on December 12, 2023, which took effect on January 11, 2024: 88 Fed. Reg. 86050; regulatory text at 86057; 36 C.F.R. § 7.83. See Chapter 11. the day after the state’s spring trapping season on public lands ends … the day before the gigging season for nongame fish opens: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(a), “Peak season” (i) and (ii). beaver and nutria season closes on March 31 … gigging opens on September 15 … April 1 through September 14: 3 CSR 10-8.515(1)(A); 3 CSR 10-6.550; the dates are derived from those two seasons (the rule’s preamble gives roughly April 1 through September 14).
upstream boundary (about mile 4.2) to the upper end of the Eminence gap … 25 horsepower with a jet unit or 18 … lower end of the Eminence gap to Two Rivers … 60 … 40: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(b)(3), Table 2 (“From the western boundary of the Riverways downstream to the upper (western) end of Eminence Gap”; “From the lower (eastern) end of the Eminence Gap downstream to Two Rivers”).
only one outboard motor … electric trolling motor … Inboard motors and personal watercraft: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(b)(1)(i)–(iii). written permit … restrict or close … maps of the zones: § 7.83(b)(4), (7), (5). The federal limits stop … and start again: Table 2 sets no limit within the gap itself. Scuba diving … written permit: § 7.83(c). park headquarters in Van Buren: § 7.83(b)(5).

Fishing

needs a Missouri fishing permit or an exemption … fifteen or younger … residents sixty-five or older … resident landowner … five contiguous acres: 3 CSR 10-5.205(1), (1)(A), (1)(B), (1)(D); MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 4, 11. never applies on park land: the exemption is for land the resident owns. frogs, crayfish, turtles, mussels, clams and live bait: 3 CSR 10-5.340 (“To pursue, take, possess, and transport fish, frogs, mussels, clams, turtles, crayfish, and live bait”); 3 CSR 10-5.205(1)(D). $14 … $57 … $9 … June 6 and 7: MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 4, 6. in any manner state law authorizes: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(e)(1). No trout rules apply: MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), trout waters (no Jacks Fork entry).
six black bass in all … hybrids … under twelve inches … Friday before the fourth Saturday in May … March 1 to May 22 … May 23, 2026, to February 28, 2027: 3 CSR 10-6.505(1), (4)(A) and the stream season; MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 20 (“black bass from streams may not be possessed from March 1–May 22, 2026”). The Jacks Fork lies outside the year-round zone of the southeast.
from the Highway 17 bridge, mile 7.0, to the Current … under fifteen inches … only one smallmouth: 3 CSR 10-6.505(1)(A), (4)(A)2. (“the Jacks Fork River from the Highway 17 bridge to the confluence of the Current River”; “all smallmouth bass less than fifteen inches (15”) in total length must be returned to the water unharmed”); MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 32 (“The daily limit of 6 black bass may include only 1 smallmouth bass”); MDC 2017. effective March 30, 2017: MDC 2016 (smallmouth) (“a standard 15-inch minimum length limit and a one-fish daily limit”; the areas expanded on the “Big Piney, Jacks Fork, Big, and Meramec rivers”). eighteen inches from Highway 17 to Highway 106: see Chapter 16.
goggle-eye … warmouth … fifteen in all … under seven inches: 3 CSR 10-6.530, “Goggle-eye and Warmouth” (goggle-eye being the Ozark, rock and shadow bass). pole and line … fifty … carp and goldfish: 3 CSR 10-6.550 (carp, grass carp, bighead and silver carp and goldfish not counted).
may not be possessed, harmed or killed … cutting the line: MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 33 (“If you gig, fish, or float Ozark streams, it is illegal to possess, harm, or kill hellbenders”).
no entry of its own for the Jacks Fork … one meal a month … over twelve inches: MDHSS 2024 (fish advisory) (one meal a month of walleye and of largemouth, spotted and smallmouth bass over 12 inches, for pregnant women, women who may become pregnant, nursing mothers and children under 13). Water quality … Chapter 17: see Chapter 17 (MDHSS 2013).

Gigging, snagging, bowfishing and frogging

between sunrise and midnight from September 15 through February 15: 3 CSR 10-6.550 (“taken by gig or atlatl from streams and impoundments between sunrise and midnight from September 15 through February 15”); MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 21; MDC, “Fish Gigging.” lengthened it by fifteen days in 2019, beginning with the season of 2019–20: MDC 2019 (gigging) (“extending the fish gigging season by 15 days beginning this season … Sept. 15 through Feb. 15, 2020”; approved by the Conservation Commission August 23, 2019). January 31 was the close before the 2019–20 season.
Game fish may never be gigged … alligator gar and endangered species: MDC, “Fish Gigging” (“Game fish cannot be harvested by gigging”); MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 11 (the list of game fish; nongame fish are “All species other than alligator gar, those listed as endangered, or those defined as game fish”). northern hog sucker and the redhorses: MDC, “Fish Gigging”; see Chapter 19. twenty nongame fish in all … twice that: 3 CSR 10-6.550; MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 21. five-fish limit on hog suckers … part of the Current: MDC 2026 (fishing regulations) (the Current from Cedar Grove to the Arkansas line).
tied to the opening of this season … The close of the gigging season has no part: 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(a) (peak season ends “on the day before the first day of gigging season for nongame fish”).
March 15 through May 15 and from September 15 through February 15: 3 CSR 10-6.550 (snagging, snaring and grabbing); MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 21. throughout the year between sunrise and midnight: 3 CSR 10-6.550. Spearguns may not be carried on free-flowing waters or their banks: 3 CSR 10-6.410 (“Spearguns may not be possessed on unimpounded waters or adjacent banks”); underwater spearfishing is allowed only on impounded waters (3 CSR 10-6.550).
33 hooks in all … two feet apart … every 24 hours … attended at all times … labeled: 3 CSR 10-6.410. No setline restriction applies to the Jacks Fork (MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 28, 30, 34).
Up to 150 crayfish … one and a half by eighteen inches … every 24 hours … sold or carried out of the state: 3 CSR 10-6.605(1), (2)(C), (7); the 24-hour rule for bait traps, 3 CSR 10-6.410(4); MDC, “Live Bait Regulations.” dated receipt: MDC, “Live Bait Regulations.” crayfish of conservation concern … bighead and silver carp: MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 17, 22.
sunset on June 30 through October 31 … eight … artificial light: 3 CSR 10-6.615; MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 22. fishing permit or an exemption: MDC 2026 (fishing regulations), 6. 2024 compendium allowed frogs, turtles and crayfish: NPS 2024, under § 7.83(f) (“The taking of frogs, turtles and crayfish is authorized in accordance with the Missouri State Wildlife Code”); 36 C.F.R. § 7.83(f). No such passage was found in the fiscal year 2025 edition.
Table 6.3: sources as given in its last column and above; the Round Spring tour season from NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1).

Hunting and trapping

The law that created the park in 1964 … close zones and set periods … Conservation Commission: Public Law 88-492, sec. 4 (16 U.S.C. § 460m-4) (“The Secretary shall permit hunting and fishing on lands and waters under his jurisdiction … in accordance with applicable Federal and State laws”; he “may designate zones where, and establish periods when, no hunting shall be permitted” for “public safety, administration, or public use and enjoyment,” after “consultation with the Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri”). Missouri hunting permit … Alley Spring area … other developed areas: NPS 2024 (hunting and fishing) (“All state seasons and limits apply”; “A Missouri hunting license is required”). 300 yards of any developed area … buildings, administrative compounds, camping areas, roads, hiking trails and other public facilities … toward any of them: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1), hunting (“hunting and trapping is prohibited 300 yards from any developed area, which includes buildings, administrative compounds, camping areas, roads, hiking trails and public use facilities administered by ONSR”; “It is prohibited to discharge a firearm, shoot an arrow from a bow, or shoot an arrow from a crossbow in the direction of any of the aforementioned areas”; Alley Spring is closed to Highway 106, the former state park boundaries).
until its motor has been shut off and the boat has stopped moving: 3 CSR 10-7.410(1)(A). standing in a stream … boat with a motor attached: 3 CSR 10-7.431(7)(A)–(B). from or across a public road: 3 CSR 10-7.405(3). hunter-orange cap or hat … shirt, vest or coat: 3 CSR 10-7.431(8). walking, hiking or floating in that season to wear orange: NPS 2025 (fall and winter) (visitors walking, hiking or floating in the firearms deer season should “wear blaze orange to ensure visibility and stay safe”).
November 15 through the last day of February … November 15 through March 31: 3 CSR 10-8.515(1)(A). The private-land spring season does not apply on park land. Killing-type traps … snares, with narrow exceptions, only in water … every 48 hours … name and address or Conservation Number: 3 CSR 10-8.510(2), (3)(C), (4)(A). 300-yard closure … trapping: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1), hunting; trapping is otherwise authorized under federal and state law (§ 2.2(b)(4)).

Horses

designated trails and on state and county unpaved roads … Two Rivers, Jerktail, Shawnee and Broadfoot Loops: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.16. 25.5 miles: NPS 2025 (horseback riding). Shawnee and Two Rivers Loops are on the lower Jacks Fork: NPS 2022a (Middle Current district). only at a designated county-road or horse-trail crossing, and never at high water: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.16(g) (“Rivers may be crossed with horses only at designated County roads or horse trail crossings”); NPS 2025 (horseback riding) (“Never attempt to cross any stream or river during periods of high water”). seven designated horse-trail river crossings: NPS 2022a, 15 (“The seven existing designated horse trail river crossings would continue”); the plan does not list them by river. bathed or left standing … tied directly to trees: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.16 (“Bathing or lingering horses in the waters of the park is prohibited”; “Tying horses directly to trees is prohibited”). restrooms, hitching rails and trailer parking: NPS 2025 (horseback riding). 25 horses … more than twelve: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.16. Dogs are not allowed on the horse trails: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.15.
closer than 100 feet … touching, feeding or attracting: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1); NPS 2024, § 1.5(a)(1). Chapters 10 and 11 … Chapter 17: see those chapters.

Caves and springs

Every cave on federal land … four that the compendium opens: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1) (“All caves on federally owned land within the boundary of ONSR are closed with following exceptions”; “Jam-Up Cave – open to the public to the interior water pool”; Round Spring Cave “closed, with the exception of guided access only,” “open for NPS led tours from May 1 through Labor Day”; Big Spring Cave “open to the public”; Cave Spring “open to the public to the interior shade line”). The compendium cites the Federal Cave Resources Protection Act of 1988 as its authority.
“Forbidden Pool,” and no farther … only by boat, between Blue Spring and Rymers … ceiling have fallen: NPS 2026 (Jam Up) (“open to the public from the entrance to the pool of water at the base of the waterfall”; “PLEASE do not proceed beyond this point”; “can only be reached by boat”; “Ceiling breakdowns have occurred in the recent past”). about mile 12.8: see Reach E.
to protect the bats from white-nose syndrome: NPS 2023 (caves); see Chapter 13. Devils Well … seen from a platform reached by a stairway: NPS 2018 (Devils Well) (“A ‘spiral staircase’ has been built to allow viewing”); NPS 2024 (caves and karst), which counts it with Round Spring Cave as the parts of the park still open; it is not listed in the compendium; see Chapter 13. all caves in the park are closed: NPS 2026 (floating) (“All caves within the park are protected and closed to entry”). The compendium is the legal designation, and the park’s Jam Up guidance of April 2026 agrees with it. break, carve or mark … written permission … cave gate … dump waste: RSMo 569.135; RSMo 569.137; see Chapter 13.
All entry into the spring pools and spring branches … fishing, wading, swimming and boats: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1) (“All activities and entry (to include but not limited to fishing, wading, swimming, remote control devices and vessels) into all spring pools and spring branches on federally owned land within ONSR boundaries is prohibited”); § 3.16. The exceptions named are on the Current. no published map draws the line: none of the park’s documents shows where the Blue Spring outflow ends; see Reach D.

Artifacts, fossils and collecting

possessing, removing, digging, disturbing, damaging or defacing … fossil … a point picked up loose from a gravel bar: 36 C.F.R. § 2.1(a)(1)(iii) (“Possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging, or disturbing from its natural state: … Nonfossilized and fossilized paleontological specimens, cultural or archeological resources, or the parts thereof”); see Chapter 3. minerals and cave formations: § 2.1(a)(1)(iv). neither compendium makes an exception: NPS 2024; NPS 2025 (compendium). metal detector, magnetometer … taken apart or packed: § 2.1(a)(7) (“Possessing or using a mineral or metal detector, magnetometer, side scan sonar, other metal detecting device”; the ban does not apply to a device “broken down and stored or packed to prevent its use while in park areas,” to boat and aircraft navigation electronics, or to authorized scientific, mining or administrative work).
federal crime under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act … $10,000 or a year … $500 … $20,000 or two years … $100,000 or five years: 16 U.S.C. § 470ee(a), (d). do not reach a person who picks up an arrowhead lying on the surface: 16 U.S.C. § 470ee(g) (“Nothing in subsection (d) of this section shall be deemed applicable to any person with respect to the removal of arrowheads located on the surface of the ground”). a felony under state law: RSMo 194.410; see Chapter 3. Chapter 1 the fossils: see Chapter 1.
by hand for personal use … a bushel of grapes or eight gallons of black walnuts: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.1(c)(1)–(2) (“grapes (1 bushel)”; “black walnuts (8 gal)”).

Swimming, jumping, drones and pets

jump or dive … from a tree … rope swings … fixed objects … strongly discourages it: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(1), jumping and diving into the river (“It is prohibited to jump or dive into the Current or Jacks Fork rivers from a tree”; “The installation or use of rope swings or other similar devices from stationary objects, such as trees”; jumping from bluffs and rocks “is highly discouraged due to safety risks involved”). shallow the next: see Chapters 15 and 19.
within 50 feet of the boat ramp at Two Rivers: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 3.16 (the designated ramps are Big Spring, Chilton Creek and Two Rivers).
uncrewed aircraft … superintendent’s written approval: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 1.5(a)(2) (“Launching, landing, or operating an uncrewed aircraft from or on lands and waters administered by the NPS within the boundaries of Ozark National Scenic Riverways is prohibited except as approved in writing by the Superintendent”). only the federal aviation rules apply: the park’s rule reaches only land and water it administers.
no longer than six feet … off the leash: 36 C.F.R. § 2.15(a)(2); NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.15. may not be leashed or tied … can drown: NPS 2025 (park regulations) (“Dogs may not be leashed / tethered while in a vessel on the water”); NPS 2026 (floating); the reason given as general explanation. two hours … nearest trash receptacle … public buildings or historic structures … service animals … horse trails: NPS 2025 (compendium), § 2.15(a)(3), (a)(5), § 2.15.

Hazards

let water through and stop anything larger: see Chapter 20. Give them a wide berth … grab hold of the wood and climb up onto it … do not go back: NPS 2024 (river safety) (“should be avoided whenever possible”; “grab hold of the rootwad and climb upwards”; do not “retrieve your belongings or vessel”). A single high water: see Chapters 14 and 20.
rise quickly to unsafe levels after moderate or heavy rain … a second way out: NPS 2024 (river safety) (“Area streams rise rapidly to unsafe levels following moderate to heavy rains”; “always have a secondary escape route”). from 2017 to 2024: see Chapter 14.
get out and carry around it: see Chapter 8 and Reach C. six inches … a foot … two feet … Never drive or walk into flood water: National Weather Service, “Turn Around Don’t Drown” (“A mere 6 inches of fast-moving flood water can knock over an adult”; “It takes just 12 inches of rushing water to carry away most cars”; “just 2 feet of rushing water can carry away SUVs and trucks”; “It is NEVER safe to drive or walk into flood waters”).
hypothermia … within an hour … about 57 degrees … change of dry clothes: NPS 2025 (fall and winter) (“In colder weather, falling into the water can cause hypothermia, risking permanent injury or death within an hour”; “The water stays ~57 degrees throughout winter”; “Keep a pair of dry clothes to switch into, for either emergencies or comfort”). Getting a wet person into dry clothes first is standard first aid for cold. the upper river above the big springs runs colder: see Chapter 12 and Reach D.
drink water often and before thirst sets in … skin and eyes: NPS 2024 (river safety). Chapter 16: see Chapter 16 (MDC, “Northern Cottonmouth”; MDC, “Northern Watersnake”).

Emergencies

often no phone signal, and help can be hours away: NPS 2024 (river safety) (“In an emergency, there is often no phone signal, and help could be hours away”). Alley Spring General Store: NPS 2023 (contacts). to about mile 7.9, at Lily Pad Hole: see Reach D (the county line “At or a short way below” Lily Pad Hole). Troop G, at Willow Springs: Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop G.
Table 6.4: 911 and park dispatch, NPS 2024 (river safety) (“In case of an Emergency dial 911 or Park dispatch at 844-460-3604”); headquarters, TDD, store and reservations, NPS 2023 (contacts); concessions office, NPS 2026 (permits); Shannon County, Shannon County Sheriff 2026; Texas County, Texas County Sheriff 2026; Troop G, Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop G.
no hospital in Shannon County … Van Buren in Carter County: MDHSS 2023 (rural hospitals); MDHSS, licensed hospitals. Mercy St. Francis Hospital … 24-hour emergency room: MDHSS, licensed hospitals; Mercy 2026 (“24-hour emergency room with a board-certified emergency medicine physician”). Texas County Memorial Hospital … Ozarks Healthcare … Salem Memorial District Hospital: MDHSS, licensed hospitals.

Rules at a glance

Table 6.5: sources as given in its last column and in the notes to each section above.

Endnotes

Part One: Deep Time

Chapter 1. Older Than the Hills

Chapter 2. How the Hills Were Cut

Part Two: The Human River

Chapter 3. The First People

Chapter 4. Osage Country and a River’s Name

Chapter 5. Hollows and Households

Chapter 6. War Comes to the River

Chapter 7. Pine, Ties and Rails

Chapter 8. Getting Across

Chapter 9. The River Becomes a Destination

Chapter 10. Who Gets to Keep the River?

Chapter 11. The River Since the Park

Part Three: How the River Works

Chapter 12. A River with a Basement

Chapter 13. Under the Bluffs: The Caves

Chapter 14. Highs and Lows

Chapter 15. Gravel and the Changing Holes

Chapter 16. The Living River

Chapter 17. Clean Water

Part Four: River Life

Chapter 18. What We Call Things

Chapter 19. Swimming, Baptizing and Gigging

Chapter 20. Floating the Jacks Fork

Part Five: The River Mile by Mile

A. The North Prong

B. The South Prong

C. Low Water to Steel Bridge

D. Steel Bridge to Muck Forty

E. Muck Forty to Rymers

F. Rymers to Bay Creek

G. Bay Creek to Alley

H. Alley

I. Alley to Eminence

J. Eminence to the Mouth

Part Six: On the River

Did we get something wrong? Have stories? Have pictures?