Two girls from Iowa on vacation at Lake Taneycomo, 1920s.
Lake Taneycomo is a 22-mile riverine lake stringing upstream on the White River through Taney County from Powersite Dam to Branson and, today, to Table Rock Dam. Powersite Dam, near Forsyth, closed in 1913. At that time, it was the largest dam/reservoir in the country and provided power and light to this remote corner of Missouri. We used this image as an illustration in Damming the Osage. The smaller scale success of Powersite could have been a subject of interest to the two Kansas City financiers who cast their eye on the Osage as a source of power and revenue.
Given Ralph Street’s interest in hydropower, it seems likely he rode the White River Line of the Missouri Pacific Railroad to Hollister to observe Powersite Dam and Lake Taneycomo. Even if he didn’t, there was extensive favorable newspaper coverage. Modernity coming to the primitive Shepherd of the Hills Country was a ready-made story. Lake Taneycomo was not much more than a large pool in the river with little fluctuation. Soon cabins, summer camps, and hotels sprang up around the small lake in a region already popular with tourists. Street’s and Cravens‘ plans for the Osage River reservoir always included recreational development, a benefit Union Electric was only marginally interested in.
Powersite was the first dam on the storied White River. James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River, 352 pages with more than 400 color illustrations, examines the entire watershed of the famed Ozark float stream, a tributary of the White River. This image was used as well in Damming the Osage: The Conflicted Story of Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Reservoir. Lens & Pen Press is having a half price sale for all titles. Both James Fork of the White and Damming the Osage are now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 each (half the original price of $35), postage paid.