1940s View from Table Rock – still no dam

 James Fork of the White  No Responses »
Aug 102022
 

Into the 1940s, visitors continued to visit and pose for photographs on the flat rock above the White River valley – where there was still no sign of earth-moving equipment, much less a towering blockage to the stream.

That stretch of river was promoted as a dam site by Henry Doherty, Empire District Electric Company, even before Taneycomo, his first successful White River project, had finished filling.  Table Rock, described as “probably the most scenic spot in Taney County,” in a Springfield Republican article, Feb. 1922, would be the location of his next dam he announced. There he proposed the erection of a 200-foot-high dam, which “would create a lake 100 miles in length and extend up the James to Galena.”

A lot happened in America between 1922 and 1958 (a Great Depression, a World War, a New Deal, Korean war) when Table Rock Dam was finally completed. Even those averse to Corps of Engineers projects cannot doubt its engineers are well trained. Between 1929 and 1948, the Corps of Engineers completed surveys of 180 rivers in 176 separate reports and submitted them to Congress. Not only did Army personnel boat and wade streams, but they also consulted with private power companies, academics, and other agencies.

The federal government ultimately took dam building away from private companies in the late 1930s. World War II and then Korea delayed construction of many projects. Again, local dam advocates became nervous that the feds would repeat the stalling tactics of Empire District Electric. However, the once-dam-averse Army Corps of Engineers ultimately changed the free-flowing White River into a series of reservoirs.

 

From 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. Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. James Fork is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

 

 

DANCING AT PICNIC IN THE OZARKS, 1910s

 Beautiful Ozarks, James Fork of the White, See The Ozarks, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jul 202022
 

Real photo postcard by George Hall

Unlike the posed hillbilly family real photo postcard we shared in June this is a straightforward document of the surviving folk culture on the upper White River, circa 1910.  Hillbilliness is based on these anachronisms.

Locals at this hoe-down appear to be wearing store bought clothes. Once the railroad made its way to southwest Missouri, Stone Countians had access to prêt-à-porter clothing just like the tourists.

Music and the moves it inspires have always been part of life in the Ozarks. Some of the Arcadian resorts built dance floors and natives joined in with visitors. Distinctions between locals and visitors were not always clear when melodies filled the air and boots and shoes started tapping. That tradition continues today in music festivals in the hills as well as regular weekly gatherings like Friday night parties at the old McClurg general store. The decades old weekly gathering was recently well represented at the Smithsonian Folklife Fest, on the Mall in Washington.

Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. James Fork is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

View from Table Rock – pre-dam, 1920s

 James Fork of the White, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Jul 082022
 

Real photo postcard, 1920s, by Payne Johnson, Branson Mo.

The white lettering on the card can be hard to read. It says, “Table Rock Dam will be built across the big sand bar.” And so -eventually – it was.

Most bluffs along Ozark rivers are named. Table Rock Bluff had a relatively flat top (hence the name). The spot was accessible by road and afforded an impressive view of the pre-dam river valley. Fro generations, a visit to this overlook was on many vacationers’ itinerary.

In 1922, Empire District Electric applied for and received a preliminary permit to build a large dam at Table Rock, five miles southwest of Hollister. World War I had concluded satisfactorily, and Americans were optimistic about the prospects of better living through technology.

Still, it would be thirty-six more years before the lower James River became the James River arm of Table Rock Lake. For decades locals anticipated seeing machinery below building a huge dam. That this didn’t occur frustrated dam supporters and led them to question if the utility really intended to proceed. During that time utility companies constructed three hydroelectric dams within the Osage River system after Powersite Dam (1911-1913). None of the much-publicized private projects in the White River basin would go forward.

From James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River, 352 pages with more than 400 color illustrations, which examines the entire watershed of the famed Ozark float stream, a tributary of the White River. Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. James Fork is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

EARLY ENTRY IN HILLBILLY CARICATURE

 James Fork of the White, Lens & Pen Press, See The Ozarks  No Responses »
Jun 082022
 

The idea the Ozarks is inhabited by primitives has been perpetuated in books by educated travelers like Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, in popular songs like the “Arkansaw Traveler,” and in souvenir postcards, like this one by otherwise-respected photographer George Hall.

We have incorporated many quotes by Lynn Morrow in our books. This paragraph from Shepherd of the Hills County: Tourism Transforms the Ozarks, 18802-1930s by Lynn Morrow and Linda Meyers-Phinney, so perfectly describes this posed photograph that we use it in its entirety. The book exquisitely describes the romanticism and sentimentality that pervaded early Ozark tourism. Like Mark Twain, the authors debunk popular culture without dismissing the people who embraced its mythologies.

Morrow and Meyers-Phinney reproduced the Hall postcard, captioning it, “Commercial stereotyping using the Arkansaw Traveler story.”

Twentieth century Arcadians came to the White River expecting to see rustics whom the national press labelled as hillbillies, since journalists and tourists had used the term from the very beginning of commercial tourism. Ozarkers quickly learned to cash in on the demeaning hillbilly image. If the tourists wanted to see hillbillies, then hillbillies made their appearances. Float-fishing guides were model hillbillies at the gravel bar camps, telling tall tales and manipulating their Mid-South dialect for the enjoyment of sportsmen; locals at resorts and the legendary sites of Harold Bell Wright’s novel took up the challenge of dramatizing the hillbilly stereotype for visitors.

As we found in the gift shop of the Shepherd of the Hills Ziprider Canopy Tours tower, the practice continues:

Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. James Fork, Damming the Osage, Mystery of the Irish Wilderness and others are now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for half the original price, postage paid.

One of “10 Books to Read by Springfield Authors”

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
May 282022
 

Delighted to see our book among an impressive selection of works by SGF authors!

Posted to the Murney Associates blog is their list of 10 books you should read.  Our history of the famed mountain theme park in Branson is nestled amongst works by luminaries David Harrison, Nancy Allen, Shawn Askinosie, Ethan Bryan, Sophie Bryan and Brad Zweerink, Connie Yen, Robert Stephens (former mayor) and Stephen McIntyre.  Makes a body proud!

THE STORY OF SILVER DOLLAR CITY: A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF BRANSON’S FAMOUS OZARK MOUNTAIN VILLAGE THEME PARK

by Crystal Payton
Love Silver Dollar City? You might enjoy seeing how it all began. Crystal Payton takes you through the years as Silver Dollar City grew in popularity in the Ozarks and became a nationally known brand. This book is an oldie but a goodie. Payton originally released the book in 1997. A lot has happened since then; maybe she’ll do a follow-up someday. Nothing describes SDC or Payton’s book better than the SDC slogan, “You’ve Got a Great Past Ahead of You.”

 

CHARLEY BARNES, famed James River fishing guide, with brothers John and Herbert

 James Fork of the White, Lens & Pen Press  No Responses »
May 122022
 

Robert Page Lincoln profiled Charley Barnes, James River guide and john boat builder, in a long article titled “Floating Down the River” in the March 1948 issue of Fur-Fish-Game magazine.

The caption from the 1948 article reads, “This photo of Charley Barnes and his two brothers, Herbert and John, was taken in 1909 about the time that the Barnes float trip business at Galena, Mo., was at the height of its success. Barnes told Lincoln that the bass shown in this photo are the same average size as those taken now. Reading left to right are Herbert, John, and Charley Barnes.”

Charley later developed a distaste for trophy photos. Fishermen would keep more fish than they could eat to take an impressive picture. All the early river guides were supporters of the conservation movement and fish and game laws as they viewed the protection of natural resources to be in their business interests and encouraged an early form of catch-and-release.

Barnes was born near Mount Vernon in 1878. The family moved to a farm near the James three miles from Galena when he was eight. He and his brothers spent much time fishing this historic river and their catches were such that Barnes conceived of the idea of making boats and taking out fishing parties. At the age of 26, in 1904 Barnes started taking out his first parties.

Though his big city customers may have considered Barnes a “hillbilly” – he not only built the john boats they floated in, but with his brother he also owned the Galena Ford agency.

 

Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. James Fork of the White, Damming the Osage, Mystery of the Irish Wilderness and other titles– all are now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for half the original price, postage paid.

“Largest ever” – James River float trip for L. B Price Mercantile, 1923

 James Fork of the White, Lens & Pen Press  No Responses »
Apr 132022
 

Real photo postcard, by Fox. 1923

The L.B. Price Mercantile Company was incorporated 18 February 1898 and almost made it to 100 years, being dissolved in 1993. In its heyday it was a “great business house,” whose main offices and storerooms were at 13th and McGee in Kansas City. According to an undated (but likely early 1900s) article in the Kansas City Star profiling the firm, L.B. Price had retail stores selling “household specialties” across the southeast and into the Midwest and employed more than 600 people.

This 1923 photo most likely shows men of the company’s management. A short bio of L. B. Price called him one of Kansas City’s “millionaire merchants.” We speculated in James Fork of the White (p. 249) that the large, relaxed group might have been traveling salesman (then called drummers). However, the article lauded the company for annually bringing its managers from around the country to Kansas City to report on their year and plan the future.  Considering that, it’s more likely that this “largest ever” James River float trip might have been a reward to managers for a successful year of sales.

Urban clientele like this were no doubt entertained by the tall tales and witticisms of the colorful local guides. Doubtlessly the businessmen referred to them as hillbillies, but not in a derogatory fashion.

 

From James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River, 352 pages with more than 400 color illustrations, which examines the entire watershed of the famed Ozark float stream, a tributary of the White River. Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. James Fork of the White is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

WHAT A COMBINATION—PHOTO GALLERY AND BUTCHER SHOP!

 Damming the Osage, Lens & Pen Press, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Apr 032022
 

Cabinet card, Linn Creek, Missouri, circa 1890. F. Lloyd, photographer.

Young Sam Clemens grew up in a bigger Missouri river town than Linn Creek, but this photograph preserves a scene not unlike those Mark Twain described of his Hannibal childhood. Linn Creek on the Osage River would be drowned by Lake of the Ozarks in 1931 but this insane image—three Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn types on a steer in front of The Combination Meat Market and Picture Gallery, suggests it was not unlike the great writer’s hometown, a place populated by high-spirited folks with a sense of humor.

Once the county seat of Camden County, Linn Creek was a lively steamboat landing 31 miles upstream from where Bagnell Dam would be built in 1929. A merchant advertised in 1848 three steamships had delivered “One Thousand Sacks G. A. Salt, 150 Bags Rio Coffee and 70 Barrels of Rectified Whiskey.”  That confirms what everyone knows—frontier Ozarkers drank a lot of whiskey. It also challenges several other assumptions. Everyone in the Ozarks wasn’t a moonshiner making their own booze.  And the region wasn’t as isolated as is often assumed. Goods were coming in from far away.

Wish we had acquired this image some years ago when we published Damming the Osage: The Conflicted Story of Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Reservoir, which had extensive coverage of the drowned town. Leland’s grandmother (whom he never knew) was born in old Linn Creek. Perhaps she bought some pork chops at the combination establishment after having her portrait taken by F. Lloyd, about whom we could find no information.

 

Lens & Pen Press is having a half-price sale for all titles. Damming the Osage is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

Arcadian Tourism

 Uncategorized  No Responses »
Mar 102022
 

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.

 

Powersite Dam On The White River

 James Fork of the White, See The Ozarks, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Feb 122022
 

Finished in 1913, Powersite was Missouri’s first venture into hydropower. A consortium of St. Louis investors engaged the Ambursen Hydro-Electric Construction Company of Boston to build one of their patented hollow, reinforced concrete structures. As would be the case eighteen years later on the Osage River, the original investors were replaced by a more substantial concern. New York capitalist Henry Doherty took over the project ultimately adding it to his Empire Electric Group, part of his mammoth Cities Services holding company.

Hundreds of these run-of-the-river dams with no storage capacity had been built back East where streams with adequate fall ran near populated areas. Missouri was late in developing hydropower because suitable Ozark rivers were far from cities. An incentive to build Powersite Dam was the opportunity to sell electricity to the mines of the Joplin lead district. Supplying power to St. Joseph Lead Co. in the St. Francois Mountains would be a consideration in the decision to build Bagnell Dam.

 

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. Lens & Pen Press is having a half price sale for all titles. James Fork is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

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