Gentrification of an Outlaw Hangout on the Osage River

 Damming the Osage, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Oct 102021
 

Club House, Monegaw Springs, real photo postcard by Becraft

Between bank, stage, and train robberies, the Younger Brothers’ gang found refuge and recreation in the rugged hills of the Osage. Grandfather Younger had settled here in the 1840s. Relatives and even former slaves of the family took pride in sheltering the outlaws. Frank and Jesse James on occasion joined the Youngers at the billiard table in the spacious hall of the log hotel at Monegaw Springs. The young men attended dances where they thrilled local girls with stories of their exploits on behalf of the vanquished.

In 1905 the old house and 300 acres were acquired by a group of Kansas City businessmen who created “The Monegaw Club.” The KC headquarters of the club were in the office of Mr. James B. Keister, 706 Bank of Commerce Building. The Henry County Democrat, August. 3, 1905 took several paragraphs from the Kansas City Journal description:

“The old log tavern on the crest of Mount Monegaw, now the property of the club, is one of the historic buildings of St. Clair county. The hotel was built in1854 by Thomas Estes and Harry Davis, both well known in the county at that time and still remembered. The building was originally intended for a hotel and since its erection has been conducted as such, with the exception of a short period during the war.

A fifteen foot veranda has been built around the old log hotel, which is being remodeled, retaining as much as possible its original rustic features—An up-to-date café and grill room will be one of the attractions at the club; other modern conveniences will be introduced. A pumping system, which required some skilled engineering, has been installed, and for the first time in the history of this ancient resort, the sulpher water is being pumped to the top of Monegaw hill. A bathhouse with sulpher plunge, sulpher baths, vapor baths and mud baths will be maintained.”

At the time it was built, the log hotel was said to be the largest log structure west of the Mississippi. Kansans burned the town during the Civil War, but spared the hotel. The old log hotel burned in 1926.

 

From 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. Damming the Osage is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

Giant Osage River Catfish

 Damming the Osage, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Mar 232021
 

Photo by Becraft, Osceola, MO. 68 Pounds #25

On the first page of the first chapter in Damming the Osage, we wrote:

After being the subject of the real photo postcard, this sixty-eight-pound blue catfish likely became the blue plate special at an Osceola, Missouri café. Though not uncommon in the Osage River, big fish were newsworthy. Several hundred miles downstream and a decade earlier another huge catfish (a blue or a flathead) made the June 1, 1895, Jefferson City Daily Tribune:

“News has just been received here of the strange manner in which John Harnett an Osage River fisherman, lost his life by being drowned by a catfish weighing 105 pounds. No one witnessed the death struggle which occurred some twenty-five miles up the river, but the finding of Harnett’s body, a trot-line and the live fish attached thereto some hours after he was missed tells the story of how he lost his life. He had wrapped one end of the line around his hand and been jerked in the river and drowned by the struggles of the fish to free itself.”

This was a true Osage river monster cat, so big the men holding the staff supporting it had to stand on boxes to keep the tail off the ground. Times and the river’s ecology have changed.  The most recent headline-grabbing hefty fish pulled from the Osage was a 112-pound invasive black carp.

 

From 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. Damming the Osage is now available on our website at www.dammingtheosage.com/buy-the-book/ for $17.50 (half the original price of $35), postage paid.

MYSTERY of the intrusive stick and ball SOLVED

 Damming the Osage  No Responses »
Feb 232021
 

Awkward photographic framing can produce puzzling images. It’s not a coincidence that surrealism came on after the invention and widespread use of the camera. One’s eye and brain compensate for awkward framing and off-kilter images, but a camera captures what is there—in all its visual disarray. We ran this photo (see previous post) of a puzzling intrusion into an image and asked if anyone knew what it was. This is one that had us stumped.

We received a tip from Todd Wilkinson, Project Manager for the James River Basin Partnership, and US Coast Guard Auxiliarist, that the come-from-nowhere ball and stick in this post was likely an “ensign staff.” Sure enough – Merriam-Webster defines an ensign staff as “the staff at the stern of a ship from which the national flag is flown.” The staff is usually topped by a polished metal ball.

For all our education, some more details from Wikipedia:

An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be different from the civil ensign (merchant ships) or the yacht ensign (recreational boats). Large versions of naval ensigns called battle ensigns are used when a warship goes into battle. The ensign differs from the jack, which is flown from a jackstaff at the bow of a vessel.

Mystery solved. The photographer was looking at the passing scenery behind the boat and didn’t notice or bother to exclude the staff from his frame.

Given Mr. Wilkinson’s bona fides on the topics of watercraft and waterways we appreciate him taking the time to clear up our quandary.

 

Several Lens & Pen Press books discuss the evolution of the Ozark landscape and our effects on its rivers. Check out Damming the Osage and James Fork of the White on www.beautifulozarks.com All our books are now on sale for half price, postage paid. Order on www.dammingtheosage.com

 

SURREAL 1907 OSAGE RIVER POSTCARD

 Damming the Osage, Uncategorized  No Responses »
Feb 182021
 

Real photo postcard marked, “Osage River” and “Becraft Photog. (21).”

What in the world is that ball on a stick  doing in the middle of the Osage River, poking up from the bottom of this real photo postcard?

This enigmatic view is postmarked “Monegaw Springs Aug. 23, 1907.” It was addressed to Miss Mary Mifflin Kansas City, Mo: “Dear Sister, this is a splendid picture of the Osage. Having a royal good time. Am rather used to the strange country ways by now … lovingly, Edna.” “Strange country” indeed—what IS that ball on a stick?

Did surrealism, the art of incongruous imagery, hit the Ozarks a decade before the term was even coined in Paris? If you’ve got any idea what that ball and stick are please let us know at lensandpen@yahoo.com

We have half a dozen Becraft real photo postcards, mostly of Osceola and the upriver spa, Monegaw Springs. In our book Damming the Osage, we used a wonderful image of his showing a 68 lb. blue cat proudly displayed by two men and a boy on the streets of that old river town.

NOTE: In 1905 a group of Kansas City businessmen acquired the old Monegaw log hotel (once a favorite haunt of the James and Younger brothers while laying low from the law) and began development of a resort on the Osage. It’s entirely possible Miss Edna was a guest at the Monegaw Club.  Watch for a future post on the post-outlaw life of the old hotel in Monegaw.

Several Lens & Pen Press books discuss the evolution of the Ozark landscape and our effects on its rivers. Check out Damming the Osage which has an extended explanation of Monegaw Springs and its outlaw history. All our books are now on sale for half price, postage paid. Order on www.dammingtheosage.com