What lies beneath…

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Aug 292018
 

1940s Corps of Engineers booklet: “Table Rock Reservoir Area, White River Missouri and Arkansas, and how the U.S. buys it.”

Two boys cast fishing lines from their perch on the rocky slope of the “bath tub ring” caused by fluctuating water levels of artificial impoundments. They wait for a nibble watching the flat water of Table Rock Reservoir, perhaps wondering where the fish are hiding and what lies beneath the stilled waters of the lake that covers the once mighty White River.

Folks living in the White River and James River valleys had had fifty years to come to terms with the inevitability of losing working farms, grist mills, tiny towns and sylvan groves to rising waters when the dam closed. Still, this booklet by the Corps of Engineers seems particularly insensitive to the losses rural people faced as they gave up their land and lifestyles to the massive project. They do acknowledge that “the long-established procedures (for buying land in the project area) are not well understood by many in the reservoir area where land must be obtained in order to obtain storage to impound and control flood waters . . . ”

Tom Koob’s book, Buried by Table Rock, paints a picture of the life once lived in the valleys of the White and James rivers.

James Fork of the White and other Lens & Pen books are available on this website, on amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.

BURIED BY TABLE ROCK – fascinating reveal of life before the lake

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Jul 022018
 

Most often reviews of books are done when the book is first published. So this review of Buried by Table Rock: Tales, anecdotes and facts about everything covered by the lake is late in coming, although Koob has recently published a revised edition. However, we discovered this small volume as we researched James Fork of the White, and it has been more than useful. It is a modestly published book, but an invaluable resource.

Tom Koob dug into newspapers, government records and—most importantly—he talked with the people, drove the roads, climbed the remaining hills, found the remnants of summer camps along the river. He gathered rare images to illustrate both past and present reality. He scanned the flat waters covering a once-peopled landscape and searched out the families and towns that once occupied it. River guides, mill families, and farmers recalled life with a river that gave them recreation, transportation, danger and sustenance. Nostalgic memories are tinged with regret at the loss of their river.

He identifies the visible remnants of places he describes in the text:

“Two small islands can be seen to the north from the Long Creek Bridge. The larger island is the top of Goat Hill, the site of the small town of Oasis. The smaller island, where a handful of trees cling tenaciously, is the peak of the slope that rose behind the town.”

Our own environments have become more homogeneous. We have Homeowners Association suburbs with architectural and landscaping covenants; uniformity of fashion in national chain department store shopping centers; even local government policies aspiring to emulate those of major urban centers—sameness creeps over daily life and we hardly notice. But the lives and landscape Koob describes are regionally specific and adapted to Ozarks geography. As he said so clearly:

I have come to realize though, that the real story is something else. It is the story of a rugged land and rugged people. It is a tale of a somewhat isolated culture thrust into a modern world not necessarily of its own choosing.

The final pages have photos of the rising waters covering landmarks in the White River basin—Stallions Bluff, the Bridge at Mash Hollow at Cape Fair, and the James River Bridge at Cape Fair.

Those who read Tom Koob’s book will never look at Table Rock Reservoir the same way again.

You can find Tom Koob on Facebook  His newest book is a historical novel, Virgin Bluff. He has just published a revised edition of Buried by Table Rock. His books (The History of Fishing Table Rock; Buried by Table Rock; and Enon to Radium Springs) are available on Amazon Kindle