Lake of the Ozarks’ Lover’s Leap at Junction of Niangua and Osage Rivers

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Oct 162018
 

Real photo postcard, probably 1940s

Lover’s Leap on the Osage River was a cliff near Linn Creek, about which J. W. Vincent, editor of the local paper The Linn Creek Reveille, penned a fanciful tale of a suicidal Indian maiden. Virtually every declivity more than 25 feet high in the Mississippi River valley had a similar legend attached to it. When Lake of the Ozarks filled in 1931, the name stayed but the jump got shorter and the landing in water became more survivable. The little creature poised on the rocks in disregard of its safety appears to be some species of dog.

This site has been popular with postcard photographers and there are numerous versions, both real photo postcards and printed linens.

Today the knob where the dog sits has broken off and the site has grown up in brush. Nevertheless, it’s a well-known overlook; the trash indicates it’s a popular party spot. Recently it became a set for Netflix series Ozark.

This locaton and Virgin Bluff on the James River were among the sources of inspiration for our new project, Lover’s Leap Legends: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco. Lens & Pen books are available on this site, amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

Virgin Bluff Dam-That-Never-Was

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Aug 092018
 

Real photo postcard by George Hall circa 1915. Virgin Bluff was a landmark on the Galena to Branson float. While tame compared to the shoals of the upper reaches of some Ozark rivers, the rapids just before the big bluff were sporty for the James.

While working on our last book, James Fork of the White, we encountered mentions of Virgin Bluff and a crazy scheme to drill a hole through it to connect with the James River miles downstream to generate hydroelectric power. The wild scheme envisioned by William Henry Standish (a.k.a. General Standish) about 1908 was to build a dam to back up the James and drill a tunnel from the bluff, through the hills to come out 30+ miles downstream. The river’s water coursing through that tunnel (rather than along what would become miles of dried-up riverbed) would turn generators to produce electricity to power Springfield. Stories of Standish’s fundraising and project development made local newspapers. He sought and found local investors, started preliminary work and pushed bills through Congress (despite President Teddy Roosevelt’s veto of one) in pursuit of wealth and fame.

Hustle as he did, however, the project was not to be. A short notice in a June 19, 1913 Ste. Genevieve paper is the only mention we found of this bizarre undertaking’s collapse:

Ozark Dam Site Changed. Springfield. – The Virgin Bluff Project involving the erection of a dam across James river and the digging of a tunnel which would shorten the course of the river nearly 30 miles has been temporarily abandoned, pending the possible obtaining of legislative authority to construct a dam near Hollister.

Early talk of a big dam above Taneycomo—the project that became Table Rock a half century later–finished off the troubled and underfinanced Virgin Bluff tunnel dam.

A more detailed account is included in James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River.

James Fork of the White is available on this website, on amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.

James River’s Virgin Bluff and our Lover’s Leap Legends project

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Jul 182018
 

Our new project, Lover’s Leap Legends: From Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Te of Waco, may not seem on the surface to be a logical offshoot of past projects—but in fact it is. Inspiration from our hero, Mark Twain, and finding in each of our river books their own #Lover’sLeap legends and locations pulled us logically to this new subject.

Real photo postcard by George Hall circa 1915. Virgin Bluff was a landmark on the Galena to Branson float. While tame compared to the shoals of the upper reaches of some Ozark rivers, the rapids just before the big bluff were sporty for the James.

Research on the James Fork of the White brought us to #VirginBluff, a spectacular, sheer rock face on the James, that was a landmark on the Galena-to-Branson float. Johnboats floated through a long, deep, fish-filled pool along its face, then the current pulled the boats into the sporty Virgin Shoals.

This bluff came with its own Lover’s Leap legend – or so we were told. Moon Song, the lovely daughter of an Indian chief, threw herself from this imposing cliff when her father threatened to kill the handsome, gold-seeking Spanish soldier she loved. Angry and heartbroken, her father ordered the medicine man to place a curse on the tragic place. Moon Song’s anguished cries can yet be heard on dark nights, some say. Before the lake the shoals below claimed the lives of several floaters.

The Virgin Bluff dam-that-never-was may have been victim to the medicine man’s curse. William Henry Standish envisioned a dam on the river and a tunnel through the hills from the bluff to shoot the pooled water on a 40-foot drop over several miles to hit turbines to spin generators to create electricity for Springfield. This crazy scheme would have dried up 30+ miles of the river.

A November 23, 1958 Springfield News-Leader feature, “The Indian Curse That Killed Dam Project,” by Gerald H. Pipes, is a rare remembrance of Standish’s plan. Pipes did acknowledge the adverse financial climate of the times (just before World War I), but speculated the abandonment of Virgin Bluff dam might have been due to workplace accidents related to the Indian legend:

Today the lonely “cries” of Moon Song may still be heard along the bluffs, but the dangerous shoals will soon be gone, for they will become a part of mammoth Table Rock Lake. The waters will climb over and hide the Indian maiden’s grave and the scars left by the dam-builders. But will they erase the curse placed on the bluff by Moon-Song’s chieftain father? Only time will tell.

James Fork of the White, page 275

Today, the bluff rises above the flat waters of #TableRock Reservoir. A fall from this bluff is still dangerous; the view from its heights has changed considerably. The legend lingers in the name, Virgin Bluff, and a small winery on the bluff once produced several varieties including Moon Song Blush, Virgin Bluff Red, and Virgin Bluff White.

James Fork of the White and all our 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

New book in the works – LOVER’S LEAP LEGENDS: Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco

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Apr 202018
 

We have a new book in the works – Lover’s Leap Legends; Sappho of Lesbos to Wah-Wah-Tee of Waco. Lover’s Leaps are those dramatic prominences soaring above plains and rivers, impossible not to see, dramatic spots from where you can scan the surrounding landscape. Lover’s Leaps and their attendant legends are scattered across the land.

Inspiration for this more expansive topic comes from our favorite Missouri author and wry observer of humanity – Mark Twain. In Life on the Mississippi he tells of hearing the story of Winona from a fellow passenger on a steamship passing Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, on Lake Pepin (a watery wide spot in the Mississippi River). “…Romantic superstition has invested (Maiden Rock) with a voice; and oft-times as the birch canoe glides near, at twilight, the dusky paddler fancies he hears the soft sweet music of the long-departed Winona, darling of Indian song and story. . . . Perhaps the most celebrated, as well as the most pathetic, of all  the legends of the Mississippi.” (Chapter 59, Legends and Scenery”)

Each of our two most recent ‘river books’ (Damming the Osage and James Fork of the White) had a Lover’s Leap – one at Lake of the Ozarks; the other called Virgin Bluff on the James. We had written their legends in our books and through Twain’s account found more.

Linen postcard, 1940s showing Lover’s Leap, overlooking
the junction of the Niangua River and the Osage River.

 

 

Real photo poscard showing Virgin Bluff on the James River, where the lovely Moon Song leapt to her death in sorrow for her father’s threat against the handsome Spaniard she loved.

 

 

So Leland launched the research as we waited for James Fork of the White to be delivered from the printer. The  legends accumulated. The geographic locations were widespread and beautiful. The souvenirs and ephemera commemorating these locations were colorful, kitschy (in an appealilng way), and numerous. The concept took shape. In addition to collecting the myriad popular culture artifacts that commemorate such attractions, which we we’ve often use as illustrations for our books, we’ve hit the trail to seek out some of the more famous ( or infamous) locations to take contemporary photographs. First stop was Mark Twain’s hometown, Hannibal, Missouri, which has its own Lover’s Leap rising above the Mississippi. More on that in the next post.

Damming the Osage: The Conflicted Story of Lake of the Ozarks and Truman Reservoir (amazon.com) and James Fork of the White: Transformation of an Ozark River (amazon.com) are  available at this website , amazon.com and Barnes & Noble in Springfield.