Help On Identifying Spots Of Niangua River Map

[Scooper]

Blue Springs (Is this a public access?)

Leadmine

uhhh.... I am sure I am forgetting some of them....

Blue Springs was, at one time (in the 1960s and at least the early 1970s) a private resort with cabins, canoe rental, camp ground etc. At some point it was sold and the resort closed. I think you could still take a canoe out there, for a fee, but I'm not certain of that. The resort was owned by a TWA pilot who lived in KC and was run by a guy named Don Regan. Regan was a somewhat "nutty" as I recall. I haven't floated that stretch of the river in about 20 years, so I don't know what the present status is of Blue Springs. I don't think, though, that it is a public access. Lead Mine is the next public access, I believe, and that is quite a ways more down the river. That lower stretch is not floated as much as the sections immediatly above and below Bennett Springs. The lower section (below Prosperine) is almost all "warm water" fishing (bass, goggle eye etc.) although I remember, as a kid in the 1960s and 70s, occasionally catching a trout in mid-summer in the cooler water immediately below where the Blue Spring branch dumped into the Niangua. Before the Lead Mine access was built, the only place you could take out before Tunnel Dam was the little village of Celt (which doesn't appear on most maps now). Back in the mid-1960s Celt even had a U.S. Post Office.

[FishinCricket]

Blue Springs was, at one time (in the 1960s and at least the early 1970s) a private resort with cabins, canoe rental, camp ground etc. At some point it was sold and the resort closed. I think you could still take a canoe out there, for a fee, but I'm not certain of that. The resort was owned by a TWA pilot who lived in KC and was run by a guy named Don Regan. Regan was a somewhat "nutty" as I recall. I haven't floated that stretch of the river in about 20 years, so I don't know what the present status is of Blue Springs. I don't think, though, that it is a public access. Lead Mine is the next public access, I believe, and that is quite a ways more down the river. That lower stretch is not floated as much as the sections immediatly above and below Bennett Springs. The lower section (below Prosperine) is almost all "warm water" fishing (bass, goggle eye etc.) although I remember, as a kid in the 1960s and 70s, occasionally catching a trout in mid-summer in the cooler water immediately below where the Blue Spring branch dumped into the Niangua. Before the Lead Mine access was built, the only place you could take out before Tunnel Dam was the little village of Celt (which doesn't appear on most maps now). Back in the mid-1960s Celt even had a U.S. Post Office.

Have you see nteh Blue Spring there? It's a hidden gem for sure.. I was floating past The Blue Springs cabin one year on our annual (back in the late 90's) and we noticed that there was alot of smoke coming from behind the cabin.. as we got closer we noticed that the whole shed behind the cabins was on fire and there was some young kid running around draging boats and fishing equipment out of it.. We helped him with what we could (did you know an aluminum boat siting in a fire can cause third degree burns? Go figure...) Sure felt sorry for that kid.. He admitted to us he had just put out a cigarette on the floor of the building... He was aparently assigned to watch the resort for the weekend..

[oneshot]

The stretch of river Phil is requesting info on has 4 or 5 different public accesses and almost 15 outfitters (8 actual outfitter private takeouts that are shared among outfitters) When floating you can usually put in or take out at one of the public accesses, and if you are friendly you can put in or take out at any of the private accesses/campgrounds for a small fee. The list of outfitters is pretty extensive, but here are a few...

Mountain Creek (my personal favorite take out)

NRO (as metioned)

Sand Spring Resort

Fort Bennett

Ho-Humm

Fort Niangua Resorts

RedBeards Ranch

One Eyed Willies

The Public Accesses are:

Moon Valley

Bennett Springs

Barclay

Prosperine

Blue Springs (Is this a public access?)

Leadmine

uhhh.... I am sure I am forgetting some of them....

If you go on down from Lead Mine you can take out at Celt,its private but its been a Take out for years.

oneshot

[smoke20]

williams ford is another public access and the windyville bridge would be another private

[Goggle-Eyed]

Scooper the Spring itself was owned by the TWA pilot. Don Reagan owned the resort, and aren't we all a little Nutty???

After Don was unable to run the resort his brother John ran it until the mid 90's when he too sold to the "niangua river land and cattle company" They now own both sides of the river from the old Ed's (Dampier) campround all the way past the spring.

CC - I was not there the day the cabin burned but the boy was Matt, he was John's wife Barbs son. I don't know you but I do know that John was very thankful for the help during the fire. John and Barb are no longer together and he is actually living pretty close to Lead Mine. They were very good friends of ours and I used to work down at the resort helping him on the weekend. It was very sad when John had to sell the resort but the guy just kept offering stupid amounts of money. From my experience the new owner is not a nice guy and has been very rude and even tried to run people off for camping on Gravel bars anywhere between Ed's old place and Blue Spring...

Joe

[Scooper]

Scooper the Spring itself was owned by the TWA pilot. Don Reagan owned the resort, and aren't we all a little Nutty???

After Don was unable to run the resort his brother John ran it until the mid 90's when he too sold to the "niangua river land and cattle company" They now own both sides of the river from the old Ed's (Dampier) campround all the way past the spring.

Joe

Joe-

Thanks very much for the history update on Blue Springs. No offense intended regarding Don Reagan. He was always nice to us when we saw him. "Ornery" is probably a better word to describe Don. My Dad coached football at the University of Missouri for almost 40 years and used to be one of the leaders of an annual coaches' camping and fishing trip to various Ozark rivers. These camping and fishing trips started in the 1940s when Don Faurot was the coach at Mizzou. They usually took this trip on the Current River, but other streams as well. In last 20 or so years of this tradition they always went to to the Niangua. One of the other "ringleaders" of this trip was a Columbia physician named Claude Bruner. Bruner purchased 100s of acres of land along the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks right after Bagnell Dam was built and he also loved to camp/fish the Niangua River. His favorite place to camp was old Henry Dampier's farm. I assume that Ed Dampier is a son? Henry owned some bottom land along the Niangua, including a beautiful, shaded gravel bar where they would camp. I started camping there with my Dad in the mid-1960s up until sometime in the 1970s when Henry died. You mentioned "Ed's Campground." Was Henry Dampier's old farm a commercial campground at one time? From your post it appears that this land is all privately owned. Those certainly were some of the best times of my life, camping/fishing/floating the Niangua down around Blue Springs and Henry Dampier's farm. Thanks again for your post.

[creek wader]

I believe that NRO brags that it has more camping sites than any private outfitter in the state. It also, is the start of a floating "party cove", of sorts. I believe that the wardens have been cracking down on the public drunkeness and lewdness (pissing in the river and flashing boobies), and littering. My only float on the the river was on a Saturday, a week before the 4th of July, 3 yrs. ago. Never again. We put in at Sand Spring. It was quiet and serene, until will came around a bend and encountered the NRO. The river was full from bank to bank with rafts and canoes, and as far as the eyes could see. I've never seen so many rental boats. If you have ever been to Arrowhead Stadium and tried to leave after a game, that's what it reminded me of. We litteraly had to stop and wait awhile, before we started weaving in an out of traffic to get going again. People were running into our canoes right and left, most were accidental, not all. For the next 5 mi. of our trip, I almost could of walked from canoe to raft to canoe to raft, etc. all the way, without ever getting my feet wet. It was a huge floatilia of booze, dope, swearing, and boobies. It was a "spring beak" in rafts and canoes. If I was 21 and single, I might of enjoyed it. But, I was with a church group and we really didn't want a contact buzz from the cloud of of pot smoke rising from the river valley. So, my first and only taste of the Niangua river was that it was a party river, and not a tranquil, peaceful river. I'll probably never float it again. Too many better ones. If I did, I'd leave my poles at home, fill my cooler and take my camera along for all the boobies. When in Rome .....

[Goggle-Eyed]

Joe-

Thanks very much for the history update on Blue Springs. No offense intended regarding Don Reagan. He was always nice to us when we saw him. "Ornery" is probably a better word to describe Don. My Dad coached football at the University of Missouri for almost 40 years and used to be one of the leaders of an annual coaches' camping and fishing trip to various Ozark rivers. These camping and fishing trips started in the 1940s when Don Faurot was the coach at Mizzou. They usually took this trip on the Current River, but other streams as well. In last 20 or so years of this tradition they always went to to the Niangua. One of the other "ringleaders" of this trip was a Columbia physician named Claude Bruner. Bruner purchased 100s of acres of land along the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks right after Bagnell Dam was built and he also loved to camp/fish the Niangua River. His favorite place to camp was old Henry Dampier's farm. I assume that Ed Dampier is a son? Henry owned some bottom land along the Niangua, including a beautiful, shaded gravel bar where they would camp. I started camping there with my Dad in the mid-1960s up until sometime in the 1970s when Henry died. You mentioned "Ed's Campground." Was Henry Dampier's old farm a commercial campground at one time? From your post it appears that this land is all privately owned. Those certainly were some of the best times of my life, camping/fishing/floating the Niangua down around Blue Springs and Henry Dampier's farm. Thanks again for your post.

I am sure that Henry was Ed's dad but not 100% positive. Ed would be 75+ now, so the timing would fit, they opened a campground in the bottom for about 10+ uears... There is still a nice shaded gravel bar there, the problem is now there is a big sign that says "no stopping or camping... I usually camp about 50 yds past the sign on a small gravel bar. It is still one of my favorite rivers and I always make at least 1 two day float down through that stretch...

Joe

[Scooper]

I am sure that Henry was Ed's dad but not 100% positive. Ed would be 75+ now, so the timing would fit, they opened a campground in the bottom for about 10+ uears... There is still a nice shaded gravel bar there, the problem is now there is a big sign that says "no stopping or camping... I usually camp about 50 yds past the sign on a small gravel bar. It is still one of my favorite rivers and I always make at least 1 two day float down through that stretch...

Joe

Joe-

Thanks again. I, too, would assume that Ed is Henry Dampier's son. The Niangua was always my Dad's favorite river, and is mine as well. He passed away last year at age 89, before we could take one last float on the Niangua. I did take him on a float in 2006. Even at age 88, he had no trouble catching fish. I would like to float that lower stretch of the Niangua again, if nothing esle to see if it has changed any. We last floated that part of the river in about 1985, and it was pretty "wild and wooly" with trees across the river in several locations between Blue Springs and the Lead Mine access.

Creek Wader-

We, too, had almost the exact same experience as you did the last time we floated the Niangua on a weekend. We put in at Sand Springs early on a Saturday morning in July and pretty much had the river to ourselves until we reached NRO. At that point, the river was "bank-to-bank" with drunken idiots shooting water canons at each other and us, including my then 84-year old father. Moral of the story: NEVER FLOAT AN OZARK RIVER ON A WEEKEND, if you want to fish and not be subjected to nudity and profanity. If that's your "thing," then have at it. I will say that the Niangua can be very nice stream to float, if you go on a weekday, particularly in the Spring before school is out (mid-April to late May). There are few floaters during those times.

[FishinCricket]

Joe-

Thanks very much for the history update on Blue Springs. No offense intended regarding Don Reagan. He was always nice to us when we saw him. "Ornery" is probably a better word to describe Don. My Dad coached football at the University of Missouri for almost 40 years and used to be one of the leaders of an annual coaches' camping and fishing trip to various Ozark rivers. These camping and fishing trips started in the 1940s when Don Faurot was the coach at Mizzou. They usually took this trip on the Current River, but other streams as well. In last 20 or so years of this tradition they always went to to the Niangua. One of the other "ringleaders" of this trip was a Columbia physician named Claude Bruner. Bruner purchased 100s of acres of land along the Niangua arm of the Lake of the Ozarks right after Bagnell Dam was built and he also loved to camp/fish the Niangua River. His favorite place to camp was old Henry Dampier's farm. I assume that Ed Dampier is a son? Henry owned some bottom land along the Niangua, including a beautiful, shaded gravel bar where they would camp. I started camping there with my Dad in the mid-1960s up until sometime in the 1970s when Henry died. You mentioned "Ed's Campground." Was Henry Dampier's old farm a commercial campground at one time? From your post it appears that this land is all privately owned. Those certainly were some of the best times of my life, camping/fishing/floating the Niangua down around Blue Springs and Henry Dampier's farm. Thanks again for your post.

If you don't mind me asking, who is your dad? My boss, Neil Twenter, used to provide one of the coaches of MU a new car every year (or so I am told..) was that your dad?