Confluence Of The Huzzah And Meramec

[405z06]

I had seen posts in the past that indicated that the mouth of the Huzzah had moved in recent times and, using the awesome Google Earth, did this simple animated gif showing the changes starting the 1996, then 2003, and finally 2012.

Are there any other areas of the Meramec that have changed over that time that anyone can think of?

[mic]

Very cool.

[Al Agnew]

Here's one on the Meramec that has special meaning to me.

This spot is between Sappington Bridge and Meramec State Park, a half mile or so above Greens Cave. The change occurred before the earliest image in Google Earth, but you can still see the evidence on the various Google Earth photos.

This is what that piece of river looked like on the USGS topo map, dated 1969:As you can see, there was a horseshoe-shaped bend in the river as it swung south out into the bottom land and then back up against the hill to the north. Look also at the gravel bars on the inside of the bend to the south and the inside of the horseshoe Probably the channel had once gone across those gravel bars and the horseshoe bend hadn't been nearly as pronounced. Once a bend like that develops in the soft bottomland soils, the river continues to erode the outside of the bend and move that way, while the inside fills with gravel.

By the time the bend got into the configuration shown on the map, as you can see, the river channel was crashing straight into the beginning of the horseshoe, so there was a lot of erosion there. But as you can also see, the whole inside of the horseshoe was covered with trees, and they slowed the erosion down.

I first floated that section in the mid-1970s, on a two day trip from Onondaga to Meramec State Park. The Meramec Dam controversy was in full swing at the time, and it was looking like the dam was a done deal, so I was floating it mainly to see the river before it disappeared. When I came to that exact spot at the beginning of the horseshoe bend midway through the second day, I'd already caught a bunch of nice fish. At that point, there was a vertical clay bank on the outside of the bend going into the horseshoe, covered with heavy timber. Beneath the clay bank, the water was deep and moving and there were a couple of big logs. I was using my homemade crankbait, had the canoe in close to the clay bank, casting straight ahead of me to fish the crankbait parallel to the bank. I can still remember the lure hitting the water six inches from the bank, sitting for a second or two, starting the retrieve, and the huge boil that appeared as the big smallmouth took the lure within the first six inches of the retrieve. I can remember it diving for a big log lying a few feet off the bank, going under the log, but then coming back out. I can remember finally lipping it and knowing it was the biggest smallmouth I'd ever caught. It is STILL one of the two biggest I've ever caught from an Ozark stream, 21.5 inches and five pounds even.

The river continued to erode the peninsula on the inside of the horseshoe, and sometime in the mid-1980s, it finally cut all the way through the peninsula and cut off the horseshoe. Here's what the river looked like there in the earliest Google Earth photo, 1995: The horseshoe is cut off, but there is still water in the old channel.

Here is what it looked like in 2003: Still an isolated pool out on the end of the old bend.

And here is what it looked like in 2012: No water left, bushes and trees growing up in the old channel.

Note also that the river has gradually changed downstream. The big island downstream, just above Greens Cave Bluff, wasn't an island on the topo map of 1969, with all the water going to what is now river right side of the island. By 1995, however, there was a very narrow, mostly dry channel running on the left side of the island. By 2003, that channel was still a lot narrower than the main channel, but held water. IN 2012, the river was flowing more water to left side of the island than to the right.

[hank franklin]

Al, thanks very much for your post above. I have been amazed at how quickly the channel change above Green's Bluff has happened, literally the last couple years. The right channel for years was dominant but now the left channel is. We camped at the head of that island in October and there was not enough water on the right channel to float a canoe. One positive aspect of this is it makes Green's Cave less accessible; you will miss it if you don't know it's there. The old right-hand channel of course dropped you right at its feet.

Meanwhile, at the Huzzah-Meramec confluence, it appears that the last of the thin peninsula there has caved in. If you look closely at the aerial now it seems possible that the river may actually reclaim the old Huzzah channel left behind years ago, now that the last bend before the Huzzah has been eroded through.

Which way will the river go, will it stay left or go right? What do you think?

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, looks like it could go either way. A big flood, one that puts water over the clay bank above the confluence, could remove a few trees there and give the Meramec an even straighter shot into the old Huzzah channel. But it's still a pretty straight line to stay in the main channel, and a lot of young willows and such to block the current going into the old channel. It would be interesting if the Meramec did take over that old channel...it would be a lot different habitat than what is there now, because that old channel goes along a low bluff hill with some big rocks where there was once a decent pool on the Huzzah.

[hank franklin]

I love this topic. Here's a couple pics of the confluence from July 2011.

This pic shows that clay bank peninsula I was talking about. It must be gone now, doesn't show on the most recent June 2012 Google Earth aerial.

This is a view from downstream. From this perspective it seems the river may rush directly over and connect with the old Huzzah channel.

It seems inevitable that we'll eventually get an island here, with the old Huzzah Channel as the outside bend and the current Meramec channel as the inside?

Fascinating. I guess I'm a river geek.

Going back to your Horseshoe above Hamilton Creek, this is before my time and I never knew it was there. However I have of course walked Hamilton Creek and been a little perplexed by the nearby slough, which shows on the recent aerials. Wonder what might be a remnant of? The topo you posted above shows it as an intermittent stream however the aerial doesn't give a good indication.

[405z06]

I'm pretty sure that peninsula was there the last time I was in the area in late-summer. I know that every time I see it I think to myself that it won't be there long, but I think it is still there.

[Greasy B]

An interesting animation could be made from the channel change just upstream of Sappington Bridge. Google Earth images from 1995 to the most recent show the channel migrating to the north through a wooded gravel bar forming an island. Now the south channel is almost abandoned and will soon run dry.

[joeD]

This is what one would call "navel gazing."

Things change. Now what?

[405z06]

This is what one would call "navel gazing."

Things change. Now what?

Nice Chief impersonation