Clydes Bluff

[denjac]

Back in the 60"s my stepfather and friends were floating the Buffalo and had many times before. They were trying to find a good campsite and one of the guys said he new a swell place just down steam. Well they set up there across from a bluff bank and a big storm moved in and lightning was hitting the bluff throughout the storm. They all feared for there life. The next day they were teasing the guy nicknamed Clyde about the swell campsite. When the got back to Carthage they were looking on their map and noticed that the bluff was unnamed. They submitted the name Clydes Bluff to the proper agency and thats what they named it. This story was told at my stepfathers funeral and was part of the tribute to him and his love for floating the Buffalo. So if any of you know where that is that is the true story for its name.

[snagged in outlet 3]

That's cool. I often wonder about names of places.

SIO3

[Al Agnew]

I had an uncle who died many years ago whose last name was Neece. He told me that when he was a kid (this back in the 1920s) his family lived on a hillside farm in Bollinger County. One day he was doing some chores while his parents were on one of their very infrequent trips to the nearest town for supplies, when a man from the US Geological Survey came by. The USGS was producing the first topographic map of the area, and this guy was going around asking people what the names of various land features were. There was a mostly dry creek, actually little more than a hollow, that ran alongside the ridge where their farm was located. Nobody in the area had ever named it anything other than "the hollow" or "the branch". But when the USGS guy asked my uncle what the name of it was, he just shrugged and said, "Well, it's on our farm, so it's called Neece Branch."

You'll still see Neece Branch on the latest version of that topo map.

[denjac]

Bet there are a thousand stories about these places on the lakes and rivers. They sure are interesting how the names came about. Another funny story about the Buffalo. My stepfather again was floating the river and had turned his canoe over.Found most of his stuff except his tackle box. It was one of those shiny metal ones with his name wrote on it. 4- 6 months later a guy from Carthage was floating the river and noticed somthing shiny laying on the bottom. He fished it out and it was my stepfathers tackle box. The odds of a guy from the same town finding this 6 months later is a million to one! My stepfather was a pharmasict and one day this guy comes into the drug store and shows him what he found. My stepfather was a man of few words and a dry sense of humour. All he said to the guy was thanks! my word, what are the odds or even that it would be returned intact and all he got was a thank you. Too funny!

[snagged in outlet 3]

My dad and his friends always told me that Cardiac Access on the Meramec was named that, because my dad had a heart attack coming up the hill there. He's out today and I'll try to pin him down on it tomorrow.

I've always believed it and even the old guys from Ozark Flyfishers have told me that.

SIO3.

[Phil Lilley]

Cool stories...

Looking over old Buffalo topics and thought I'd bump this one up.

[flytyer57]

That's cool. I often wonder about names of places.

SIO3

Sure would be nice to know how a lot of places get named. "Snake River, Idaho." What did someone come up to a river and see a snake so they called it "Snake River?"

Would be interesting indeed to know a lot of this info.