sometimes growing up in the Lead Belt has its advantages

[rps]

Value does not matter. That stuff is beyond price because it is ... beyond price

[Gavin]

Would love to take a peek at at that. Can you scan to PDF w/o destroying the sudject matter? Will live on if you do.

[cnr]

+1 on Gavin's idea. I would love to see it. 

[Nighthawk]

That's neat because I used to have a house on the Big River in Desloge.

 

[Gavin]

Not my idea. An attorney friend was in Washington years ago. He wanted to read Harry Middleton's "Starlight Creek Angling Society" so he checked it out of the Library of Congress. There were only a couple hundred books printed. He made a copy, and made more for his friends. I scanned my copy. Will have to find it. Think it's on my old laptop.

 

[Al Agnew]

Here is one of the sections covered in the book, two page spread like each section between what were then convenient accesses.  Looking back through the book is a good time capsule.  "Bone Hole", which back then was behind the Desloge city dump, is now behind the St. Francois County landfill, and is a county park of sorts.  "Three Bridges", the 67 Hwy. bridges, is no longer a usable access.  Herod's Ford, the take-out for this section, has been completely private and unreachable for many years.  The mine waste shown on the map was buried and stabilized by the EPA as part of the Superfund clean-up, and no longer erodes into the river.  The pools are still in about the same places as shown on the map, but some are deeper, others shallower.  In one way it's a bit surprising that the river has not changed more than it has in nearly 40 years.  The polluted water from the Desloge sewer lagoon, mentioned in point number 11, no longer runs into the river there, the sewage lagoon is gone.  I was also a lot more cautious about "rapids" back then, as there are no seriously difficult spots in this stretch at all.

 

[Greasy B]

Fourteen descriptions in 6 miles, incredible. You must have drawn the old map I have for some other event, probably a St Louis County presentation. 

[ColdWaterFshr]

Very cool! 

[Smalliebigs]

Here is one of the sections covered in the book, two page spread like each section between what were then convenient accesses.  Looking back through the book is a good time capsule.  "Bone Hole", which back then was behind the Desloge city dump, is now behind the St. Francois County landfill, and is a county park of sorts.  "Three Bridges", the 67 Hwy. bridges, is no longer a usable access.  Herod's Ford, the take-out for this section, has been completely private and unreachable for many years.  The mine waste shown on the map was buried and stabilized by the EPA as part of the Superfund clean-up, and no longer erodes into the river.  The pools are still in about the same places as shown on the map, but some are deeper, others shallower.  In one way it's a bit surprising that the river has not changed more than it has in nearly 40 years.  The polluted water from the Desloge sewer lagoon, mentioned in point number 11, no longer runs into the river there, the sewage lagoon is gone.  I was also a lot more cautious about "rapids" back then, as there are no seriously difficult spots in this stretch at all.

 

Al can you scan more in here???  this is killer!!!! 

[196champ]

Found this gem at my dads house today