Bone Hole to St. Francois State Park

[Conor]

We did this not long ago on a warm day during a high water time.  The river was at several thousand cfs on the Irondale gauge.  We planned it this way as there is plenty of talk about this section getting pretty nasty when the water is low and the sun/heat are really out due to the sewage and lead tailings combining.

Overall I was very pleasantly surprised by this section and thought it was well worth it.  Disturbance from mining and some urbanization was obvious but not nearly as bad as some parts of the lower river.  There was also not too much trash until the Flat River which appears to carry the bulk of the trash into this section of river.  There was also an off smell, likely from the sewage, that started at the confluence and continued for a short bit.  This seemed to stop after the Big River Lead Catchment Structure or whatever it is called which had turned into a Grand Canyon class whitewater rapid at this water level.  Only one guy ran this.  The rest of of portaged around it.  Unfortunately the trash continued on down to the end and likely farther.  The Big River is unfortunately known for trash.

This section has nice bluffs and pleasant scenery.  It definitely far exceeded my expectations but probably wouldn't attempt it in lower water when it is hot and sunny based on the description I read about this section at those times.  The water was brown and muddy but not nearly as bad as most of the streams I drove across on the way there.  I was worried about it being a death wish as well but the Big River was at thousands of cfs, not TENS of thousands of cfs like many I drove across that day.

Conor

[jdmidwest]

If it smelled in High Water, think what the stagnat low water smells like.

[Al Agnew]

Ah, yes, my old stomping (or paddling) grounds.  Yup, that smell continues from Flat River Creek to well past St. Francois Park in the summer.  I still can't figure out why so many people swim in it at St. Francois Park and elsewhere; I'll get in it to cool off in hot summer weather, but never submerge my mouth or nose.  It has been that way for many years; it seems the Park Hills and Desloge sewage treatment plants are not quite able to keep up with the demand.  It does not harm the fish (nor does it make them taste bad--I still eat spotted bass from this section occasionally), but it does combine with the lead mine tailings to produce a really nasty gray-green algae that grows in mats on the bottom and then comes loose from the bottom and floats to the surface, where it drifts down the river in clumps, piling up at every obstruction until you end of with masses of black, smelly crap that might be 6 inches or more thick.

The lead catchment structure is called a Newberry Riffle, and is a design that impounds a short section of stream above it without obstructing fish passage.  The theory is that lead-infused sediment settles in the stretch of slow water above the structure, where it can be periodically dredged out.  I think there were originally plans for several of these along the river, but so far only the one has been constructed.  As you said, it forms a dangerous rapid in higher water, and an unfloatable stairstep rapid in lower levels that is a real pain in the posterior to portage.

[Conor]

On 4/5/2023 at 8:58 PM, Al Agnew said:

Ah, yes, my old stomping (or paddling) grounds.  Yup, that smell continues from Flat River Creek to well past St. Francois Park in the summer.  I still can't figure out why so many people swim in it at St. Francois Park and elsewhere; I'll get in it to cool off in hot summer weather, but never submerge my mouth or nose.  It has been that way for many years; it seems the Park Hills and Desloge sewage treatment plants are not quite able to keep up with the demand.  It does not harm the fish (nor does it make them taste bad--I still eat spotted bass from this section occasionally), but it does combine with the lead mine tailings to produce a really nasty gray-green algae that grows in mats on the bottom and then comes loose from the bottom and floats to the surface, where it drifts down the river in clumps, piling up at every obstruction until you end of with masses of black, smelly crap that might be 6 inches or more thick.

The lead catchment structure is called a Newberry Riffle, and is a design that impounds a short section of stream above it without obstructing fish passage.  The theory is that lead-infused sediment settles in the stretch of slow water above the structure, where it can be periodically dredged out.  I think there were originally plans for several of these along the river, but so far only the one has been constructed.  As you said, it forms a dangerous rapid in higher water, and an unfloatable stairstep rapid in lower levels that is a real pain in the posterior to portage.

Yep!  Your description of this in lower water summer months told me I wanted to do it in the spring with less heat, sun, and higher flows and seems to have made it a much better float.  I might have seen a few accumulations of greenish-yellow slime I usually don't see so guess I only got a mild preview of the summertime nasty.

I would me most worried about lead in the fish.  Are spotted bass not a concern?  I figured eating anything out of this river would be a bad idea but I guess now.

I think other low dams are being used for this.  Someone told me that the dam at Rockford Beach had washed out a while back and that it was reconstructed to capture sediments but do not know if it is true.  That is the last intact dam before the Meramec.  Byrnes Mill is pretty much a fast riffle at this time and Morse Mill is washed out as well.

Either way, based on what you say, I should probably plan on the part from St. Francois to Washington State Park sooner rather than later for water quality reasons.

 

Conor