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On the River - A history of the Ozarks float trip


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Posted
18 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

Jim Owen was somewhat of a huckster.  When the dam was first beginning to be constructed, he cried crocodile tears about the loss of the river to the dam in advertisements to get more people to float with his company, and created the myth of the guy who loved the river and was so saddened by its loss.  But as that letter showed, he was really seeing the dam as another way to make some money, and was perfectly willing to sacrifice the White and James to do so.  Can't blame him for that; it was inevitable that the dam would go in.  But from the letter he helped make sure it went in.

So I guess you must have known him.  Lighten up Francis.

Posted

Just got my copy yesterday.  So far some interesting history.

Not far from Cape Fair is a pretty high bluff on the James arm called Virgin Bluff.  Dutch and I would speculate why it was named as it was, and I told him (jokingly) I bet in the old days they threw a virgin off as a sacrifice to the gods.  Well I wasn't far off, legend has it an Indian gal named "Moon Beam" threw herself off the bluff when she was forbidden to marry a conquistador.  

Posted
1 hour ago, Quillback said:

Just got my copy yesterday.  So far some interesting history.

Not far from Cape Fair is a pretty high bluff on the James arm called Virgin Bluff.  Dutch and I would speculate why it was named as it was, and I told him (jokingly) I bet in the old days they threw a virgin off as a sacrifice to the gods.  Well I wasn't far off, legend has it an Indian gal named "Moon Beam" threw herself off the bluff when she was forbidden to marry a conquistador.  

There’s a lake near where I grew up.  Similar deal.  
 

In the case of Creve Coeur, Missouri, the name comes from nearby Creve Coeur Lake. Legend has it that the name comes from a Native American princess who fell in love with a French fur trapper, but the love was not returned. The princess then jumped from a ledge overlooking Creve Coeur Lake, and the lake formed itself into a broken heart. However, the truth is that the Anglo settlers in this area never learned why earlier French settlers had employed this expression. 

Posted
2 hours ago, Quillback said:

Just got my copy yesterday.  So far some interesting history.

Not far from Cape Fair is a pretty high bluff on the James arm called Virgin Bluff.  Dutch and I would speculate why it was named as it was, and I told him (jokingly) I bet in the old days they threw a virgin off as a sacrifice to the gods.  Well I wasn't far off, legend has it an Indian gal named "Moon Beam" threw herself off the bluff when she was forbidden to marry a conquistador.  

That's the story I was told as well. My dad and I, and a friend of his were fishing nearby and he told us that story.

 

 

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