NINE GENERATIONS ON T MISSOURI
By Dan and Connie Burkhardt THE KATY LAND TRUST Conserving Farms and Forests Along the Katy Trail
MagnificentMissouri.org KatyLandTrust.org
Book and Cover Design: Diann Cage Cover Illustration: Bryan Haynes Text Copyright © 2016 All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by an information or retrieval system, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews, without the prior written consent of the publisher. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without permission of the publisher are illegal and punishable by law.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016938940
ISBN-978-0-692-69144-1
First Printing: 2016 Printed in the United States of America
Growing Up with the River was created and edited in St. Louis and Marthasville by Dan and Connie Burkhardt; illustrated by Bryan Haynes in Labadie; designed by Diann Cage and edited by Chris Gordon of the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis; printed and bound in Marceline by Walsworth Publishing; and we hope, enjoyed by Missourians throughout the state.
To purchase additional copies of Growing Up with the River, please visit KatyLandTrust.org or MagnificentMissouri.org for retail locations and ordering information.
Made in MISSOURI from the authors Dan and Connie Burkhardt
We live in St. Louis and have a farm near Marthasville, close to the Missouri River. Dan grew up on a farm, and both of us truly love the agricultural heritage and natural scenic beauty of the Missouri countryside. We founded the Katy Land Trust in 2010 to educate Missourians about the importance of conserving the landscape along the Missouri River and the Katy Trail. Growing Up with the River was created for the next generation of conservationists. Through the stories and original illustrations in this book, we hope to inspire Missourians of all ages to appreciate the incredible history and unmatched beauty of our state. Prior to Growing Up with the River, Dan produced two coffee-table books in 2013: Missouri River Country: 100 Miles of Stories and Scenery from Hermann to the Confluence and Florida Bay Forever: A Story of Water from the Everglades to the Keys. We want to thank our children – Reid and Bea, Katy and Scott, Britt and Sam, and Libby and David – who, along with our grandchildren Grant, Quin, Luka, Tate and Vivienne know that the Missouri River valley is a magical place. When we’re at the farm, we all celebrate the trees, rolling hills, wildlife, crops, livestock and customs that have defined the river valley for generations and will continue to do so.
This book is dedicated to Alice and Alfred Burkhardt who, like their parents, were farmers who loved the land.
“A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers but borrowed from his children.” – John James Audubon with gratitude
This book is the result of the work of many contributors, beginning with the remarkable Missouri artist Bryan Haynes. We can’t describe what it was like to work with someone whose love of the subject -- the Missouri countryside -- was exceeded only by his talent and generous, imaginative spirit. Diann Cage, our patient, immensely resourceful and creative designer, brought her artistry, originality and organizational skills to every chapter. Chris Gordon, Director, Library and Collections of the Missouri History Museum, served as Editor of Growing Up with the River. In addition to fact-checking, verifying and critiquing what we wrote, Chris proposed subtle, but perfect, changes to each of the stories. Many others contributed ideas and inspiration in a variety of ways. They include: Mark Houseman, Washington Historical Society; Cynthia Browne, Deutscheim State Historic Site, Hermann; Ellen and Mark Zobrist, Randy Schwendtker and David Menke of New Haven; Jim Denny, retired historian, Missouri Department of Natural Resources; Andrew Colligan, Missouri Botanical Garden; Jim and Mary Dierberg, Hermann Farm; Sean Visintainer, Mercantile Library; Fred Dressel, Evergreen Vineyard Management; Jaime Bourassa, Missouri History Museum; Jon Held, Stone Hill Winery; Chuck Dressel, Mount Pleasant Winery; Bob Brinkmann, Bryan's Mill, Femme Osage; John McPheeters, co-founder, Magnificent Missouri; Curt Denison, photographer; Tom Nagel, CityArchRiver; John Sam Williamson, owner, Bill Spradley, caretaker and Kyle Spradley, photographer of the McBaine Bur Oak, Missouri's largest; Tricia Atchison with her knack for spelling and grammar; and Renee Bohall, Dan’s truly indispensable assistant.
Through their generosity to the Katy Land Trust and Magnificent Missouri, friends and organizations have made production of this book possible. Organizations providing financial support include the Missouri Humanities Council, the William T. Kemper Foundation, Emerson, Edward Jones, and Missouri American Water.
table of contents
monumental journey 7 introduction 9 Frances Levine, Ph.D., President, Missouri Historical Society
chapter one 12 1806: La Charrette chapter two 22 1832: Femme Osage / Dutzow chapter three 32 1862: Hermann chapter four 42 1883: New Haven chapter five 52 1904: Marthasville / Peers / Treloar chapter six 62 1932: Washington chapter seven 72 1959: St. Charles chapter eight 82 1986: Augusta chapter nine 92 2016: Chesterfield chapter ten 102 2040: The Missouri River Valley “now playing” 110 Jon Landau, Producer, Titanic and Avatar area map 114 Explore Missouri River Country! glossary 116 additional reading 120 Growing Up with the River
Great Rivers Greenway Organizers’ vision for what would one day become the Gateway Arch: “A suitable and permanent public memorial to the men who made possible the western territorial expansion of the United States, particularly President Jefferson, his aides Livingston and Monroe, the great explorers, Lewis and Clark, and the hardy hunters, trappers, frontiersmen and pioneers who contributed to the territorial expansion...of these United States, and thereby to bring before the public of this and future generations the history of our development and...accomplishments of these great builders of our country.”
– 1934 Statement of Purpose, Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association (Sculpture, “The Captain’s Return” by Harry Weber) 6 monumental journey A Preface
Before there were roads and highways there were creeks and rivers. In frontier America, they were often the easiest way to get from one place to another. St. Louis prospered because in Missouri, we were at the end of the river that was the best highway of them all -- one that led to a place where no settlers had ever been, the Pacific Ocean. The exploration that Lewis and Clark completed on the Missouri River more than two centuries ago was so monumental that it deserved something that was literally a monument -- the Gateway Arch. The Arch is the front porch of St. Louis and is one of the most recognized images in the world. What most visitors to the Arch don’t realize is that this gleaming symbol on the banks of the Mississippi River is actually a monument to a different river, the Missouri. The Arch proudly declares St. Louis as the “Gateway to the West.” The Missouri River was the way to get there. In this book -- with its stories about the last 100 miles of the Missouri River and the people who lived there -- you will see why the Missouri deserves a tribute as grand as the Arch. If the Gateway Arch is the front porch of St. Louis, the Missouri River valley is our backyard. What a uniquely historic and scenic backyard it is! Hopefully, all readers of this book will understand that it isn’t just a beautifully-illustrated history book, it’s an invitation. The characters in this 7 Growing Up with the River
book, including the centuries-old bur oak trees and river towns, invite every reader to catch a bit of the spirit shown by the Corps of Discovery. With a car, a bicycle for the Katy Trail, or tickets on Amtrak’s River Runner, you can experience St. Louis’ backyard. Every chapter describes living history that you can see, just an hour from St. Louis. The incredible scenic beauty of the Curt Dennison Missouri River valley, described by Lewis and Clark when they returned from the Pacific in 1806, helped to inspire and invigorate a growing nation. The river -- and its bluffs, forests full of wildlife, hillsides and rich soils -- called to frontiersmen like Daniel Boone, to settlers from France and Spain, and to waves of immigrants from Germany. In the steamboat era and in the heyday of the KATY railroad, the Missouri River valley was center stage. Thankfully, the Katy Trail and beautiful scenic byways like Highway 94 and Highway 100 beckon all of us to experience this area today. As you read Growing Up with the River, be sure to look at the map on pages 114-115 to start planning your own exploration of the Missouri River valley. Every story in this book could have happened in the places and in the times described, and some of them actually did. As they have for more than 200 years, our river towns -- and the farms and woodlands and wildlife in Missouri River Country -- welcome you to learn more and to explore!
Explanations for highlighted words and phrases appear on page 116.
8 introduction by Frances Levine, Ph.D., President, Missouri Historical Society
When I moved to St. Louis in 2014, many people asked me how I could have left the desert Southwest that had been my home for more than thirty years. I often say that I followed the Santa Fe Trail east and came to rest here where the West begins, and where the Mississippi and Missouri rivers meet. The confluence area has certainly been part of the allure for me, but I have come to be captivated by the cultural geography of the Missouri River valley. In Growing Up with the River, Dan and Connie Burkhardt portray some of the events and the history of this area that fascinate me. They have used communities along the river’s course as a route map as much as they have chosen these places as markers of the dramatic history that unfolded along the river’s sinuous path. I can think of no better symbol of the unique landscape, as well as the historical continuity and changes to the Missouri River valley, than the bur oak tree. Like the children in their book, I too collected acorns as a child, hoping to find one that was perfect, with its top and stem intact, to add to my treasures. An acorn is truly one of nature’s remarkable seeds, and the trees that grow from them can live for centuries, standing as silent witness to historic changes. I like to imagine that some of the trees I myself have hiked by on the Katy Trail were there on the landscape when Native peoples gathered acorns for food. That they 9 Growing Up with the River
too might have witnessed the passing of the Lewis and Clark expedition when those lands were new places in a young American nation. And was that large tree that I sat under for my picnic lunch a sapling or something already much grander when the American nation was sundered by differences over the fate of enslaved peoples during the Civil War? When the KATY carried the produce of this land, what might have happened at this spot or that one? The Burkhardts have written an inspiring story for all our families, from the youngest child who will inherit this land and the wonderful Trail that now follows the course of the river, to their grandparents who might remember when the KATY served their communities with interstate commerce. It is the children who will be the guardians of these resources. Bryan Haynes’s glorious illustrations show many of the changes along the river, and the sometimes unintended consequences of past land use and management practices. In Growing Up with the River, you will be introduced to some imaginative children who will guide you and your family to the times, events and places that not only witnessed the change of seasons, but also to a changing landscape and the growth of a nation. Welcome to the land along the Missouri River, the gateway to the West, and to the inspirational stories of the nine generations who have grown up here since the return of Lewis and Clark from their Voyage of Discovery.
Dr. Frances Levine St. Louis, Missouri July 2016
10 scout for these plants and animals Search the pages of this book for flora and fauna– abundant, extinct or make-believe!
PLANT OR ANIMAL PAGE NUMBER PLANT OR ANIMAL PAGE NUMBER
American white pelicans Grapes Bald eagle Horse Bass Killdeer Beans Lizards Bear Milkweed Bluebird Monarch butterfly Bluegill Monkey Border collie Oats Buffalo Orchids Bur oak Oxen Bush honeysuckle Passenger pigeons Cardinal Pawpaw Carolina parakeet Perch Catfish Persimmon Chicken Pigs Deer Poodle Corn Red-tailed hawk Cottonwood Salamander Cow Squash Dog Squirrel Dogwood Sturgeon Duck Sycamore Elephant Turkey Elk Wheat Fox Wild plum Geese Wolves Goldfinch Worm 11 Growing Up with the River
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12 Chapter One 1806 LA CHARRETTE
La Charrette, near present-day Marthasville, was the westernmost trading settlement on the Missouri River at the turn of the 19th century. Lewis and Clark stopped here going upriver in 1804 and again, triumphant, on their return to St. Louis on September 20, 1806. This was the frontier, full of Native Americans and wild game.
The boy liked this time of year. The bugs and heat of summer were The bur oak tree grows to be one of the largest trees in the gone, and the acorns began to fall from the trees and cover the ground. state and can live for up to 350 years. It produces the He sometimes collected them in small piles and saved the biggest ones. largest acorn of any Missouri He was serious about foraging for the best and biggest acorns, but his oak–often 2 inches wide. sister was only five and she still made a game of it. She tried to catch them as they fell, scampering from one oak tree to another. He placed a hand on each shoulder and stared straight at her. “Are you a girl or a red-tailed squirrel? You fell out of a nest of red-tailed squirrels and you’re looking for your supper – acorns!”
mylandrestorationproject.wordpress.com “No! I’m your real sister. I don’t eat acorns.” 2 inches The boy regarded his barefoot sister in her ragged dress. “No, ma’am. You are plainly a squirrel in girls’ clothing.” 13 Growing Up with the River
He also liked to tease her about things he could remember but she was too little to recall. He asked her about the biggest boat imaginable that had stopped by their village two years ago. “How many men were in it?” “What color was their dog?” He knew she didn’t even remember that they had a dog. But their visit two years ago, in May, was as clear to him as the leaves that were starting to turn autumn yellow in front of his eyes. This time of year was better than the spring because it was so wet early in the year. In the spring, the river was high and hard to paddle as it was tangled with limbs and branches and whole trees bumping downriver. Now and again, a drowned buffalo floated by their encampment. Some villagers said they had seen live buffalo near their camp, but he had never seen one so he knew these animals had come from far away. In the spring, the river sometimes came into their small village, causing them to move -- with their pigs and cows -- to higher ground. This time of year, when the acorns fell, was better. His parents told him they had been here for three winters, coming from a place to the east on the river called St. Charles. He remembered the trip here because they had come in the autumn when the river was low. The boy’s family packed their tools and cooking supplies and traveled upriver to this wide river bottom. West of their settlement, there were no Frenchmen, Spaniards or Americans of European descent. In this small
14 CHAPTER ONE | LA CHARRETTE camp, they joined other French families and proceeded to clear some ground and to build a small log shelter. Hunting was good here and the men killed large numbers of deer and bear. His father said they would move upriver when the deer and bear were killed and find another place to hunt. But for now hunting was good. From time to time, Osage, Fox and Sauk came to La Charrette, as they called their small cluster of houses and sheds. With their arms full of beaver pelts and skins, the Indians traded with people in the village – furs and pelts for trinkets and other goods that came from the east. Sometimes an Osage child came to the village and joined in games with the boy and his sister. One Shawnee, Indian Phillips, often came to the village and delighted in scaring the children. All of the children were afraid of him because he scowled at them and told frightening stories. An expert hunter and tracker, he even knew the great explorer Daniel Boone, who lived in the hills to the east, and was said to have hunted with him. At this time of year, the boy and his sister began to gather firewood from the river’s edge. Soon the cooking fires would blaze day and night for warmth, keeping the wolves farther away from camp.
Indian Phillips was a frequent visitor to La Charrette. He was a member of the Shawnee tribe and a companion of Daniel Boone.
15 Growing Up with the River
Five days ago, a party of white men came down the river in a white pirogue and several canoes. As they approached La Charrette, the rivermen raised their guns, cheered, and fired a three-round salute to announce their arrival. The trading boats that were moored at the boy’s riverbank answered with three rounds. He heard his mother and father
This sketch appeared in Clark’s Field Notes, illustrating his plans for the party’s “Keeled Boat.”
talking with excitement about the arrival of the visitors. These were the same travelers who had passed the village two years earlier on their way upriver. “Is it really them, Maman?” “Oui! It’s a miracle but it’s them!” One of their party spoke to his parents in their language, French. Since the voyageurs had not been seen in two years, everyone thought they were dead. The visitors were most definitely alive, but they had no provisions and no goods to trade. Their hunger was strong, and they had been surviving on only wild plums and pawpaws along the river’s edge in recent days. 16 CHAPTER ONE | LA CHARRETTE
“ …a joyfull sight to the party, the men raised a shout and sprung upon their ores…[and the people]…expressed great pleasure at our return and acknowledged themselves much astounded in seeing us…they informed us that we were supposed to have been lost…”
– From Clark’s journal describing their arrival in La Charrette on September 20, 1806
17 Growing Up with the River
The black bear was common The leader of the group was named Lewis, and he came into the in Missouri in the early 1800s but had vanished by village with his dog – the blackest and biggest dog they had ever seen, the 1930s due to hunting and the clearing of land for more like a small bear. Many times since he was little, the boy thought homesteading and logging. he had dreamed the boat that was big enough to carry a crew and an enormous dog upriver. It was no dream! They had returned. His sister ran off to find some scraps of food for the bear-dog, Seaman, but the boy walked alongside Lewis and his group, wishing that the dog could share his own adventures on the Missouri. With the many visitors, the boy and his sister knew they would never forget this date – September 20, 1806. That night there was une grande fête, a big celebration in the village. The woodlands near La Charrette were 18 CHAPTER ONE | LA CHARRETTE prime hunting grounds, and the guests were delighted to see roasts of deer and turkey. Since it was just past summer’s end, the gardens still had their bounty to share and plates of corn, beans and squash made their way to the table. Loaves of persimmon bread baked on a low fire. The boy heard the visitors talk about the water, an ocean, they had seen at the end of their voyage. It was so wide that they could not see the During the land on the other side. Fish in the ocean were as big as their boat. The course of the boy thought that one day he might see that far water – the ocean the expedition, the explorers had seen. hunting party He listened to their stories about herds of thousands of buffalo, killed 1001 deer, herds so vast that it took hours for them to pass by the explorers’ camp. 375 elk, 227 bison, 66 bears The boy wondered if they had seen the same buffalo he saw floating in and numerous the river that spring. The adventurers told of hills so tall that they were other animals still covered with snow in the summer. They had seen enormous bears – and birds to as big as bulls – and they had traded with many different Indian tribes. feed their 30 But mostly tonight the men wanted to eat. They had been paddling members. Each hard for days so they could return to St. Louis where they had begun man required 9 pounds of meat their journey. More than 850 days into their journey, they were ready to per day. get home. In their rush to return, the men hadn’t stopped to hunt in days. Lewis and his men thanked the villagers many times for the feast in their honor. The boy also heard the visitors talk with his parents about La Charrette being part of the United States now. The explorers were on their big adventure because America was growing. The boy had heard his father 19 Growing Up with the River
and the other villagers talking about the changes they thought would be coming from the Louisiana Purchase but on this night, it seemed like those concerns were forgotten. After the visitors left the next morning, his father said that it was exciting to have such a party and to hear stories of land and waters far away. But his father warned, “There will come a day when there will be Seaman, Merriwether Lewis’ problems from this trip – when others will want this land for themselves.” loyal Newfoundland, made the entire journey with He said that the explorations of these men would change the way the the Corps of Discovery and became the first dog boy lived and who lived in his village and other places on the river. to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Still, the boy decided that the visit by Lewis, his dog, Clark and his crew was magical. In the spring, he would plant the largest acorn he could find on the hillside overlooking the village– where he had first seen the men in the boat arrive.
20 CHAPTER ONE | LA CHARRETTE
The LOUISIANA PURCHASE
his was one of the T first maps to show the Louisiana Purchase territory. It was published in 1804 while Lewis and Clark were on their expedition. Based on information from early trappers and traders, it was very inaccurate but of great interest to Americans at that time.
Library of Congress
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22 Chapter Two 1832 FEMME OSAGE / DUTZOW
This time and these places represented a remarkable blending of new people and cultures. Native Americans had moved on and there were fewer fur traders on the river. Replacing them were Kentucky woodsmen following the example of Daniel Boone and Germans who had come after reading a book published a few years earlier about the beauty of the area.
The boy remembered it well – two years ago on his 10th birthday. On an October morning, he’d followed the footpath along the creek from their cabin to a favorite spot near a stand of cottonwoods and sycamores overlooking the big river, the Missouri. It was the time of year when he usually saw flocks of brightly colored Carolina parakeets The Carolina parakeet was common along the Missouri squawking and flitting from tree to tree. River in the early 1800s. As more land was farmed The birds roosted in the trees where they would play and hang and native food sources were lost, parakeets ravaged upside down. They fed on weed seeds along the river’s edge, splashing fields and orchards, leading to increased hunting and, and making a racket. Their colors were bright green and orange, and ultimately, extinction. they covered the sycamores near the river. Carolina parakeets were like no other bird. His grandmother always said that when they 23 Growing Up with the River
roosted in the sycamores with their white bark, it was like a living Christmas tree! As beautiful as they were, farmers detested the parakeets because they ate their crops. They were easy to shoot because when one of them LONGEST United States Rivers was killed, the others flocked around it as if they were trying to help, but IN MILES they just ended up getting killed too. Without a doubt, there were even Missouri 2,540 Mississippi 2,340 more passenger pigeons than parakeets – the skies filled with them– but Yukon 1,980 Rio Grande 1,900 St. Lawrence 1,900 they weren’t as colorful as the parakeets. Arkansas 1,460 Colorado 1,450 On his birthday two years ago, there were only a few, maybe ten, Atchafalaya 1,420 Ohio 1,310 Red 1,290 squawking green birds instead of the hundreds he was used to seeing. He
climbed a tree to get a better look at the river and saw a canoe with two Indians heading toward St. Louis where they went to trade. Since that time in 1830, he’d never seen another Carolina parakeet – or an Indian. Maybe they were around and he hadn’t seen them. He continued to look. He often saw rafts of lumber and flatboats, keelboats, mackinaws and even steamboats, but he no longer saw Indians on the river. As he shuffled back to their cabin, his sister met him. “Did you see any?” she whispered. “Not this time.” He didn’t know if she was asking about parakeets or Indians. “Don’t worry. I’m almost finished with my chores and we can form a search party. We’ll find something exciting for your birthday.” On his birthday, he didn’t have any chores so he waited while his sister hung her apron on the hook. She was good at finding her way in the 24 CHAPTER TWO | FEMME OSAGE / DUTZOW woods and it was fun to explore with her. She was born just three days after they arrived in Missouri, and she swore that she knew exactly where they walked on their way from Kentucky because she “didn’t have anything else to do” before she was born. He had heard stranger things, and she really did have a terrific sense of direction. It was harvest season so they decided to walk to the mill just up the road from Daniel Boone’s old house. A relative of Boone’s had built a gigantic stone mill. Enormous, powerful oxen walked round and round, turning a wheel that ground the grains into flour and cornmeal. It was worth the walk to get there. Just yesterday, the grain-filled wagons were lined up, and they met the daughter of another farmer. It was fun to play games with someone new and to share their adventures. When the boy wandered off, his sister told the new girl a secret. “I really want to trap a parakeet as a pet for him for his birthday.” The new girl agreed that capturing a bird would be a perfect present. “They’re so pretty and so loud!” Meanwhile, the farmers talked about their harvest and the size of the crop. Someone harvested over 10 bushels an acre from a cornfield– Father whistled about that one! Native Americans – the Missouri, Oto, Fox, Osage and other tribes found along the Missouri River – had largely disappeared by the 1830s. 25 Growing Up with the River
Jonathan Bryan, a relative of Much of the talk at the mill was about the changes along the river and Daniel Boone’s wife Rebecca, built Bryan’s Mill in the early preparing for the coming winter. Since it was harvest time, they knew that 1800s. This painting depicts the home and mill as they cold nights would be coming very soon. The boy told his sister that one day would have appeared then– with wagons full of grain and they would have a pile of blankets made of beaver pelts to sleep under on oxen turning the mill wheel. winter nights. When he saw the boats with furs stacked high going down the river, he pictured himself sleeping under them and using them for warmth. The only fur-bearing animal they saw in the woods was squirrel. If only squirrels were bigger! “If our squirrels were the size of bears, we would have plenty of blankets,” she said. There were fewer and fewer bears in the woods because almost everyone loved bear meat and their pelts were ideal for coats. Squirrels were not scarce. Not too long ago they had a “squirrel plague.” Thousands of squirrels appeared one day and ate their crops and gardens and climbed over their cabins. The men tried everything to 26 CHAPTER TWO | FEMME OSAGE / DUTZOW
fight them off but had no luck. Then, as suddenly as they appeared, they were gone. People in Missouri liked fried squirrel but everyone at the mill agreed they never wanted to eat it again after the “invasion.” The mill was also the best place to hear old stories about the frontier. His sister loved to hear about living in such a wild area. Indians had not come in many years, but there were exciting stories about forts and Indian battles from days gone by. Indians had lived on the meat of the bears, elk and deer in the woods but now, since the new settlers needed wild game too, the Indians had moved on to different hunting grounds. He and his sister liked to search for souvenirs from the Indians – arrowheads. After the spring rains when the ground was tilled to plant corn, wheat and vegetables, they found dozens of arrowheads. “Did this arrow kill another Indian?” she asked. This is a Graham Cave “No,” he always assured her, “that one killed a bear.” arrowhead and is about Both of them had arrowhead collections behind their cabin. 7000 years old. “Why do you bring all of these home?” Mother asked her. “Because we’re hoping the Indians will come back to get them. We live on the Femme Osage Creek and we just want to meet an Osage, just one time!” “Hmm. Well, don’t say that to your father,” Mother replied. Their parents were excited that things were changing fast in the Femme Osage Valley since they had settled here a few years ago. Missouri had become a state, the 24th state in the union! Land was being sold to new settlers who were coming from what seemed like everywhere. 27 Growing Up with the River
The whole family was curious about the Germans who recently arrived and lived just a few miles from their cabin. They spoke a different language and seemed out of place. These new neighbors didn’t seem to know much about land. Father said that they often bought property that was not good for growing crops or raising livestock. Father called them “book farmers” or “Latin farmers” – because they only knew about farming from reading a book – and they knew Latin. The Germans hired their father and other Kentuckians to help clear land, build houses and fences, and plant crops.
Just 18 years after Lewis and Father said the Germans had a lot of education, but he hoped they never Clark descended the Missouri River, a German named learned their lessons about farming or building because that would mean Gottfried Duden came to the area and wrote a book less work for all of them. that was sold in Germany. Many highly educated Even though the new neighbors had much to learn about farming, Germans, fluent in Latin, the boy was proud of them for traveling by land, crossing an ocean, and read the book. While they knew little about farming, then traveling hundreds of miles more. He knew it wasn’t easy. The boy’s they wanted to settle in the area that inspired Duden. family always talked about their long, long journey from Kentucky when he was a toddler. Luckily, he was still light enough to ride on Father’s shoulders as the rest of his family walked. Back then, when the boy’s family made the long trek from Kentucky, Father often reminded the family, “Daniel Boone knew where to settle.” 28 CHAPTER TWO | FEMME OSAGE / DUTZOW
“ Several days ago I visited my neighbor Nathan Boone. He is the son of Colonel Daniel Boone… I am planning to go bear hunting with him next winter. The people here like bear meat very much.”
– From Duden’s best-selling book about his time in Missouri in the 1820s.
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If this part of Missouri was good enough for the famous Daniel Boone, it had to be good enough for them. Apparently, a lot of people agreed. His father had to stand in line at the land office for most of a day to buy their ground for $50. Today, the boy and his sister walked along the creek to stand in front of the house where Boone had died years ago. The house that had been built by his son Nathan still stood and it seemed like it would be there When asked if forever. It had three floors, glass windows and a fireplace. They had once he was ever seen a painting of the Capitol Building in Washington and they wondered lost, Daniel if Boone’s home was as big as that. It was the grandest building they had Boone replied, ever seen in person. “I can’t say I Not far from their village, but too far to walk, was the First Capitol was ever lost of the new State of Missouri before it moved to Jefferson City. It had been but I was bewildered called San Carlos del Misuri, but now the name was changed to St. Charles. once for It was a busy town where many fur traders lived and started their journeys three days.” up the river to collect pelts, trading with the Indians who lived further west up the Missouri River. The children had seen wagons near Boone’s home and the nearby mill bringing people and goods from St. Charles. One day they would go there too. Today, though, they would just walk until they found a perch where they could spy on the river. Their new state was named Missouri – the Indian word for “Big Canoe” – and that’s just what they hoped to see on his birthday!
30 CHAPTER TWO | FEMME OSAGE / DUTZOW
The DANIEL BOONE HOME
Curt Dennison his is the Boone Home today, near Defiance and trap. In 1851, Nathan Boone told an T in the Femme Osage Valley. The house was interviewer, “My father Daniel Boone, built built by Daniel Boone’s son Nathan and took seven himself a shop (near the house) and had a set of years to complete. The limestone walls in the house tools, and when at home he would make and repair are two feet thick. During his twenty years in the traps and guns.” Daniel Boone died here at the area, Daniel Boone continued to explore, hunt age of 85 in 1820.
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32 Chapter Three 1862 HERMANN
Hermann was founded in 1837 and took advantage of its riverfront location and regular train service that arrived in the 1850s to become a bustling community. It was built by European immigrants primarily from Germany. These settlers brought with them a new crop– grapes– that soon began to cover the hillsides along the river. They also brought with them a strong opposition to slavery.
Just across the river, people owned slaves. The boys had been told that more than a thousand slaves lived in Montgomery County. No slaves or slaveowners lived in Hermann. But two years ago, Stephen Douglas, who was running for President against Abraham Lincoln, had gotten off the train in their county, Gasconade. Despite the brass band and the banners, This advertisement was placed by St. Louis Germans, known the crowd wasn’t enthusiastic. In fact, a boy – one of their best friends – shook as “Charcoals,” who supported Abraham Lincoln in 1864. the candidate’s hand after the speech and said, “Goodbye, Mr. Douglas, Many liberal Germans believed that Lincoln was but I don’t think you will be elected.” The crowd had laughed at this but not dedicated enough to he was right, and Abraham Lincoln had been elected. Now there was war. quickly abolishing slavery. Pretty much all that anyone talked about – in town, at church, in school – was the war. It was hard for the boys to think about attacks on their town so they tried not to, but they heard townspeople talk and it worried them. 33 Growing Up with the River
Since the Civil War had started the year before, the boys were under strict instructions to stay away from their old familiar hideouts down the “We hold footpaths that led from the village through the forest. There were ourselves as Southern troops, “bushwhackers” they were called, that were moving free men who about the countryside near Hermann. The local militia in town was did not escape alert but who knew what could happen if they found two boys in the slavery in our countryside? The boys pretended to be brave but the war was scary. old home lands to support “Would they kidnap us?” it here in “Maybe,” his brother said. “Or they could force us to be soldiers America.” and follow their orders.” The boys tried to stay close to their house.
– Edward Muehl, One April day, though, they disobeyed the rule to stay out of the Editor, Hermanner Wochenblatt, 1852 woods. It was a pretty day so they walked about a mile past the edge of town to an open hilltop where they could see the river and where they had once seen a bear cub. As the younger brother snapped a twig, they heard muffled voices in the distance. “What’s that?” he whispered. “Or who’s that?” his brother replied. As they pictured themselves captives in a Confederate prison, they flew down the path toward town, convinced that they had just escaped being bushwhacked! Now it was much easier for them to stay out of the woods. Most of the families in town had come from Germany, so everyone spoke German and kept their traditions from the old country. For many, the land and the river near Hermann reminded them of the Rheinland, the Rhine River valley in Germany. The hilly land in Missouri was less expensive, and they said they had more opportunities. They built their 34 CHAPTER THREE | HERMANN
homes and stores from brick and stone, planting vineyards and building One reason the German Settlement Society selected cellars to store the wine made from their grapes. Hermann as the place to build their community in 1837 was The boys had plenty of things to think about other than the war, gold because it looked so much like the river valleys they left for one. Their Onkel (Uncle) George had gone off to California years ago behind in Germany. with dozens of other Hermann men to prospect in the Gold Rush. They came back with great ideas – and some with money from their prospecting – to make Hermann a grand place to live. Hermann always knew that it was destined to be an important town on the Missouri River. 35 Growing Up with the River
The founders of Hermann had come from the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia and they had big dreams. They built their new Market Street wider than Market Street back east, expecting it to compete with St. Louis. The boys knew that dreams and big plans were welcome in their home town. They were ready for an adventure. Like gold. Or grapes! Vineyards covered many of the hillsides in and around town. The hilly town was perfect for grapes and the winemakers’ hard work had led to many Hermann wines winning prizes. All of their friends in school were proud to be in a race with New York and Ohio to be the top wine producer in the entire United States. Onkel George was leading the new agriculture society and was already well known for his excellent grapes and wine. Gold...grapes…and pigeons! The boys looked forward to the days when enormous flocks
Before it could be farmed or of pigeons – passenger pigeons – would fly over Hermann. So big were their planted in vineyards, the land had to be cleared of trees. flocks that the sky would darken on a sunny day. Vater (Father) said that the flock was more than 200 miles long. Two hundred miles? The passenger pigeons that flew over Hermann were part of a flock that stretched from Iowa to Arkansas. The boys had 36 CHAPTER THREE | HERMANN overheard men on the steamboats say that pigeons were being shipped from St. Louis to restaurants in Boston and New York. It didn’t seem possible that pigeons flying along the Missouri River were going to be dinner for somebody in New York City.
A St. Louis company– N.W. Judy & Co.–was the largest passenger pigeon shipper in the United States. They harvested pigeons throughout the Midwest and shipped them by railroad to east coast markets.
As exciting as watching the pigeons was, the boys wished they could see the bright-colored Carolina parakeets that used to roost in the sycamores along the river. Now that so many people had settled here, the forest had been cleared for crops and the beautiful green parakeets with their orange-yellow heads were no longer seen. Even Vater had only seen a few. The parakeets were no more than a memory and a dream. Vater rarely hunted but many still hunted in the forest for turkey and deer to put dinner on their table. The miles and miles of oak forests 37 Growing Up with the River
produced so many acorns and wild fruits that the turkey and deer had lots of food and hunting was easy, even for a new immigrant. Cows and pigs ran free in the forest too. There were so many animals in and around Hermann The removal of trees to that townspeople built fences around their houses. They tried to keep the provide the massive amounts of wood required for cows and pigs grazing near the creek out of their backyard orchards and steamboat fuel caused soil erosion and flooding and their carefully tended gemusegartens (vegetable gardens). reduced wildlife habitat. A steamboat required about 35 Meanwhile, steamboats arrived frequently at Hermann’s busy wharf, cords of wood a day. Shown above is one cord of wood. bringing goods and shipping out timber and iron ore, while taking on massive loads of firewood to keep their boilers going to provide the power to navigate the Missouri’s strong current. Men cut and stacked large piles of wood at the river’s edge for the boats to load for fuel when they arrived.
38 CHAPTER THREE | HERMANN
The steamboats carried all sorts of goods, more than anyone had ever seen – pots, pans, tools, all sorts of food, silk, perfume, nails and clothing of all kinds. Artists who painted the river were often on board the boats. They set up their easels and painted pictures of things that seemed ordinary to the boys, but they used colors that were even more beautiful Stone Hill Winery was one of than real life. many Hermann wineries in the mid-1800s. By the end of the Sadly, the steamboats also brought problems. Many people in town, 19th century, it had grown to be one of the largest wineries including their dear Mutter, had become ill from an outbreak of cholera in America. that began with sick passengers being put off their boat in Hermann. A bench at school was empty because three of their schoolmates had died from cholera.
39 Growing Up with the River
For the first time, Hermann’s leaders decided that all children were required to attend the new school that had just been built. The boys studied maps of the Rhine River valley so they could see where their Wau, Wau!! parents were born. Classes were taught in both German and English so the boys could also easily understand the Americans on the riverboats. Hermann was surely becoming a great city, and their grand house was one of its finest. It had been built before they were born, in 1847, and it looked directly at the wide river. The gardens of the house went all the way to the In the 1800s and early 1900s, Hermann was riverbank, interrupted only by the railroad tracks. From their large front described was as a place so porch, the boys could almost see their family’s vineyards up on the high completely German, “...even the dogs bark in German.” river bluff overlooking the valley. “Wau Wau” means “Bow Wow” in German. Today, they were playing marbles on the porch and hoping for a big sack of mail on the train. How exciting to receive a letter from across the Atlantic Ocean! Like many of their friends, they had grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in Germany. The boys’ parents had left everyone to start a new life. Now their relatives worried about the war in America. Everyone wrote more letters to reassure one another because these were scary times. Reading letters from Oma and Opa in German was good practice too. The boys wrote back in German. Someday soon, they hoped, the war would end, the slaves would be free, and Hermann would become an even more magical and exciting place to live.
40 CHAPTER THREE | HERMANN
The Arabia’s LAST TRIP
ne of the many steamboats Oregularly passing Hermann was the Arabia, described in an 1854 newspaper article as the “new, fast and magnificent Arabia.” The boat passed Hermann –for the last time–heading west from St. Louis in early September 1856. On September 5, the Arabia hit a snag north of Kansas City and quickly sank to the bottom of the river where it stayed for 130 years. During those 130 years, the river
Painting by Gary Lucy channel shifted by one-half mile, and the Arabia was buried 45 feet under a cornfield. The wreckage and the cargo were salvaged in 1988, and a museum was created to display some of the 200 tons of cargo the boat carried. The museum illustrates the volume and variety of the cargo on a steamboat headed to the frontier. On display are 4000 pairs of shoes and boots, preserved fruits and pickles, dishes, Arabia Steamboat Museum Arabia Steamboat Museum guns and knives, tools of all kinds, Indian trading beads and even two prefabricated houses. 41 Growing Up with the River
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42 Chapter Four 1883 NEW HAVEN
New Haven buzzed with activity. Four trains a day passed through, bringing passengers and freight, and taking products like flour and fruit trees to market in other towns. Steamboats and ferries stopped with passengers from St. Louis, as well as shoppers and schoolchildren from southern Warren County. The boatyards built bigger and bigger steamboats to compete with the railroad, but it was a losing battle.
Looking up into the cottonwood branches, listening to the flies buzz in the hot damp air hanging over the river, it was hard to imagine that in a few months she would be standing on the frozen river. At this moment, the river was calm and welcoming, doing its part in the baptism of new believers from the Second Christian Church, where many of the black families in New Haven attended. Watching from a respectful distance, Library of Congress the girl saw the faithful wading in, being dipped in the water and then As separate as society was, the river was a place joining others on the bank. The song and prayer were gentle and even for the baptisms of many congregations. more muted by the lapping of the warm river water on the bank. The Civil War had been over since 1865, long before she was born, but her parents had told her stories about the soldiers who fought to 43 Growing Up with the River
free the slaves. As she watched the congregation, she wondered whether some of them had been slaves. Today they were freed men working on steamboats, on the railroads and in the mills. She was relieved that the war was over and that they were all free. Now she just wished that they all went to church together. In a couple of months, though, this same stretch of river would not be a good place for baptisms. The river would be frozen as solid as a stone and the cold wind would be fierce and blowing snow across the surface. For her brother, winter on the Missouri was the most exciting time of The late 1800s were some good years for ice. Four of year – better than his own birthday. He counted the days until it was time the ten lowest temperatures to harvest ice. He loved the noise and danger as the men cut, sawed and ever recorded in Missouri were in the 1870s and chiseled ice into blocks that were pulled by teams of horses to the river’s 1880s, from -20° to -23°. edge. He studied every man’s role in the process and proved how strong he was as he gathered stray chunks. He knew that cutting ice was something he would want to do when he grew up. After the harvest, the men drove the horses to the empty ice house to unload and stack the ice. On a bed of sawdust, they laid out a layer of ice, then another thick layer of sawdust to keep it frozen solid, then another layer of ice, more sawdust and so on. The work exhausted the men and the horses, but everyone in town needed the ice. They appreciated living on a river for making it possible. “When you were a baby, our food would spoil in the summer. Now you can have an ice cold glass of milk with your pie in June. Who can believe it?” Mama asked as she slid a slice of peach pie toward the girl. 44 CHAPTER FOUR | NEW HAVEN
Children often followed the ice wagon, hoping for a chip of ice on a hot summer day.
Her brother acted like he did a lot of the work so she teased him by giving most of the credit to Barney. Barney was the horse who pulled the ice wagon through New Haven, bringing small blocks of ice to keep the iceboxes at home nice and cold – and their food fresh. Anyone who needed ice put the “ICE TODAY” sign in their front window. “Look! Barney can read! He’s stopping at our house.” Actually, Barney stopped in front of every house, whether they had a sign or not, but she would never admit that to her brother. Their cousin who lived on a farm across the river from New Haven came to visit frequently and she was amazed by their icebox. Most ofthe farm families had springhouses to keep their food from spoiling. A springhouse 45 Growing Up with the River
was a tiny building that let cool water from an underground spring flow around the eggs, cream and milk. Cousin thought that having an icebox inside your house and an iceman delivering a new piece of ice– that had been cut from the river months ago – was incredible. Ice in July seemed like magic! By the end of summer, though, the town’s ice house would be empty and the next harvest was still months away. In the fall when everyone missed the ice, her brother was even more sure that he wanted to grow up Springhouses were built to to be an iceman. allow water with a constant temperature of 58° to The girl could see why her brother would like to cut and deliver ice circulate around perishable food and keep it from spoiling. but in her view, nothing was better than going to school. Even though their town was small, it had two schools. The children from the river baptism went to one school and she attended the other. Her school building was brand new and nothing smelled better than the rows of new benches. The new lumber and varnish and paint and slates all smelled heavenly and she told her brother so. “Ewww. I can’t concentrate because it all stinks like a new school. Makes my nose itch.” He demonstrated by trying to rub his nose off his face. Fact was her brother didn’t like to sit in school all day. He wanted to be down by the river, but it seemed like everyone always had other plans for him. One of her favorite classes was Geography so she could see where her family came from, Prussia. Her teacher said, “Put your left pointer finger on the Missouri River and your right pointer finger on the Rhine. Let’s imagine how very, very hard it was to get from there to here.” She knew that her grandparents had been extremely brave. 46 CHAPTER FOUR | NEW HAVEN
Her parents ran a bakery and they lived above the store, so the entire family worked there. Before they left for school, the children swept the floor and the porch and wiped off the counters. Their teacher sent grade cards home to the parents to grade the children on their farm and home chores and on their manners, so they tried hard to get good grades from their folks too. But the boy just wanted to be on the riverfront.
The Central Hotel was built in 1879 and was a popular place for traveling salesmen and railroad employees. It still stands near the corner of Maupin and Wall Streets in New Haven.
Ellen Zobrist
Their town was so busy. It seemed like everyone wanted to come to New Haven. Steamboats stopped at the riverfront with passengers coming and going all day long. Some stayed at the new Central Hotel on Maupin Avenue. The steamboat New Haven traveled to places upriver and down – almost 60 whole miles – to Black Walnut to the east and Chamois to the west. Some of the boats traveled all the way up the Missouri as far as the Dakotas and Montana. Their teacher told them that when their town first started, it had a different name, Miller’s Landing. Up and down the river, 47 Growing Up with the River
Miller’s Landing was known for its woodyard. The unlimited number of trees growing along the river was what steamboats needed most – firewood to power their engines. The children loved the smoke and noise of the big steamboats. They and all of their friends knew the names of the boats, the routes, the fares and timetables, and how many people they could carry. The riverfront seemed busy, but their parents and others said that every year there were fewer and fewer steamboats and that the trains were becoming more popular. The whole town looked forward to the steamboat that was the biggest of all, the Montana. Everyone said that if any boat could beat the railroads it was This distance map provides this one. The Montana was more than 250 feet long and seemed to fill up a look at some of the places steamboats would have the river when it passed by. stopped between St. Louis and Fort Randall, South The train and steamboat schedules mattered a lot to her parents. The Dakota, including Miller’s Landing (the original name bakery needed the business that the Pacific Railroad and the steamboat of New Haven.) New Haven brought to town. Smaller boats, called ferries, brought people from the north bank of the river from the towns of Treloar, Holstein and Pinckney several times a day. Passengers who didn’t even realize they were hungry would follow the smells to the bakery and buy some special treats to take back home across the river. 48 CHAPTER FOUR | NEW HAVEN
The girl asked her father why he decided to open a bakery, and he said, “Well, because you can’t catch or shoot pies.” “What, Father?” He said anyone could go to the river’s edge, throw in a line and catch a big catfish, perch, bass or even sturgeon. A hunter could walk to the edge of town and shoot a turkey or a deer. In the old days, there were even elk and bear but they were gone now. Father said that by working hard, he could make something that people couldn’t shoot or catch, and that made a bakery a good business.
The Tilda-Clara was one of the most unique boats on the river, using real horses for power. It provided ferry service from southern Warren County to New Haven.
New Haven Preservation Society
Of all the boats on the river, one was the clear favorite of the girl and her brother. It was the only riverboat that didn’t need firewood. When their cousin came to visit, she often came on the Tilda-Clara. Like the other boats on the river, it had a paddlewheel but it was different from the other boats because it didn’t use firewood to make steam to turn the wheel– it had horses on board! The horses wore harnesses and walked 49 Growing Up with the River
on a treadmill to power the paddlewheel. The Tilda-Clara only went short distances, back and forth across the river to ferry people from one side to the other. Their family had taken a trip on it, and this was one thing where the children agreed – even though steamboats were bigger, this was the best river trip ever. The steamboats brought goods to town but they mostly brought people. The trains brought all manner of goods from far away and carried The Wolff Milling Company, one of the most successful things away as well. Fruit trees from the nursery and flour sacks from the companies in New Haven, mill filled up car after car being shipped from New Haven to who-knew- advertised, “Eat two extra biscuits and you will do where. Somewhere they must be planting a lot of trees and baking a lot better in school.” of biscuits. Her father told her that there were many bakeries like theirs and every single one needed flour, but not every town had a flour mill like New Haven’s. One evening after the store closed, as they made their way upstairs, their parents told them that some day, there might be a way to deliver ice with a wagon that ran on steampower, like the steamboats. Barney would be out of a job. But at least they knew people would always need ice from the river for their iceboxes.
50 CHAPTER FOUR | NEW HAVEN
Hazardous JOURNEYS
n the 1870s and 1880s, Isteamboat companies were desperately trying to compete with the growing railroads by building larger and larger boats. In 1879, the newly- built Montana was the largest steamboat on the river. It carried huge amounts of cargo– until it sank near St. Charles in 1884. While railroads were taking business from steamboats and offered what most people Murphy Library - University Of Wisconsin, La Crosse thought was a safer means of transporting people and goods, they weren't risk-free. This train wreck occurred between Hermann and New Haven.
Missouri History Museum
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52 Chapter Five 1904 MARTHASVILLE /PEERS/TRELOAR
With the opening of the KATY railroad in the 1890s, these small communities became part of a new, larger world. Towns sprung up around grain elevators every ten miles or so in the flat river bottom. The railroad brought goods from the city while gathering local grain and livestock to take to faraway markets. The feared flooding of the bottomlands was a constant worry.
Last year’s flood still had everyone talking. The river had carved new channels and roared through places along the river bottom where it had never been before. Father read the Marthasville Record to the children while Opa read the Warrenton Volksfreund in German. But the girl didn’t have to read to know how powerful the river was – she could see it. The river The Missouri-Kansas-Texas soon became the M-K-T and had torn up the new KATY railroad like the tracks were toys, and people then the KATY, the name the railroad would keep for more just downstream in Washington counted more than 100 houses floating than 100 years. past the riverfront. Hogs and chickens clung to trees and timbers as they floated downstream. The flood was more than a year ago and as she poked around the sandy channels at the river’s edge, she found new treasures all the time. 53 Growing Up with the River
Library of Congress
High water on the KATY during the flood of 1903
“ [The Missouri] is the hungriest river ever created. It is eating all the time – eating yellow clay banks and cornfields, eighty acres at a mouthful; winding up its banquet with a truck garden and picking its teeth with the timbers of a big red barn. Its yearly menu is ten thousand acres of good, rich farming land, several miles of railroad, a few hundred houses, a forest or two and uncounted miles of sandbars.”
– George Fitch, The Missouri River, 1907
54 CHAPTER FIVE | MARTHASVILLE / PEERS / TRELOAR
Today she discovered a shovel stuck in the mud at the base of an old bur oak tree. Her parents always said that their cropland that grew the corn, oats and wheat along the river was some of the best in Missouri, but every year they worried about floods. Father worked hard to plant the seed, walking behind their plow horse, Louie. After a shower of rain, the tiny corn plants would pop up in straight rows. The sun shone and the corn grew but her parents always watched the skies. All of the farmers worried about the river covering their fields and destroying their crops. While she truly loved the river, her family hated the river because of the floods. Fortunately, they lived on a “hill farm” at the edge of the bluffs overlooking their river bottom farmland. The flooding caused problems for their bottomland fields but their house, barns, chicken coops and equipment were safe from high water. In the bottomland, everyone knew it was all at risk of being washed downriver. Even a neighborhood church, St. John’s, had to be moved farther from the river because it was in danger of falling in during a flood.
Curt Dennison Secretly, she looked forward to the floods. She and her brothers St. John’s United Church whooped and chased catfish and perch in the fields. Sometimes a big of Christ in Pinckney was originally close to the sturgeon would be trapped in shallow water as the floodwaters receded. It Missouri River but was relocated in the late 1800s was fun to hunt for fish on land! because of the danger from flooding. When she looked out over the river valley, she felt all of the excitement of living near the Missouri. Expansive golden wheat fields filled the river bottom and after harvest, wheat filled the grain elevators 55 Growing Up with the River
in Marthasville, Peers and Treloar. She could hear the steamboats whistling their way into the river towns while trains were blowing, clanging and booming into town with goods of all kinds. She imagined long-ago Osage Indians walking through the prairie and her grandparents said that Lewis and Clark had camped nearby. In St. Louis right now, they were celebrating the 100th anniversary of their trip. If only the river would behave and stay where it belonged, her homeplace would be perfect – heaven on earth! Instead, her grandmother was always saying, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” every time it flooded. She couldn’t stand to hear any more about the floods. After school most days, she walked down the hill to Glosemeyer’s Store to visit and to see if the train had brought any exciting mail to
President William McKinley the Post Office. Yesterday, she told Mr. Glosemeyer that she was hoping for invited “all nations of the earth to take part in the the train to bring two things in the mail. First, she really wanted the Sears commemoration of the purchase of the Louisiana Roebuck catalog. The Sears catalog was enormous and it had hundreds of Territory” at the 1904 pages of things that were not available anywhere else. Talking machines, World’s Fair. colorful buggies with gold trim, basketballs and hoops could be ordered and delivered by the U.S. Post Office to your house or to the train station. 56 CHAPTER FIVE | MARTHASVILLE / PEERS / TRELOAR
He joked, “Are you trying to put me out of business?” Mr. Glosemeyer knew that there were things in the Sears catalog he could never stock – including whole houses, in pieces, that came on a railroad car. “Sorry,” he said, “You’ll have to wait for a couple more months for the Sears catalog. What’s your other wish for the mail?” These ruby glass salt and pepper shakers were “I am hoping, hoping, hoping for a postcard from my aunt who’s at popular souvenirs from the World’s Fair. the World’s Fair in St. Louis!” “A postcard from St. Louis…you want some news from the Fair…let me see.” He walked past the Post Office to the backroom and called up the stairs, “Helen, will you please come down to visit with a friend of mine? And please bring the salt and pepper shakers.” His cousin Helen came down the stairs and set the most beautiful, ruby red glass salt and pepper shakers on the table. “These are my favorite souvenirs from the World’s Fair. Look, they’re engraved.” The girl was in awe. Were all of the salt and pepper shakers in St. Louis like jewels? His cousin told her that she could hold them if she was careful. Then she talked all about her train ride to St. Louis and said that she had spent three entire days at the Fair. She saw displays from all over the world. The buildings were big and ornate with spectacular fountains and crystal clear water running through them. By some magic, the muddy river water had been made to run bright and clear. “But I can’t even describe all the things I saw. The lights there run on electricity. I had an ice cream cone every day – it was the sweetest, coldest treat I’ve ever eaten.” Mr. Glosemeyer said that he wanted to sell ice cream in his store some day. 57 Growing Up with the River
She said that the World’s Fair was like a museum but even better. She had seen a display with a stuffed passenger pigeon and even some passenger pigeon eggs that had been collected years before. “Remember how Grandfather told us about passenger pigeons? He said there were flocks so large that the sky darkened.” He nodded. “And the flocks broke
The Missouri Corn Palace in the Palace of Agriculture at the World’s Fair was 65 feet tall and was topped with a 10-foot, bronzed ear of corn at its peak. The structure was created by using more than 1000 bushels of corn in 50 different shades and was often used as a lounge and meeting place. Every county in Missouri was asked to contribute agricultural products of all types to be displayed at the Fair.
Missouri History Museum
the limbs of the large trees they roosted in. Now they’re gone and the only place on earth to see them is in a display at the World’s Fair or in a zoo.” Then his cousin surprised the girl by saying that her favorite part of the Fair was seeing the Missouri Corn Palace. The Corn Palace was an entire building made of all different kinds of corn grown on farms in 58 CHAPTER FIVE | MARTHASVILLE / PEERS / TRELOAR
Missouri. “I was so proud to see all that corn and I know some of it was In 1902, Warren County– where Marthasville, Peers from right here in our river bottom. I saw the enormous display of corncob and Treloar were located– had 1941 houses with more pipes from the factory in Washington, and there was a proclamation than half of them on farms. There were three newspapers naming them ‘Best Corncob Pipes in the World!’” It was close to supper published in the county–two time so the girl thanked her over and over for sharing her stories and her in English and one in German, the Warrenton Volksfreund souvenir. “You were the best postcard ever!” (Friend of the People). As she walked back up the hill with her stories, she thought of all the places she would travel when she was older. In the meantime, it was fun to just plan her next walk down the railroad tracks with her Opa. 59 Growing Up with the River
On Saturdays, they’d take the buggy to the grain elevator to watch the train unload its freight. When harvest season rolled around, they’d see the corn and wheat being loaded. The elevators were the tallest buildings around
United States, 1901 Jacques W. Redway, Natural Advanced Geography (New York, New York: American Book Company, 1901) Downloaded from Maps ETC, on the web at http://etc.usf.edu/maps [map #02481] and during harvest season, horse-drawn wagons lined up to send off a 1900 CENSUS Population by State year’s worth of plowing, planting and harvesting. Every year the crop grew
New York 7,268,894 Pennsylvania 6,302,115 larger as more trees were cut and more of the forested river bottom was Illinois 4,821,550 Ohio 4,157,545 cleared to become farmland. MISSOURI 3,106,665 Texas 3,048,710 Massachusetts 2,805,346 As they washed the dishes after supper, Mother asked her what she’d Indiana 2,516,462 Michigan 2,420,982 learned in school that day. Instead, she told her all about the World’s Fair. Iowa 2,231,853 Georgia 2,216,331 Kentucky 2,147,174 Mother said, “Well, that’s a very interesting story but what did you learn in Wisconsin 2,069,042 Tennessee 2,020,616 school?” In Geography, she learned that only four states had more people North Carolina 1,893,810 New Jersey 1,883,669 Virginia 1,854,184 than Missouri. “New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Ohio. But we’re Alabama 1,828,697 Minnesota 1,751,394 growing fast because of the rivers.” There were smaller states like swampy Mississippi 1,551,270 California 1,485,053 Kansas 1,470,495 Florida or dried-out California, but they were hard to reach by railroad Louisiana 1,381,625 South Carolina 1,340,316 or river. With steamboats and now railroads, St. Louis and Missouri were Arkansas 1,311,564 Maryland 1,188,044 Nebraska 1,066,300 able to ship goods all over the country. Plus, new stores and towns were West Virginia 958,800 Connecticut 908,420 sprouting up all along the rails. Missouri was a big state and growing! Maine 694,466 Colorado 539,700 Florida 528,542 Mother put down the dishrag and gave her a hug. “You really paid Washington 518,103 Rhode Island 428,556 attention to your studies and you also learned a lot from your new friend Oregon 413,536 New Hampshire 411,588 South Dakota 401,570 who went to the World’s Fair. I learned a lot too. Now it’s time for a bath Vermont 343,641 North Dakota 319,146 so you can be ready for another big day tomorrow. Say ‘goodnight’ to Utah 276,749 Montana 243,329 Delaware 184,735 everyone and I’ll come say your prayers with you in a little bit. Missouri is Idaho 161,772 Wyoming 92,531 growing but you are too. Time for bed!” Nevada 42,335
60 CHAPTER FIVE | MARTHASVILLE / PEERS / TRELOAR
Wonderland FLOATING THEATER
efore the widespread use Bof cars and the development of good roads, the river was a source of many things–including entertainment. Showboats and floating circuses often traveled the rivers, visiting river communities. In 1911, the Wonderland Floating Theater began stopping at towns in the area and its calliope was heard in Marthasville, Peers and Treloar
Mississippi Department of Archives and History as it arrived at the riverbank.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, December 17, 1911
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62 Chapter Six 1932 WASHINGTON
Even though the country was in the Great Depression, the Missouri River was creating activity in Washington–both on the river and in its busy downtown. Projects to tame the flooding of the river were underway and construction on the city’s first bridge across the Missouri was about to begin. A few miles east in Gray Summit, the countryside provided a refuge for a valued orchid collection from St. Louis.
The children raced around the yard in a game of Cops and Robbers. Since she was the littlest and the easiest to catch, she was always a Robber. Jail was their front porch and it was fun to be thrown in jail. “Rescue me!” she yelled to the other Robbers who tried to sneak over and pull her off the porch before the Cops could see. Then she yelled, ”Mama, the hobos are here! The hobos need you.” And she went crashing into the house to look for her mother and for food to give away. Hobos developed their own “sign language” and A couple of years ago, someone came to their back door asking drew symbols with chalk or charcoal to provide for food for the first time. Hobos and tramps came to town on the train, information about an area and the kind of welcome looking for work or food or a cup of coffee. Dozens of them would future visitors might receive. scramble off the train when it slowed to a halt on the riverfront and 63 Growing Up with the River
Library of Congress Big Rock Candy Mountain
One evening as the sun went down And the cigarette trees And the jungle fires were burning, The lemonade springs Down the track came a hobo hiking, Where the bluebird sings And he said, “Boys, I’m not turning; In the Big Rock Candy Mountains. I’m headed for a land that’s far away In the Big Rock Candy Mountains Beside the crystal fountains All the cops have wooden legs So come with me, we’ll go and see And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth The Big Rock Candy Mountains. And the hens lay soft-boiled eggs In the Big Rock Candy Mountains, The farmers’ trees are full of fruit There’s a land that’s fair and bright, And the barns are full of hay Where the handouts grow on bushes Oh I’m bound to go And you sleep out every night. Where there ain’t no snow Where the boxcars all are empty Where the rain don’t fall And the sun shines every day The winds don’t blow On the birds and the bees In the Big Rock Candy Mountains.
– Written by Harry McClintock, drifter and songwriter, 1928 64 CHAPTER SIX | WASHINGTON
sometimes the sheriff would encourage them to move on to the next stop along the railroad. One day when Father was home, he felt really bad for a young hobo and gave him 25¢ to buy a piece of apple pie at the Silver Spoon Café on Elm Street. Father said he was one of the lucky ones because he still had his job at the corncob pipe factory downtown where Washington was home to a number of corncob pipe huge piles of corncobs went in one side of the old building and corncob factories in 1932 with one, Missouri Meerschaum, pipes of all sizes came out the other. still in operation. The problem was that most people didn’t have any work. Opa said it was hard to find a job. There weren’t many jobs in their town for the people who lived there, let alone the endless stream of hobos. Like all of their neighbors, Opa was certain that Prohibition was a bad idea and hoped that it would soon end so the Busch Brewery could re-open and men could start working there again. The girl’s family had moved into Washington to get away from their family farm and the problems caused by the Missouri River. Her grandparents had been grumpy ever since they left the farm. The river had Washington Historical Society flooded their farm many times and not long before they moved, one of John B. Busch, brother of their barns had been swept away in a flood. Father said he was not going to Adolphus Busch, one of the founders of Anheuser plant another crop on land that would likely be flooded. He was not going Busch, started his brewery in Washington in 1855. It to build another barn to be swept downstream. When they talked about survived for nearly 100 years, closed only during serious things like this, the adults still spoke in German. The girl didn’t Prohibition. know many German words but she knew to say this to her grandmother, “Mehr kuchen bitte, Oma.” “More cake, please, Grandma.” She always got a hug…and more cake! 65 Growing Up with the River
It seemed like everyone was mad about the floods because they lost so much after working so hard. But now things were happening that were supposed to make the river more civilized and stop the flooding. Opa and Father took her brothers to watch the work being done along the river, and they were fascinated by the big willow mats the men were building. Enormous rafts of cut willow saplings were floated to the side of the river and dozens of men wove them together like a big basket and then covered them with large rocks. Huge pieces of equipment on barges scooped mud from the riverbank to send the water in different directions. It looked like something the boys would do in their muddy backyard but this was so much bigger. Their parents talked about levees being built in the riverbottom on the north side of the river and promised to take the ferry across the river to see them. It seemed like a very good thing, preventing the river from flooding and giving the men jobs working on all of these projects. Oma and Opa really missed the farm but Mother said that she was very happy to have nearby neighbors. Father missed his fieldwork and his In 1925, the President of the Missouri Botanical Garden cows and hogs, but he was always ready to take their old Model T Ford said of the newly acquired on Sunday drives. Just yesterday, they took the new concrete road from Shaw Nature Reserve and the polluted air of St. Louis, “We Washington to Gray Summit and then went all the way to Head’s Store in shall grow (the plants) there, bring them in and have them St. Albans for a sandwich. It was a very, very long, hot ride but it was worth die here. We have plenty of replacement material.” it. Near Gray Summit, the Ralston Purina Farm was one of their favorite places to visit. It was a perfect farm in every way. There were neat pastures, fenced by board fences, and Father said the best part was that it wasn’t in the floodplain. 66 CHAPTER SIX | WASHINGTON
On their next Sunday drive, they were going to take the new road to Gray Summit again, this time to see thousands of orchids. Mother tried to draw one and describe it to her. These beautiful, colorful flowers usually grew in the jungle or in Florida but now they were only a few miles from Washington. The Missouri Botanical Garden had bought a large piece of
This photo was taken in downtown St. Louis at mid-day on February 13, 1936. The city suffered from tremendous air pollution during the 1920s and 1930s due to the burning of coal, which led to the city’s air being rated the worst in the United States. The Smoke Abatement League was formed in 1933 to deal with the problem and successfully regulated both the type of coal and furnaces that could be used. Missouri History Museum land a few years earlier because the coal smoke was killing all of the orchids, and other plants too, at their Garden in St. Louis. The girl had seen pictures in the newspaper of plants that were dying from the smoke compared to healthy plants of the same kind and it was very sad. On some days, she thought she could see a cloud of gray, smoky air on the horizon to the east. Country air was clean and pure and just right for the orchid collection. In addition to all of the excitement of a new bridge and the work on the river, there were beautiful tropical orchids growing nearby. 67 Growing Up with the River
Sunday drives were special but most of the time they walked – to church, to school, to the bakery, and to City Hall where Mother and Oma could register to vote for the first time in history. Mother and Oma joked that this was why they were about to get a bridge across the Missouri River, instead of relying on the ferry, because women had started to vote and to make the decisions! But what was their favorite walk of all? To the Calvin Theatre not far from their house. The children begged to see “The Mummy” but their parents said that might give them bad dreams. They settled for “Tarzan the Ape Man” which made them want to live in the jungle. It looked a little like the land along the river but with monkeys and elephants. For a long time, they played Tarzan instead of Cops and Robbers. Her grandparents didn’t like the movie theatre because they said that nothing compared to the Wonderland Floating Theater, a boat that floated from one river town to the next, sounding its big calliope when it came to
Talking movies hit the town. Actors lived on the boat, presenting plays and musical performances. scene in 1927 and movie Oma said that they sometimes asked the locals to join them on stage. The theatres gained even greater popularity. The Wonderland sounded wonderful! Calvin Theatre opened in Washington in 1909.
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With parents and grandparents who told so many stories, the girl often wished that she lived in Washington long ago. She longed to see a riverboat full of actors and musicians pull into town…she wanted to see the forests brimming with deer and turkey before they had all been killed by hunters…she wished that everyone still spoke in German. She started to sniffle and told Oma, “I miss the good old days.” “But, mein liebes Kind, you live in exciting times and you live in America! My mother and father came to America for progress and The beginning of World War I in 1914 was also the beginning opportunity and there is so much of that here in this country. Just think of the end for much of the German culture in Missouri how fortunate we are that my parents decided to come here, to leave the and in the City of Washington. This notice from the State of old country before I was born. Today we wish there were more jobs, but Missouri refers to the state’s order to eliminate the public our lives here are so good. In the old country, the problems are much, use of the German language. It signaled the end of many of much worse. Here we can take drives into the beautiful countryside and Washington’s German cultural we can save our pennies and go to the new movie theatre. Your father institutions, the teaching of German in schools, still has his job at the factory and there’s plenty of progress right here in and German-language newspapers. Washington. We are the lucky ones to be in America at this time. Before long, we’ll have a bridge to cross the river and there will be many men
69 Growing Up with the River
Painting by Gary Lucy In April 1936, the first car working to build the bridge. Can you believe it, little one? We will drive the crossed the Missouri River on the newly constructed car on a road high over the river.” Washington bridge. Tolls were 45¢ per car and 5¢ for Oma was right. The new bridge would be exciting. This was a great each hog or sheep on foot. time to be growing up on the Missouri River and in America! She was lucky to be born in this country and to live in a place where she had the best of her old country and the best of the new.
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Moving to the CLEAN AIR OF THE COUNTRY
n the 1920s, coal was burned I in homes and by electric companies to make electricity. At the time, there were no regulations regarding the use of high-sulphur coal from Illinois coal mines, and the air pollution was so extreme that it was often dark in the middle of the day. Plants at the Missouri Botanical Garden were stunted and dying because of the bad air quality. To protect their plants, especially the valuable orchid collection, the Garden purchased a large tract of land near Washington in 1925 with plans for greenhouses there. Fortunately, with a major effort from city officials and the creation of the St. Louis Smoke Abatement League, the air was significantly better by the 1940s. The orchids and many other plants could return to St. Louis.
Missouri Botanical Garden Bulletin, November 1917
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72 Chapter Seven 1959 ST. CHARLES
St. Charles was founded as San Carlos del Misuri more than 150 years earlier, and was now more a part of St. Louis, thanks to a new bridge over the Missouri River. The land around an old war materials plant had recently become Busch Wildlife Area, Missouri’s largest conservation area. The same location was also proposed as a site for the United Nations.
She was the luckiest girl in the world because her best friend lived with them. Yep, Grandma moved in last year and it was just about the best thing imaginable because they did projects together, they read books and wrote letters to her penpal, they watched Roy Rogers and Mickey Mouse The ponds at Busch Wildlife Area were stocked with on TV, and even better, she loved to fish. Grandma liked to say they were largemouth bass, channel catfish and bluegill like “bluegill buddies.” They were crazy about baseball too and listened to every this one. single Cardinals game on KMOX radio – unless it went into extra innings on a school night. They even memorized every stat for the Redbirds and gave each other quizzes on batting averages. For her birthday, her family was taking her to a Cardinals game, in person, at Sportman’s Park. Her birthday was still a few weeks away but 73 Growing Up with the River
they chose a game when Bob Gibson was pitching. It was a dream come true to watch him pitch and to see Stan Musial at first base. Grandma was hoping that Gussie Busch, who owned the Redbirds, would be there watching them play. The 1959 Cardinals boasted a great roster including stars Surprisingly, Dad wasn’t a big baseball fan but he was excited about like Gibson and Musial as well as the colorfully named the game because it was the first time he would be driving over the new Vinegar Bend Mizell. bridge, promising everyone a faster route to Sportsman’s. The new bridge was beautiful and high above the river.
The ill-fated first Missouri River Bridge (1890) on the left and the new Blanchette Bridge (1959) on the right.
Missouri Historical Society
The whole family went to the ribbon-cutting when the new bridge opened, and Grandma brought along one of her favorite newspaper clippings. There was a photograph from 1890 of the very first bridge across the Missouri River. At the time, everyone was excited to have a bridge because they had to use ferryboats to cross the water before it was built. Grandma showed her how the bridge floated right on top of the water. 74 CHAPTER SEVEN | ST. CHARLES
When ice came down the river that very first winter, the bridge broke up The Confluence, with the muddy Missouri entering and floated away along with the ice! Dad said it probably ended up in New on the left and ending its 2540-mile run as the Orleans. Grandma said they should have used their noodles when they country's longest river. The floodplain around the built the bridge in the first place. Confluence is a crucial stop In school, she learned that bridges and rivers were more important in for migrating birds. her hometown than in many other places. In Geography, she learned that St. Charles County was the only one in America bordered by the Mississippi River on one side and the Missouri on the other. The two biggest rivers in America came together right in their neighborhood. CONFLUENCE was one of their first spelling words this year. In History, she learned that some 75 Growing Up with the River
people even wanted to build the new United Nations building in St. Charles County, but they decided to build it in New York City instead. The rivers were a very big deal to everyone. On the weekends, she and her Grandma loved to take long walks and look for wildflowers and birds. “It’s so pretty here, Grandma. We’re so lucky.” “It is pretty here and I hope it stays this way. You know what happened to our homeplace.” Poor Grandma and Grandpa. Poor Dad. They had lived on a farm near the Missouri River, not far from Hamburg. They raised cattle and grew corn and wheat, and her Dad was a good farmhand, planning to run the farm himself some day. But as she always heard, 700 parcels of land were “Uncle Sam had other ideas.” For one thing, Dad was drafted into the Army acquired by the U.S. Government in 1940 to and left the farm. create the Weldon Spring site. Many of the parcels At about the same time, in 1940, their farm was “taken” by the were small family farms. government. America needed to build things for the war so the government took the towns of Hamburg and Howell and all of the land around them to build a factory. It must have been a terrible time for Grandma. They had lived on their farm for many years but with the coming of World War II, places were needed to manufacture bombs, ammunition and other things 76 CHAPTER SEVEN | ST. CHARLES for the war. Grandma said that they – and hundreds of other families – were told they had six months to move from their houses and farms. She said the saddest thing was seeing photos of their houses and barns being set on fire to make way for the new factory buildings to help America win the war.
One of the many buildings that were destroyed on the thousands of acres of land acquired for the Weldon Spring facility.
National Archives in Kansas City
The factory made explosives like TNT. Just last month, they had taken a Sunday drive over there, on Highway 94, and everyone got quiet when they saw the fences and gates surrounding the factory. They watched the smoke and steam come from the plant that still, even though the war had ended a long time ago, made things for the Army. She couldn’t help herself. “Oh, I wish we still had our old farm! Why did they have to take it away? I want everything to be like it used to be!” “Now, honey,” Grandma said, “you’ll learn that some changes are hard on us but some are really good. When we lived on that farm, we didn’t have television.” 77 GrowingGrowing UpUp withwith thethe RiverRiver
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Fishing tournament winners on opening day
“ My father would be proud of what this area stands for, and it is in keeping with the things he loved in life. It would make him happy to know that here, where nature abounds so plentifully, visitors of all ages will come for relaxation.”
– August Busch, Jr. at the dedication of Busch Wildlife Area, July 16, 1950
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“You didn’t?” “No, no TV, just our favorite radio shows. We had to go outside to use the bathroom and we didn’t even have real toothbrushes.” Grandma knew she’d be happy if she didn’t have to brush her teeth but going outside in the cold to use the bathroom would be awful. “And just think of how you like riding the bus to school every day. Would you rather walk all that way?” The eastern bluebird builds multiple nests in a season, “Jeepers, no!” laying four to five eggs in each one. Dad must have known that visiting their old homeplace might upset them – he had planned a surprise for the drive home. Very close to their old farm was one of their favorite places to fish, the ponds in the Busch Wildlife Area. Dad had packed their fishing poles. “There’s another spelling word for you, sweetie. Starts like CONFLUENCE but this word is CONSERVATION.” Busch Wildlife Area was like an enormous park with places to fish and hike and hunt. Grandma said that the same family who owned the Cardinals bought this land and gave it to the people of Missouri to enjoy. Dad said, “They own the brewery too. We can’t forget that!” Like she said, Dad wasn’t such a big baseball fan. But her dad really loved being out in the country and told her that conservation – like this area – was a really good idea. Dad said that maybe the best thing about the wildlife conservation area wasn’t just that they could hunt, fish and hike but that there would never be any houses built there. It would always be a place where birds could nest and foxes could hunt. Nature would never be crowded out by stores and houses. 79 Growing Up with the River
At home in her neighborhood, everyone was very excited about all of the development the new bridge would bring. Grandma said that the new Missouri River bridge would mean even more neighbors and schools and shopping centers. It was exciting but farms were being sold every day to make room for the new neighborhoods. That would never ever happen in the Busch Wildlife Area. “I’m in charge of finding the worms!” she called as they walked toward the pond. “Wait!” They stopped to watch a family of turkeys skitter Missouri Department of Conservation Before the Missouri across the field. “How great is that?” Dad whispered. “When I was a boy, Department of Conservation began a successful effort to before we had a Conservation Department in Jefferson City, the turkey bring back wild turkeys in were almost all wiped out by hunters. The deer too. We almost never saw a 1954, there were only 2500 remaining in all of Missouri. deer or a turkey in the woods, but now they’re coming back. Conservation Today there are hundreds of thousands. is such a smart thing.” Just then, a pair of cardinals swooped by – the bright red father bird and the mom who was brownish red. Immediately, she knew who they were. “Hey, since the people who own the baseball Cardinals bought this land, are these the same cardinals who pose on the bats?” Grandma and Dad burst out laughing. “Okay, baseball fan, time to concentrate on your fishing. If you keep talking, the fish will never bite!”
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United NATIONS
he land that had been T“taken by the government” in 1940 had served its wartime purpose by the end of World War II in 1945. The United Nations was formed at the end of the war to create an organization that would prevent future wars. Many areas around the country submitted proposals to house the headquarters of the U.N., and St. Louis suggested the land at Weldon Spring that had been acquired just a few years earlier to make war materials. The U.N. headquarters was eventually located in New York. The Weldon Spring property was acquired with a donation from the Busch family and given to the Missouri Department of Conservation to be forever used as an area for outdoor recreation.
St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Louis
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82 Chapter Eight 1986 AUGUSTA
Augusta’s hillsides had been been filled with vineyards until Prohibition arrived in 1920 and most of the grapevines were destroyed. In the 1960s, Missouri wineries began planting grapes again. The closing of the KATY railroad in 1984 offered yet another opportunity for a new chapter in the life of the town.
This was it…the big day that all the adults were talking about before the boys went to bed…the first harvest and grape crush of the season! They weren’t supposed be in the wine cellar but they had just left the workers out in the vineyard, helping to bring in the grapes. In an Curt Dennison This wine cellar at Mount hour or two, the trucks would return with their juicy, sticky loads of just- Pleasant Winery in Augusta was dug by hand in 1881 and is picked fruit. In the meantime, things were quiet and they had the place still in use today. to themselves. Every. Single. Footstep. Echoed. They pretended they were spies on a mission in an underground world. It smelled so musty down there. Even though it was daytime, they needed a flashlight to see. They waved it across the stones and the brick ceiling. They were on the hunt – for the salamanders and small lizards that loved the cool, damp cellars – and they knew just where to look.
83 Growing Up with the River
The twins and all of their friends agreed that Augusta had always been a sleepy place so lizard hunting was a pretty good pastime. Still, they wished there was more going on, like trains coming through town again. The KATY railroad tracks ran along the river bluff and next to the farm fields in the river bottom below the town, but there were no trains. Their parents said that the trains used to stop, to drop off and pick up all sorts of goods. The twins couldn’t remember those days and just had to pretend that trains were still rolling past the town. They walked along the tracks, jumping from one railroad tie to the next, and made their own train whistle sounds. Supposedly, there were too many floods and not enough business for the railroad. That was bad news for railroads in the river valley, but good news for kids who wanted In the heyday of the KATY to use the railroad as a place to daydream and think about where those railroad, there were 18 possible stops, including tracks had taken people. Augusta, on the 70 miles of track between St. Louis and One Sunday at breakfast, Dad snapped the newspaper open and McKittrick. said, “Well boys, listen to this!” Mom sat down too because she could hear the excitement in his voice. “It says here that someone has a new idea for 84 CHAPTER EIGHT | AUGUSTA
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources purchased the KATY railroad right-of-way with a donation from Edward D. “Ted” and Pat Jones of Williamsburg, Missouri.
If things go as planned, The scenery along the Missouri “ St. Louisans could park near “ River is some of the state’s finest. the old Katy tracks at St. Charles, This right-of-way, Missouri’s second mount their bicycles and pedal ‘interstate’ after the river itself and to Sedalia on the western side before US 40 was built, shows the of the state…Right now this is state much as it was a century ago. only a dream, several years from The clutter and noise of I-70 are completion. Much must be done far, far away.” before Missourians can have one of the finest hiking and biking – St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial, August 21, 1987 trails in the country.”
– St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial, May 26, 1986
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the KATY railroad tracks. A man wants to buy the whole railroad and pick up all the rails and cross-ties. He wants to build a trail where you could ride your bikes from one railroad town to the next and make it the longest bike path in America. Maybe it will happen or maybe it won’t.” The boys knew that Dad was disappointed because he wanted to see a train that would just take tourists back and forth from St. Louis to Augusta. But to them, a bike road really sounded better. They weren’t listening to the rest of Dad’s story.
Decades of manufacturing hazardous materials created a major cleanup problem at Weldon Spring. The story that began with an effort to win World War II continued for almost 60 years. The environmental damage cost hundreds of millions of dollars to repair. St. Louis Post-Dispatch
They were just trying to imagine how someone would make a trail. How would they pick up the railroad tracks that had been there for 100 years? What would happen to the bridges? Could they really ride their bikes all the way to Marthasville? That sounded like a lot more fun than lizard hunting in the wine cellars! 86 CHAPTER EIGHT | AUGUSTA
The problem was that nothing like this had ever been done in Missouri before. The bike trail was an idea that some people really seemed to like and others didn’t like one bit. People who lived by the railroad tracks were worried that visitors on the trail would bother them or their farm animals. They were afraid that the trail would bring problems. Bicyclists, though, were so excited. Now, if the twins wanted to ride along the edge of Highway 94, they had to hope that drivers were paying attention. Having a trail just for bikes – with no cars – was a brand new idea.
Maybe, if they could, they would ride their bikes all the way to the The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission processed old chemical plant and explore all of the dangerous things there. They uranium at Weldon Spring until 1966 when the site passed it whenever they drove on Highway 94 to St. Louis. The empty was closed. factory buildings were rusting and falling down and their parents said that the factory used to build things for war. “Cool!” said one of the twins. “No, not cool,” said Mom. “The government worked with radium and uranium there, really dangerous chemicals. We’re just hoping that someone knows what to do with those dilapidated buildings and how to solve the problem. The chemicals are dangerous for people.” The boys kept quiet but grinned at each other. It was like a science fiction movie, 87 Growing Up with the River
in real life, close to home. They were brave. They had to explore this place with its red “KEEP OUT” signs some day. They could earn a special exploration badge for Boy Scouts. Just yesterday they worked all day on a Boy Scout project. They were building bluebird boxes so the Missouri State Bird would have places to build their nests in the spring. It was almost like the bluebirds knew they were famous in Missouri – there were more and more of them every year. Missouri Department of Conservation A lot of the dads were happy that the woods were filled with wild turkey Missouri's State Bird, the eastern bluebird, nested in and deer so they could go hunting. Their Dad was a nature lover but he holes of trees along the edge didn’t hunt. He was content with observing the birds and their habits and of forests and farm fields. As these nesting spaces were he was thrilled to see so many bluebirds along the edges of the fields. He eliminated, nesting boxes provided by bird-lovers explained that like most birds and animals, they knew the best place to live. provided a good alternative. For bluebirds, it was a hole in a tree. As farm fields got bigger and trees between the fields were taken out, bluebirds lost many of their favorite spots to nest. Putting up boxes was the next best thing. Their Scout Leader told the troop that bluebirds were coming back to the river valley for a couple of reasons. First, they loved to nest around vineyards. Every year, more grapevines were being planted in Augusta and the bluebirds had noticed – all they needed was a box! Fortunately, someone had designed the right kind of box for bluebirds to call home and it was easy to build. Like Dad said, “If we give it a chance, nature will come back.” Many people in town had started to put up nesting boxes along the edges of fields and yards. The twins liked to gently lift the lid on the nest box on the oak tree in their yard. The mother bluebird would just sit and 88 CHAPTER EIGHT | AUGUSTA
stare at them but more often, babies would look up with their mouths The Norton grape was planted in Missouri in the 1800s and open, hoping for the mother bird to bring some food. was named the State Grape of Missouri in 2003. Norton and One winged creature that had plenty of food was the Monarch other varieties began to cover the Augusta hillsides again in butterfly. This time of year, around harvest time, Monarchs were the 1970s. everywhere along the milkweed patches lining the roads and fields. Millions of them were fluttering to Mexico, just like the birds flying south before winter arrived. The bluebirds were happy about the vineyards, and the boys knew from school that grapes and grapevines had been one of the most 89 Growing Up with the River
important things in Augusta’s history. More than 100 years earlier, German settlers had moved to Augusta and planted vineyards on many of the hillsides for making wine. When the laws changed in the 1920s, the vineyards were burned and people began using the hills for cattle pastures.
Danny Brown But now those pastures were once again being planted with row after row Monarch butterfiles migrate south through Missouri in of grapes. A few years ago, Augusta had even been named the first major late September and early October. wine-making region in the entire United States. Missouri’s vineyards had beat California and there was a very big party in town. The mayor made some exciting announcements at the party. “This is one time that Missouri is first and California came in second. We’re Number One in the wine world now and nothing can change that!” Just then, Dad said, “I hear the truck. Should we go see the grapes get crushed?” They didn’t mention that they’d already been in the cellar all morning hunting lizards by flashlight. They jumped up and grabbed their jackets. How did he always know exactly what they wanted to do?
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Biking on the KATY TRAIL
ike a ribbon, the Katy Trail L stretches across Missouri from its easternmost point near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to Clinton, about an hour from Kansas City, on the west. It covers countryside ranging from open farm fields to river's edge bluffs to tree-shaded tunnels. The Katy Trail stays close to the north bank of the Missouri Kyle Spradley River until it reaches Boonville, crossing the river as it heads south and then west toward Kansas City.
Brad S. Wilson
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92 Chapter Nine 2016 CHESTERFIELD
Chesterfield has grown to be the 14th-largest city in Missouri and has expanded into the former floodplain of the Missouri River with the building of outlet malls and big-box stores. A new bike lane across the just-completed Missouri River bridge now connects Chesterfield Valley to the Katy Trail. Confluence Point State Park is located in St. Charles County, less than an hour’s drive from Chesterfield.
They were driving to see the confluence of the two biggest rivers in America – the entire family, except for Shep. Their border collie was good on car trips but he’d want to race into the muddy river and that would probably be a bad, messy, smelly idea. Her older brothers were into history and were excited to see where Lewis and Clark started and ended their Manjith Kainickara White pelicans are one of the voyage. Her youngest brother was reading a book but as they crossed the many migratory birds that use the Confluence for food bridge, he said, “Look at all the snow on the water!” She was the littlest and rest on their way to and from their winter homes in but she knew it wasn’t snow. She already had binoculars in her lap in the the south. booster seat. Her dad had promised her that she would see them! Huge white birds – almost the biggest in the whole world – with black tips on their wings blanketed the river. The American white pelicans were in Missouri, on their way to Florida. 93 Growing Up with the River
This was the flyway, the highway that birds took to their winter home. From the commotion, it looked like a restaurant too since the birds were gulping down whole fish. Her mom said that on their long trip south for the winter, ducks, geese and pelicans stopped here at the Confluence to rest and eat from the shallow water and fields nearby. They had been here before to see the bald eagles at the Audubon Center at Riverlands but they had never driven a few miles farther to see where the rivers came together.
This handmade 27-foot wooden canoe carries 12 passengers and provides an ideal way to experience the Missouri River.
Melanie Cheney
They pulled into the parking lot at Confluence State Park and walked to the point – and it was a point – where the rivers met. The boys could clearly see where the rivers collided, with the Missouri coming in from the right and the Mississippi coming from the left. “How strong would you have to be to paddle a boat in those currents?” “Unbelievable!” 94 CHAPTER NINE | CHESTERFIELD
Dad said that one day they could find out how strong they would have to be by taking a canoe trip from a few miles upriver, around Pelican Island, to the Confluence. His friend, “Big Muddy” Mike, could take all of them in a huge wooden canoe that could carry 12 people from Pelican Island to the Confluence in just a few hours. Until 2004, the only way to see Confluence Point was in a canoe – or a boat or a helicopter. But the wife of Ted Jones, who started the Katy Trail, wanted to give everyone a chance to walk here, like they were right now. She gave the money to State Parks to make it possible. While the Confluence itself was obvious, they didn’t believe the sign. A tall post with a mark at the top said that this very spot had
Kyle Spradley been 20 feet under water in 1993. Mom said, “If all four of you kids This is Confluence Point, stood on each other’s shoulders, that would be just about 20 feet.” where two of the world's mightiest rivers meet. It is “Wow! How could that be?” about eight miles north of the Gateway Arch. Dad said, “That’s why this is called a floodplain – because it floods.” They decided to Google some images of the 1993 flood when they got home. Home was in Chesterfield, about an hour from the Confluence. They had moved there before the brothers could remember and they had always known “Chesterfield Valley” to be a place with lots of big stores, soccer fields and places to eat. For some reason, Grandpa still called it “Gumbo Bottoms” and he told them stories about the old Smokehouse Market before the malls were there. It was hard to believe that the highway on the way to the Valley had also flooded in 1993 but they had 95 Growing Up with the River
seen pictures of the Smokehouse under water. Still, it wasn’t easy to imagine that those flood photos and Chesterfield Valley were the same place. Grandpa tried to explain it. He said that the Missouri River used to cover much more area and flooded the fields along its banks, but now it was trapped by the levees on its sides. The brothers liked all of the stores
The Smokehouse Market had stood near the Missouri River, in the floodplain, since 1937. In 1993, it was in the river.
Jane Sehnert
in the Valley and the bike trails along the top of the levee. They wondered why it mattered so much to some of the adults that the river didn’t flood here anymore. It sounded like good news to them. One of Grandpa’s friends knew a lot about the floodplain. He said that the floodplain provided an area for the river to spread out when it rained a lot and it replenished the dirt in the fields of the river valley. The more stores and houses that were built in the floodplain, the less room there was for the river to spread out in wet years. “Levees will protect the stores, houses and crops in one area but it will make the flooding worse in others. The water has to go somewhere,” his friend explained. 96 CHAPTER NINE | CHESTERFIELD
Meanwhile, it seemed like people were always building something in the Valley. There were cranes and new buildings and now a brand new bridge crossed the Missouri River. On pretty days, their parents packed their bicycles and they headed for the Katy Trail. The brothers could hop on the Trail just a few minutes from the stores in the Valley and ride far
ahead of their parents, looking for turtles and birds, and for sightings of Curt Dennison the river. One day on the drive home, they took the back roads and passed This large sedimentation tank is where the mud leaves the an enormous old building, the water plant. Their mom said this was where Big Muddy–an early step in turning the Missouri River their water came from, when it wasn’t in bottles. Mom said she once heard into our drinking water. that enough Missouri River water flowed by Chesterfield in one day to give all of St. Louis enough water for a year! This is why little sister tried not to fall asleep in the car, even when the sun was streaming in – there was so much to learn on these drives. The water we drink comes from that muddy river? Seemed like magic, just like the huge rock mountain they saw last week. It was on their favorite curvy road, Highway 94, and they had begged to stop. They actually hiked to the top to see the view. It’s a conservation area now These steps lead to the but it had once been a factory with a lot of dangerous and poisonous highest point in St. Charles things. The only way to make sure people weren’t hurt by what had County, the top of the Weldon Spring disposal cell. been made there was to bury it under millions of tons of rock. They had always liked a song called “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” and she wondered if this was what it looked like. This rock mountain covered up something pretty bad, but it was a cool place for a hike with a big view. 97 Growing Up with the River
Curt Dennison
A tree-shaded allée along the Katy Trail
Between bluff and land where the iron rails clanged The tracks are all lifted, there is no more train. We walk and we ride on the trails that were made. The river flows by limestone paths in the shade.
– Lyric from “Everything Changes” (2014) by Gloria Attoun, Augusta, Missouri
98 CHAPTER NINE | CHESTERFIELD
The brothers and sister knew that they were lucky to be in a family that liked to explore the Missouri countryside – looking for bald eagles, canoeing with Big Muddy Mike on the river, cycling on the Katy Trail, potting trees at the Forest ReLeaf nursery in the river bottom. On one trip to the nursery, they learned how much they could help Monarch butterflies by planting their favorite food, milkweed. They learned that Monarchs are also called “milkweed butterflies.” Like some kids, butterflies are picky eaters. They only like a few foods but for Monarchs, it isn’t mac and cheese
PLANT WARS: Good vs. Evil The milkweed plant is toxic to most birds, animals and insects, but is essential to the caterpillars that become the Monarch butterfly. This food source causes the members of the milkweed butterfly family to be distasteful to predators. Milkweeds can be planted to attract Monarchs and other members of the milkweed butterfly family. When the leaves and stems of the plant are broken, a milky substance is secreted which gives them their name.
The bush honeysuckle plant is as harmful for the environment as the milkweed is good. Bush honeysuckle produces red berries as shown in this photo that are appealing in appearance but provide minimal nutrition for the birds and animals that feed on them. More important, these plants crowd out desirable native plant species, ruin forested landscapes and open fields and roadsides, and create areas where ticks can flourish.
99 Growing Up with the River
and french fries, it’s milkweed. The kids found a perfect sunny spot at the edge of their backyard and planted a small “butterfly garden” with six milkweed plants. In just a few weeks, they found a Monarch caterpillar as big as one of the leaves, happily snacking on the milkweed leaf. Missouri Department of Conservation But the best trips of all were to Grandpa’s farm near Treloar. They Killdeer are some of Missouri's most interesting birds. They looked for arrowheads and morel mushrooms, they walked in the creek, nest on the ground, in gravel, not in a tree or shrub. and they learned about a special patch of gravel where the killdeer nested. They identified their favorite birds and trees, like bluebirds and goldfinches and bur oaks and dogwoods. They went on a Honeysuckle Hike one day along the Katy Trail and learned about bad plants like bush honeysuckle that strangle the good trees and wildflowers. And on one hike, far out on the Trail near Marthasville, they found a special tree, a huge bur oak on a hill overlooking the river. Its branches were as big as the trunks of most trees and if all of the children had linked arms, they couldn’t have reached all the way around it. Grandpa told them that it was probably more than 200 years old. “These acorns are enormous!” “I’ve never seen any acorns this big!” “Grandpa, can we take some, please?” He nodded and they each took a bur oak acorn home, to care for and to plant the following spring.
100 CHAPTER NINE | CHESTERFIELD
The Legendary MCBAINE BUR OAK
Kyle Spradley he bur oak planted in our story got its start late 1600s and has witnessed all of the history T in 1806, when the boy in the first chapter described in this book –and more. Carolina collected an acorn dropped by a tree along the parakeets and passenger pigeons likely roosted on Missouri River. The McBaine bur oak pictured its branches, and many floods have covered the here, near Columbia, actually sprouted in the bottomlands where it stands.
101
Chapter Ten 2040 THE MISSOURI RIVER VALLEY
By the time this chapter is written, the bur oak acorn planted in the spring of 2017 will have seen twenty-four growing seasons. So will the children who found and planted it. Explorers, fur traders, immigrants, steamboats, railroads, farmers and fun-seekers have left an imprint on the Missouri River valley. More changes will leave their mark by 2040.
We don’t know what the tree, the children, or our river valley will experience in the future. Without question, though, there will be even greater demand for the crops raised on our farmland and for drinking water from our river. We will still want to witness the spectacle of migrating birds, butterflies and woodland creatures in their natural habitats. We don’t know what wind and ice storms will have tested the branches of the growing bur oak or what floods may have covered its roots. Tony Carosella We don’t know what a 2040 ride on the Katy Trail will reveal about the A shaded rest area on the Katy Trail near Augusta, a changes in the bluffs, wetlands and fields along the trail. Will the land in short drive from suburban St. Louis. In 2013, Missouri the floodplain and on the bluff tops still be growing crops and trees or will was named "Best Trails State" due in large part to the it be sprouting shopping centers and houses? Katy Trail. Will the white pelicans continue to find the habitat they need at the Confluence as they make their annual journey south? Will the Monarchs 103 Growing Up with the River
Tony Carosella An Unintended find their fields of milkweed? Will the bluebird become the next Carolina Consequence: The creation of Busch Conservation Area parakeet or passenger pigeon, or will it continue to find places to raise its in 1947 (shown on right, suburban St. Charles on left) young in the houses we provide? created a wildlife habitat with fishing, hunting and As we look back on the events and resulting impact on the river hiking opportunities. It valley during the last 210 years, since the bur oak was planted in Chapter also provided a buffer to stop the march of One, we see that the progress of one generation can be the problem of development west of Highway 40 along another. But we have an advantage. We can also see which decisions led the north bank of the Missouri River. to good results and which created disasters. We’ve had many examples of both good and bad decisions about our river valley in the last two centuries. When our book began in 1806 in La Charrette, only a few thousand people lived where millions live today. La Charrette was located about 50 miles from the Gateway Arch and the best way to get there in 1806 was, 104 CHAPTER TEN | THE MISSOURI RIVER VALLEY as Lewis and Clark did, by boat on the Missouri -- a perilous trip of several days. After Lewis and Clark passed by La Charrette and completed their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase, other explorers and new settlers soon followed. Railroads and towns were built. Farmers cleared land and planted crops. Eventually, much of the natural landscape changed from forests and prairies to farms and small towns, and then to housing Shaw Nature Reserve developments and shopping areas. During this time, many people A bobcat kitten at Shaw Nature Reserve, a result thought about accommodating the needs of the families who decided of habitat restoration overseen by the Missouri to live in the Missouri River valley. People needed houses, places to work, Botanical Garden. and stores and businesses.They needed roads and eventually telephone and electric lines, airports and shopping malls and all of the things that weren’t here when the land was wilderness in 1806. A lot of people devoted their ingenuity and resources to making sure these needs for a growing area were met. But while many people thought about building houses, stores, businesses and roads, a few individuals were thinking about something else. They were thinking about saving some of what was here originally, cherishing what brought people to live here in the first place: the forests and hills, the river bluffs and creeks, the fish and birds and other creatures that would otherwise have vanished with the push for development. While this book is about our countryside, it’s interesting to think about what used to be “rural” and what individuals did long ago to save the countryside for generations they would never know. Several exceptional 105 Growing Up with the River
examples of land conservation are very close to us here in St. Louis. As we enjoy them today, we don't often think of them in those terms but they are among the best in the nation. Henry Shaw was a successful businessman in the early years of St. Louis, selling hardware, knives and other items that went west by steamboat to help settle the frontier. He became wealthy and traveled to Europe where
Tony Carosella he saw great botanical gardens and was determined that St. Louis have More than 200 years something similar, for all residents of St. Louis to share. That idea became of history: The river, Highway 94 and the Katy Trail come the Missouri Botanical Garden. When the Garden opened in 1859, it was on together along this stretch of the Missouri in St. Charles the edge of the wilderness, a long horseback ride from St. Louis. As Shaw County. wrote at the time, it was “…uncultivated, without trees or fences, but covered with tall, luxuriant grass.” What is today the Missouri Botanical Garden -- in the middle of St. Louis – was some of Missouri’s original prairie. Forest Park opened on a Saturday in June 1876. At that time, it was surrounded by farmland in all directions, with only a few scattered houses, and was about 40 minutes from the St. Louis riverfront by horse-drawn carriage on a dirt road. Surely many people wondered about the need for a park so far out in the middle of the country. With so much land available, why create a park of 1370 acres? Most of the landscape already looked like a park and land was plentiful. Why was it worth protecting? Forest Park, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and other public areas like Greensfelder, Queeny and Faust County Parks and Babler State Park were created decades ago by people who were thinking not only about what we needed to build, but also what we needed to conserve. 106 CHAPTER TEN | THE MISSOURI RIVER VALLEY
These treasures are examples of people who were thinking about the The definition of foresight: Almost 1400 acres of land future, about us, long ago. As we look ahead to 2040, let’s appreciate how were set aside to create Forest Park in 1876. At the they created natural places for others to enjoy forever. Many places in our time, the area was farmland and forest, far from the book -- Shaw Nature Reserve, Busch Conservation Area, the Boone Home, center of St. Louis. the Katy Trail and Confluence Point State Park -- are timeless examples of their vision. How fortunate we are that for generations, people like Henry Shaw, the Busch family, Ted and Pat Jones, and St. Louis civic leaders have worked to create gifts for the future -- places available for us to experience nature and the outdoors. 107 Growing Up with the River
Not all of us are able to create a state park or special public area, but all of us have a chance to do something to show our appreciation and respect for our natural resources. We can visit the places on the map on
Curt Dennison pages 114 and 115 and experience them for ourselves. LAND TRUSTS IN THE Missouri River Valley Missourians who are fortunate enough to own rural property can take
Great Rivers Habitat Alliance steps to permanently protect it as a haven for wildlife or as a peaceful place grha.org with natural beauty through what is known as a “conservation agreement.” Great Rivers Land Trust greatriverslandtrust.com Conservation agreements do not allow public access to land (like a park),
Katy Land Trust but they ensure that it will always be in agricultural, forest or recreational katylandtrust.org use instead of a shopping mall, housing development or golf course. Open Space Council openspacestl.org Conservation agreements create scenic vistas for all of us to enjoy and Ozark Regional Land Trust protect land for farming and wildlife habitat. You can learn more about ORLT.org organizations that create conservation agreements for private landowners and work in other ways to conserve the Missouri River valley by visiting their websites. The fate of the Missouri River valley in 2040 is up to us. It can be built up and developed to look like our suburban landscape, or it can be conserved and protected for farming, wildlife and recreation. Missouri River Country can be a respite from urban life, close to our neighborhoods and shopping areas. It’s up to us to determine the future of St. Louis’ backyard. That future starts today and starts with you. Here some suggestions for activities to learn more about the history and scenic beauty at home and around the state.
108 More Missouri YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
See the Missouri countryside on the Katy Trail. The Peers Store, just west of Marthasville, reminds us that the KATY was a railroad first. The town of Peers got its start as a railroad stop in the 1890s. This painting by artist Gary Lucy imagines the Peers Store in 1950, when the last of the steam locomotives passed by. Visit in person or online at PeersStore.com. Want to get up close and personal with the river? Make yourself even prouder of our heritage by Missouri River Relief connects people to the river visiting special museums: the Mercantile Library in a variety of ways, including river clean-ups, at UMSL for steamboats and railroads; the camps and outings. Every summer they co-sponsor Washington Historical Society for river ferries, the Missouri American MR 340, a paddling race corncob pipes and zithers; the Historic Hermann across the state. Riverrelief.org Museum and the Deutscheim State Historic Site in Hermann for German-American life in Missouri. Concerned about the plight of Monarch butterflies and bees? Plant a native tree. Order Grow or plant a milkweed or seedlings from the Missouri pollinator garden to help them Department of Conservation thrive. Biodiversecitystl.org Shop (MDC.mo.gov) and Connect with nature by ordering the Natural share them with your friends Events Calendar. The photography is amazing and classmates, or visit and you will know what’s happening in nature – in Forest ReLeaf of Missouri Missouri – every single day. Online at Missouri (MoReLeaf.org) to buy Department of Conservation Nature Shop. or help plant native trees.
109 Growing Up with the River
“now playing” An Epilogue by Jon Landau, Producer, Titanic and Avatar
Opening scene from the movie AVATAR: WE ARE FLYING through mist, a dimly glimpsed forest below.
We are very low over the forest now, gliding fast,
the drums BUILDING to a PEAK --
SCREEN CUTS TO BLACK.
FADE IN. JAKE’S FACE, in icy darkness. CLOSE ON his eyes -- they OPEN
Last scene from the movie AVATAR: MOVE INTO CLOSE-UP on AVATAR JAKE as Neytiri’s hand
comes into frame, stroking his cheek. TIGHTENING slowly to--
EXTREME CLOSE-UP JAKE’S EYES. Hold a beat, then -- . They OPEN
110 “NOW PLAYING” | JON LANDAU
As you can see from the screenplay, Avatar begins and ends with the same image… Jake opening his eyes. I have always viewed these two bookends as a challenge to the audience to open their eyes. Open their eyes to see that one’s actions have an impact on both the people and the world around them. Books, movies, plays, essays and songs can all be metaphors for the world in which Jon Landau, on the set of Avatar. we live. These forums give the author the chance to be provocative about real issues without offending those who might see things from a different perspective. These stories cannot preach, but they can inspire others to see or think about things differently. As was the case with Avatar, the end of many stories sees a door closing on one chapter, but also offers the opening of a new door to the next chapter with its own possibilities and challenges. The stories in this book might end in 2016, but in each subsequent year, more stories will evolve that will require their own pages. After reading this book, I understood why it was written -- to encourage us to think about what the next chapter will be, and who can and should influence it. When making a movie, a plot is created to tell a story, but it is the themes of a movie (or any story) that resonate and have meaning. Oftentimes, themes come out of stories told about far-away fictional places, but from time to time you find a real story that brings together so many different themes in one place, it can seem like it was invented. That is the way this book reads to me. It takes place along the last 100 miles 111 Growing Up with the River
of a real 2500-mile-long river valley. There have been so many stories told and lessons learned on the river’s banks. When people ask me what type of movies I want to make, I tell them movies that have themes that go beyond their genre. To me, the plot is what you leave at the theater, but the theme is what you walk away from the theater with. From a literary perspective, the stories within this book do exactly that. You finish your read with an emotional connection to the stories, and you are inspired to make a difference as you move forward with your own life. You ask the question, “How will the things we do today affect tomorrow?” My wife Julie and I are friends of Dan and Connie and share their love of the natural world and their desire to engage others in an appreciation of our remarkable resources. When they told us one night at dinner about the stories in this book, we were immediately intrigued and wanted to know more. We had a lot of questions about the amount of history -- and its relevance to others-- that they said was packed into this small piece of geography in the middle of the country. Having read the book, I was amazed by the riveting plot twists that unfolded in front of me. A Historic Hermann Museum Before movies, in the early pristine, undiscovered wilderness morphs into a civilized 1900s, people needed entertainment like this landscape settled by immigrants from around the globe in just a traveling bear with its owner in Hermann. few decades. A few decades later, most of the large animals have 112 “NOW PLAYING” | JON LANDAU been killed for food and fur. Forests along the river are harvested to power steamboats, and the river that brought the steamboats becomes a threat to the civilization that has been created. Parrots that roost along the river and flocks of pigeons, so numerous they darken the sky, go extinct. Coal smoke causes plants to die. A railroad prospers then fails. People are forced from their houses and off their farms to build an explosives plant that pollutes the land. All of this happens in the lifespan of a tree that grows from an acorn planted in the wilderness at the beginning of the story. Thanks to people similar to the Burkhardts who cared about the land, the discarded railroad track has become a wandering bike path amidst nature’s majesty. The land on which the explosives plant once sat has become a conservation area that will provide breeding grounds for new generations of birds that won’t be lost. It is stories such as these, ones that both entertain and inspire, that we have a responsibility to share with our children. The future is theirs. The themes in this book can easily be told of similar generational stories set in the Florida Everglades, Wyoming’s Grand Tetons, Louisiana’s bayous, or countless other treasures of our great planet. Hopefully, this book will challenge the next generation to open their eyes so they can appreciate the wonder of our world. And maybe, just maybe, this book will inspire some of its readers to make a difference in protecting our world for future generations.
Jon Landau Islamorada, Florida and Los Angeles, California July 2016 113 N
EXPLORE W E MISSOURI RIVER COUNTRY S A lot of country close to the city!
Lewis and Clark were among the first to explore the Missouri River, but there’s still plenty to discover. Enjoy these excursions and activities for learning about the history and scenic beauty described in Growing Up with the River.
8 19 10 9 18 11 21 13 12 20 22 MISSOURI17 30 14 16 15 29
23 27 28 26 25 24
114 1 GATEWAY ARCH 16 PEERS STORE Treat yourself to the Museum of Westward 17 TRELOAR ELEVATOR Expansion at the Arch. It’s on the Mississippi but it’s about the Missouri. 18 ST. JOHN'S UCC CHURCH 19 MCKITTRICK TRAILHEAD 2 OLD COURTHOUSE AND COAL TOWER 3 CITYGARDEN 20 DEUTSCHEIM STATE HISTORIC SITE 4 MERCANTILE LIBRARY AND HISTORIC HERMANN MUSEUM 5 CONFLUENCE POINT STATE PARK 21 HERMANN FARM 6 RIVERLANDS AUDUBON Discover an authentic living history farm in the Take a fall or winter outing to Riverlands Audubon Missouri River valley, the Hermann Farm and to see migratory birds like white pelicans, Museum, with its restored buildings, livestock trumpeter swans and bald eagles while learning and tours. Hermann more about their flyway. West Alton 22 BERGER 7 FORT BELLE FONTAINE PARK 23 NEW HAVEN RIVER WALK 8 LEWIS AND CLARK BOATHOUSE Spend an afternoon in New Haven and get close See full-sized replicas of their keelboat and other to the Missouri River by taking a stroll on the boats from the Corps of Discovery. St. Charles River Walk. Imagine the frozen river as a source 9 BUSCH CONSERVATION AREA of ice years ago. Front Street, New Haven 10 WELDON SPRING 24 WASHINGTON RIVERFRONT PARK AND INTERPRETIVE CENTER WASHINGTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY Visit the Weldon Spring Site & Interpretive 25 SHAW NATURE RESERVE 7 6 Center. You’ve read about the “explosive” history Explore the Whitmire Wildflower Garden at Shaw of the area. Now watch the movie, tour the prairie Nature Reserve in the spring or summer to see 5 and climb the seven-story rock mountain for an some of Missouri’s most beautiful native plants. amazing view. Highway 94, St. Charles Gray Summit 11 WELDON SPRING HIKING TRAIL 26 PURINA FARMS 12 KLONDIKE PARK 4 27 LABADIE 13 DANIEL BOONE HOME 28 ENGLEMANN WOODS Tour the Daniel Boone Home and Village to 29 HEAD’S STORE imagine the life of America’s greatest frontiersman and his neighbors. Defiance 30 SMOKEHOUSE MARKET
3 2 1 14 AUGUSTA TRAILHEAD–FIRST AMERICAN FOR DESSERT VITICULTURAL AREA (AVA) Pick some of nature’s bounty to celebrate your sweet Visit and study the trailheads along the Katy Trail – tooth throughout the growing season. Blueberries, Weldon Spring, Augusta, Dutzow, Marthasville, strawberries, blackberries, peaches, apples – check their Treloar and McKittrick – to learn all about the calendars so you know when to pick. Centennial Farms small towns and life along the railroad line. in Augusta and Thierbach Orchards in Marthasville www.bikekatytrail.com 15 MARTHASVILLE TRAILHEAD AND FURTHER WEST ... AND LA CHARRETTE MARKER Schedule a trip to Kansas City and check out the Arabia Find the one October weekend each year when Steamboat Museum – Missouri’s version of finding a the Deutsch Country Days festival gives us an sunken treasure ship. Downtown Kansas City opportunity to revisit the 1800s and see how Find Missouri's biggest oak tree, the McBaine bur oak, Missouri’s early settlers lived. near mile marker 170 on the Katy Trail near Columbia.
115 Growing Up with the River
glossary
Chapter One Louisiana Purchase. On July 4, 1803, the United States completed the purchase of Biggest boat imaginable. what is today the middle third of the U.S. from France. The The keelboat or “barge” was built to William Clark’s price was $15,000,000. President Jefferson ordered the Lewis specifications and had a single square sail. It was 55 feet long and and Clark Corps of Discovery Expedition to explore this new had 20 oars. The boat could carry 24,000 pounds of equipment purchase and to document the natural resources and wildlife of plus a crew of 22 men and one very large dog, Seaman. a growing nation. Their dog. Meriwether Lewis acquired his loyal Newfoundland, Seaman, in 1803. During the expedition, Seaman required surgery due to Chapter Two a beaver bite and was stolen by Indians but later returned. The Flatboats, keelboats, mackinaws, steamboats. Corps of Discovery is thought to have eaten 200 dogs during These vessels represented a wide variety of small to large boats their journey– but not Seaman. that were transporting goods and people on the river by 1832. St. Charles. This would be like describing the vehicles on a highway today – St. Charles was originally settled by the French and called Les compact cars, vans, trucks and buses – since they were various Petites Côtes or the Little Hills (1769). A few years later, it came sizes and had different purposes. under Spanish control and was for a time known as San Carlos Stone mill. del Misuri (1791). Later the name was changed to St. Charles. A short distance from Boone’s home, a Boone family member Daniel Boone. built a large stone building, a gristmill that ground wheat into Daniel Boone was a folk hero and a true frontiersman in the flour. The mill served as a place where people gathered not late 1700s. He came to Missouri from Kentucky in 1799 and was only to grind grain but to talk to each other about hunting, granted land and given titles and responsibilities by the Spanish farming, trading and their neighbors. authorities. He and his family lived near the Missouri River, and 10 bushels an acre. he died in his son Nathan’s home in 1820. In 1832, this was a good corn crop. Today’s farms in this area Pawpaws. can produce 200 bushels of corn from one acre. The Lewis and Clark expedition gathered and ate the fruits Femme Osage Valley. from the pawpaw trees that grew along the banks of the river. Oral histories tell us that Femme Osage Creek was named The pawpaw is called the “poor man’s banana” because it tastes because a young Osage woman died where the creek flowed like mango and banana. Even today, grocery stores don’t sell into the Missouri River. The creek flows through the property pawpaws so the only way to eat this wild fruit is straight where the Boone Home is located, and the Femme Osage from the tree. The pawpaw is also the only host plant of the Valley is a spectacularly beautiful drive in the countryside. Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. 116 Chapter Three Springhouse. On farms, small buildings were constructed where cool, No slaves or slaveowners lived in Hermann. 58-degree water from underground springs flowed through to Missouri was unique in that slavery was opposed or supported chill products that we keep in the refrigerator today. on a county-by-county basis. Most Germans who immigrated to Missouri in the mid-1850s were staunchly anti-slavery and had Prussia. no slave labor on their farms. Prussia pre-dated the formation of Germany as we now know it. In 1871, the German Empire was formed under Prussian Now there was war. leadership. Revolutions, coups and many changes followed until Abraham Lincoln was elected President in November 1860 Prussia officially ceased to exist in 1947. with almost no support from southern states. By February 1861, seven states had left or “seceded” from the United States. Actual fighting began in April 1861 with an attack on Fort Sumter in Chapter Five South Carolina and soon spread throughout the country. KATY. Confederate prison. In the 1890s, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) railroad was built The Confederacy, or the South, was fighting to maintain slavery along the north side of the Missouri River, connecting the area to and the plantation system under the mantle of states’ rights. They St. Louis and points east. The railroad was nicknamed “the KATY” had many of their prisoner of war camps in Georgia with the and even inspired a song, “She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a biggest in Andersonville. St. Louis was home to several northern, Mule to Ride,)” Taj Mahal (1968) and Blues Brothers (1980). or Union, prisons that held captives taken by Union soldiers. Glosemeyer’s Store. Gold Rush. With the arrival of the railroad, many local stores sprung up along Gold was discovered in 1848 near Placerville, California. More the route. Glosemeyer’s (in Peers, Missouri) opened in 1896 and than $2 billion worth of gold was found – that would be almost was run – for most of its history – by a member of the Glosemeyer $25 billion today. The Gold Rush hastened the admission of family until 2012. It operates today as the Peers Store. California to the United States. The 31st state joined the Union as a “free,” non-slaveholding state in 1850. This stopped the Sears Roebuck catalog. spread of slavery to the Pacific coast. In the early 1900s, the Sears catalog was like Amazon.com today. Sears distributed goods of all kinds from its Chicago headquarters and mailed catalogs throughout the United Chapter Four States with photos and drawings of products that many people – Second Christian Church. especially in rural areas – had never seen. The catalog’s arrival Like much of the U.S. at this time, New Haven’s church was highly anticipated. congregations were segregated by race. Second Christian Crystal clear water. was an African-American church. A subsequent black church, Before the 1904 World’s Fair, St. Louis’ drinking water was the Anna Bell Chapel, was built in 1894 and remains today. often brown and muddy, just like its sources – the Missouri and Ice. Mississippi Rivers. For the Fair, many beautiful white fountains The Missouri River was a source of many things for early were constructed and to make them look their best, engineers Missourians, including an innovative way to keep food discovered a process to filter and clean the water. cold. The river froze solid in most years and in places like Grain elevators. New Haven, the ice was cut, stored and delivered to homes One of the main reasons railroads were so valuable in these into the summer months. times was because they provided a way for farmers to get their Icebox. crops and livestock to the cities to sell. Large grain elevators were For families in cities and small towns, frequent home ice constructed along the railroads to store grain at harvest time deliveries were available and an insulated “icebox” held the until it could be loaded onto trains. Elevators still exist in a few block of ice. places along the Katy Trail, including Treloar and Marthasville. 117 Growing Up with the River
Chapter Six Chapter Seven Hobos. Confluence. During the Great Depression, many men who couldn’t find The two largest rivers in the United States come together, or work often simply left their homes and began “riding the rails”– create a confluence, eight miles north of the Gateway Arch. traveling in railroad boxcars from town to town, looking for This was called “one of the greatest confluences in the world” food and work of any kind. by early explorers. The area around the Confluence creates Prohibition. some of the best habitat in the country for migrating ducks, For years, crusaders had worked to “prohibit” the manufacture geese and white pelicans. and sale of beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages in the “Taken” by the government. United States. In 1920, they succeeded with a nationwide In the fall of 1940, the federal government ordered the 576 constitutional ban. In Missouri, many wineries and breweries residents of the communities of Toonerville, Hamburg and went out of business when this occurred. Howell – and 130 farm families in the area – to move from their Levees. homes. They were given six months to leave. Their homes, Flooding was a big problem for farms and towns along the barns, churches, schools and stores were demolished or burned river, sometimes catastrophic. One solution to flooding was to to the ground. Work began immediately on a large facility to build levees – structures made of dirt – to keep floodwaters from manufacture explosives. coming into farm fields and towns. Busch Wildlife Area. Model T Ford. In 1947, Alice Busch, the widow of August Busch, provided More than 15 million Model Ts were manufactured and sold in $70,000 to purchase a portion of the land “taken by the America by the late 1920s, representing more than 40% of all government” for the war effort. This 7000-acre parcel was cars sold. They sold for $300 and had a top speed of 40 miles donated to the Missouri Department of Conservation and per hour. became the Busch Conservation Area. Coal smoke. Missouri Department of Conservation. In many cities, including St. Louis, the burning of coal for Until the creation of this state agency in 1936, Missouri lacked home heating, running factories and generating electricity an effective way to protect the wildlife of our state. Deer and resulted in devastating air pollution. Coal smoke and its soot wild turkey had been hunted until there were few remaining created health problems for people, animals and plants. The and the habitat they needed to survive was in danger. problem was finally solved when a new kind of cleaner burning coal was required. Chapter Eight Register to vote. Wine cellar. Only men were allowed to vote in elections until Congress Wineries started by Germans in the 1800s had stone wine passed the 19th Amendment. It was ratified by the states in cellars that were dug by hand. These cellars, built more than 1920 and women were given the right to vote. 150 years ago, are still in use today at wineries in Augusta Old country. and Hermann. Wine was stored in wooden barrels and aged Immigrants often referred to their original homes as the “old in these cellars with a constant, cool temperature for several country.” The problems that caused Germans to come to months or even years. America looking for a better life had not been solved by the Longest bike path in America. early 1930s. Unemployment and social problems that resulted The Katy Trail runs right on top of the railroad that used to from World War I were about to trigger World War II. be the KATY. In the 1980s and 1990s, after the railroad was sold, the track and ties were removed and a gravel path was installed. Today the 238-mile Katy Trail is the longest bike path in America, stretching from St. Louis almost to Kansas City.
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Old chemical plant. Huge rock mountain. After the Weldon Spring plant was used for wartime explosives This massive, 41-acre rockpile on Highway 94 covers the toxic manufacturing, it continued to manufacture hazardous remains of the buildings that manufactured explosives and materials. The plant finally closed in the 1960s, but it took years other war-related items for decades, as well as the components to clean it up and to prevent ongoing pollution in the area. and byproducts of those factories. The highest point in Monarch “milkweed” butterflies. St. Charles County, it is today a fascinating visitor experience Monarch butterflies are suffering from many threats and in the center of a popular conservation area. studies suggest that they could be extinct in the next 20 years. Forest ReLeaf of Missouri. They suffer from both lack of milkweed plants and from threats Forest ReLeaf, located in the floodplain, gives adults and to the areas where they spend their winters in Mexico. children an opportunity to be involved in growing and planting First winemaking region. trees, particularly native trees. www.moreleaf.org. Because Missouri’s historic vineyards helped to save the vineyards Killdeer. of France in the 1800s, Missouri became the first official U.S. Killdeer nest on the ground in rocky areas and are one of the American Viticultural Area (AVA) on June 20, 1980. The Napa most entertaining birds in Missouri. Adult killdeer pretend Valley in California received this honor eight months later. to have broken wings and attempt to lead predators away from their nests by calling and flopping around. The babies Chapter Nine are immediately able to run as soon as their feathers dry after hatching. This trait is known as “precocial.” American white pelicans. One of the largest birds in North America with a wingspan of Bush honeysuckle. almost nine feet, these birds migrate though Missouri from the Bush honeysuckle was introduced to the St. Louis area in the western United States in March and October. early 1900s and was thought to be a beneficial plant. A truly invasive species, it has become one of the main threats to the Flyway. forests and fields of Missouri. It strangles native plants and A lyway is a superhighway used by birds for migration. In the wildflowers and creates a “dead zone” that is not good for other U.S., there are five main flyways. The Mississippi Flyway that plants or animals. www.stophoneysuckle.org passes over the Confluence is one of them. Bur oak tree. Audubon Center at Riverlands. The bur oak tree planted in Chapter 1 and rediscovered in Chapter Learn more about flyways at www.riverlands.audubon.org and 9 is not a specific tree. It symbolizes two important concepts: the visit their educational facility near the Confluence. value of planting trees and the relatively short period of time that has Floodplain. produced all of the changes described in our book. A bur oak can Floodplains are natural flooding outlets that exist to absorb a live 350 years. There are many bur oaks along the Missouri River that river’s overflow from heavy rains. Since the devastating flood of have witnessed the events in this book. 1993, thousands of acres of Missouri River floodplain have been converted from corn and soybean fields to commercial and industrial use. Water plant. Near the Missouri River on Hog Hollow Road are the facilities that provide much of the drinking water for St. Louis and St. Charles counties. Water treatment plants like this one take water directly from the Missouri River and process it into safe, Connie Burkhardt shown high-quality drinking water. Because of the Missouri River, with her able assistant St. Louis has one of the most reliable sources of water in the U.S. copy editor, Wolfie.
119 Growing Up with the River
learning more about Missouri River Country
The backstories for every chapter in this book could fill a library shelf. Here are a few unique sources on the river, early settlers, art, architecture, immigration, and growing up along the Big Muddy.
A History of Washington, Missouri, Ralph Gregory, 2000. Painting Missouri: The Counties en Plein Air, Big Muddy Blues, Bill Lambrecht, 2005. Karen Glines and Billyo O'Donnell, 2008. I Didn't Know That, Stanley Wilke, 1999. A collection of Steamboat Legacy: The Life and Times of a newspaper columns about historic Washington, Missouri. Steamboat Family, Dorothy Heckmann Schrader, 1993. La Charrette: A History of the Village Gateway to the American Frontier Visited by Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone The Arts and Architecture of German and Zebulon Pike, Lowell M. Schake, 2003. Settlements in Missouri: A Survey of a Vanishing Culture, Charles van Ravenswaay, 1977. Lewis and Clark's Journey Across Missouri, Missouri Department of Conservation and Missouri Life Magazine, 2004. The Development of Missouri: A German Immigrant’s First-Hand Account of Life in the Missouri Backwoods, Gert Goebel, 1879. Missouri River Country: 100 Miles of Stories and Scenery from Hermann to the Confluence, Daniel A. Burkhardt, 2013. The Man Who Planted Trees, Jean Giono, 1954 and 1985 (fiction). Missouri Wine Country: St. Charles to Hermann, Dianna The Missouri, Rivers of America Series, Stanley Vestal, 1945. and Don Graveman, 2010. The TNT Story, www.thetntstory.blogspot.com New Haven: The Early Years, A Pictorial History 1836 - 1956, David Warren County, Images of America Series, Dorris Menke, 1997. Keeven-Franke, 2011. New Regionalism: The Art of Bryan Haynes, What Wondrous Life: The World of George Husmann, Linda Walker Bryan Haynes, 2013. Stevens, 2002.
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