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Preface.

 First, I must offer a special thanks to all the wonderful floaters of whom over the years I have had the pleasure to meet, and for whom I have had the privilege of playing a part in their enjoyment of the Meramec river. Witnessing their appreciation of the river has had a profound and eternal effect on my own appreciation of this wonderful stream, and played an instrumental role in my motivation to research and produce this text. My feelings of appreciation and concern for our depleting natural environment have been reinforced through my experiences as a canoe liveryman, but their origins go much deeper into my personal history. On introspection of my past I find images lurking in my memory, of boyhood, and long walks along the bank of the Mighty Mississippi near St. Louis. As I inspect the images, I see pictures of drainpipes of every size and description pouring unknown substances of every color, texture, and odor imaginable into the river, and snapshots of huge sewer-pipes gushing raw sewage continuously and relentlessly into the mix. There are morose likenesses of floating bloated fish bodies littering the banks and collecting in the quiet coves and backwaters. Some with bizarre looking growths and sores on them, some looking contorted as though they died by a most unpleasant tortured means. There are also other images, of my parents and I on long drives through the country-side, searching for and finding crystal clear country springs and streams, beautiful forgotten farm ponds, and lost lakes deep in the woods - all teaming with life and nature's beauty. These experiences form the foundation for my respect and admiration of our natural world earth, and also provide me with a first-hand knowledge of how fragile the balance of nature truly is, and defenseless against the consummate greed and exploitation of man.

The condition of the Upper Meramec can still (for the most part) be considered pristine, and though some laws designed to protect the natural habitat have been enacted, this stream is not immune to the threats of industry or development, or exploitative and inconsiderate usage. If the production and distribution of this information serves (in any way) to raise awareness and increase the likelihood that this precious stream will be more seriously respected, protected and preserved, I will consider it a glorious success.

About fifteen miles Southeast of the town of Salem in Southeastern Missouri, near the junction of Dent County Roads 559 & 560, a spring-fed brook begins its journey North. Before long, the brook merges with the ‘Dry Branch’ (on the right), ‘Wofford Branch’ and ‘Carty Branch’ (both on the left) and becomes the source of the Meramec River. For many millions of years the Meramec has been carving its twisting, sometimes tortuous 240 mile course into the solid rock of the Ozark Plateau, scouring its way through a deep, slowly widening valley, bordered by limestone bluffs and steep hills. It is joined along the way by innumerable springs, creeks, and four large tributaries, which transform the Meramec into a one hundred yard - to two hundred yard wide flood plane stream at its confluence with the Mighty Mississippi eighteen miles below St. Louis.

Maramec spring (note the spelling) is the first of the four major contributors, it pours an average volume of one hundred million gallons of cold clear water into the Meramec per day, swelling the river to twice its size. It is interesting to note that the Dry Fork, which is about the same size as the Meramec in that area, loses most of its volume underground to become a major contributor to Maramec Spring, and in a round-about way - a major contributor to the Upper Meramec. Over the next thirty miles, the inflows from many smaller branches turn the river into a prime stream. Then, from the right, the translucent waters of the second and largest of the headwater contributors, the Courtois--(pronounced code-away)--Huzzah creek, mingles with the Meramec, giving it the impression of a truly big river. Swirling on past Onondaga Cave (Leasburg), Meramec State Park (Sullivan), and the Meramec Caverns (Stanton)--all on the left-- the Meramec receives the cloudy waters of the Bourbeuse River--its only major contributor from the west. As the darker waters flow on, the valley widens, and the river becomes a series of long, slow, wide pools, connected by short, fast, riffles. Around twenty-five miles below the Bourbeuse River confluence, the last major contributor, the Big River, flows into the Meramec from the right. Now, even wider and more sluggish, it enters the Mississippi flood-plain, and wends its way another thirty miles before draining into the Mississippi.

The name “Meramec” is of Algonquian Indian language origin, and means “ugly fish” or “catfish”, which were abundant in its waters, however, it is possible that the river is named after a band of Miami-Illinois (Inoka) Indians.
According to Michael Mccafferty, Algonquian linguist specialist in the Miami-Illinois language and expert in Algonquian place names/river names in the Midwest. “The river is noted and its name is given in the dictionary prepared by the Jesuit missionary Antoine-Robert Le Boullenger. The name in the Miami-Illinois language is myaarameekwa 'catfish'. Myaar(a) means 'ugly' and meekwa means 'fish'. (the double-e is what is termed a "long vowel" in Algonquian, and is pronounced like the ai of 'rail'.)”
Also according to Mccafferty, that name was given the Meramec for one of two possible reasons: “1) Actually, it *is* possible that this stream did indeed have an noticeable abundance of catfish. This may seem unlikely, but we do know for certain that other streams, for example the Tippecanoe and the Eel rivers of Indiana, were each named after a kind a fish that lived in their respective waters in outstanding abundance (the first is the name for buffalo fish, a species of carp). In Miami-Illinois the term is kiteepihkwana.
or
2) it was named after a band of Indians known as the "catfish".” and “It is not impossible that myaarameekwa was the name of a Miami band, since we see in history references to "the Miami of Meramec". Or it just may be that this group of Miami were living on the Meramec River.”

The name of the Mississippi is also of Algonquian origin, derived from their term mihsisiipi, meaning ‘Big River’. Also, the title of this state Missouri is of Miami-Illinois origin, from the Miami-Illinois Indians' name for the Siouan—speaking tribe known as the Missouri Indians. The term "Missouri" comes from weemihsoorita, meaning “one who canoes,” “one who has a canoe”.
-SPECIAL THANKS TO MICHAEL MCCAFFERTY-

Even in geological time, the Meramec is a very old river. It does not drain its northeastern section of the Ozark Plateau with the reckless abandon of a mountain stream. Instead, it meanders through the landscape in a countless succession of bends, riffles, and placid slow stretches, each of which is another small step in the Meramecs eight hundred foot decent from the Ozark Plateau to the Mississippi River.

There is no need for a special knowledge of the past to enjoy the Meramec. The natural beauty of the landscape along its banks provides most travelers with a deep appreciation. It evokes in me a special feeling of connection with my primordial past. A past in which our ancient ancestors prospered and gave birth to civilization around rivers, and whose lives were inextricably linked to the streams, for many thousands of years. I believe that out of that relationship has evolved a deep, basic affinity for the picturesque, natural setting of a river such as the Meramec.

That is not to say however, that an understanding of how this river and its features came to be is in any way the least bit detrimental to enjoying the experience of it. Indeed, to me, knowing the story of the Meramec has enhanced my appreciation of its character and features and also increased my spiritual feelings of ancient links and natural existence. It is the great age of this river that creates the splendor and allure of its setting. To understand how it got this way, we must go way back in time, to the geological formation of the underpinnings of the entire region of the Ozark Plateau.

The Ozark Mountains form a 50,000 square mile dissected plateau which lies chiefly in southern Missouri, but partly in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. The (3980) square mile Meramec Basin lies at the northeastern tip of the plateau, and forms a watershed which runs generally northeast into the Mississippi valley. Five hundred million years ago, before forces beneath the earth's crust pushed the Ozark Plateau up into existence, it was part of the bottom of a huge shallow warm sea. Over millions of years, sediments accumulated on that ocean bottom, and minerals within the sediments and the sea water combined to create huge beds of calcium magnesium carbonate. With the passing of time and the pressure of successive layers of sediment, the beds solidified into stone. Most of the rock is white dolomite limestone, but trapped within the beds were gelatinous blobs of silicon dioxide which, when compressed, became the extremely hard chert rock from which the Indians fashioned their spear and arrow heads. Also, scattered throughout the formations were sand-like deposits which became sandstone. Some time around four hundred million years ago, forces beneath the earth's crust repeatedly pushed up and resubmerged the area of the bedrock that became the Ozark Plateau. A process of great erosion and resedimentation occurred, which is sometimes evident in the visible divisions or layers in the exposed rock bluffs interspersed along the Meramec's course. Those scenic bluffs, composed mostly of dolomite, are the result of millions of years of erosion, and the abrasive action of sand and mud in the Meramec's waters cutting through the rock like a sort of "liquid sandpaper". Since dolomite is softer than chert and more susceptible to the dissolving action of water, the gravel bars below the bluffs usually contain higher concentrations of chert than normally exist in the rock beds, because much of the dolomite has been washed away.

Within the rocks appear the ancient fossil graveyards which tell geologists the story of the elevations and resubmergence of the plateau. Like pages in a history text, each layer of sediment bears the remains of the creatures that existed at that time. They provide the clues needed to suggest when that particular layer of sediment was deposited. The best place to see this geological record is around the rim of the basin because the wind and water erosion that occurred from successive uplifts washed away much of the record in the Meramec valley, suggesting the large scale scouring that took place. The river itself was undoubtedly an instrumental force in etching away much of the record of millions of years of the development of its valley.

The winding path of the Meramec is a result of the gradual uplifts of the plateau, which, rather than forcing the river to carve a straight headlong rush down the valley, allowed it to take its meandering course. The slow rises in the terrain were not abrupt enough to force the river to deviate drastically from its course, but did however, slowly increase the force of its fall with each small uplift, causing the river to dig a deeper and deeper trough in the rock.

The many distinctive caves which exist in the Meramec Basin were once gushing springs, and are also a byproduct of the uplifts. Beneath the soil, the porous dolomitic bedrock acted like a huge sponge, soaking up the mildly acidic water which seeped through the layers of soil above. Over long periods of time, the water etched and dissolved cavities in the softer portions of the rock, and the cavities expanded and connected to become springs. In reality, springs are part of the plumbing in a massive water collection and redistribution process. Hydrostatic pressure from the moisture in the soil above pushes the water down through the rock cavities, which channel it back up to the nearest opening to the surface like an upturned faucet, creating the cold, crystal clear springs so common to the Meramec Valley. Maramec Spring, which is the largest to join the Meramec, has an average flow of almost one hundred million gallons per day, and in a series of five successful dye trace studies was shown to gain its volume from a recharge area of approximately three hundred ten square miles.

The numerous caves which permeate the Meramec Basin are also a part of the vast deep plumbing system, and due to the uplift of the entire area, were raised above the hydrostatic pressure level, to become open air cavities. The loss of much of the soil above the caves through erosion reduced the pressure from above, and reduced the volume of the seepage waters that caused them. It is hard to imagine that the famous massive caves of the area, such as Meramec Caverns and Onondaga Cave, were once huge flowing pipelines, but indeed they were. At that time, there were none of the wondrous, awe inspiring formations found in the caves today, for these occur during the declining final stages of a caves life. As the water seeping into the cave from above loses some of its carbon dioxide content into the caves atmosphere, it becomes less acidic, which allows previously dissolved minerals in the water to crystallize. Slowly, relentlessly, the mineral formations, and minute particles of soil seeping through from above fills the cavities, in a sort of reversal of the process that formed them. Beneath the surface of the Meramec Valley is a virtual honeycomb of flowing, silted up, or hollow cavities, of which new ones are discovered regularly, and any well driller can attest to.

Since most of the geological records of the Meramec Valley have eroded away to the primordial bedrock, it is difficult to pinpoint the earliest history of the river in its present course. We know that it occurred sometime after the extinction of dinosaurs, at the end of the reptilian age, some 75 million years ago. Cone bearing evergreen trees similar to today's firs and pines covered the uplands, and the uniform warmth of the entire planet began to change. As time passed, a gradual cooling effect occurred on certain portions of the planet surface, and subsequent climatic changes caused ancient life forms to adapt, or perish. Deciduous trees evolved, which could drop their leaves during cool periods, and whose seeds were enclosed in protective shells. Smaller plants evolved, which could retreat to their roots during hard times, allowing their tops to die; these became the perennial herbs and grasses of today. The changes in climate also had an adaptive effect on animal life. Small creatures who had survived the dinosaur age evolved: first into flying reptiles; then, through ingenious diversification and adaptation, became our modern birds. Early mammals, who managed to persist through the reptilian age, slowly evolved into a diverse community of wildlife who roamed the landscape along the Meramec. Tapirs, giant sloth's, bears, wolves, saber-toothed tigers, jaguars, peccaries, and the predecessors of today's elephants roamed the woodlands along the Meramec.

About two million years ago, the Ice Age began. Four times the enormous accumulations of heavy snow in Canada became compacted into great rivers of ice, and inched their way southward to the point where their melting occurred faster then their advance. Of the four, the last advance came closest to the Meramec, leaving granitic rubble a mere 50 miles to the north. It was probably a time of numerous gushing streams and springs, and large scale erosion, but did not destroy the landscape that had already been carved by the river. It did however, force a southward migration of the plant and animal community, which returned centuries later with the retreat of the ice. It is conceivable by some, that the pressure from the immense weight of the ice, through the action of plate tectonics, contributed to the last gradual uplifts of the Ozark Plateau.

The Ice Age, and subsequent uplifts, changed the environmental character of the region. At the first assault of the ice, a landscape of soft contours, low hills, and a broad swampy valley existed. Ridge loving oaks, hickories, and cedars clothed the hills, and sycamores, willows, cottonwoods, and other swamp loving varieties filled the lowlands. As the region continued to elevate, and drainage increased, the river kept cutting its trough deeper into the bedrock. Eventually, the lowlands became hilltops, and the swampland trees vanished except along the low, wet, river bottoms.

During the interglacial periods many of the beasts of the era perished, some went into extinction, some still exist, but they all left abundant bone records of their passing in what were once swampy pits and sinkholes, and in the mud of caves. Among them were two elephant like beasts; the Woolly Mammoth, and the Mastodon. The Mammoth, with its coarse fur, was adapted to cooler, open areas, and probably lived along the glacial frontiers. Its teeth were similar to those of a horse, suggesting that it grazed on low plants, and one tooth could fill a man's hand. The sparse evidence of its existence in the Ozarks is probably an indication that this area was the southernmost edge of its range during glacial advances. The Mastodons, however, left abundant remains in the Meramec basin and were surely quite common. Similar in size to Mammoths, but less hairy, their teeth were adapted to grinding coarse materials such as leaf bearing twigs and bushes, and they dwelt in the woodlands.

The Ice Age occurred over a period of around two million to twenty thousand years ago, and is considered recent in geological terms. Though it exacted a heavy toll in some of the era's animal life, it also created the opportunity for the ever-changing patterns of life to produce new species, as well as a continuing specialized evolution of those that survived. After the Ice Age, and the last elevation of the Ozark Plateau, there occurred an overall enrichment of the diversity of life. Though clearly influenced by the geological changes, topography and climate also contributed strongly to the development of the vast assortment of life that exists there now.

The hills of the Ozarks were quite steep, and apt to slope off in many differing compass directions, depending on the drainage pattern of each individual locale. But, because the valley runs generally west to east, the sun always shines from the same general southern direction. Therefore, south facing slopes experience conditions that are much hotter and drier than those facing north. This results in a system of many variations of the two contrasting environments, and the opportunity for a grand variety of life from both environments to exist within proximity of each other.

Of equal influence is the position of the Ozarks in the north American continent. Located right in the climatic transition zone between the drier western prairies, and the dense, humid eastern forest land, the Ozarks have become the home for life forms characteristic of both areas. The diversity of life includes more than a thousand flowering plants, two hundred varieties of birds, sixty various mammals, fifty different reptiles, and uncountable species of insects. Also, within the Meramec and its tributaries live a hundred species of fish, forty types of mussels, and thirty kinds of amphibious life.

One might easily imagine a characterization of the Meramec's first human inhabitants as people similar to American Indians, galloping through the woodlands on horseback, or navigating the river in dugout canoes and hunting game with the bow and arrow. But, it is much more likely that they traveled on foot, and hunted the Mastodon and other Ice Age mammals with spears.

The Paleo-Indians

The first humans to dwell in the Meramec Valley are called Paleo-Indians, and they arrived around 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. They were Orientals, who probably traveled in small hunting bands. It is believed that they migrated eastward out of Siberia to North America, across the Bering Strait (which was then dry because of the massive impoundment of water in huge northern ice domes), and may have followed the mastodons and woolly mammoths down an unglaciated corridor into the continent. The Clovis point, which is a large and finely crafted spear head, is the most significant artifact of their existence. Clovis points are extremely sharp, fluted, and designed to allow the spear to be withdrawn from a wound for repeated thrusts into a large formidable prey. Paleo Indian artifacts have been found at a number of sites in the Meramec Basin, and Clovis points have been found among disarticulated mastodon bones, yielding proof of the association between the oriental hunters and the mastodon. Because of their unencumbered nomadic lifestyle, the Paleo-Indians left scant clues to their culture, and neither did their successors, the Archaic Indians, who were probably descendants.

The Archaic Indians

The lengthy existence of the Archaic Indians lasted from around 8000 to 1000 BC, and is arbitrarily divided into four periods: the Dalton, and Early, Middle, and Late Archaic. Little evidence of them has been found in the Meramec Valley itself, having been either washed away, or covered with silt. But campsites have been found around the edge of the Ozark Plateau, which they used repeatedly, for thousands of years. One of the most revealing sites of their occupation is at Graham Cave, which is located around forty miles northwest of the Meramec Basin. Though they spent at least part of each year living in cave openings or under bluff overhangs, which had warm southern exposures overlooking stream valleys, they did not dwell very deep into the caves. The earliest Archaic Indians are best known for a characteristic stone point they used, called the Dalton. It is designed for hunting game smaller than the mastodon; with its triangular shape, serrated edges, and flared out corners at the base. A spear or dart with this point could not be easily withdrawn from a wound, and the hunter would have to follow the animal until it fell. The Archaics also invented a noteworthy advance in hunting technology, called the atlatl. It was the predecessor to the bow and arrow, and consisted of a wooden or bone handle which was a little longer than the hunter's forearm, knobbed at one end, with a notch for the base of a medium sized spear. Gripping the atlatl firmly, with the spear held against it by the index finger, the thrower used an overarm heave, releasing the spear at the proper time to propel it forward with great force and accuracy. These Indians made a slow cultural advance from strictly hunting and gathering, to (by the Late Archaic period) the less nomadic utilization and cultivation of plant food, mainly squash. Clothed in mammal hides, they slowly became adept at tanning, and stitching leather with tiny bone needles, and there is some evidence at Graham Cave that they wove coarse materials into fabric for mats and baskets.

The Woodland Indians

The Archaic Indians eventually succumbed to the passing of time and the power of evolution, and a new culture of people emerged, called Woodland Indians. They were most likely Archaic descendants, and made some important advances in the development of native man. Their stone points were much smaller, with corner notches, indicating that they were the first to use the bow and arrow. They also initiated the use of pottery and baskets to store food, and at about the time of Christ, began trading with outside cultures.

Chert rock, so useful in making points and tools, and common to the area, was a valuable resource of the time, and the Woodland Indians traded it extensively. They also traded the rich iron ore at Maramec spring and other locations (used to produce crude tools such as mauls and axes), and the red ocher pigment found in the ore, which was highly prized by all cultures of that period. They exchanged these resources for pottery, and pottery making skills, and eventually developed their own unique brand of earthenware.

They lived in small villages, on sparsely wooded terraces overlooking the Meramec, and also maintained campsites under the overhangs of bluffs. Their toolmaking skills are clearly evident in the large variety of implements they made from bones and shells. Mussel shells were fashioned into spoons or hide scrapers; antlers provided pressure flaking points for working chert into arrowheads, spearheads, knives, and drills; needles, awls, and pins for making baskets and stitching were made of bone; and clay pipes and beads are also found among their artifacts.

The Mississippians

The isolated Woodland Indians of the Meramec valley prospered around 400 AD, but by 900 AD had declined and disappeared without a trace. During their decline, a new advanced culture of people evolved. They are called the Mississippian Indians (or mound builders), after the great river valley they inhabited. Skilled at farming, they dwelt in sizable towns, and built large earth mounds which were used for burial and temple sites. Trading over a wide area, they conquered the Mississippi in dugout canoes, and a group of them lived directly across from the Meramec's mouth. Several sites in the lower Meramec valley show signs of their habitation, such as pottery shards at old salt springs and chert deposits not far from Fenton. Also, on many rock outcrops near the Big River in Washington State Park, they left petroglyphs, which are believed to symbolize the initiation from youth to adulthood.

The Historic Indians

The Mississippian culture flourished between 900 and 1300 AD, and then, as the Woodland culture before it, mysteriously declined. By the time of Europeans first recorded arrival in the Mississippi valley in 1541, the local population had ebbed for over a century. The first white men to set eyes on the Meramec in the 1670's found the area vacant of prehistoric Indians and, for the most part, historic Indians as well. The Maroa or Tamaroa tribe of Indians (probably Mississippian descendants), lived in Illinois, across from the Meramec's mouth. They knew the valley well, and acted as guides on many of the first white mining expeditions into the area, directing the French adventurers to age-old crudely worked sites of rich lead and iron deposits, and salt springs. Occasionally, mobile bands of Algonquin Indians passed through the region on hunting or marauding excursions; members of the Sac and Fox tribes came from the north; Osages from the west; and Delaware's and Shawnees from the east. Later, during Spanish control of the Louisiana territory in the late 1700's, Delaware and Shawnee villages were established on the Bourbeuse river and Courtois-Huzzah creeks. It was hoped that they would help control the marauding bands of Osages terrorizing the small mining camps, but this proved to be of no avail, and the last Indians to actually live in the Meramec valley, the Shawnee and Delaware, were eventually driven west into the Indian Territory.

With the arrival of civilization and recorded history, there emerges a better sense of the rugged unyielding nature of the Meramec and its valley. Native Americans had undoubtedly been negotiating the river in pirogues or dugout canoes for a long time before recorded history began, but on a smaller scale, and their stories will never be known. However, the story of civilized man's attempts to use the Meramec as a waterway, communication, and commercial trade route is well known, and reveals the true nature of the river- a nature which has existed since long before the encroachment of man.

The rocky terrain of the Meramec valley was covered with dense hardwood forest, and not advantageous to agricultural development, or easy transportation, but still held a bounty of its own- a bounty of ore. Beginning in the early 1700's, mining opened up the area and resulted in many shipments of Lead and Iron down the Meramec to the Mississippi and markets beyond. Fur trappers no doubt made their way up and down the river, harvesting hides for sale or trade. These were the predecessors to the great fur trapping and trading enterprises which opened up the west along the Missouri river and made St. Louis the fur- trading capital of the world. Those early river men, in their Pirogues, Flatboats, and Keelboats, had to deal with a continuous array of shallow riffles and treacherous snags so characteristic of the Meramec. Often, shippers stockpiled their cargo until the rainy season raised water levels enough to make navigation possible. After the development of good wagon roads and then the railroad, cargo shipments on the Meramec rapidly declined, but continued. The development of railroads created a huge demand for cross-ties. The hardwood forests of the Meramec Valley proved a perfect source for the ties' raw material, and fashioning them provided a subsistence lifestyle for the local settlers. The local men floated the crudely hacked ties down the Meramec to the nearest market to be sold to the railroad.

The quest for precious metals first brought civilized man to the Meramec Valley. In 1541, Hernando de Soto led a Spanish expedition to the area because of rumors of gold and silver. When the expedition ascended the Mississippi River, it sought a place called the "land of the Cayas", the alleged home of gold and silver. From its description, the land of the Cayas must have been the Meramec Valley. DeSoto made it as far as the mouth of the White river in Arkansas before an untimely death took from him the opportunity to become the first Ozark miner.

The French missionary Father Jacques Marquette and his companion Louis Joliet were probably the first white men to touch the area, while extending their exploration of the Mississippi River from the north in 1673. Other Missionaries also recorded seeing the mouth of the Meramec in the 1670's and 1680's. Upon passing the mouth of the river they noted native accounts of lead in the area. Experience often placed silver and lead together, so the reports increased the likelihood that previous rumors of the presence of silver might be true, prompting further explorations. Miners found little or no silver, but the lead ore proved to be the highest quality in the world, and by 1700, Indians and perhaps some whites mined it. Jesuit Father James Gravier in his "Journal of a Voyage from the County of the Illinois to the mouth of the Mississippi" recorded that "On the 10th day of October 1700, we discovered the river Miaramigoua (Meramec) where the very rich lead mine is situated 12 or 13 leagues from its mouth. The ore from this mine yields 3/4 metal." At the same time as Father Gravier wrote these words, the Frenchman LeSieur came up the Mississippi as far as the mouth of the Meramec and Pencault, one of his party, officially discovered the first lead in the Mississippi valley along the banks of the Meramec river.

The French Government had no desire to be directly involved in mining efforts in the area so, in 1717, King Louis XV sold the mining rights for the Ozark territory to John Law and his "Company of the West." Law sent the first official mining expedition to the area in 1719, commanded by Phillipe Francis Renault and Ferdinand LaMotte. The party of 400 miners and 500 slaves arrived in the Ozarks in 1720 and to their disappointment found only lead and iron. Renault opened lead mines at Potosi, and La Motte the Mine LaMotte on the St. Francois river. Others of the party came up the Meramec, opening Lead, Copper and Iron mines at the present site of Meramec State Park.

A crew of eight men working the 40-45% pure ore of the LaMotte mine could extract, melt, and refine up to 10,000 pounds of lead per month; the ore of the Meramec mines, which was up to 80% pure, could produce proportionally as much as twice that amount. By 1721 producers shipped tons of lead the 55 leagues down the Meramec to the Mississippi in Pirogues carrying 5000 to 6000 pounds each. Then shippers took it 15 leagues upstream to the Illinois, or floated it downstream to New Orleans, and sent it over the Atlantic to France. Except for a brief period of Osage Indian warfare in 1774-1775 these mines produced continuously from Renault's time through Spanish control and the Louisiana Purchase (1803).

After Moses Austin established the first furnace in Potosi in 1799, and a shot tower on the bluffs at Herculaneum in 1809, the nature of the fledgling mining industry began to change. Local farmers, in the agricultural off-season, worked existing mines or established their own. Using wagons, they took the ore to the nearest furnace for smelting, and the pig lead was taken to the shot towers at Herculaneum or St. Genevieve to be made into cannonballs, rifle shot, or sheet-lead. By 1819, 38 lead mines and 34 lead furnaces operated in Washington County and many more produced lead in surrounding counties.

There is a good deal of historical significance attached to the lead mined from the Meramec Valley. The French used it in the Seven Years War; the Americans in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812; and both sides used it in the Civil War. The Americans used it again in the Spanish-American War and World War I. Much of that lead began the journey to distant battlefields in crude, canoe shaped hollowed-out logs (pirogues - dugouts), or large rectangular shallow wooden boxes (flatboats), floating down the Meramec river.

In addition to lead production, there occurred flour, whiskey, lumber, and gunpowder production in the Meramec valley, some of which were shipped via the waterway. In 1819, 16 water powered Grist Mills were operating on the Meramec and its tributaries. Local farmers would bring the grain to the mills in wagons, to be ground into flour. They sold or traded the surplus flour (if any) down the river. Ten Distilleries were established in the area, along with eight Saw Mills, and a number of Salt Peter caves and a Powder Mill were in operation in present day Meramec State Park near Sullivan.

Settlement of the lower Meramec Valley began after the establishment of St. Louis in 1764, but did not reach the headwaters of the river for another fifty years. During that period many Indian rumors of a "great spring" and an "abundance of a material they treasured and also traded" that was "usable in making heavy tools and that provided red ochre" circulated throughout the area. The Indians had identified Maramec Spring and the iron ore that existed nearby. In the early 1820's word of an abundance of ore sparked the interest of the adventurous iron monger Thomas James from Chillicothe, Ohio, prompting him to prospect the area with his most competent associate Sam Massey, in the summer of 1825. They found the place perfect for the production of iron: a large bank of ore, hematite, hardwood timber from which to make charcoal for the furnace, limestone for flux, a large outcrop of sandstone nearby with which to build a furnace, and the large flow of the spring to satisfy power and all other water needs.

During their exploration of the area Massey and James inspected the Meramec River and believed it to be a suitable shipment route to and from the Mississippi. Upon their departure for the trip back to Ohio, they had decided to return and establish an ironworks at Maramec Spring. They spent the winter of 1825-26 planning and making arrangements to build an ironworks in the remote Missouri wilderness. They had to transport a small community, with all the equipment and supplies necessary to build the ironworks, some 600 miles from Ohio to Maramec Spring.

With Massey in charge, the crews set out early in the spring of 1826, some by wagon, some by keelboat down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, then up the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Meramec, and up the Meramec as close as they could get to the Spring. By September of 1826 everyone had arrived and construction of winter quarters had begun.

From the very beginning, the Meramec (as a shipping route) proved to be a disappointment to James and Massey. Not even the first keelboat load of supplies made it upriver the full 172 miles to the Iron Works, nor did many in the years to come. The Upper Meramec, except for seasonal rises, was just too shallow and contained too many snags to permit even light class keelboat and flatboat passage. Massey would not be discouraged by the hauling problems and continued to transport shipments up the Meramec. He chose the town of Selma, in Jefferson County, fifteen miles below the mouth of the Meramec, as the dropping off point for the keelboat loads of large heavy equipment and supplies needed for the Iron Works. At Selma, the closest town on the Mississippi to the Iron Works (65 miles overland, 175 miles by river), the goods were loaded on flatboats and taken up the Meramec as far as conditions would allow, then transported the remainder of the journey in wagons. If the river was too low or frozen, the goods could be transported by wagon the 65 miles to the Iron Works.

The furnace began production in late 1829, creating the additional problem of transporting the bar and cast iron products to the markets along the Ohio River, where they were in high demand. The real problem of getting the products out of the Meramec Valley to the Mississippi River prompted Massey to order numerous, often costly, attempts to navigate the Meramec. The difficulty was not getting the shipments down the Mississippi and up the Ohio rivers; that could be accomplished easily and reasonably by steamboat.

The Iron Works owned and operated three flatboats which could haul up to 100,000 pounds of blooms each. In May of 1832 a crew of Massey's men successfully cleared the Meramec of logs and snags, and floated some shipments down to the Mississippi. But it soon became evident to Massey that the Meramec would not be the answer to his hauling problems. The River fell rapidly from the Ozark Plateau to the Mississippi, which sometimes caused large and unexpected fluctuations in the water level, making passage difficult or impossible even after improvements. In desperation, Massey even tried hauling the blooms part way to the Mississippi in wagons and floating the rest of the distance, but still experienced many costly failures, and by 1835, he had seen enough, and except for a few isolated high water attempts, ceased shipments down the Meramec, and sold the company flatboats.

Shaken, though undaunted, by their failure to utilize the Meramec, Massey and James turned their attention toward another route: down the Gasconade river to Missouri river to the Mississippi. They began sending wagon loads of blooms the 30 miles to the present day town of Paydown on the Gasconade. Unfortunately, they encountered the same problems as on the Meramec and, despite numerous costly attempts to keep the channel clear, the Gasconade failed to be a reliable route. All Shipments stopped in 1852. Having no other choice, Massey and James turned their attention to the overland routes, which they used extensively until the advent of the railroads.

All the while Massey and James tried so hard to find a way to get the blooms to the Mississippi by waterway, a complex system of roads was developed to serve the retail market in the area. Like spokes of a wheel the roads radiated from the Iron Works in every direction, and every sizable town had an outlet store where Iron Works products were sold on a commission basis. The most used road ran from the Iron Works to the Missouri River at Hermann, known as the "Iron Road", and followed the same general course as today's Highway 19. The road to St. Louis, known as the "Wire Road" took the same general route as I-44. The Maramec Iron Works played a significant role in the development of the Meramec Valley. In a unique development, the major industry came first and then settlement occurred around it, rather than the usual pattern of industry following settlement.

Developers established other Iron Works along the Meramec at Moselle and Scotia in 1849, and Irondale on the Big River in 1857. They also made attempts to ship their products down the river, but experienced the same problems as had Massey and James, and abandoned the practice for the more costly yet reliable method of overland transportation.

During the 1850's, the development of the railroads from St. Louis into the Meramec Valley and beyond, started a long and successful era of shipping on the Meramec. An era in which everyone from the poorest backwoods farmer to the rich railroad baron had a role, and the harmony between the river, its valley, and the people who settled there produced a significant contribution toward the taming of the West.

The timber of the Meramec Basin, comprised mostly of oak and other hardwood trees, did not contain the large stands of virgin pine that are so easy to harvest and valuable to construction. Subsequently, the lumber barons who cleared the southern Ozark Plateau passed over the area, leaving the hardwood forests to be harvested by the small scale operations of the area's occupants. The construction of rail lines into the general region created a huge demand for hardwood cross-ties. The Pacific Railroad (which later became the Missouri Pacific) came first and ran westward along the Missouri River to Jefferson City; the second, the Iron Mountain Railroad, followed the eastern edge of the Meramec Valley to Ironton; and the third, the Southwest branch of the Pacific Railroad (which later became the Frisco) followed the general route of I-44 to Rolla.

It takes three thousand cross-ties to lay a mile of track. A significant number of the ties laid down across Missouri and the Great Plains came from the Meramec Valley. Many frontier farmers made much needed cash by hand-hacking cross-ties in the agricultural off-season. Working alone or with a small group of others, they would fell medium sized trees, cut them to length (eight feet), and using a broadax, hack them to the correct dimensions of six by eight inches. After scoring them for identification, they hauled the ties in wagons to the Meramec or nearest floatable tributary, stacked them above flash flood range, and when the water level reached the proper height, floated them down the river to the nearest rail crossing or market. They floated the ties either singly or in rafts, depending on the size of the channel. A tie usually brought the hacker less than fifty cents for all his arduous labor.

Despite the low wages, tie hacking provided a means of subsistence, and for some, became more than a seasonal occupation. In the years after the Civil War, many of the tie hackers who had exhausted their own supply of timber reverted to living by the old outdated code of early settlement times in which wild lands were open to free pursuits. They trespassed indiscriminately, and when asked where they got the trees, would answer "On Grandma's land", as an indication that they had stolen them. From these practices grew the cult of the tie hacker and his depiction as a shiftless, untrustworthy character. In spite of the increased settlement and private ownership of the lands, the Ozark Tie-Hacker persisted in his trade until he no longer needed to float "Grandma's trees" down the Meramec. He could haul them to market with a secondhand old truck.

The decline of commercial shipment on the Meramec does not by any means indicate a decline in the significance of the waterway to the lives of the people who inhabit its basin. Beginning in the late 1800's, the Meramec became a focal point of escape to the masses of the nearby metropolis of St. Louis, a playground for those who needed to get away from the hot, congested, city environment. At first, float fishing in jonboats attracted well-to-do anglers and their families to the upper Meramec. The jonboats (an Ozark invention), were up to twenty-four feet long but as little as three feet wide, and usually belonged to local river men, who also acted as guides. Up to four anglers could fish from such a boat without interfering with each others lines. It became so popular that some local farm families advertised in a St. Louis tabloid for summer boarders to come and enjoy the pristine natural environment of the area. And come they did, via the Frisco railroad, to the town of Cuba. Often whole families would come, and stay from one to four weeks. They would fish, hike, swim, ride horses, and occasionally help with chores. Both families were enlightened through the shared experiences, and bonds grew that served to reunite them every year.

By 1895 St. Louisans were well acquainted with the lower Meramec, and the establishment of the Meramec Highlands recreation complex (just west of Kirkwood) provided access to the river on a much grander scale. Built to attract and serve the huge numbers of people expected to attend the upcoming St. Louis World's Fair planned for 1904, it was less than an hour ride from downtown (on the Frisco railroad), and had its own depot, hotel, rental cottages, dance pavilion, tennis courts, stables (with Mexican burros), boat docks, and indoor recreation facilities. Fun seekers could purchase a round-trip ticket to the Meramec Highlands for fifty cents, or a ninety day pass--good for a hundred rides--for $14.75, and by 1897 a streetcar to the resort operated, which provided one-way passage for ten cents. Business surged and peaked with the World's Fair, then fell into decline. The reasonable rates attracted everyone, including teenagers, and the intended clientele shied away from such crowds. The brief era of the Meramec Highlands ended shortly before World War I, and use of the river slowed during the war, but the allure of the Meramec's inexpensive natural pleasures remained in the minds of the thousands who had experienced it.

By the 1920's the lower Meramec had become a sort of recreational Mecca to thousands who sought relief from the heat and humidity of the urban landscape. Up until that time, canoes on the Meramec had been considered a novelty. They were difficult to build --spruce ribbed, with a skin of stretched canvas--and much less stable than jonboats (due to the contoured hull). It took more skill--but less effort--to negotiate the river in a canoe, so for the purpose of fishing (which had originally attracted people to the Meramec), they had been considered inappropriate. But now, fun seekers found the canoe to be the craft of choice, and they appeared on the river in droves.

Those who consider the Meramec overcrowded now, should have seen places like Lincoln beach (near the old Highlands) and other beaches near Valley Park and Fenton in the 1920's. Overnight hotels, lodges, and clubs sprang up, all of which were in easy walking distance of the river and railroad depots. A ferry operated continuously on weekends, and there was even a floating store. Private clubhouses appeared all along the river, perched on small hillside lots, and sometimes of quite shoddy construction. Many patrons opted to own their own canoes, and the railroad hauled them for free, to encourage commuting. Bankside storage barns were available for summer storage of one's craft and easy river access. Many of the storage barn operators also offered rental boats, and people gravitated to the area by the thousands.

Meanwhile, a resort business developed on the upper Meramec near Steelville, for those who could afford week-long catered vacations. Taking the Frisco to Cuba, they were often bussed to the resort, for as many days of fun and frolic as their finances would allow.

Due to the large numbers of people frequenting the river (many of which could not swim), there were inevitable drownings, and the bad publicity prompted many to view the Meramec as extremely dangerous. As a result, a group of experienced, trained men organized the Meramec River Patrol in 1928. Usually in canoes, volunteers patrolled assigned segments of the river from the first of May to the last of September. They rescued ten people during their first year of vigilance, but improved their organization, and in 1929 boasted of having a role in more than eighty rescues. The Meramec River Patrol were committed men, who voluntarily performed at least twelve hours of duty per month, until the demand for men during World War II decimated their numbers. But by then, they were no longer needed.

During the Great Depression, which preceded WWII, the recreational potential of the Meramec became neglected. The abandoned beaches were overgrown with willows, the lodges empty, and the clubhouses fell into disrepair. After World War II, an era of prosperity occurred which featured the mobility of mass numbers of automobiles, and the people were lured elsewhere. Sites like Yellowstone Park, the Grand Canyon, and the large man made impoundment's of dammed rivers in southern Missouri became the vacationers choice.

In the 1950's the river was still being enjoyed by local inhabitants, and a few habitual float fishermen and die-hard canoeists who frequented the upper portions. These few outsiders, however, were seen as a problem to the local farmers whose lands bordered the Meramec. Many of them had strung wire fences across the river to more easily contain their pasturing livestock, and passing floaters were either turned back (sometimes at gunpoint), or paid a passage fee. In 1954 a test case concerning passage on the upper Meramec came to the courts. It was near the community of Cook Station that a gentleman named Elder and his wife launched their craft at a legal access. They floated and fished harmlessly along, and upon encountering a fence, maneuvered across it, at which time the fence & landowner named Delcour informed them that they could not trespass through his land (which was clearly posted). Disregarding Delcour (they really had no choice), the Elders proceeded, and Delcour filed trespassing charges with the Dent County Court, but the court ruled against him. He then took the case to a state appeals court, which ruled in his favor, upholding the trespass claim. Eventually, the decision landed in the hands of the Missouri Supreme Court, whose ruling is still applicable to all comparable cases concerning Missouri streams. The ruling was made in favor of the Elders, because even though the stretch of the river in question was not navigable in the traditional commercial sense, it had been widely used years before to float crossties to market, and was easily negotiable for floating and fishing. The river therefore, had to be construed as a public resource, and the Elders, who had stayed within high-water banks, could not be considered trespassers.

Since the 1950's, the lower Meramec has fallen prey to the self-serving development of man, through stripping the land for farming, mining enterprises, gravel dredging and development. A notable example of the adverse side-effects of unregulated commercial greed on the environment occurred on the largest tributary of the Meramec, the Big River, in 1977. A huge dike (almost a mile square) filled with Barite ore tailings, and left by the St. Joe Lead Co., burst due to heavy spring rains. Thousands of cubic yards of Barite mine tailings poured into the river through a sixty feet deep breach in the dike wall, smothering the river for thirty miles downstream. Though the lower Meramec has fallen victim to man's thoughtless tendency to choose quick profits and immediate gratification over long term protection of his environment, the upper Meramec is still quite alive and thriving.

Attempts have been made to dam the Meramec, by the Corps of Engineers, and at one point, near Sullivan, millions of dollars were spent forcing people off their land and building the beginnings of the dam. But, the will of the people prevailed, and on August 8, 1978, a public vote killed the project. The Corps of Engineers seemed, at that time, to consider dam building as the answer-all to the problem of failing rivers. But out of the melee, came some redemption for the Meramec. Of the land purchased by the Corps of Engineers, the 20% deemed to have the most intrinsic natural value to the preservation of the Meramec remained in public ownership. Laws were enacted to protect the river's environment, and an easement allowed, along both banks, to act as a recreational corridor for canoeists.

In an apparent effort to recoup its losses, the Corps offered to the people who were forced off their land because of the Meramec Dam project, the opportunity to buy it back over a decade later, before putting it up for sale to the general public. Though the buildings were destroyed, fences collapsed, and fields overgrown, the original owners were often forced to pay much more than the amount they were given when they were pushed out. Some families could not afford the exorbitant prices, and lost forever the land that had been in their families for generations, all for a dam that wasn't wanted, and never happened, and some bitterness still lingers in the affected area.

Presently, the upper Meramec remains a playground for St. Louis, its natural state protected for future generations, and enjoyed by untold thousands of people annually. The industry that has developed around its recreational use pours much needed revenue into a rural economy which often lacks ample opportunities for employment or profitable business ventures. Local float liveries offer a variety of options to floaters; inner tubes, kayaks, canoes, jonboats, and river rafts, are instantly available to satisfy the needs of even the most discriminating floaters. Riverfront campgrounds and lodges offer everything from primitive camping, to horseback trail rides, to catered luxury cabins. Nearby, there is ample state forest set aside for hiking, hunting, and exploring nature, and the natural wonders of Onondaga Cave and Meramec Caverns complete the setting. During summer months, hordes of relief seeking city dwellers, and others, come to enjoy the simple yet satisfying outdoor pleasures of the river. Leaving the noisy hustle bustle of modern life behind, they lose the stress, and relax for a time, while gliding over cool clear water, past scenic bluffs and forests. People of all walks of life and socioeconomic levels come and enjoy the natural environment and, in the water or on the beaches, many of the social trappings and divisions which normally separate them disappear. After all, as the river rises from many connected sources to become one, we are all part of a river of humanity, equally connected to our genetic ancestral sources. What better way can there be to renew the connection with our primordial past, and revive the pleasure of our natural heritage, than being in, on, or around, the Meramec River.

(This is a concise excerpt from 'The Meramec: Then and Now', the book itself contains much more information and many photo's, drawings and other graphic illustrations).

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