DNR and Tourism

It's been a week since the media tour of the Shut-Ins and five days since the public was allowed back inside the park. Yet outside of a press release there is nothing on the DRN web site or the Johnson's Shut-Ins web site that tells you what to expect when you visit the park. I would hope that DRN would post photos of the Boulder Field and the Auto Tour and add a narritive about what happened and what is planned. Someone in Jeff City doesn't understand that most people plan their vacations by doing research on the web. So if anyone at DNR reads this please see it you can get the ball rolling and get these web sites updated and relevant.

Good Old Days

I've come across a 65 year old (1941) vacation guide book that was put out by the St Louis Post-Dispatch. The following is from that book.

Black River Lodge

An attractive resort located on the crystal-clear Black River. Surrounded by ten acres of beautiful blue grass lawn and plenty of shade, it is an ideal place for rest and recreation. There is plenty of amusement at Black River Lodge, including horseback riding, swimming, fishing, dancing, ping pong, tennis, ect. The excellent meals are served in real country style and include plenty of fresh eggs, milk and butter, and, of course, chicken. Only 110 miles from St. Louis -- Highway 61-21. For information or reservations, write:

WM. ORTH


Peola Bluff Resort

Located on Black River. An ideal place for the entire family. Restful surroundings, plenty shade, electrically lighted. Fishing, swimming, boating and different kinds of summer sports. Good meals; home-grown vegetables. Write for low rates.

E. A. KAPELSKI

I believe that the Peola Bluff Resort was located where Camp Taum Sauk is now.

A Prairie Home Companion

If you love Lesterville and Black River I assume that some of you also love Prairie Home Companion. I started listening to PHC 30 years ago in Des Moines. My son would go to bed on Saturday night listening to stories of Lake Wobegon. In the late 80's we always took a small radio on scout camping trips. The photo above was taken in Springfield after one of Garrison's one man shows. One June 9th, Robert Altman's movie of PHC will be in theaters and tomorrow night HBO has a special on the making of the movie. For someone that loves PHC it doesn't get any better that this.

Shut-Ins Numbers

During the three day weekend the Shut-Ins had over 400 cars each day, with an estimated four people per car, that works out to 4,800 visitors. Not bad by the way I keep score. At the pottery we had a very typical Memorial weekend, both in terms of visitors and sales.

Aquatic Life

At last Thursdays meeting a man who said he owned property on the East Fork said that he thought the river was dead. He had not seen any aquatic life on his part of the river. I asked some of my customers about their river experience this weekend and one man said there were more tadpoles, frogs, and turtles near BRL than usual. There is probably some truth in each statement.

ebay

I have ebay send me an email anytime the word "Lesterville" come up in the description of an item listed on their site. This was my notice today. Wonder is anyone will be selling a photo of the Shut-Ins damage in 2043?

The Park Hills newspaper has done a great job of covering this event. This is their article about the reopening of the park.

River's Fine

Everyone that came to the pottery today said they found the river just fine. One long time customer told me that the beach at BRL is better than it has been in the last few years. And there are more swimming holes than in the recent past. So hope that everyone that comes down this summer has a similar experience. Except for the early heat this has been a great holiday weekend.

The Park is Open

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch had an article about the reopening of the Shut-Ins. I hope I can find out the approximate number of people that visited over the weekend and post that information by mid-week.

There are also a lot of updates posted on ExperienceBlackRiver.com. Here is a photo that Kevin Perry posted from his visit to the pottery on Friday. Here is a link to the new travel stories that Kevin has posted.

11am May 27

During the public meeting at the Shut-Ins Thursday evening a Lesterville businessman predicted that tourism income would be down by 75% by the end of the summer. Don't think anyone bothered to tell these people.

Ameren PR

Here is a link to an Ameren news release about the opening of the Shut-Ins and encouraging people to visit the Black River area.

New Photos of Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park

Here is a link to photos that Ameren has posted of the Shut-Ins park. Now if we can just get DNR to update their web site.

Dinner at Wilderness

The dining room at Wilderness Lodge in now open to the public on Friday and Saturday nights from 7pm to 9pm. Pam and I wanted to take advantage of this event and had a great fried chicken and mashed potato dinner. So if your in Lesterville on the weekend and want a great meal in a wonderful setting give Wilderness a try. They don't require reservations, but it wouldn't hurt to give them a call (637-2295) to see how busy they are.

Holiday Reading

Here is a link to the report that the Independent Panel of Consultants prepaired for FERC on the Taum Sauk event.

Two Shut-Ins Stories

Here are two links to stories about the opening of the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park.

Southeast Missourian

St Louis Post Dispatch

Life in Paradise

As I headed back to my van after the public meeting I turned and this is what I saw to the SE. So while there are some in Lesterville that feel that their world is coming to an end and things will never be good again, I feel lucky to be able to live in such a beautiful place and its a bonus that I can make a living right here. So look forward to seeing all of you when you make a return to Paradise.

Boulder Field Babes

A group of young women have been hired by the park service to act as guides on the Boulder Field Trail. And while its not P.C. it was decided during our tour that they should be known as Boulder Field Babes. They even thought that maybe they should learn the theme song to The Flintstones.

Shut-Ins Tour

After taking a tour of the state park this afternoon I hope I can convience all those that read this to make sure you take the time and visit the park while you are in the area. Perhaps the most memorable experience was walking through the Boulder Field Trail. This is an area located between the scar on Proffit Mountain and the main road into the park. All of the large boulders that washed down the mountain, and these were not the boulders that made up the reservoir, but the rock that was ripped from the mountain by all the water are scattered across a large, almost desert landscape.

River View

I've had a couple of requests for a current photo of the river from the new bridge at BRL. This shot was taken at 9:30am this morning. I think you can see down about three feet.

Shut-Ins Story

Here is a link to what will probably be the first of many stories about the opening of the Johnsons Shut-Ins State Park.

Float the East Fork?

The CBS station from Cape Girardeau had a news story on Lesterville tonight. They taped from the East Fork near Twin Rivers and talked about how the river was still dirty and wondered if as many people would come to float. Duh, has anyone reading this ever floated the East Fork. I tried once 30 years ago and it was like the river in the African Queen. They did interview Bob Franklin and he had some honest comments about the situation on the river. I would love to have a survalence camera on the bridge at BRL and record how many people go down the river this weekend. I'm betting it will be just like all the other Memorial weekends. Tomorrow I get to go on a tour of the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. I'll post my reaction on Friday morning.

Missouri Tourism II

Just received an email from Tracey Berry, Missouri Division of Tourism, with the following message. "I will get the page updated with the new information ASAP."

It will be interesting to see what ASAP is to state government.

It only took 15 minutes to put the right info out. Congrats, but I wish government departments talked to each other so a citizen didn't have to keep tabs.

Missouri Tourism

The official tourism site for the state of Missouri, VisitMO, has the following information - "On Dec. 14, 2005, Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park was damaged by flooding following the failure of Taum Sauk Reservoir. The State Park is closed until further notice..."

You would hope that a week after DNR put out a news release about the opening of the park this Saturday and after most of the states newspapers published articles about the park opening that the Department of Tourism would get its act together.

A few years ago I saw an interview with a "mover and shaker" from St. Louis. He said if you saw a tourism ad on TV from Missouri and you turned off the sound and couldn't tell if you were watching Missouri or Arkansas it was a bad ad. What he was saying and I believe is unofficial policy is come to Missouri and visit St. Louis, Kansas City, and Branson. The rest doesn't matter. Those of you that have visited the Lesterville area will probably find the VisitMO site a poor effort at promoting the area, with or without the Taum Sauk event.

Mirage?

We've been told for months that "the river's ruined" and that "nobody is going to get in the river."
On my way to the post office this afternoon I thought I saw six bright blue 8 man rafts full of people floating down the river near Wilderness Lodge. Guess it was a mirage.

Upper Reservoir II ?

On May 19, FERC sent Ameren a letter with comments about the reports that have been submitted to FERC. Here are some statements from the letter that I found interesting.

The BOC has concluded that a reinforced concrete faced symmetrical RCC dam is
the preferable option for re-building the upper reservoir dam and should be further
evaluated. We concur with this finding.

As indicated by the BOC, the selected dam section and material properties must
provide a safe and adequate structure to suit the foundation condition of the reservoir site.

The likely magnitude of earthquake-induced offsets must be determined because such
offsets could crack the concrete and cause increased uplift. In addition, large offsets
could cause degradation of dam/foundalion contact strength. The post-event stability
must be evaluated.

The section must be stable for the over-pumping case.

Please provide the Commission with as much information as possible so that a comparison
between the existing upper reservoir and project operation, and the proposed rebuilt project
features and operation can be made. Following our review of your proposal, we would be
in a better position to provide you guidance regarding which procedural regulations apply to
your proposed rebuilding of the upper reservoir.

It will be some time before a final report and whether FERC provides permission for Ameren to proceed with the rebuild, but you can see that work is going in that direction. If you want to read the entire letter it is on the FERC web site under correspondence.

New Bird

I'm not a serious birder (except for my hummers) but when I see a new bird it is exciting. This afternoon I saw a Summer Tanager for the first time. Not a red as a cardinal and definitly not a Scarlet Tanager. So if you come to the pottery this summer look for this guy on the fence in the front pasture. It would be great to see him with a Indigo Bunting which you can also see out in the front pasture.

More Weather

We went to Farmington this morning and where Highway 21 turns west and Highway 49 goes south at Glover (for those of you not good with a compass I'm talking about the place on 21 where you can see the two big smoke stacks ) there was water over the highway. We could hear a lot of thunder around 6am, but only got a half inch at Peola Valley. So for those of you coming down for the holiday weekend, there should be lots of water in the river and temps in the high 80's.

Weather

It started raining about 4am and by 9am we have almost an inch of rain. If you look at the weather forcast it looks like another rainy week. Those of you coming down for Memorial Weekend may not find the river as nice as this weekends guests experienced.

River Report

Well it's as if the river troll spent Thursday night cleaning the river. Everyone that came to the pottery today said that the river look fine, better than they expected, given all the doom and gloom reports during the last few months. It really does look better than it has for some time. Guess the only fly in the ointment is if they start cleaning out the Lower Reservoir and some of that clay gets washed down the East Fork. But for the first weekend at BRL everyone seemed happy.

Riversedge

A loyal customer, that always comes to Riveredge Campground to ride her horse, stopped by the pottery yesterday. I asked for her opinion on the changes at the campground. She said that the new owners had made a significant improvment to the grounds and buildings and she liked a number of the changes in the campground rules. She felt there was room for more improvment, and that the new management seemed prepaired to continue their efforts. It's good to see all this work going on along Peola Road.

River Reports

Kevin Perry, the editor of ExperienceBlackRiver.com just stopped by the pottery. He said he had posted an article about his last 24 hours in Lesterville. Just checked and he had some nice things to say about the pottery. Yesterday he took a six hour float/fishing trip that started from the Middle Fork low water bridge. Kevin said that below BRL there were spots where he could see the bottom in about four feet of water. I also saw an old friend that has a cabin on Hyatt's Creek road on the other side of the river from Camp Taum Sauk. He also said he was please at how the river looked from his cabin. So maybe the high water of last week did some good cleaning. The East Fork at Highway 21 near Twin Rivers still looks cloudy.

Let the Season Begin

For each person I'm sure there is a different time/date when they feel that the Summer Season is here. It could be when the hummingbirds come back or when the dogwoods bloom. I know that a couple of the campgrounds have been open for a few weeks and I have seen Bob Franklin out in his old school bus, so he must have some canoes on the river. But for me its the weekend before Memorial Day, because tonight there will be guests at BRL and tomorrow the pottery will be full of old friends. I hope to button hole a few of the BRLers and have them write about their weekend experience with the river. Right now the weather doesn't look that great, but hopefully the weekend won't be a rain out.

Encourage you to read the comments to the last post and add you own.

Tale of Two Families

Here are parts of two notes that I have received recently.

Our first canoe trip of the season is just a few weeks away and we are anxious to see the river. Plesae keep up the good work letting us know about the river!

I was just wondering if you could tell me how bad the river is looking this year. My family visits BRL every year but this year we are considering not coming. We drove down in March to check things out and the water was very muddy and carried a lot of debris. There was no beach at the lodge either.

So I would like to hear from others about their plans and fears. Leave a comment or send me an email to peolavalley@yahoo.com

Shut-Ins News

Articles appeared in a number of papers this morning with information about the reopening of the Shut-Ins.

Here is the link to the DNR press release.

5K

As of this morning there have been 5000 visits to this blog since last December. Thanks for caring!

I received a letter from DRN inviting me to join other Black River business owners in a tour of Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park next Thursday. So for those of you coming down for the Memorial Day weekend I will try to post some photos and descriptions on the blog on Friday, May 26. I hope that everyone that comes down this summer will schedule some time to go out and see what happened at the park and how much progress has been made to put it back together. There is still no drinking water or flush toilets at the park, but they are bringing water in and have porta-a-potties available. The store and office are scheduled to be open by the 27th.

Need a Coffee Mug?

Here's a link that I found interesting. For a guy that has made 10,000+ mugs in the last 22 years, I don't know how I managed to miss this offer. In fact I'm firing a kiln tomorrow and there are 80 mugs sitting in the kiln waiting to get hot.

If you are coming down for the opening weekend at BRL the weather looks good. It sure was cold and grey most of today, but we have blue sky this evening.

Nixon Delays Suit

An article in Business Week Online has information about a delay in the suit against Ameren by the State of Missouri.

In other news I saw two signs on Highway 21 saying that the Shut-Ins would be open to the public on May 27, for day use only and no water access.

Meeting Rescheduled

A public meeting is planned for 7 p.m. Thursday, May 25th at the entrance of the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park. Representatives from DNR will provide an update on water quality in the Black River and the lower Taum Sauk Reservoir.

Pottery Schedule

The Pottery will be open on Saturday from 9am to 4pm, but we will be closed on Sunday, Mother's Day.

$73 Million

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other papers are reporting that the cost of the Taum Sauk event could reach $73 million. This does not cover the cost of a possible rebuild. If you want to read the actual SEC filing go to this link and scroll down to page 47.

River Report

It has been over a year since the river was this high. For those of you fimiliar with the BRL area the water is flowing over the ground on the east side of the river where the old bridge stood. There is no beach on the lodge side. However, the river is not high enough to get out of its banks and cover any of Peola Road. At Riversedge Campground it would have to come up another 18" to 24" before it started over the road. So let's hope that by next week when its back down it have cleared up a little.

Weather and Maps

The sky is blue and it's 48 degrees this morning. We had another inch of rain yesterday afternoon and evening. The East Fork gauge is as high as its been since it was installed. Peola is still high, but I think I'll be able to get out this morning, so I'll post a river report later today.

Don't know how long this map has been on this site, but I just discovered it last night. The map is a large pdf so it may take a while if you have a dial up connection.

Local Opinions

This weeks Mt Echo (Ironton's newspaper) had an article about last Fridays meeting with Rep. Emerson. Since the paper is not online I'm going to lift part of the story.

Elmer Winingar, owner of Winingar Service Station in Lesterville, was the first to speak up. He said there were too many government agencies involved, with no coordination between the contractor and sub-contractors. "I'd like to see one person be in charge and make decisions," said Winingar.

Dennis Gawronski, owner of Lenny's Convenience Store in Lesterville, agreed. "They are doing absolutely nothing to get the lower lake clean," said Gawronski. "All we want is the river to be back the way it was. I've been pushing for a powerspray cleaning."

Gawronski discussed the powerspraying idea with Emerson, saying he thought it would be a good thing to at least try, from the lower reservoir all the way to Clearwater Lake in an effort to clean the Black River.

Emerson talked about having a meeting with AmerenUE officials and local business owners on compensation and river clean-up.

Its my opinion that the rain today will do more to clean the river than an army of powersprayers. But the lower reservoir will have to be cleaned out inorder to keep the clay from continuing to come down stream.

Enough Rain, Already!

Two and a half inches in the last 24 hours and its raining again. Forcast is 90% chance of heavy rain. Peola Creek is up again and I assume that the river is also. This could be the event that really causes the Black to get up and out of its banks. We'll have to wait and see if that is a good thing or not. If Peola goes down enough for me to go out for the mail I'll give you a river report.

Black River Businesses

In early February I posted a link to a news release about a claims office that had been set up by Ameren at Wilderness Lodge. I did not avail myself of this offer because I felt that my pottery business would be just fine this summer. Over the weekend I received an email from a local businessman that makes me believe that Ameren offered low interst loans to area businesses that felt they were going to suffer reduced business this summer. I'm sure that many of the businesses were expecting an outright grant for their losses. The soap opera continues!

Upper Reservoir II ?

While Ameren has not committed to rebuilding the Upper Reservoir and FERC has not given them permission to procede, the Board of Consultants that FERC appointed to review the event has made the following recommendations.

The Board of Consultants (BOC) met at the AmerenUE Company offices on April 21, 2006 for the third BOC meeting to discuss the foundation exploration work plan and the re-build alternatives for the Taum Sauk Upper Reservoir.

The BOC concludes that a safe and adequate structure to retain the upper reservoir for the Taum Sauk plant can be constructed with either the conventonal RCC (Roller Compacted Concrete) dam or the concrete-faced symmetrical dam.

The BOC considers the concrete-faced symmetrical RCC dam the most advantageous and their preferred solution design for the rebuilding of the upper reservoir.

The next meeting of the BOC is scheduled for June 6-9, 2006.

So work is being done to decide if the rock under the existing dam is strong enough to build a new dam and if the rock in the existing dam could be used to make the concrete for the new dam, assuming that a new dam is ever built.

Same Story / Another View

Here is a link to another reporters view on the Friday meetings with Rep. Emerson. While all this complaining is going on, the new owners of Wilderness Lodge are spending thousands getting the lodge ready for the season. The dining room has been redecorated and a new menu will be available after Memorial Day. You will now be able to stop by Wilderness for a meal instead of having to make a 24 hour reservation. And horseback riding is returning to the lodge after years of absence. Plus a large crew has been at work on the grounds, and their efforts look great.

Emerson Tours Taum Sauk

Eighth district Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson toured the the Shut-Ins and the Taum Sauk Reservoir on Friday. I'll have to put in an editorial comment that may not be popular with my fellow Black River businessmen. We just made more sales in April than any April since we have been in business. And its not just my normal loyal customers. A couple that flew to St Louis from San Francisco to visit family, rented an car and drove down to see what it was all about. Another couple from Kansas City were just here yesterday. And finally a couple from Wisconsin, that worked at the "Y" camp in Potosi years ago came back and rented a cabin on the river and spent three days and bought a bunch of pots while they were here. So some people may be having a slow year, but I'm not and I think we will have a great summer.

Money and Meeting

DNR has released information on the amount it has billed Ameren for personel and material expenses at the Shut-Ins during the first three months of 2006. I'm sure that some politician wanted this figure out in the public, because Ameren has probably spent 20 times this amount or more since December 14. And the job will not be finished for at least one more year. When the final report is made I'm sure that the financial figure will be astounding.

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has postponed its monthly informational meeting on water quality in the Black River and progress at Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, which was scheduled for May 8 at the Lesterville High School in Lesterville.

The meeting will be rescheduled later in May. A new time and place will be announced when details have been finalized.

River Hills Traveler

The May issue of the River Hills Traveler has an article and editorial about the Black River area. I'll try to pick up a copy next Monday and let you know what they say. The following is from their web site.

The continuing situation on Black River below Taum Sauk Lake and Johnson's Shut-Ins was the subject of several stories, including one on a float trip on Black. Fishing was good, but the river's depths could not be seen. There's also an editorial opposing a possible deal that would let Ameren-UE off the hook on cleaning up Black River in exchange for giving the state some other things.

We had a half inch of rain last night, but today has just been cool and cloudy. Guess we might still get some more water tonight.

New Work

Just so you don't think that all we do is sit around and worry about the river and the Shut-Ins, here is a tile piece that we have just fired. This particular work is being submitted to an exhibition in Minnesota.

Meeting / Shut-Ins

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources will hold the sixth in a series of monthly informational meetings Monday, May 8, to discuss progress made on water quality in the Black River and recovery efforts at Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park near Lesterville. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Lesterville High School.

I don't know if DNR plans to continue holding these meetings during the summer season, but if they do I hope those of you down at the time of the meetings will attend and put your two cents in.

I was told yesterday that 6000 feet of cyclone fence will be installed at the Shut-Ins park to seperate the area open to tourists from the area still under construction. The work on the East Fork above the "Shut-Ins" will be the big focus this summer.

Flood

For those of you that have been to the pottery, we had two inches of rain last night around midnight and we are flooded in this morning. Peola Creek is up and moving. I just called Wilderness Lodge and they said that the river was not up from yesterday. I checked the river gauge on the East Fork and it is falling from yesterday, so this appears to be a Peola event.

There are a lot of newspaper articles about the FERC report. Here is a link to the Kansas City Star's article.

So if you wanted to visit the pottery you will have to wait until tomorrow at the earliest.

Upper Reservoir

If you live in Missouri you have probably heard that FERC has issued its first report on the Taum Sauk Reservoir. I'll try to go through it and post links to the most important findings.

Here is a link to the Kansas City Star article on the FERC report.