Gasconade Train Wreck

Each turn of the river has a story to tell and knowing them as you pass adds greatly to any river trip.
For the boater floating past the mouth of the Gasconade river all you have to do is look upstream from the mouth of that tributary and you will see a modern railroad bridge a couple of hundred yards above the confluence. This bridge is about 5 years old and is the fourth built over the Gasconade at this point.
The first was completed in 1855 as the Pacific Railroad was extended from St. Louis to Jefferson City. A point of real pride for the railroad and citizens of the time, the opening of this section called for a great celebration.
On November 1st of that year during a cold and severe thunderstorm, a train consisting of the engine and 15 cars was to be the first to traverse the new section. Crammed with more than 600 people, most from St. Louis, this train also carried many dignitaries of the time.
Upon reaching the river the engine started across and had just reach the first pier when the span beneath it collapsed. The engine carrying among others, the president and the chief engineer of the Pacific Railroad Company, tumbled backwards and upside down into the river.
The rest of the train continued onward until all but the last car had run off the embankment and piled into the river as well.
The town of Gasconade was little more than a grist mill on the riverbank at the time and the site of the train wreck was in a very rugged and remote area. The nearest town, Hermann, about six miles east, was overwhelmed by the injured. A hospital train was dispatched from St. Louis to assist in the care of those hurt in the accident. By the final tally 31 people including the chief engineer had lost their lives and several hundred were treated for a variety of injuries.
The Gasconade train wreck ranks to this day as the worst rail disaster in the history of the state of Missouri.

Osage Customs

The Osage tribe was the predominant power in central Missouri when the first trappers and explorers arrived on the scene in the early part of the 18th century. Tall, handsome warriors by all accounts, they were fierce in battle and always ready to defend themselves against their foes. Allied to the Missouri and Otoe tribes they held most others in contempt. They maintained ties to the French and later the Americans for trading purposes but seldom hesitated to lift the scalp of a trader they felt was attempting to swindle them.
An interesting custom, first noted by early explorers, in a village adjacent to Fort Osage was the habit of forcing certain men to live as squaws. It seems that once a young man was allowed to join a war party, should he show the least sign of cowardess or a reluctance to engage the enemy, he was ostracized from the ranks of warriors for life.
The unfortunate soul would be required to dress as a woman, work with the other women and do the tasks required of women for the rest of his life. He might be religated to such things as fetching water and firewood, gardening, tanning hides and such. But he would never again be allowed to join in the hunt, address the council or participate in a war party.
It is little wonder the Osage were considered such formidable adversaries.

MRAPS

The Corps of Engineers has been tasked by Congress to complete a study, the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study(MRAPS). In which the Corps is being asked to update the original 1944 Pick/Sloan Flood Control Act. That act of congress required the Corps to manage the entire Missouri River watershed for the purposes of irrigation, flood control, recreation, hydro power, fish and wildlife management and commercial navigation.
Details of the study and its various topics can be found at www.mraps.org and links to the provisions for public comment can be found on the riverrelief.org website.
Both Missouri Senators, Bond and McCaskill have stated opposition to this study.
I could understand the Senators disagreeing with the results of a study but I fail to comprehend why they are opposed to the study itself. I have written letters to both but to be totally fair they could hardly have received these letters yet let alone have time to answer.
I do promise to relay their comments as soon as I receive them.
The Missouri watershed needs to be managed according to the needs of America in the 21st century, not 1944.
The importance of the study topics requires open discussion, debate and public input, and politics cannot be allowed to overshadow these requirements. As I have stated in other forums, the only thing harder than getting a bureaucracy to do something, is getting it to change course once it is already in motion.
But I am certain the time has come for the priorities of the Corps to be revised. No longer is transportation a major concern on the river but power generation has certainly moved closer to the forefront. The importance of water quality is recognized as gaining importance over its position in previous decades. Habitat diversification is recognized as a prime concern and flood control will always be a top priority. In my own humble opinion recreation will one day generate more commerce and more tax dollars than any other use of the waterway.