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Missouri Statistics
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Home  Missouri Miller County Bagnell Dam MO735
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Bagnell Dam MO735 |
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 Picture Courtesy of William Thievon
 Picture Courtesy of William Thievon
The historic Osage River, impounded here by Bagnell Dam, flows east and north some 82 miles to join the Missouri. At the river's mouth, the 1604 Lewis and Clark Expedition camped several days and In 1806 Zebulon M. Pike's Southwest Expedition traveled by here on the way to visit the Osage Indian villages near the Kansas border where the river's name changes to Marias des Cygnes.
Named for the Osage Indians (the French name for Wazhazhe tribes) the river lies in territory ceded by them, 1808. Passageway for Indian, French trapper, and settler, the river was piled by steamboats before the days of the railroad. Forests in the area were harvested for railroad ties, 1880-1915, and the Osage and Niangua rivers carried them to railroad points. Bagnell, near here, was once a leading tie shipping town.
Bagnell Dam, costing over $30,000,000, was built by the Union Electric Co. of Missouri. 1929-31. The Lake of the Ozarks, impounded by the 148 by 2,543 foot dam, is one of the largest man-made lakes in the U. S. It is one to five miles wide by 129 long and has a 1,300-mile, dragon-like shoreline.
Bagnell Dam developed as a focal point for resort industry which grew up around the Lake of the Ozarks. Extending some 95 square miles above the dam, the lake lies in northern Ozark counties of Benton, Morgan, and Camden, and reaches east to Miller and west to Henry and St. Clair. Completion of the dam brought new highways and Grand Glaize, Hurricane Deck, and Niangua bridges.
Camdenton, laid out 1931, succeeded Linn Creek, abandoned to the rising waters of the lake, as seat of Camden County. A new Linn Creek preserves the name of the old town, an early river port where Joseph W. McClurg, gov. of Mo,. 1868-1870, had his "Big Store on the Osage." Among communities and towns in the area are Lake Ozark and Lakeside, and Eldon, Versailles, and Warsaw.
Points of interest are Lake of the Ozarks State Park; scenic views on Gravois, Grand Glaize, Osage, and Niangua arms of the lake; mammoth caves; ruins of Hahatonka Castle; and Hahatonka Spring. In the spring area, a notorious band of counterfeiters are said to have operated from their headquarters called the "Bank of Niangua” in the 1930’s.
State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission, 1957
South side of US65 at west end of Bagnell Dam Miller County Missouri
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