Camden County Museum of Missouri

An article from Camden County Historian By William L Smith: My Father George R. Smith moved from Kansas to Camden County, Missouri when he was a young teenager. My Mother, the former Sarah Ann Parrish, was a 4th generation Camden County native having been born on a farm approximately 1 mile outside Old Linn Creek. Her great-great grandfather Thomas H. Parrish arrived from Kentucky in 1827 settling on the Dry Auglaize. Both parents graduated from Old Linn Creek High School ...in the Class of 1924, they were married in 1926 and spent the remainder of their lives as Camden County residents and are buried at Dale Blair Cemetery in Camdenton. As a young man my father worked for the Union Electric Company before, during and for a couple of years after the construction of Bagnell Dam. His first job was working on one of the survey crews surveying all the area needed for purchase by Union Electric. The Company was required to own all land that was to be covered by the back-up of the Osage River which was to form the new Lake of the Ozarks reservoir. My Father worked this job until most of the survey work was completed. My father’s second job with Union Electric, after the lake reservoir filled, was working on one of the mosquito boats which were used to spray a mixture of kerosene and water in order to kill mosquito larvae along the shoreline. There were several such boats and they were known at that time as the Mosquito Fleet. I remember one interesting anecdote that occurred during the summer of 1933. This was the heart of the Great Depression and jobs were difficult to find. That year the Union Electric Company hired a small number, three I believe, of University of Alabama football players for the summer to work on the mosquito boats. There names were Foy Leach, who that autumn was elected Captain of the team, Jim Dildy and B’Ho Kirkland. My father got to know them quite well and boarded a couple of them in our home in New Linn Creek. Dad was only a few years older than the players and had a great time sharing stories with them. I’ve been told they enjoyed being around and holding the baby boy in the houseMe. Later that November, Dad and another Old Linn Creek resident, M. R. Doc Foster, drove to Nashville, Tennessee in the fall of 1933 to watch their summer friends from the Alabama team defeat Vanderbilt University 7 0. I heard stories about that summer for rest of my Father’s life. As with all Old Linn Creek residents at that time, my parent’s memories were always of all the good times as well as the sacrifice they endured in order for the area to progress into the economic machine that is now the greater Lake of the Ozarks mini-megalopolis. Photo: Survey Crew. George Smith in center, others unknown. See more

Wet Blizzard Water’s Work By Norine Albers - In 1882, a wet blizzard swept through the Osage River Valley causing Incidents, Accidents, Damages. It left a deluge of water at the end of the forty-eight-hour downpour of rain. Today, we know this area as Lake of the Ozarks. On that Monday night wind extinguished lanterns and the threat of the Osage River and streams alarmed town folk of Old Linn Creek. It was Feb. 20, 1882. By Tuesday morning, two-thirds of the town was flo...Continue reading

Merry Christmas from members of the Historical Society & Museum Volunteers