Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 275, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 November 1916 — TOWN LONG DEAD REBUILT BY FISH [ARTICLE]

TOWN LONG DEAD REBUILT BY FISH

Elk Springs, Mo., Now Back On The Map; A Center for Fishermen and Hunters. Kansas City, Mo—You hear a lot about towns that used to be, but here’s a story about a town that’s coming back.” Elk Springs, once the capital ot Missouri and the county seat of McDonald County, but for the last forty years just a whistling station, is beating back. The fish that roam up and down the gravel bottom of the Elk River, once the Cowskin, are bringing it back to its former greatness. At one time Elk Springs was a place worth while. It was quite a trading post for the hunters and trappers in the Ozark Mountains. At that time it was the county seat of McDonald County, of five hundred inhabitants. The Civil War came, and Elk Springs boomed. It was feared the Federals would capture the books and records in Jefferson City, and one night they were all loaded in wagons and carted thru the State to Elk Springs. There the executive officers remained with fheir records several days. Then the town began to fade. One night the county judges loaded up their documents and sneaked over to Plneville, six miles away. It was thus that Elk Springs lost the county seat, and its last vestige of respectability. In a few years nothing was left but memories. But the sun was again to shine for Elk Springs. The Kansas City South ern built a road down thru Missouri. They put up a shed there for a station. Some one built a store. Travelers began to go thru. The Ozarks, a part of Missouri that was practically unknown, began to he explored. A cool, clear river that wound in and out among the mountains, filled with fish of all kinds, particularly bass, was found. They also found squirrels, quail, wild turkeys, coons, possums, ducks, and other wild game. - Elk Springs becamo the center of the fishermen’s and hunters’ endeavors. 'I he mountains were filled with caves.