Loutre River

The Loutre River is a tributary of the Missouri River in the United States. The Loutre River begins as Little Loutre Creek in Audrain County, Missouri, being fed along its path by many very small creeks and streams, and flows into the Missouri River at Hermann, Missouri on the Montgomery County, Missouri side of the Missouri.

The Loutre River is technically a stream; however, it was named Loutre River by French trappers after the game they found there. "Loutre" means otter.

The Loutre is known as one of the USA's most beautiful rivers.

History

The Loutre River is threaded through the area's history. Much of the history of early Montgomery County, Missouri was influenced either directly or indirectly by the Loutre River.

The Loutre Island area is commonly associated with Starkenburg/Rhineland, MO. Starkenburg is home to the Shrine of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic church. The entrance to nearby St. Martins Cathedral includes the text: "This is the House Of God and the Gate Of Heaven", which appears over the entrances of only a few other places of worship in the world, including the Rennes-le-Château in France, commonly believed to be the secret home of the Holy Grail.

Historical evidence of human activities in and around the Loutre River date over 10,000 years. Loutre River travels through Graham Cave State Park in Montgomery County. Graham Cave is located in the hills directly above the river. When discovered, the cave helped rewrite history books as evidence of the ancient Dalton and Archaic period Native Americans were uncovered during its excavation from 1949 to 1955. Located inside the cave is evidence of an ancient ceremonial location.

Loutre Township comprises the southern portion of Montgomery County. It was within the limits of Loutre Township that the first European settlements were made in Montgomery County. These were on Loutre Island perhaps as early as 1798, while the country still belonged to Spain. The island was first discovered by French trappers and voyagers.

Loutre Lick was one of the earliest settlements in Montgomery County, settled between 1808 and 1810, and named because of its location near a salt lick at the river. It was also called Van Bibbers Lick, for Major Isaac Van Bibber, who migrated to Missouri in 1800 from Kentucky. Here he erected a hotel, some cabins, and stables. He tried unsuccessfully to operate a salt mill. Loutre Lick overlapped with present day Mineola, Missouri.

Loutre Lick was probably the first mineral spring development in Missouri that could be called a resort. Here Daniel Boone and Thomas Hart Benton sought relief for their ailments. Benton bragged of the Loutre Lick spring in the halls of Congress, where Henry Clay referred to him as the "Senator from Missouri's Bethesda."

Captain James Callaway was killed by Indians near Loutre River in March 1815. Early in the morning of March 7, 1815, Captain Callaway, with Lieutenant Riggs and fourteen left Fort Clemson, on Loutre Island, in pursuit of a party of Sac and Fox Indians who had stolen some horses from settlers in the vicinity. They swam Loutre slough on their horses and followed the Indian trail which led them up the west bank of the main stream. Reaching Prairie Fork, a branch of Loutre, they swam it on their horses, a distance of seventy-five yards above where it empties into Loutre creek. About 2:00 in the afternoon, and about twelve miles from where they had crossed Prairie Fork, they came upon the stolen horses left in a bend of Loutre creek, and guarded by only a few squaws. The squaws fled upon the approach of the rangers who then secured the horses without further trouble. When they stopped for lunch near Prairie Fork, the men were fired upon by an entire band of Indians. After surviving one volley, the Captain and two of his men were killed by a second.

Captain Callaway's body was not found until several days after his death, when it was discovered by Benjamin Howell, hanging in a bush several hundred yards below the scene of the fight. His gun had been recovered several days before. It was found standing upright, with the muzzle sticking fast in the mud at the bottom of the creek. He as well as two of his soldiers were buried where they had been killed. Headstones can be found at the burial site today on private property in the middle of a sheep grazing field about 100 yards from the banks of the river and 300 yards from the Loutre River crossing of Mill Pond Road in rural Montgomery County.

Around September 1, 1832 famed author Washington Irving visited Montgomery County on his way to the far west. He stopped in Lewiston, Missouri (a now defunct ghost town) a short time and proceeded to Loutre Lick where he left the stage and remained one day at the lick. He wandered among the picturesque hills in the vicinity. To Major Van Bibber he said, "When I get rich I'm coming to this place and build a nice residence here."

While most of the springs discovered and used commercially in the 1800s and early 1900s have since stopped flowing, several springs can still be found, especially along the banks of the river at Mineola. A home in Mineola owned by Isaac Van Bibber still has a continuous spring that flows year round through its original rock basement. It is believed many of the springs arose after the 1812 New Madrid Earthquake.

Present Day

In July 2000 Cargill Pork, Inc.'s hog farm in Martinsburg, Missouri illegally discharged hog waste from its holding ponds into the Loutre River. The EPA said the release occurred because of improper handling of waste management equipment by Cargill Pork, Inc., a subsidiary of Cargill. After the waste release, which occurred over a five-day period, the EPA said 53,000 fish were killed along a five-mile stretch of the river. Cargill was fined $1.55 million, including $51,000 as restitution for damage to the environment. The Missouri Department of Conservation owns and maintains the Loutre Lick Public Fishing Access (163 acres) 3 miles south of I-70 on Route N (Mineola exit) then three-quarters of a mile on County Road 278. Bass, catfish, sunfish, and crappie are abundant in this section of the river. The forest, cropland, and old fields also provide for good public deer, dove, quail, rabbit, squirrel, turkey, and waterfowl hunting. Trapping is allowed with a Special Use Permit.

Graham Cave State Park maintains a paved boat access to the river accessible for free by park patrons with a large paved parking area along with barbecue grills and picnic tables. The park also maintains the Loutre River trail, a publicly accessible hiking and mountain biking trail that runs adjacent to the river bank for about one-half mile.

The Loutre River, the Auxvasse Creek, and the Prairie Fork Creek are the only known bodies of water where the rare blacknose shiner fish species can still be found in Missouri. The appearance of blacknose shiner is considered a marker of very high water quality and pristine stream conditions.

The Katy Trail State Park, a 225-mile-long former railroad bed converted to public use, crosses the Loutre River at McKittrick, Missouri by means of an iron truss bridge built by the A.P. Roberts Company in 1897. It has been preserved for continued public use with a wood deck.

Interstate 70 crosses the Loutre River in Montgomery County. The Interstate's dip into the Loutre River valley is known locally as Mineola Hill and is one of the steepest grades on a Missouri Interstate highway. Just south of the highway crossing is Mineola, Missouri and just north is Graham Cave.

A large piece of St. Peters sandstone is preserved in the median of the Interstate as a historic site. It is known locally as "Slave Rock" or "Picnic Rock". Local tradition holds that before the abolition of slavery, periodic local slave auctions were held atop the rock. It was also the site of seasonal picnics held by the Graham family who later donated the property where the Graham Cave was excavated. St. Peters sandstone is believed by geologists to have formed the coast line of a prehistoric sea stretching from Minnesota through Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri.

As part of the planned rebuild of Interstate 70 throughout Missouri, this small stretch of Interstate has generated some controversy. Highway engineers are tasked with correcting the steep grade while preserving the many historic sites that surround it, including slave rock, the Loutre River, Graham Cave, Danville Glades Conservation Area, and others.

Seasonal flooding continues to alter the course of the river. The Loutre Island no longer exists, as the slough that once surrounded the island no longer connects to the river. The island has become part of the bank of the river. The now defunct but standing Loutre Island chapel is accessible from Missouri State Route 94. The Loutre Island Cemetery along Missouri State Route 19 still carries the Loutre Island name. Near Mineola, the river has begun to reclaim previously fertile cropland.

The Flood of 1993 raised water levels along the length of the Loutre River to great heights. Lasting changes of the flood can be seen in severely eroding banks along some sections. The breach of the eastern bank levee of the Loutre just south of the Katy Trail crossing at McKittrick created two large permanent lakes and washed out Missouri State Route 19. It created an 80-foot deep crater that isolated the two banks of the river until it could be filled. Traveling on Route 19 through this area, visitors can still see evidence of the flooding. The two permanent lakes are visible to the west of the highway, and most trees and permanent foliage were destroyed by the breach.

Recently Asian carp have begun to inhabit the mouth of the river, arriving as an invasive species from the Missouri River. This sometimes makes boat fishing treacherous along the first 1-2 miles of the Loutre out of the Missouri.

ee also

*Hermann, Missouri
*Americus, Missouri
*Mineola, Missouri
*Martinsburg, Missouri
*Williamsburg, Missouri
*Gasconade County, Missouri
*Montgomery County, Missouri
*Audrain County, Missouri
*Hermann, Missouri
*Flood of 1993

External links

*Gnis|729545|Loutre River