Message in a Bottle from 1964

It was in a green glass lime juice bottle that said "We squeeze you pour" with a metal screw cap, and was rolled up inside this envelope piece, and then taped closed like so.

A very brittle envelope rolled up on the outside of the message had a return address that said “Morrison-Knudsen Company & Associates, P.O. Box 1678, Grand Forks, North Dakota”.

The message inside reads:  “9-19-1964.  Meramec, Missouri.  Thrown in the river at Jesses James hideaway cave, Meramec, Missouri 9-19-1964.  Please write when found.  H.J. Laine, Ontonagon, Michigan”

There is a picture of how I found it (a beautiful green glass bottle surrounded by snow). 

Found by Melanie Cheney, Assistant Program Manager with Missouri River Relief, February 15, 2014 at 5664 Meramec Bottom Road • St. Louis, MO 63128 during a clean-up dubbed "the Untouched Floodplain since 1993 Cleanup" organized by the “Arnold Stream Team 211”.

Missouri River Relief is Stream Team #1875, and as such has developed working relationships with many like-minded organizations and Stream Teams across the state working on river clean-ups for the past 14 years. 

Who is Missouri River Relief?  Missouri River Relief is a community & equipment based, not-for-profit organization dedicated to connecting people to the Missouri River through hands-on river clean-ups, education events & stewardship activities.  In its fourteen years of operation, Missouri River Relief has expanded its reach to more than 800 miles of the Missouri River, organizing events in communities stretching from Yankton, South Dakota all the way down to the confluence with the Mississippi River in St. Louis.  Since 2001, we have organized 133 river clean-ups utilizing more than 20,000 volunteers, and removing more than 800 tons of trash (a million and a half pounds!) from the river.

In addition to organizing our own clean-ups, we travel with our boats & equipment to other people’s clean-ups, resulting in over 70 “Away Teams” we've participated in throughout the years.

The Arnold Stream Team 211 members are a very special group.  We refer to them as the “Arnold Animals” because they are one of the toughest and most dedicated volunteer Stream Teams in the state.  Every weekend, two guys in particular are out working on streams, dumps, water quality monitoring and mapping.  A tire dump with 1,000 tires?  No problem for the “Arnold Animals”.  They will bring or get whatever resources are needed to get the job done.   As we developed a relationship with these guys, namely, Brian Waldrop and Bernie Arnold from Arnold, MO they began coming to our clean-ups, and in turn, if they are organizing a clean-up, a few of us try to come to theirs. 

211/MRR Classic Rock Star pose

So that is how a few of us River Relief’ers found ourselves in the Meramec Bottoms on a frgid February morning  Even though there was still a little snow on the ground, and temperatures would barely reach above freezing, no way the “211” was backing off or canceling this event. 

What intrigued me most was the “untouched floodplain” part of the clean-up.  Whereas I am usually driving volunteers around on the Big Muddy in a boat, and picking up tons of “single-use” plastic bottles, this was a chance for me to romp around the woods, finding unique and very old treasures for River Relief’s future “Trash Museum” (We have been collecting stuff for awhile now and have found just about anything you could imagine out there).  Finding treasures is actually one of the best things about picking up trash.  You just never know what you’re going to find, some scary looking baby doll head or kids toy, a piano, a sign that simply says “Be Courteous”.  Often times, someone will find a message in a bottle.  But never one from 1964!  I believe this is the oldest message in a bottle we have ever found, and by far the coolest!

After working for a good part of the day, my friend Laurie aka “Ready” Ferretti and I took off through the woods to go check out some of the ruins that had been left in this forgotten floodplain.  There was an old truck, and lots of foundations from houses that once stood there.  We were searching for the “stairway to nowhere” of which we found and took some pictures on.  After we found the stairs, we saw a really cool looking foundation further back, with the chimney standing tall.  It was here that we were hanging out and exploring, (I was thinking that this would be the greatest playground ever for a bunch of  kids growing up here) that I looked down to see the green bottle peeking out of the snow, clearly with a message rolled up neatly inside. 

I was so excited!!!  I took a picture of how it was found before I even picked it up.  I also waited until I got home that night to open it.  When I read the message I couldn’t believe it.  Who was this guy from Ontonogan Michigan?  There was still tons of other bottles & trash that did not get cleaned up that day, I walked by many bottles at the end of the day as far as the eye could see, it was just amazing to me that I stumbled up this one amazing treasure.

Some of the other treasures I collected that day included a plastic mug from the 1982 World’s Fair, a baby sandal, a plastic whale and some really cool old glass bottles, pictured here:

The Arnold Stream Team 211 recruited me with their facebook event page found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/579393298812290/

Here was their description of the event:  “This cleanup needs everyone's help. This land has been collecting trash since the Great Flood of 1993. There are 1000's of tires, hundreds of 50 gallon barrels, 3 boats, hot tubs, fuel-oil tanks, camper-shells, and a whole bunch of litter and trash. In some areas, you can walk across the trash without touching the ground. Yes, it is that bad.

This will be a two day cleanup, and still will not complete with this area. This will be a ongoing project for years, but we can make a large dent in the trash. With this amount of tires and barrels, the mosquito population is completely out of whack.

We will be having food on Saturday around the Noon hour and be parking in a small area past Butler Lakes and at Butler Lakes, then walking in to the site. Multiple dumpsters will be needed for this one.

**Look for the Stream Team Signs**

We could use ATV's and a Bobcat if you have them, possible with a trailer or two. This is also a good opportunity for Community Service for Scouts, church/school groups.”

It turned out to be a really successful clean-up, with a one 40 cubic yard dumpster crammed full of trash, plus many plastic and metal 55gallon drums kept out of the trash dumpster. Now, for the tires, we filled one dumpster with 27 passenger tires, 12 tractor trailer tires, 255 tires with rims and a whole pile of tires that still need to be loaded up in trailers on Monday.  Just incredible the work these volunteers are doing.

River Clean-ups accomplish a few things effectively:  they engage people proactively in stewardship of our water ways, often getting people out on the river for the first time.  They also educate people about the problem of solid waste on our streams and rivers and physically bring interested parties together to accomplish something real.  We don’t have to tell people how bad “single-use” items like plastic water bottles are for the environment – we show them.  Clean water is something I think we can all agree on, it is quality of life.  And we are proud to be a part of Missouri’s Stream Team program, of which there are nearly 5,000 in the state looking after and taking action on our waterways. 

Anyone interested in learning more about Missouri River Relief should check out the website at: www.riverrelief.org.  To connect with other Stream Teams or to sign-up for one yourself, check out www.mostreamteam.org.

More on the message:  In the month following the finding of the message, a friend of a friend who writes for the River Hills Traveler and saw my photos on Facebook did some digging on the source of the message.  Here is what she found:

For 50 years, the bright green glass bottle survived the worst the Meramec
River could throw at it. Ontonagon is a town of 1,500 people, many of Finnish
descent, who migrated to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to mine iron
or copper.

In a town of that size, surely someone would know something. Several
evenings of internet sleuthing proved futile. We’ve forwarded a digital copy
of this note to the historical society in Ontonagon, and to the genealogical
society. So far, no answers.

Cheney sent a digital copy of the message to Traveler, which we forwarded
to Maureen Guseck, editor of the weekly Ontonagon Herald. She agreed
to run an item in her paper.

Within a week we found out that a Mr. Uuno J. Laine was buried in the
Riverside Cemetery. Looking at the message again-- yes the first letter was
a squared off U, not an H. Born 1911, died 1973 in Ventura, California.
Morrison-Knudsen no longer exists, but used to be a construction engineering
firm.

We’ve got a few more fishing lines out, still seeking more info on the author
of the message in the bottle, which miraculously survived 100 miles and
50 years, just to be found, and in the finding, create more questions than had
it stayed entirely obscure.

River Relief goes to Yankton

A few notes & thoughts from our recent trip up to Yankton, S.D.
...a clean-up "Away Team" organized by Keep Yankton Beautiful.

by Melanie Cheney

photo by Paul Lepisto

At our rate, the trip from Columbia, MO up to Yankton, S.D. usually requires a 10 hour drive. Hauling a 2 ton, 25-foot plate boat behind you in a driving North wind up in the plains isn't easy. We arrived at the Cottonwoods Campground in Yankton where the temperature had dropped into the 40s, with sustaining winds and bursts up to 40-50 mph. If it wasn't for Soda Popp who had drug his house on wheels behind him all the way from Jeff City, I would have been miserable all night long as the temps dropped down in the 30s and the winds continued to howl!!!

We met up with the KC crew who had arrived a few hours earlier, built a big fire, and discussed a game plan for the clean-up we were working the next morning. Luckily by the time the sun came up, the winds died down, and the sun warmed the 100 volunteers who also showed up bright & early that morning. Apart from the chilly boat ride on the river, it turned out to be a beautiful day!

We used our two plate boats to haul volunteers & trash, & just like that it was over. It was pretty clean up there as this was the 7th annual clean-up on that stretch, and we pretty much just cleaned up after the thoughtless fisherman who enjoy good fishing right below the 1st dam on this beautiful stretch of river. I collected about 1 bag of fishing line & styrofoam bait boxes alone. We ate lunch & headed back to camp.

In the afternoon, the sun shining, & the wind as still as could be, we took a little field trip over the dam to an overlook & trail on the big lake which is really, our river. We didn't walk very far before a little side trail appeared & we followed it to the most unexpected & beautiful beach in the Mid-West I have ever seen! It felt like a scene out of the Goonies or something. Huge chalk bluffs towered over the water, waves lapping at the soft pebbled beach, the sun reflecting into our faces, and we just sat there & soaked it up until our bellies started rumbling. Wishing we could stay for sunset, we headed back for camp.

We had a wonderful evening of camaraderie with our River Relief companions, new & old, we told stories around the campfire, & got a good nights rest before starting the next leg of our adventures.

Highlights from the days ahead included a 3 day & night stay in Ponca State Park (due to continual foul weather) on the Rec River with the Stous', a one day float thru a small stretch of river where I must have seen at least 30 different species of birds, one of which was a scene I'll not forget, Wild Turkey's in their full on courtship spreads trying to lure the females away from the other Toms, and several hikes around the area in search of our favorite Spring mushroom, the Morel. And best of all, the company of old friends cooking together & sitting around a campfire at night was just so nice. This relaxing little "mini" vacation also allowed me to get some good reading done in a wonderful book a friend lent us called "The Whale Warriors", which I highly recommend!

On our way home, we stopped at the Desoto Fish & Wildlife Refuge, an old ox-bow lake that had been cut off from the river with the coolest visitor center I've ever been to. They had excavated an old cargo steam ship and we got to see everything the ship was carrying in it when it went down. It was full of old tools, tonics, clothes, food stuffs, oil lamps, toiletries, you name it! In addition, huge picture windows & viewfinders looked out over the lake. It was still cold & drizzly out, and I only saw one lonely pelican. But it was a great stop on our long trip back to Missouri.

Back at the Blue River!

20th Anniversary Project Blue River Rescue
Swope Park, Kansas City, MO
March 27, 2010

text by Ruthie Moccia

blogmaster's note: on March 27th, River Relief hit rivers coast to coast - both "coasts" in Missouri that is. One crew worked on Project Blue River Rescue in Kansas City, while another group took folks on the Missouri River in St. Louis at the Confluence Trash Bash. Keep posted for more stories from these events.

Last year the Blue River Rescue was personally disappointing to me. I’m sure the Blue River was rescued, but as we made our way out of Swope Park toward I-435 it was apparent that the beauty of the surrounding area sat just as before. Plastic bags, soda cans, bottles, and just plain unidentifiable trash still littered the curvy wooded roadside.

Would you believe this hurt my feelings?

I hadn’t really spent time in Swope Park since living in Kansas City many years ago. When the early 60’s took my childhood family from Pennsylvania to the immediate Kansas City area, we missed the wooded hills of our former home. Swope Park was a blessing for the seven of us. Thousands of red tulips and redbud trees bloomed there in spring. It was beautiful well-kept land. Frequently, we took a picnic basket to the park to get away from the feel of the city. We were excited to find Starlight Theatre, which seats 8,000 people out-of-doors, in Swope Park.

The list of Broadway musicals I saw at Starlight as a kid includes Around the World in 80 Days, Brigadoon, and Bye-Bye Birdie with stars such as Carol Channing, Carol Burnett, Robert Goulet and Ann-Margret. One summer in a production of Mr. President, Harry Truman made a guest appearance on opening night before an appendicitis attack forced him to leave by ambulance during intermission. I remember this, can still hear the siren.

When the Blue River Rescue came around this year, it conflicted with the Confluence Trash Bash in St. Louis. Our Columbia group would split up sending just a skeleton crew to each. I had no difficulty with the choice. I was determined to clean up Swope Park and had even decided to abandon the Blue River in favor of its neglected recreational surroundings.

The morning of the clean up we arrived at Lakeside Nature Center to learn we were to work in the Hazel Dell area and clean up a small lake and it’s marshes near Shelter 10. How relieved I was not to have to be a rebel! This year, for the first time, the Blue River Rescue extended through the park all the way to I-435!!

Indi and Sean had hit the road at 5:00 that morning to arrive at exactly the same time as those of us who had stayed at the Hogan the night before, the Doubets, Jeff Barrow and myself. The Kellenbergers soon arrived as well as Joe’s brother, Paul, their host for the weekend. Cliff Rope and Van Whisker, both of Kansas City, also joined our group. We stood in the rain, signed in, and picked up the equipment needed for Hazel Dell neatly laid out for us in front of our site sign. Long handled nets, hip waders, thick rubber gloves…it looked like our work was cut out for us.

We took a small boat to the other side of the lake to concentrate on the steep hill that banked the water and was (you guessed it) a nightmare of trash. From where I stood it nearly resembled the Mariosa dumpsite. The area from the road to the lake was substantially littered also, but the worst was in the marsh. I sloshed around in my mud boots fetching out fishing line, bait containers, fast food wrappers, whiskey bottles, beer cans and golf balls. I heard Van say, “We’re getting into some pretty stinky stuff here.” The bushes caught and ate my hair. I didn’t care, I was cleaning up Swope Park. Just before lunch, Liz and I made our way to the stately stone entrance of the golf course and scoured the hillside for another full bag of trash.

There was a party at the Hogan that night for Frogs and Rats to unite. Mel Haney got tears in her eyes when she talked about how pristine Hazel Dell looked. Vicki Richmond was very proud that on the 20th anniversary of the Blue River cleanup we were able to extend the cleanup area clear out to I-435. I shared those great feelings and I hope the 400 plus people who participated that morning were just as proud and happy about what they accomplished.

On the way out of the park the next morning it was incredible to see it so clean. In a very few days, thousands of redbuds will start blooming and little lime-green buds will be popping out on the trees. It will be beautiful. It will be clean. It’s just so satisfying!

Cleaning up with the St. Lou Crew - Chapter 3

42nd Annual Operation Clean Stream on the Meramec River

Greentree Park, Kirkwood, MO, to George Winter Park, Fenton, MO
August 22, 2009

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Rod Power and Melanie Cheney

For four years, Missouri River Relief has been sending a crew and a boat or two to help out at Operation Clean Stream on the Meremec River.

This event is the crown jewel of river clean-ups in the state. This is the 42nd year this has been happening, and the way it works is astounding. It covers at least 5 watersheds: the Meremec, the Big River, the Bourbouse, the Courteois and the Huzzah. Local organizations and stream teams organize the individual sites (there are over 10 sites!) and the Open Space Council provides the structure to tie it all together.

At most sites, there are crews working the rivers from land, picking up trash. And there are canoes that float the streams, hitting the banks as they go to fill their boats with scrap metal, tires and plastic. Locals bring jet boats and skiffs to haul the big stuff. Food crews serve breakfast and lunch, canoe outfitters donate their services, Stream Team t-shirts and bumper stickers are handed out to all.

In all, over 2,000 volunteers give up their morning and afternoon on the third Saturday in August every year to do this. In the history of the event, countless tons of garbage carelessly discarded along the river have been removed. Much of this was dumped by residents of riverside cabins and municipalities, or was deposited when those cabins were washed away by the many floods on the Meramec.

Accounts by old-timers say that the banks of the lower Meramec used to be one massive dump site. No more! You have to look hard to find the remnants of old dumps, and that’s what we did. We just wish we had a crane or cutting torches for some of the big cars embedded in the banks! Next time!

The Gaw Street Go-Getters from Rocheport showed up early to add to our Columbia Crew: John Brady and Rod Power. And Craig Holt, Danny Miller and Tom Ball from St. Louis rounded out the mix.

We had one boat go down from Valley Park to Greentree, working up and down filling with mostly scrap metal. The other went from Greentree to George Winter Park, that recreational lake filled with jet boats and jet skis. What a joy to see all the canoes filled with junk and happy smiling faces. We love this event and hope to always play our small role.

Special thanks to Ron Coleman and Amy Butz of Open Space Council for organizing our role.

And kudos to the Missouri American Water team for stepping up to organize the George Winter Park site.

Cleaning up the Rec River!

Yankton Missouri River Clean-up
May 9, 2009
Yankton, S.D.

text by Vicki Richmond - photos by Paul Lepisto, Vicki Richmond and Dave Stous

Yankton, South Dakota, is a special place on the Missouri River. Gavin’s Point Dam, the furthest downstream dam on the Missouri is located here, and the river is allowed to roam across its floodplain on and is not locked into a navigation channel.

This 60 - plus mile section, called the National Recreation River, has the sandbars and snags that we on the channelized portion of the Big Muddy have heard stories of. The Big Muddy isn’t quite so muddy here. Because of the sediment-trapping dams, the water flows clearer. Trophy homes and fishing camps line the banks. Having a dependable flow, and no inputs from aggressive tributaries enables people to live harmoniously beside the river.

Despite being the first city on the lower river, Yankton is not immune to the trash that we see concentrated on the banks and in the drift piles further downstream. Stormwater carries trash for miles and empties this floatable trash right into the Missouri. Dumps, long accepted as a way for families to rid themselves of refuse, still persist.

But there is a special connection to the river in this place. People use the river recreationally in large numbers. Folks are connected to the river in a unique way. It is only natural that people want to lend a hand in keeping it clean.


The MRR crew began showing up on Thursday night. An education festival was planned for Friday, bringing nearly 200 students to the river for some hands on learning. We camped near the dam, on a cut-off oxbow of the river. Our small crew of three fell asleep under the tall cottonwoods with an early start in mind.

Friday’s weather looked iffy as we began set-up of the booths that would entertain and educate students. Rain clouds hovered just to the north and east, making us sure to deploy pop up tents, just in case. The students arrived and began touring learning stations. Everything from climate change to fish was featured in the 10 wonderful displays. Provided with an event passport, students eagerly moved from station to station.

The rain came in just before lunch. Exhibitors and students alike gathered under the shelters in Yankton’s Riverside Park, enjoying a delicious meal.


Shortly after the students departed, MRR crew began showing up in earnest. The skies opened up and the threatening rain came down in sheets. We did as much as we could to stage our gear for the move to the island and headed into town in search of a dry place to wait out the rain storm.

By dinnertime, we’d all arrived- Bill and Ruth, with puppy Saffron (her first clean-up!). Lynne and Ty arrived after a brisk game of Frisbee golf in Omaha. Dave, Fran and Rick arrived with the houseboat in tow after an interesting day of dodging cones through the highways in Iowa. Dave R and Dylan pulled in, Dylan splashing his kayak for an early trip to the island on a hunt for treasures. John and Alex had already been to the island, picking a great camping spot overlooking the town and bell tower. After gathering wood from a hospitable Mary Robb with the help of Paul Lepisto, we made our way as a group to the island that would be our home for the weekend.

The wind howled as we set up our camp. Dinner was on, thanks to Michael, and we set up camp while hunting mushrooms to supplement the feast. A windy night turned into a beautiful day as the skies lightened for a day that promised a clean up haul.

Arriving at the ramp at 7:30, MRR crew went to work getting lifejackets ready and helping with sign-in. Vicki provided the group with a safety briefing, followed by talks from the National Park Service and the clean-up organizers. We took our posts: Vicki to lifejackets, John and Dave to their boats. Volunteers were fitted into PFD’s and headed down the ramp to board boats to be shuttled to clean-up sites.

Our boats come in handy at these events. They are large and we aren’t squeamish about putting really ugly trash into them. The Saskia headed to the site of an old dump of cars where we’d worked before while the Char shuttled volunteers. A call came to bring added muscle to a site full of rebar and metal. The Char headed over with tools and crew for the task.

All in all, over 7 tons of debris was removed on this day. 23 tires made their way to the ramp where volunteers ably loaded trash and scrap into trucks bound for the landfill and the metal recycling facility. Over 300 people took part in this one day effort.

Working on the Rec River has its moments of stress. The water is shallow and our captains kept a careful eye on their propellers.

Working on the Rec River has its moments of pure delight. Endangered interior least terns and piping plovers flew over our camp and greeted us constantly. The sand is warm and plentiful. Morel mushrooms were everywhere.



The MRR crew is most appreciative of the invitation to join this incredible effort. We look forward to being on deck again in 2010!

Thanks to the National Park Service and Lewis & Clark Heritage Trail Foundation for their support of our participation in this clean-up!

Little Hands in the Sand (part deux)

Yankton Missouri River Clean-up

Yankton, S.D.
May 17, 2008

(blogmaster note: last year, Ruthie Moccia wrote a great piece about her encounter with Jordan, a young man who found an ancient tractor wheel on the Yankton 07 clean-up. This May (2008), Ruthie returned to Yankton with us and wrote this piece about her experience. Click here to read Ruthie's post from last year.)

text by Ruthie Moccia. photos by Ruthie Moccia & Melanie Cheney

The ‘08 Yankton cleanup was my first revisit to a cleanup site since joining River Relief two years ago. What made the long road trip most worthwhile this year was reuniting with Jordan who accomplished the amazing last year by persistently digging around an enormous iron tractor wheel until it was completely unearthed and could be claimed by the trash tally.

During registration I spotted Jordan and his two young brothers dressed in their heather blue '08 volunteer tee shirts. Instead of aimlessly exploring the water's edge, the boys were eagerly awaiting trash bags and gloves and it appeared Jordan had also invited several friends along to participate. Their excited faces made me proud to be the one to hand them the necessary items and send them off down the ramp.

Jordan and his buddies check out a bike they found at the cleanup this year. photo by Melanie Cheney.

Later, when I sensed my cleanup crew’s boat was nearing last year's campground I also realized that the water level was too low to dock there. I needed to see that place again. I deboarded in the sandy mud and hiked toward it by keeping the Benedictine bell tower on the other side of the river always within my view. I didn’t know the way exactly, but clearly that tower with it's marvelous tones was a landmark for me. I would know immediately when I'd reached the exact location of last year’s campsite by the view across the river.

Suddenly, unmistakable familiar shapes of landscape brought back the memories. The flat sandy beach at the river's edge where the water had risen overnight to cover our cookware, a triangle of driftwood logs where we sang hilarious songs and played music around the fire, a flat space between two cedars where I had pitched my borrowed tent, the tip-top grassy edge of a dune I had climbed to scavenge an abandoned bracelet made of wooden beads and twine. It was a wonderfully nostalgic moment.

Overall my warmest memory of Yankton, however, is Jordan. What is it about a friendly face in a far away place? I threw the bead bracelet away many months ago, but Jordan's excited smile will stay with me.

Here's Jordan in 2007 excavating the old wheel he found. photo by Ruthie Moccia.

Goat Island Trash Tally!

Goat Island Clean-up

May 16, 2008
Missouri National Recreational River

photos by Paul Lepisto and Melanie Cheney

On May 16, a crew of 23 River Relief diehards joined up with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the National Park Service and the Izaac Walton League for a unique clean-up of Goat Island, a no-mans-land of sorts located between Yankton and Vermillion, S.D. on the unchannelized Missouri National Recreational River.
The mission of the clean-up was to rid the island of the remains of a cattle operation run on the island a couple decades ago. From barbed wire to stock tanks and cattle panels, we rounded up the junk and shipped it off the island by boat.
We'll post more stuff here about this fascinating place as we have time to do so, but in the meantime check out our tally below and PLEASE check out MRR crewmember Dylan Lehrbaum's awesome blog (with awesome photos) about the adventure at:http://dylbug.blogspot.com/2008/05/yankton-clean-up.html

Here's some more photos - https://www.flickr.com/photos/riverrelief/sets/72157613166079718/

Goat Island Trash Tally!
Scrap Tons – 1.5 tons
Landfill Trash – approx .5 tons

10 55 gallon plastic barrels
½ 55 gallon plastic barrel retrofitted as a toilet
1 55 gallon metal drum
1 recliner
¾ of a sofa
332 feet of wooden snow fence
(at least) 300 yards of triple strand barbed wire (every piece on the island!)
47 16X8 foot metal fence sections
19 curved corral fence sections
49 t-posts

1 chaise lounge lawn chair
2 tire rims
6 tires
1 8-foot diameter, 3-foot deep stock tank
2 refrigerator doors
5 sheets of roofing tin
2 car batteries
7 grills
12 sheets of misc plywood

Post-flood clean-up

“Black Star”Clean-up at Alligator Cove
June 23, 2007

text by Steve Schnarr, photos by Melanie Cheney

Bouncing Back
Many of the news stories of the Flood of 07 focused on the bursting of agricultural levees in Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas. For those that live right on the Missouri River, without levees, it was one long river of heartbreak. But floods are a part of life on the river, and these tough people cry when they need to but get right back up and rebuild.

Of course no one deserves the overwhelming work and loss that a flood brings, but river folks do know that eventually it’s going to happen. It takes vision, strength and community for folks to go through it and come back to the river. But they know that they have to get back, and the only way to do it is through a lot of hard work and calling in your friends to help get it done.



When floodwaters reshape your world, it becomes an opportunity to start a new vision, to clean up and make things even better.

At Alligator Cove (Rivermile 343), John Breyfogle had built a perfect riverside haven. Beneath towering cottonwoods was a cabin on pontoons, a two-tiered deck made from an decommissioned pontoon boat overlooking the river, and a music stage built on the flatbed of an old two-ton truck.



These things all got destroyed in the flood, which filled up and coursed through the whole place. John’s house was covered in mud, and all the carpet had to be ripped out. With the help of friends and family, and countless hours of after-work effort, the place was cleaned out, mud was scraped, utilities gotten up and running, the barn reorganized, the salsa garden replanted, John’s tiller dismantled and worked back into shape.

Demolition Derby
John figured his friends in River Relief would be good for doing some of the big teardown work. He put together a work day and invited us all out. Vicki arranged for a scrap dumpster and Michael cooked up some food. Racin’ Dave and John Jansen brought cutting torches and everyone showed up with a smattering of hand tools. Folks left Columbia around six, and everyone convened at the cove. Nick Recker, Stephanie Williams and her partner Ken surprised us all and showed up with tools.

It was a long day of destruction.

As we tore the rotting stage off the back of the truck, Racin Dave busted out his tools and started dismantling the cab, gas tank first. He shook his head and said, “This is one of those things where you just take off a week and go after it.” And then, with Lindsay’s help, he proceeded to reduce the truck to an engine block, a pile of plastic and upholstery and countless chunks of steel cut into three-foot pieces for scrapping. All in one non-stop day, before dinner.



Jeff Barrow, Michael and the John B’s focused on the “floating” cabin. The beautiful little cabin on pontoons did float, but was toppled by the force of the current, smashing the building and loosening the structure. The windows and any good lumber or siding was salvaged, but everything else went to the burn pile or dumpster. Nails were pulled, and the John B’s (Brady and Breyfogle) went at the pontoons with dueling chop saws.

Here's the cabin as they started working on it...



This is what was left when they were done...



During the flood, the deck overlook collapsed when the bank underneath slid into the river. Nick, Stephanie, Ken and Melanie worked it all day, pulling nails and stacking the joists and decking up on the remaining deck. All together, we probably filled a five gallon bucket with nails pulled from salvaged lumber. John Jansen came after work with his torch, and worked on an old piece of a dredge.

Anthony, Jeanie, Janie and Steve moved from project to project, helping the teardown when needed, picking up trash between stages of the destruction, preparing food.

Dinner was fantastic, and we gathered, exhausted around the campfire at night. John thanked everyone for helping, and, laughing, passed out black star pins as a reminder of the day.

It’ll be a while before John can move back in, but he’s excited that now he has a reason to build a home up on stilts. The vision of this place has definitely not been washed away, but it’s a fresh new beginning and we are all excited to see it blossom again.

Yankton, S.D. Clean-up - May 19, 2007

Little Hands in the Sand
text and photos by Ruthie Moccia

Destination Yankton, S.D. The 8 hour drive all day Friday in our van was reminiscent of a comedy club. Jokemeisters Karpowicz, Barrow, and Nigh continued with hilarity throughout the weekend at jam sessions around the bonfire. Add a couple of drums, guitars, a washboard, and other impromptu instruments (wire whisk brushing across the plastic feathers of our heron mascot) and you get some really cool sounds. Original music and lyrics were inspired by the Gilligan’s Island theme song audibly entwined with House of the Rising Sun punctuated by the voice of James Brown commenting effusively on strengths and weaknesses of the amazing riverbed mussel.

Racin’ Dave had staked out our campsite extraordinaire, a sandy island across the river from Benedictine steeple Caroline bells. Not a seasoned camper, I was in ecstasy to have sand instead of mud between my toes, witness the clarity and “swimability” of the Missouri River at Yankton, dine on exquisite food, and sense an atmosphere of safety and tolerance from much more experienced companions.

And that was just getting and being there.

Saturday morning we filtered through the Yankton volunteers over coffee and donuts introducing ourselves (for the record, Yanktonians drink their coffee black not even bothering to set out cream and sugar), happy to learn Yanktonians were genuinely grateful we had come to help with the cleanup. We arranged ourselves 2 to a boat in order to provide as much individual support as possible.

Karpowicz and I sat in our boat watching Yankton volunteers file by on the dock as a thirty-something dad approached toting 3 adorable sons. “We want you in our boat!” I hollered, and they complied. Just a few minutes earlier I had taken photos of them traipsing across the green in their newly acquired ankle length tees. I had become enchanted with the 3 of them.

But ultimately my heart was whisked away by the oldest most serious of the boys, 9 year old Jordan, who did not stop digging until he unearthed an ancient iron tractor wheel from the sand. Who knew how much time elapsed while he and I dug with sticks and rocks? We made timid conversation. We talked a little about the things we believed, about the things we had experienced, and even some about the river.

We had dug past the water table when a crewmate finally returned with a real shovel capable of removing real loads of sand. Finally, we were able to comprehend the wheel. It was 4 feet in diameter with double rows of thick decaying spokes, at least a foot wide where the rubber would have met the road. It took a line of guys on a rope to get that sucker out of it’s sandy hole and another couple of guys to roll it along the water’s edge into our boat.



Jordan posed in front of his find as we motored to the dock. It took 3 inmates to pick it up and load it into a trash truck.

I’m soon sending Jordan a certificate with blue ribbon attached. I’ll call it the “persistence” award. The certificate will say, “May all you have patience for never disappoint you.”

Yankton, S.D. Clean-up - May 19, 2007

Kissing the Dam
by Vicki Richmond
photos by Vicki Richmond, Jen Courtney, Melanie Cheney and Wayne Werkmeister

The Gavin’s Point dam is a strangely pink structure that screams steel and power. On one side is Lewis and Clark Lake, the other frames the beginning of the 811 miles to St. Louis and the Mississippi. It is the last dam to harness the power of the Missouri River and pass it along to the City of Yankton, SD, and other towns hungry for electricity. The dam itself delineates one of the most untouched stretches of the Big Muddy. One side of the river is South Dakota, the other Nebraska.

The “Relief”, as the Yankton locals called us, arrived on a clear Thursday evening, camping in a beautiful hardwood grove overlooking the first mile of the unchannelized Missouri. This campground is maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers and is used for those giving service hours to the Park. Camp was hastily thrown together as we prepared to dine at Murdo’s, a bar and grill on the Nebraska side that sits overlooking the river. We explored the nearest cove on the lake and looked up at the dam from the boatramp.

In the spillway below the dam, huge paddlefish patrol the waters, becoming dolphins in the moonlight. The character of the river is different. This is the river we Missourians have heard fearful stories of. Sandbars and snags show where we see only water. We entered the braided channel carefully, Captains Racin’ Dave and Steve piloting us carefully around trees and in the shallow water.



I can hear the voice of River Relief icon Charlotte Overby in my head “It’s not appropriate to punish ourselves for having fun at work!” And work it would be. Two days of trash hauling.

Our task Friday was a noble one. We put our new, yet unnamed, plate boat 490 and the trusty Saskia in the water and boated down to the Yankton ramp. Docks and tanks had littered a privately owned stretch of the river since the 97 flood. The private landowners, City of Yankton staff and the Yankton Trust Unit of the SD Department of Corrections service workers had spent a week cutting and stacking the metal and Styrofoam to be accessible by our boats. Our job was clear. Get those piles.

It is said that many hands make light work. Waiting crews loaded the metal and styrofoam into from the National Parks Service and Missouri River Relief boats and an incredible seven and a half tons later, our crews headed back upstream for a sandbar lunch. A truly great effort was made simple by the hard work of smart planners who had volunteers, trucks and heavy equipment ready to work.

One trash haul down. One trash hauling day to go.

Saturday our two boats arrived at the Yankton ramp with fourteen hard core River Relief Crew. We arrived to a well-oiled sign-in machine. Paul Hedren who supervises the National Parks Service efforts along the National Recreational River gave a brief talk, the Yankton County Emergency Management staff presented as on-site safety message and Mayor Curt Bernard of Yankton SD thanked volunteers.

Two hundred fifty volunteers were fueled with donuts, outfitted in lifejackets and loaded in to 20 boats. The boats scattered volunteers along 12 miles of the river. Our boats headed to the dam, the farthest site possible.



Steve carefully piloted the Saskia upriver, with a crew of girls from Vermillion High School. Racin Dave, following tradition, kissed the dam with the bow of our boat as we marveled at the structure above us. We donned gloves and headed to the shoreline to pick up the trash accumulated along the rip rapped banks.


After a good cleaning of the rip rap below the dam with the help of the fisherman, who were thrilled with our efforts, our crew began a slow trip back down river, scanning the banks for trash more to our liking- the things that are heavy and bulky. An appliance dump caught Racin Dave’s eye. After a quick survey, we pulled what we could and noted that the site requires some different equipment. Cutting torches will be needed to clear this area of trash. We again boarded the boats.

Sharp eyes quickly spotted a tractor tire. Easy work for our motivated students. The tire was efficiently loaded into the Saskia and tire thrones constructed for comfortable seating. We continued to scan the banks, with the new eyes of the students on the lookout for more trash.


A shout. “Tire on the high bank!” Ben leapt from the boat to scramble up the bank. More experienced trash getters shared knowing looks. One tire sitting like that means only one thing. A tire dump.

Sure enough, Ben glanced from the bank to our boat. “Lots of tires here. Maybe 20, 30, 40…”. We smiled. This is what River Relievers love. Getting a big haul. Doing some real good.

We set ourselves in a line, passing tires hand to hand, loading the boat as the National Parks Service headed across the river in our direction. “The trucks are getting ready to go, you guys are the last in” Tyler called. As he pulled closer and was able to see the contents of our boat his eyes widened. We were simply “full up” with tires and trash. We loaded another 20 tires into his boat and headed slowly back downstream to the ramp, where loaders awaited our booty for the day.



As our two (last in) boats approached the ramp we heard gasps from those on shore. The adrenaline rush of a 50-tire load soon eclipsed the lagging energy of the ramp crew. The Saskia was quickly unloaded as the stories of the day were called out across the ramp. Our fifty tire load was the perfect ending to a perfect clean up.