[Edit Note: Edited to include marker text and to conform with requirements of category]
County of marker: Camden County
Location of marker: Bagnell Dam Blvd., west end of dam, Lakeside
Marker erected by State Historical Society of Missouri and State Highway Commission
Erected: 1957
Marker Text:
b>BAGNELL DAM
The historic Osage River, impounded here by Bagnell Dam, flows east and north some 82 miles to join the Missouri. At river's mouth, the 1804 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 plied 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., 1868-1870,1 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;2 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 1830s.
Original submitter's text:
This marker is on the west end of Bagnell Dam and there are four other interesting sites within one mile. See list:
Oldest boat on Lake Of The Ozarks - Just across the street there is a cruise boat called the Tom Sawyer which offers rides in the summer. The "oldest boat" is the bottom portion of the barge to the right of the Tom Sawyer boat. The barge was used in the construction of the Dam an was left on the lake after construction was complete.
Lake Info - Looking towards the Dam from the marker there is a road that goes down to below the Dam. At the top of the road there is an old turbine from the Dam and a sign with Lake/Dam statisics.
Scenic Overloook - Go across the Dam and at the top of the hill turn right to the Ameren UE Osage Plant Scenic Overlook.
Willmore Lodge Museum - If you go left instead of right at the top of the hill you will come to the Willmore Lodge Museum which has many Pics and artifacts from the Dam's construction.
There is also a very interesting store just to the west of the marker called Richards Relic Shack, a must see if you like arrowheads, coins, etc.
You may want to Google Maps Lake Of The Ozarks to see why is sometimes referred to as "Dragon Lake"