Category: Places

Switzer

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 15, 2007

Sunday, I discovered that the Switzer Building was being destroyed starting on the 14th; the first wrecking ball would fall at 10pm. This was my last chance to take pictures of the building I’ve come to be fond of.

As I was taking pictures, others would show up from time to time: to look at the building, to reminisce, and take pictures, themselves. A person I talked with on the Eads Bridge mentioned about visiting the riverfront and the licorice aroma that would gentle pervade the area. Another person I ran into at the base of the building talked about his family being here before the building was created, and how too many of these unique buildings are now gone.

With the images below, I’ve included links to other sites with more on the Switzer Building, and other buildings at risk in St. Louis. Many of these sites have pictures far superior to mine, so don’t judge my photos too harshly. I had hoped to find an image of the building when licorice was still being manufactured at the premises, but no luck.

First, though, a couple of photos of what the building was like before the storm damage that doomed it.

Switzer before damage

The rest of the photos were taken Sunday, May 13th.

Side of building

The Damaged side

Full view of damaged side

Front cast iron work

Building Number

Smile You Being Watch

Three quarter front view

The Ecology of Absence web site

Ecology of Absence weblog entry on the building

Urban St. Louis thread on the Switzer Building

Vanishing St. Louis post on the building.

Built St. Louis Switzer page

St. Louis Today article on the building damage

LaClede’s Landing Walking Tour

Switzer Sign from Fading Ad

Photography Places

Mississippi Runneth

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 14, 2007

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

The Missouri river flooding is enough to raise the Mississippi, though not to the same levels. The water along the St. Louis waterfront rose to the level of the road, but luckily no further. Enough, though, to drown the area where I normally park, as these two pre-flood and flood pictures demonstrate.
Flooded waterfront in St. Louis

The water level was 29 feet above normal levels, which is one hell of a lot of water. However, unlike the Missouri, barge traffic was still moving on the Mississippi. I was lucky to be on the Eads Bridge just as one moved beneath, giving a nice birds eye view.

In September, 2006, the city installed a new statue dedicated to the Lewis & Clark Bicentennial. It stands 23 feet tall, and is installed just below the Eads Bridge, along the lower portion of the waterfront. All that showed above the water was Captain Lewis, waving his hat triumphantly.

The top view of the statue shows the swirls and eddies in the water. This is an incredibly dangerous river anyway, but with the flooding, if you fell in you wouldn’t be getting out.

No one was killed with this flood, though the damage was extensive in the north and west. It served as a reminder that Missouri is a state bound and threaded by rivers, and that we live here at the sufferance of nature.

Tags Missouri

Places

Press release Monday and Johnson’s: an epilogue

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 7, 2007

St. Louis Post-Dispatch brought in its “All of you are embarrassing Missouri” spanking paddle, and it would seem all parties are going to behave. Nixon’s office did issue a comment–it only received the investigative report on April 20th from the Highway Patrol. Now the Attorney General’s office can proceed with facts in hand.

The Southeast Missourian is about the only site that actually covered Lt. Governor Kinder’s visit. About the so-called Grand Masterplan:

Childers, in a letter sent Monday to Ameren, demanded the company immediately begin implementing a park master plan for redevelopment — something that Ameren contends goes beyond a mere restoration of the park. The plan, for example, includes a visitor center, a tourist overlook of the damaged area and relocated roads and camping facilities.

“We will restore the park to the original configuration without any settlement. But enhancements, that’s when we think we need a settlement discussion,” Voss said.

This is the first I’ve heard, at least, where the balking point is, and Ameren has a good point. It promised to repair the Shut-Ins after the breach, not invest in a whole new upgrade. As it is, there’s been a great deal of disagreement about the Grand Plan. Yes, the public was given chances to comment on such, but commenting on the plan lasted only ten days and was more of a formality, rather than a true discussion. Now would be a good time to re-visit the “Grand Masterplan”.

About the early opening:

The park reopened temporarily last summer partly so tourists could see the disaster area. But Ameren’s plan for this summer could do more harm than good, said the department’s deputy director, Kurt Schaefer.

“It would be the Griswold family vacation — people picnicking next to an aboveground sewage tank while it’s being pumped out,” Schaefer said. “You’re talking about people who are going to have a bad experience and never come back there.”

Now that is a very good point. It’s also the first time we’ve had a chance to hear more of these details. More blog reaction here and here.

A lot of people acted silly with this, and used the DNR and this event to further political agendas. However, that counts little to the folks of Missouri when compared to a baseball player getting killed in a car accident. It’s tragic when a young man is killed, but there’s much about how this state is governed that is related to this story. It really is important news, but I guess it doesn’t have that ’emotional’ hook. Well, other than to people who love the park and the Ozarks.

I am sorry for the folks who love the area and Johnson’s Shut-Ins, because it sounds like the rebuild plans are really mucking up both the park and the Ozarks trail. Hopefully over time, the park ‘improvements’ will eventually be truly improved and the Shut-Ins will once again be a jewel in Missouri’s crown of wonders, and a delight to those who love her.

As for the personalities associated with this event, I guess as long as ’emotional’ issues grab attention here in the “Show Me” state, the politicians needn’t worry about being accountable for their actions.

Places

Reason at Taum Sauk

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date May 7, 2007

It would seem that after the jumping up and down last week, our state officials are working together to come up with a proposal to put before Ameren in regards to the Taum Sauk dam failure.

Jay Nixon, the Attorney General, sent a letter to Ameren with a list of items his department stated Ameren would have to meet. Doyle Childers of the DNR read the letter and found it reasonable. This is good. This is an agreement between state officials, which will provide the ‘single source of communication’ that Ameren has been demanding.

Among the items in the letter Nixon sent:

Spend $350 million rebuilding the Taum Sauk reservoir, including state of the art safety facilities.
Continue to make tax payments to the county while the rebuild is underway
Not pass the costs of the restoration on to the customers

This, I’m assuming, would be in addition to the demands put forth by the Department of Natural Resources and Department of Conservation. These include right of ways, as well as the funds to clean up the Black River, reimburse the people of the immediate community, account for future problems and cleanup, as well as rebuild Johnson’s.

All total, this sounds like it will cost well over half a billion dollars. However, it also sounds like Ameren would get away without any criminal charges, and the company must want that.

It is in the best interests of everyone — Ameren, DNR, DOC, the AG office, the people of Reynolds County and the rest of the state–for this to move forward swiftly. All of us are exhausted by this event.

Photography Places

Lady of the Lake: Mingo National Reserve

Post author By Shelley Powers
Post date April 19, 2007

I went to the Mingo National Reserve this week–the last bit of bottomland left in the delta region of Missouri’s boot heel. It’s full of cypress swamps, marshes, a river and a lake, and is an important breeding ground for migratory birds. If the sounds I heard were any indication, the number of species that inhabit the grounds must be enormous.

I walked one trail and the songs were so loud and diverse that I found myself spinning about, trying to identify even a few of the birds I heard. No matter where I went, my movement always triggered a rustle in bushes, leaves, or water. What was both tantalizing and frustrating is that I would only catch a glimpse of whatever moved: a black and white hint of a woodpecker wings, the shadow of a eagle overhead, a heron peaking out at me from the trees. Never, quite seeing the whole.

As I drove the auto tour–a rough twenty mile road open four months of the year– biting and stinging insects would immediately come in through the open windows whenever I stopped, which was frequently. When I started back up again, the insects were just as quickly gone–not before leaving a souvenir, or two. I didn’t care, as it was a small price to pay to be surrounded by such mysteries.

I grew up in the Northwest, in a land full of white water rivers, huge open lakes, tall mountains, and vast fields. It is so unlike the small, secretive swamps and marshes unique to the south. There is no habitat that speaks to me more of being in the south than to walk in a cypress swamp, which is probably why I find them both compelling and disconcerting.

We rose from the depths of swamps such as these. They represent the last bit of ‘original life’, though the world’s rush to make them useful is destroying most of them and their important cousin, the rain forest. The problem with the Mississippi delta is it’s considered some of the richest farmland in the world. Deposits from the river overflowing its banks have built up a top soil that is literally feet deep in some places. However, with such richness is a price: the land is wet, boggy, swampy, and flooding is a natural part of the ecosystem.

Still, people persevered, and much of the original land where indians camped for over 12,000 years–to hunt and fish in the dense forests, the rich waters–is gone; replaced by neat hoed rows and small towns. Replaced until the Old ‘Sip reminds us, from time to time, that we don’t own the land on which we live.

cypress swamp

yellow bird

cypress swamp

white heron

dragonfly

butterfly

cypress swamp

lone duck on log