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Mammoth Spring
Mammoth Springs, Fulton
County, Arkansas |
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From the state parks brochure...Local folklore includes the tale of an
Indian Chief who son died while searching for water during a drought.
While digging his son's rave, a giant stream of water gushed forth.
The Chief believed this spring would flow forever because his son died
searching for water. The spring actually comes up 80 feet below
the center of this spot.
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It is said the spring has to much nitrogen to maintain
fish life but I guess that doesn't pertain to snakes. This one was
swimming along with a fish he got from somewhere....maybe the Citgo down
the road.
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You are standing at the headwater of the Spring River.
Not only has the spring provided a source of power for the city of
Mammoth Spring, it is a source of recreation for many outdoor
enthusiasts.
The 9.78 million gallons of water that flows over this dam every hour
makes the Spring River one of the most consistent float streams in the
state. The cool 58 degree water is ideal for rainbow trout. As the river
flows toward Hardy, it warms, making it more conducive to walleye and
smallmouth bass.
Mammoth Spring is the 10th largest spring in the world.
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Dam Site #1 and Mammoth Spring Milling Company
The dam seen here was constructed in 1887 & 1888 for the Mammoth Spring
Milling Company. Each stone was hand-quarried and fit into place using
no mechanical equipment. The concrete structure, to your left on the far
side of the dam, is all that remains of the Milling Company. It served
as the Company's vault where the safe with important records and
documents was stored. The Company's safe and time clock are on display
at the Depot Museum.
In 1925, the Arkansas-Missouri Power Co. bought the rights to this dam
and two others downstream. Dam #2 later washed away, but Dam #3 still
stands 3 miles south. These dams provided electrical power for the
Mammoth Spring-Thayer, Missouri, area until 1972.
The water flows over the dam at the same rate as it flows from the
Spring - 9 million gallons per hour. The Spring River begins at this
point and winds its way southeast where it converges with the Eleven
Point and Black Rivers.
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Dam construction began in 1887 and was completed in
1888.
Built by the Mammoth Spring Improvement and Water Power Company, the dam
was 15 feet high, and 225 feet long. The builders used quarried
limestone and earth fill set in a concrete footing in solid rock.
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This building was constructed by the Arkansas-Missouri
Power Company in 1927. The generator and equipment inside are all
original, with the exception of the oil circuit breaker, which was
replaced in 1956. At a cost of $11,000, the generator was rated at 550
Kilowatts and could produce 2400 volts at a speed of 150 RPMs.
This plant was taken out of service in 1972 because it was no longer
economical to operate due to high operating and maintenance costs.
Arkansas-Missouri Power Company donated this hydroelectric plant to
Arkansas State Parks in 1972.
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Fulton County according to the 1919 Arkansas Gazette
Situated in the northern part of Arkansas, on the Missouri line, is a
county that is known, because of its features, from one end of the
civilized world to the other. This is Fulton county, the home of the
justly famous Mammoth Spring, which spring has a full sized river -
Spring river - at its source. So beautiful, so full of grandeur and so
wonderful are these natural curiosities that were they in some of the
forgotten places of Europe, poets would sing and lyrics would be written
of them that would echo around the world and they would be the scene
annually of tourist gatherings from the four corners of the globe.
The city of Mammoth Spring is a charming town of about $1,500; all
lighted; has fine water and strictly modern. It has factories, churches
of every denomination, about 35 progressive mercantile establishments, a
$12,000 graded and high school, from native stone, and it is the outlet
for at least 35 contiguous towns in both Arkansas and Missouri counties,
of farmers and others receiving and sending freight and express. The
Frisco (Kansas City - Memphis - Birmingham lines) runs through the city,
and a number of trains in each direction furnish ample passenger
service. Mammoth Spring is 142 miles from Memphis, 140 from Springfield,
and 342 from Kansas City. This is one reason why it is such a cattle
shipping point. It has a fine bank also, and the city is but a half a
mile from the Missouri State line, and is in the northeast section of
the county. It has a live commercial club, every ready to extend the
helping hand to any worthy project or enterprise, and is rapidly
becoming known as a convention city.
THE FAMOUS MAMMOTH SPRING
Mammoth Spring is fed from an underground lake, the area of which has
never been ascertained. The spring covers 18 acres and has a flow of
300,000 gallons per minute, more water than is used in 24 hours by some
of the largest cities in the United States! It flows at an even
temperature of 58 degrees and to quote from the late Major Bellamy, of
the city of Mammoth Spring: "Nothing affects it. Its purity remains
undimmed, when the showers of spring transform mountain streams into
veritable sewers; cloudbursts that drown wide valleys, and droughts that
drive cattle from the distant lowlands, neither add to nor take from its
constant, never-varying flow; and the keenest blast of cold winter that
ever scaled the Ozarks and rushed as a conqueror down these sunny
slopes, has never yet been able to capture and imprison in its icy
fetters a single wavelet on the placid bosom of this might spring."
Mammoth Spring supplies today 1,000 horsepower, with a total capacity
of 3,000 horsepower developed for the operation of the Mammoth Spring
Electric Light and Power Company, a corporation organized in the 1909,
the plant, dam and lines costing in all $300,000.
Salem is the county seat and is the seat of the Northeast Arkansas Fair,
which attracts live stock exhibits from all over this section of the
state.
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