Winter2017

90 YEARS OF MISSOURI BUSINESS
1927-2017
When we built the
Lake of the Ozarks
By Shawna Scott
It is the year 1931, and the Union Electric
Co. has just completed the construction
of the massive Bagnell Dam on the Osage
River.
“It stands as a monument to the courage
and vision of men, an awe-inspiring
engineering triumph, impressive and
majestic through its 2543 feet of length,”
the June 1931 issue of our magazine
marveled.
Union Electric, now known as Ameren
Missouri, began building the dam in
August 1929 and finished in only two
years. It is a concrete gravity dam, which
means its weight is enough to overcome
the lateral force of the water pressing
against it. The cost was about $30 million
— more than $430 million in today’s
money.
“Ordinarily the Osage is a sleepy and
friendly stream but capable of raging
destructive fury when in flood,” the author
wrote. The ambitious undertaking to
harness that energy was “the first large step
in Missouri water power development.”
Beforehand, the river was studied for
more than two years to determine its
maximum and minimum flows as well as
the geologic formation. Researchers found
“a free basin with little or no seepage,” a
nearly perfect location.
An average of 3,000 people at a time
were employed to work on the dam. To
accommodate them, a “model town of five
to six thousand population was established
at the dam to provide facilities,” the article
stated. Railways, houses, dorms, dining
halls, stores, a school, a jail and a hospital
were among the facilities built to support
the massive construction efforts.
The article noted the fun fact that “a
world’s record for concrete pouring was
made at Osage when 5,082 cubic yards of
concrete was poured in a single 24-hour
day.” It’s no wonder the dam was so swiftly
completed.
Another interesting tidbit from the
original story is its mention of the use of
aerial photography. What is considered
a normal, inexpensive process now was
a remarkable and innovative technology
in the ’30s. To locate the most direct line
through the Ozarks’ mountains and forests,
“the airplane rendered a new and helpful
service,” the author wrote. “Photographic
surveys for the transmission lines were
made by aerial cameras from five thousand
feet in the air.”
The dam was named after Bagnell,
Missouri, a town that preceded it. The town
itself was named after William Bagnell, a
railroad man who platted it back in 1883.
“In the average year the initial Osage
plant will deliver over (400 million)
kilowatt hours of electric energy to St.
Louis, Rivermines, and points on the
Union Electric inter-connected system,”
which was the equivalent of 270,000
“Out in the blue hills of the
beautiful Ozark country, rich in
romance, steeped in legends
and brave deeds of its hardy
pioneers — one of America’s
most delightful corners, with
its swift rivers and vast caverns
— the Union Electric Light
and Power Company has just
completed the building of the
colossal Osage Hydro-Electric
Development.”
- Missouri Business magazine,
June 1931
MISSOURI BUSINESS MAGAZINE
46 MISSOURI BUSINESS