Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Our Buried Past Revealed: Bull Shoals Dam Photo Restoration Project 🌿

We have been working.

We have been working over a year with an amazing cashe of Ozarks' History.

Be prepared to see the preparation for the construction of the Bull Shoals Dam from 1946 to 1952.  We will preview the 74-year-old, Army Corps of Engineers negatives brought into vivid color as we uncover Ozark grave-sites & burial traditions. This video showcases a portion of his restoration project of rare, original black & white negatives. 

The construction of the Bull Shoals Dam was due to the frequent and devastating floods on the White River. In August of 1915, the floodwaters of the White River reached an all-time high even higher than any prediction. The flood caused hundreds of millions of dollars in livestock and property damage. Loss of life was heavy also. In 1927 an even more destructive flood plagued the White River Valley. The United States government recognized the need for Federal action and assigned to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers the task of regulating and controlling the stream-flow of the rivers. 

The Corps of Engineers took thousands of pictures during the exploratory & transition phase of the Bull Shoals Dam in the White River Valley. Many of these pictures have not been viewed for over 70 years until now. Along with digital archivist, Christine Schmid, we are currently working to digitally scan the negatives and restore them to black & white images. Additionally, we are using color AI software to bring the digital images back to vivid detail and beauty in select photos. 

Photos include: 

A 13-mile temporary railroad from Cotter, Arkansas, to the dam site 

The original & historic cemeteries surveyed & relocated from 1947 to 1949 

7-mile, world-record conveyor belt from Lee Mountain to the Bull Shoals Dam site 

We will discover former cemeteries containing: 

• Different styles of Ozark burial customs & graves 

• Centerpieces of Ozark communities 

• Neglected cemeteries in the forest riddled with post oak, hickory, and sycamore saplings & trees • Grassy plots scattered with simple field-stones

• River bottom plots choked with river cane 

• Rocky outcrops with graves piled high with stone borders 

• Native stone crypts, stone houses with ledgers & tables, and stone pup tent structures 

• Overgrown corners of fields shadowed by walnut trees & prairie grasses 

 A picture is worth a thousand words. But there are always stories behind each photo. Anderson will be telling those stories in his presentation - Our Buried Past Revealed.


 Enjoy your Ozarks' History