Maramec Spring

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Fishing for trout is popular in the spring branch of Maramec Spring. A spring branch is a short creek that carries the flow from a spring into a nearby stream.

Maramec Spring is the fifth largest spring in Missouri with an average daily discharge of 96 million gallons (363 million liters). It is located on the Meramec River near St. James in Phelps County in the east-central Ozarks, an area of karst topography noted for its many springs and caves. The spring and 1800 surrounding acres (7.3 km²) are privately owned by the James Foundation which operates a park and trout hatchery and fishery at the spring that are open to the public for a nominal entrance fee.

The remains of an iron furnace from the Maramec Iron Works which used hydropower from the spring.

Adjacent to the spring are the ruins of the Maramec Iron Works, the first commercially viable iron works in the US west of the Mississippi, which produced iron from 1827 to 1891 During the US Civil War it produced iron for cannonballs and James B. Eads' gunships that were built in St. Louis near the mouth of the river. The iron works used the flow of water from the spring to power its machinery to process high-grade iron ore quarried in the form of hematite from a nearby pit.

The natural history of the spring and the history of the iron works are highlighted in a museum operated by the James Foundation at the site. Another museum in the park features agricultural tools utilized in the area over the years.

The park also offers a scenic drive that offers a glimpse into the life in the area while the iron works were operating. The drive takes the viewer to a scenic overview of the park, an old cemetery populated with employees of the works, the iron pit mine, and locations of a few homesteads. The park is also covered with ample picnic areas, including pavilions that are suitable for events.

In October every year the James Foundation hosts Old Iron Works Days across one weekend, usually the second or third weekend of the month. This event features arts, crafts, foods, displays and presentations that provide a view of life in the area during the operation of the iron works.

Trout fishing is available most of the year. Harvesting season starts March 1st each year and runs until the beginning of October. Catch and release runs during winter months.

[edit] References

• Missouri Trout Hunter
• Fishing the Missouri Trout Parks
• Ludwig, Stephen (1977). "Maramec Iron Works". Bittersweet Volume V, No. 2.[1]