70 ' Trans. Acad. Sci. of 8t. Louis 



REMINISCENCES OF A VISIT TO BRANSON AND WHITE RIVER 

 IN TANEY COUNTY, MO., IN THE SPRING OF 1906. 



When the naturalist visits a new locality he is full of 

 eagerness to learn what is in store for him in general 

 and in his favorite hobby in particular. 



It was therefore with great expectations that Mrs. 

 Widmann and I began our ornithological reconnaissance 

 of Branson, the new town so happily situated where the 

 new branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad, the so-called 

 White River Division, crosses the White River on a long 

 and high bridge. To call Branson a new place would not 

 be correct, since the post office Branson has been on the 

 map for perhaps fifty years, but what we saw of the town 

 in 1906 was all new and everything built on a large scale, 

 the hotels, drug stores, general and furniture stores, liv- 

 ery, bams, post office building and a bright new bank. 

 There seemed to be no doubt that Branson would in 

 course of time become an important place for the distri- 

 bution of everything people need for comfort and luxury. 

 But this push and boom is not what the nature lover 

 admires most; it is the surroundings of the town, 

 especially the magnificent curves of the beautiful White 

 River walled in by steep cliffs and high bluffs. 



A short walk over an excellent road through a forest 

 leads to Branson Height and Table Rock, points com- 

 manding extensive views up and down the river for sev- 

 eral miles from the new railroad bridge on the left to far 

 beyond the new Maine Club House on the right. The 

 foreground comprised the newly plowed fields in the bot- 

 tom land on the opposite side of the curve with men and 

 teams still working, and 200 feet below us the swift 

 stream carrying at this moment a long raft of cedar poles 

 guided by two men to its destination, the loading incline 

 at the foot of the bridge, where a truck and wire rope 

 were busy lifting the poles from the water onto the cars. 

 A little stream with the promising name Turkey Creek 

 opens its romantic valley just opposite Branson, and on 



