Lake of the Ozarks

A dragon will crawl across future maps of Missouri. Its head will be at Bagnell, in the central part of the State. Its tail and claws will twist 129 mi. westward. It will be labelled Lake of the Ozarks, largest artificial lake in the world, created by a dam across the Osage River built by Stone & Webster for Union Electric Light & Power Co. (North American subsidiary). St. Louisans and Kansas Citizens will have summer shacks and duck shooting lodges along its 1,300 mi. of shore line. St. Louisans, who will consume a large part of the dam's annual 425 million kilowatt hours of electricity, also hope that Lake of the Ozarks will temper their city's blistering summers.

Having already condemned many a farm, torn down a county seat, reinterred 2,850 corpses, last week Union Electric Light & Power Co. found itself involved in a seven-figure lawsuit. The wealthy Snyder brothers of Kansas City -- Robert, Leroy and Kenneth -- wanted $1,000,000 in damages because the lake floods the edge of their 5,400-acre estate at Hahatonka, near the damsite. Onetime Senator James Reed, the plaintiffs' attorney, declared at Jefferson City that Hahatonka "was one of the wonder spots of the world." Its "castle," lake and sparkling, spring-fed trout-stream drew visitors from all over the world. Mountain-whittling Gutzon Borglum promised to testify for the Snyders that he "would have given $1,000,000 for the estate" before the dammed waters started to rise, "would not have it at any price now." Meanwhile Union Electric Light & Power Co.'s new lake kept rising, last week reached high water mark for the first time.

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