Star Lime Quarry and Kiln area, south bluff of the Oakwood village area, Hannibal, Missouri. Sequence of pics from an early morning visit, Feb. 23, 2008. Walk-about starting north and crossing Bear ...more

Creek, going up the trail into the east side of the quarry area, around the north point to the west side, back again to the east side, going south over over the hill crest to look down on the west quarry, to the north point between the east/west quarries, back south down the hill top to the two tunnel entrances and into the large room where limestone was mined out when it became too costly to remove overburden, leaving the east quarry side and returning across Bear Creek. iowaz@swbell.net

Old Hannibal Lime Company quarry, kiln and prduction area south of Bear Creek, Hannibal, Missouri. The entire area is honeycombed with large quarry caves. Many of the building sturctures are now ...more

gone or collapsed. Four continuous burn kilns were on the SW hill above the processing area in the valley. Three kilns were down the valley closer to Bear Creek at one time. It is likely the area had pre-1871 kilns and quarry in operation before opened by the HLC but signs of any older structures are sparse and can be specualted. Another HLC operation was at White Bear a few miles west of Hannibal, with three kilns, production, shipping, along the Hannibal-St. Joseph RR. The quarries produced limestone building blocks/stones and various lime materials. HLC was noted for the quality of both and shipped huge volumns westward. At one time 300 people were employed by HLC. The HLC was organized in 1871 by a group of wealthy Hannibal businessmen and shareholders with a capital base of $50,000 and was managed by William and Lyman Munger. The Munger brothers would buy out all the ownership in the coming years and eventually sell out in 1903, living their few remaining years managing their accumulated 6000a of farm land on the Bay Island bottoms north of Hannibal and the Sny bottoms across the Mississippi River. During the last decades of the 1800's there was lime production by another company just west of HLC (some of the pic series near Lindall Ave are actually of the area of this quarry/lime operation) and one in the Oakwood area but both were smaller operations. HLC would be competitive until about 1922 but continued to decline with the compeition from the nearby Atlas Cement plant which opened in 1901 and worldwide resources. The two story HLC office and sales yard was on the SE corner of Collier and Seventh, a half mile NxNE of the quarry, operated until 1945 when it sold and was utilized for various uses. The Hannibal-St.L Shorline RR tracks ran along the south side of Bear Creek touching the quarry-production area. As of Feb 2008 these notes are from memory, so errors my be updated later. Pics are unedited in sequence taken during trail runs in Jan-Feb of 2008, iowaz@hotmail.com

Second set of Hannibal Lime Company Kiln area pics taken mid Feb 2008. iowaz@hotmail.com

Pics from a three hour trek while there was fresh powder snow on the lime kiln area, through the east end of one of the caves for bat pics, out the west side of the caves to search for mammal dens and ...more

over the top of the hill observing mammal tracks on the way back to the truck. Many snow/track/trail pics are kept iin the sequence for memory purposes upon later review. iowaz@hotmail.com

Early morning trek with snow falling on a dark, overcast day, starting at the Rickey Hollow bridge, going west on the Shortline RR bed, past the Hannibal Lime Co. valley, to the Waller Lime Quarry to ...more

survey mammal tracks/dens/activity. Returning over the hill top, through the 'woods' past the old farmstead to the Rickey Hollow quarry and starting point. The series starts with pics of an oppossum kill on the creek bottom, probably by a fox, before continuing down the old rail bed to the Waller Quarry. iowaz@hotmail.com

The Old Lime Kiln area on the south side of Bear Creek along the old shortline railroad operated for over a hundred years. Much of the lime was shipped by rail toward cities and westward to newly ...more

opened territory, having bulding, industrial and household uses. Lime was an extermely important product for pioneer communities.

Along the lower portion of Bear Creek from the Rickey Hollow Bridge downstream to the South Main Street Bridge area, Fall 2005, Hannibal, Missouri. Some views look pristine but in reality Bear Creek ...more

remains a trash dump for physical and chemical products from the mouth all the way beyond Hwy 61.

Along lower Bear Creek from the Rickey Hollow Bridge downstream to the South Main Street Bridge, Fall 2006, Hannibal, Missouri.

Pictures taken in all directions on a walk-about on what remains in Hannibal, Missouri, of the old Hannibal and St Joseph Railroad bed, going from west to east toward the Mississippi River, ending a ...more

bit before where Grand Ave intersects with Industrial Drive. The rails would have run along the north side of today's Industrial Drive to the Depot near the River. iowaz@swbell.net

There is only one remaining segment of the old historic Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad bed left in Hannibal. The remainer of the bed has been 'given back to progress' or abandoned to locals or used ...more

for trash dumping. Construction of the H&StJ began in the mid 1850's and progressed until by early 1860's the H&StJ was the first railroad running westward from the Mississippi to the Missouri River area. Thus Hannibal for a short few decades was historically an extremely important river/rail port. There are still three steel bridges remaining along the bed in Hannibal, but the remaining ties were removed sometime in the 1970's. Access across the bridge on the west end has been eliminated in the past few years by wire mesh at both ends of the bridge; probably done by the city(?). There is no convenient way around the west bridge so the rail bed cannot presently be walked end-to-end. Nearly all of the environment along the bed and creek is full of trash, junk, chemicals, etc. Trash town at it best!

Built in CCC days, the old sewage plant for Hannibal, Missouri, was abandoned in the later 1980's. The stone work remains on the Mississippi River front on the south bank of the mouth of Bear ...more

(Hannibal) Creek.

Pics taken by Randy and Z of mammal tracks on a gravel road and a roadside deer kill in the area of a possible courgar sighting by Randy P. south of Hannibal. The first pic is of an actual cougar ...more

track found on a backpacking trip in southern MO, followed by five small pics of actual cougar track examples from an identification site. iowaz@hotmail.com

'Walk-about' in the remaining Mississippi River bottom land sough and timber land across from Hannibal, MO. Nealy 100% of the Mississippi River Valley has been sterilized for progress. What is the ...more

delay, get the remainder channelized, plowed, asphalted!!

At the end of Wabash Ave, at the west end of the railroad tunnel, in a deep 'hidden' valley in Riverview Park, is an example of an old small farmstead of the mid 1800's to early 1900's. Near all ...more

villages there were many small farmsteads of a few acres where families lived a self-sufficient life-style with their own water, fuel, food supply. In this case wood/water are immediately availlable. The family would have had a few hogs, milk cows, chickens. The aera is too deep in the valley to have crops other than a few garden plots, but could be pastured. There is a good example of a hand dub, limestone lined water well as one approaches the house location. The layout of the house can still be seen from observing the old limestone block foundation, which would have come from the quarry just around south hill. Few foundation and almost no hand dug wells are left in the NEMO area due to 'progress.' File names may indicate a picture or series topic. iowaz@hotmail.com

Mississippi River front from the deck of the 'Mark Twain Riverboat' owned and operated by Captain Terry.

Views of the Mississippi River area at Hannibal, Missouri, from the Illinois side of the River.

Along the River Front of Hannibal Missouri on a cloudy, cool, October day. Pics from the deck of Captain Terry's Mark Twain River Boat. File names describe the pic.

Pics in the old town area, Hannibal, Missouri.

View across the Mississippi River of Hannibal Missouri taken from the Illinois Landing area at the "Old Bridge" approach, plus a few views from Lovers Leap.

Historic Main Street of the Mississippi River and rail port saw hundreds of thousands of pioneers as the moved westward.

Views of the outside area of the Clemens home on Hill Street overlookiing the Mississippi River Port of Hannibal Missouri.

Grants Drug Store faces Main Street but sits across Hill Street from the Clemen's Home.

Becky Thatcher's home was across Hill Street from Tom Saywer's, in Twain's Hannibal Missouri.

John Clemens, father of Sam (Mark Twain) did have a law office for a short time near his home. It was around the corner on Main St, but later for historic purposes to its present location across from ...more

the Twain home on Hill Street.

Mark Twain Cave just over the hill about two miles south of historic Hannibal and Twain's boyhood home was explored and visted for decades by nearly every child and adult in the village. ...more

iowaz@swbell.net

Mt. Olivet Cemetery on Fulton Ave, along Rt T (Old Hwy 70), on the South Side of Hannibal Missouri contains many Hannibal area surnames including the Clemens' plot in the Old Yard. There is a folder ...more

containing panoramas of each section in Mt. Olivet in the Iowaz Fotki Site.

Views inside the Clemen's home on Hill Street, Hannibal, Missouri.