The Arrow Rock Bluffs EarthCache

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Geocaching HQ Admin: It has now been over 30 days since Geocaching HQ submitted the disabled log below and, unfortunately, the cache owner has not posted an Owner maintenance log and re-enabled this geocache. As a result, we are now archiving this cache page.

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Hidden : 8/10/2010
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

Welcome to Arrow Rock state historic site and the Jameson Island Unit of the Big Muddy National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. This town is named after the bluffs that compose “the Arrow Rock” which can be seen just behind the resting bench where our kiosk is located at the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Trail of Discovery.

This rock was laid down in the Mississippian Period around 325 million years ago. Melting glaciers exposed the rock nearly half a million years ago after glaciers melted flowing into the Missouri River.

These bluffs are distinct from similar bluffs along the Missouri River because they produce flint, a very hard grayish black fine-grained form of quartz that produces a spark when struck with steel. In addition to being used as a fire starter, flint was used in prehistoric times to make tools such as arrow heads used by Native Americans. This is most likely where the name Arrow Rock was derived from.

The view of Arrow Rock cannot be seen in all its glory today as it was by early settlers of the area. Historically the Arrow Rock was a landing site for steamboats transporting goods up and down the river. Today, the river has moved away from the bluffs and has been replaced by bottomland forest and vegetation covering the exposure of the bluffs.

Even the Arrow Rock in view only begins to shed light on the bluffs that once stood. At the beginning of the 20th century several portions of Arrow Rock were dynamited and quarried to be used for rock in channelization construction projects.

The mineral that these bluffs are composed of is still the most abundant commercial mineral in Missouri today. Identify this mineral and e-mail your answer to tim_haller@fws.gov.

Sources:

Dickey, Michael. Arrow Rock: Crossroads of the Missouri Frontier. Arrow Rock, Missouri: The Friends of Arrow Rock, Inc., 2004.

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