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F 0 U R THE BATTLE JOINED But that was not all in that fast-breaking year of1961; the Time magazine for July 14 was devoted to outdoor recreation in America and in it was a beautiful, fullpage color photograph of a canoeing party camped under Big Bluff on the upper Buffalo. It was an absolute eye-opener, better than anything else in that Issue. We were absolutely dumbfounded. Who were these people who knew all that much more about the Buffalo River than we did? What in the world was the Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club (the O.W.W.c.)? At our meeting that month we talked about nothing else. Evangeline Archer stepped forth and said that she would leave no stone unturned until we found out. She wrote to Time magazine and was referred to the Kansas City Star, who identified the photographer, A. Y. Owen, who then named the people in charge ofthe O.W.W.c. They were Harold and Margaret Hedges who lived in Lake Quivira, Kansas. We later learned that they had begun their outdoor experiences in the Ozarks right after the end of the Second World War. They were bored with the city and for kicks first bought a johnboat in which they paddled around on the Missouri River. But that wasn't much. Soon the Grumman Aircraft Company came out with their sturdy, lightweight, aluminum canoe, and the Hedges quickly learned canoe handling, becoming experts at that. They ventured on the nearby Big Blue River and then on to better ones: the Gasconade, the Current, the Jacks Fork, Swan Creek, Beaver Creek, Big Sugar, the Buffalo, the Mulberry, and Big Piney. In a few years they had traveled all of the canoeable streams in the Ozarks, accumulating an entourage of avid outdoorsmen who would travel all night from Kansas City just to get to float the Buffalo the next day. Compared to them, us Arkansawyers born and bred, were pikers and greenhorns , but we were going to learn from them everything we could. 77 F 0 U R THE BATTLE JOINED But that was not all in that fast-breaking year of1961; the Time magazine for July 14 was devoted to outdoor recreation in America and in it was a beautiful, fullpage color photograph of a canoeing party camped under Big Bluff on the upper Buffalo. It was an absolute eye-opener, better than anything else in that Issue. We were absolutely dumbfounded. Who were these people who knew all that much more about the Buffalo River than we did? What in the world was the Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club (the O.W.W.c.)? At our meeting that month we talked about nothing else. Evangeline Archer stepped forth and said that she would leave no stone unturned until we found out. She wrote to Time magazine and was referred to the Kansas City Star, who identified the photographer, A. Y. Owen, who then named the people in charge ofthe O.W.W.c. They were Harold and Margaret Hedges who lived in Lake Quivira, Kansas. We later learned that they had begun their outdoor experiences in the Ozarks right after the end of the Second World War. They were bored with the city and for kicks first bought a johnboat in which they paddled around on the Missouri River. But that wasn't much. Soon the Grumman Aircraft Company came out with their sturdy, lightweight, aluminum canoe, and the Hedges quickly learned canoe handling, becoming experts at that. They ventured on the nearby Big Blue River and then on to better ones: the Gasconade, the Current, the Jacks Fork, Swan Creek, Beaver Creek, Big Sugar, the Buffalo, the Mulberry, and Big Piney. In a few years they had traveled all of the canoeable streams in the Ozarks, accumulating an entourage of avid outdoorsmen who would travel all night from Kansas City just to get to float the Buffalo the next day. Compared to them, us Arkansawyers born and bred, were pikers and greenhorns , but we were going to learn from them everything we could. 77 Harold and Margaret Hedges would become indispensable members of the anti-dam coalition. The BRIA Prepares for the Contest On August 3, 1961, the Yellville Mountain Echo published an interesting account of a meeting of the BRIA that had been held in the Marion County courthouse a few days before. Chairmen for each county concerned were selected: Luther Cavaness, Marion County; Tom Dearmore, Baxter County; James...

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