Nearly a decade ago I toured the springs of Southern Missouri and Arkansas with some friends. The mill at Falling Spring was constructed in 1927. It is accessible to the public today. A family cabin still stands across from the mill, but no human inhabitants remain. The frogs are happy for the quiet pool.

Likely bullfrog froglets, Winona MO 2012.

“The Falling Spring area was homesteaded in 1851 by Thomas and Jane Brown of Tennessee. Today, the Thomas Brown Cabin sits across the lake from Falling Spring Mill. In April of 1929, a great-niece of Thomas Brown — Dorothy Thompson — recorded this memory, as told by her grandfather, James Thompson: ” – State of the Ozarks

We crossed the Mississippi River at what was called Green’s Old Ferry and we crossed the Ohio at what was called Golconda in an old horse boat. In that company were 17 persons. They were the Brown Family and my mother’s two sisters (named Fowler) and the Reaser Family. On reaching Missouri, the eldest brother, James M., shook hands with each of his brothers and sisters, bade them farewell, and departed northward, settling in the St. Joseph area. The rest of the company continued to Oregon County.