[luvarkansas]

While we were hiking the Lost Valley Trail last spring, entranced by its beauty, my son (17) made the observation that if some people would have had their way, all of Lost Valley would truly have been lost...buried under water because of another dam.

I am truly grateful to the foresighted people who saved the Buffalo River from being dammed.

[Towhee]

Originally Posted by Bull Winkus

Just ran across this most interesting bit of history in Benton County. Until now, I had never heard of Monte Ne.

Monte Ne is a resort that was built by William H. "Coin" Harvey starting in 1900. At its peak there was a bank, three hotels, a golf course and an indoor swimming pool. He built a 5 mile connecting railway from Lowell and had his guests riding in authentic imported Venetian gondolas. Monte Ne became the headquarters of the newly formed Liberty Party in 1931, and Coin Harvey was their presidential candidate in the election of 1932.

In the 1960's Monte Ne was buried by Beaver Lake when the Corp of Engineers constructed a dam across the White River.

Here's a couple of links to more information about this bit of Benton County history.

Monte Ne (Benton County) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas
Monte Ne Resort 1 (http://4dw.net/jamesmskipper/MonteNe/MonteNe1.html - broken link)
Monte Ne

Thanks. We visited Monte Ne' before it was flooded. A very interesting place.

[DC at the Ridge]

I would have loved to have seen it before it was flooded. But that was before my time (sigh). The local bookstores almost all carry books on Monte Ne, though, with lots of pictures. Right now, the lake is still pretty high, but when the lake gets low you can sit on the remnants of the amphitheater.

[Bull Winkus]

Originally Posted by RogMar

That's a good one, Bull. I tried to click ya', but I gotta spread the love first. So ya got a virtual one.

It saddens me that opulence is disregarded for 'progress'. I have seen this happen too often and Monte Ne is another one.

The testimonials to a grander era are treated too much like aging, abandoned parents who are put away out of sight so someone else may assume the responsibility of their existance until they are no longer a 'liability'.

If tackiness were a crime....there'd be a heck of a lot of people doing a 'flat 99'.

When I was in exile, or...uhm...'working' in Chicagoland, I had the opportunity to explore. Although some structures are still left from the great World's Fair, many were torn down or left to crumble. Many photographs still exist that show the grandeur of it, but this is much like the mantle photograph of ol' Uncle Henry in his Mexican-American war uniform. An image of something that lives only in memories and history books.

Same thing in Florida with Flagler's resorts, and more than a dozen other places, not even counting the abandoned and decaying mansions that litter many citys across our great country.

No longer is rail travel a luxury for the wealthy. No longer do we have the areas where people would 'summer' or 'winter' over. Life now is less civilized and these photos mock our internet, television dominated lives.

The recent scandal near me in Hardy with the Beach club property fraud brought forth stories again of people having summer places on the Spring River, and how the wives and children of people from Memphis, Missouri, and far regions would come for the summers and the husbands would join them on weekends for grand parties.

This is a time that is gone, and is covered in the litter of microwave TV dinners and Priceline.com printouts.

Sad

It's just the march of time, Rog. Nothing ever stays the same very long, and well it shouldn't. We have photographs for that. Life is an ever changing cacophony of music and clamor al fine (to the end).

I think it's kinda romantic for the opulence of the past to be washed in the splendor of the present. Coin Harvey was a bit of a megalomanic, and his rigid ideas on economics must have sounded good to the desperate souls of his time, facing without knowing a full decade of repressive economic hardship. Monte Né was a product of the excesses of the time as was the karma of the '30s that followed.

We shouldn't forget these events of the past in our back yards. Our children and grandchildren desperately need the insight to be gained from reviewing society's past mistakes. But, we shouldn't cling to History's architectural leavings either, lest they impound the lives of our descendants in their imposing and rigid infrastructure.

[Bull Winkus]

Originally Posted by luvarkansas

While we were hiking the Lost Valley Trail last spring, entranced by its beauty, my son (17) made the observation that if some people would have had their way, all of Lost Valley would truly have been lost...buried under water because of another dam.

I am truly grateful to the foresighted people who saved the Buffalo River from being dammed.

Yup! The Corps did have their sights set on transforming that river into another lake. It would have been a terrible loss!

[Bull Winkus]

Originally Posted by Marianinark

Thanks. We visited Monte Ne' before it was flooded. A very interesting place.

No. Thank you. That must have been an extraordinary experience! Did you know at the time that it was going to be flooded?

[Bull Winkus]

Originally Posted by DC at the Ridge

I would have loved to have seen it before it was flooded. But that was before my time (sigh). The local bookstores almost all carry books on Monte Ne, though, with lots of pictures. Right now, the lake is still pretty high, but when the lake gets low you can sit on the remnants of the amphitheater.

According to the articles, the lake has dropped low enough to uncover the amphitheater twice; once in 1977 and again in the 1980's. It was down again at the time of the writing (Monte Ne Resort 1) around 2005/2006, but it didn't say how much.

The next time the lake level drops, I would like to pay a visit.

[Aporkalypse]

Originally Posted by Bull Winkus

According to the articles, the lake has dropped low enough to uncover the amphitheater twice; once in 1977 and again in the 1980's. It was down again at the time of the writing (Monte Ne Resort 1) around 2005/2006, but it didn't say how much.

The next time the lake level drops, I would like to pay a visit.

Good reason to scuba dive. I'd seen Monte Ne on old maps of Arkansas. I just assumed it was a town that changed its name. Nice info on this thread.