When I was an 11-year-old-scout we lived in Illinois. My dad was the scoutmaster, so I participated in both the 11-year-old program and the regular program. As such I went with my dad to scout camps. It was because our group was small, just one patrol, so my dad needed every scout he could get. One of our camps was to a camp ground by Grand Tower, Illinois. Grand Tower is between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau which are both on the Missouri side of the river, while Grand Tower is on the Illinois side. Grand Tower takes its name from Tower Rock, which is an island on the Missouri side of the river. Out in the river was this rock tower, which was covered with trees. We sleep where we could see the rock, and where we could walk along the banks of the river. It was an experience to remember for a life time. Rock Tower isn't the only island in the river. In fact there was a larger island close by. However it is the prettiest. I thought it could be its only little National Park.
However what made this trip even more special, was the legend of the Rock Tower. Somehow we became familiar with this story, and in its way it kept us from swimming too vigorously in the river Wading was about as far as we got. We hadn't come prepared for swimming anyway.
I was recently reading a book, set in grand Tower, which reminded my of this story. In fact I told the story to my daughter; and then I read the actual story in the book. I am taking the liberty to share the story from the book, "
The River Between Us' by Richard Peck. This is an early Civil War book. In the book it explains one of the character's visions. It must be written on a plaque someplace in the town, as the story is what I remembered:
The wedding party was Grand Tower's oldest story. It went back to 1839, and people talked about it yet. It seemed there was a young couple who took a notion to get married across the river on top of Tower Rock. She was Miss Penelope Pike. He was John Randolph Davis, both of them shirttail kin to half the county. They set forth in an open boat with the bride's parents and sister, the groom's mother, and three slaves. The Reverend Josiah Maxwell went too, to tie the know for them.
Well, they got married on the rock. Don't ask me how they got up to the top of the thing. That's never part of the story. On their way back, their boat got caught crossways in the current and pulled down by the whirlpool. They disappeared without a trace, though a moment before they were visible from both shores. That was the story of the wedding party.
That story played with my imagination when I was a scout. You could see small whirlpools int he water. I could imagine them bigger, pulling down boats and swimmers and whatever else might venture out there.
