Boiler Hole and the Culpepper Cemetery
Pool, cemetery and hollow · cemetery back from the right bank · about mile 34.5 · Plate A11
The next Hole. Any pool deep enough to swim or fish in, named or not, the basic unit of the river in local speech; also “hole of water” (Chapter 18). Glossary → down, Boiler HoleLewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source., is said to be named for a steam-engine boiler thrown into a gully by the river to stop the bank from washing. On December 15, 1904Lewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source., by one account, Mose Jones caught an otter in the Boiler Hole. The Funsten Fur Company bought the fur from David L. Bales, and the otter measured eleven feet from the tip of its tail to its nose. How the otters later all but vanished from Missouri and were brought back is told in Chapter 16.
Back from the right bank, across from Shingle Mill and Boiler holesLewis 1980, PDF pp. 51, 57 (maps, “Morton Cem.” south of the river opposite Shingle Mill and Boiler holes). John Alley’s post office: see Reach H., lies the Culpepper Cemetery, on what was the John Alley farmLewis 1980, PDF p. 54. near the mouth of Buzzard HollowLewis 1980, PDF p. 55.. John Alley, whose post office on the farm is told in Reach H, ran a small gristmill in the hollow, and Buzzard Hollow was once a favorite roost for black and turkey buzzards. By one account the firstLewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source; the source lists about thirty names. McCormacks at Alley: see Reach H. burial was John Alley’s wife, Grace, in 1877. She was Grace Mahan Alley, born October 17, 1837, probably of the Mahan familyan inference from her name. of Mahans Creek, and John W. Alley lived from October 22, 1832, to February 1898Shannon County cemetery readings (Culpepper Cemetery).. The ground was called the Alley Cemetery, then the Morton Cemetery, and later the Culpepper Cemetery. By 1980 it held about a hundred graves and was no longer used, and the names on the stones include Alley, Branson, Culpepper, Morton, Plowman, Russell and Strain. Some of the early McCormacks are probably buried there (Reach H).
Joe and Sarah CulpepperLewis 1980, PDF p. 54, the only source. came from Tennessee in 1889. Joe owned sawmills at Angeline and other places, and by the same account he was a dentist who made false teeth. He died in 1925, killed by a dynamite blast on his farm while he was blowing out a stump and killing groundhogs.
Culpepper Chute
Chute · about mile 34.9 · Plate A11
Culpepper Chute still gave floaters a thrill at times in 1980. Gum Hollow, a short way below on the right, has a couple of small springs and normally runs no water.