News Release 586

PLAY THE NAME GAME THIS CHRISTMAS WITH
THE MISSOURI STATE LAND SURVEYOR

Volume 35-586

Contact: Hylan Beydler

(For immediate release)

573-368-2118

ROLLA, MO, DEC. 20, 2007 -- Are you traveling a distance with family this Christmas?  Are you looking for a way to pass the time and learn about Missouri along the way?  If so, you are in luck, thanks, in part to the Missouri Board on Geographic Names and the Department of Natural Resources.  Making a game of identifying and citing interesting Missouri place names and geographic features can help pass the time and may even become a family tradition.

"If you think for a few minutes about place names associated with Christmas, you will likely name the town of Noel," said J. Michael Flowers, state land surveyor with the department's Division of Geology and Land Survey. Pronounced slightly different than it is in the traditional English carol, this Missouri town, situated in McDonald County, is listed in the Geographic Names Information System as an incorporated city eight miles north, northwest of Gravette, Ark. and is 833 feet above sea level.  "Someone in your group may offer "Santa" as a listing in the GNIS, and that would be correct," Flowers continued.  There are, in fact, a number of entries by that name.  Santa Rosa, for example, is a populated place in DeKalb County."  

Flowers serves on the Missouri Board on Geographic Names. The board governs appropriate procedures for naming and renaming geographic features within the State of Missouri; provides uniformity in geographic nomenclature throughout the state; and retains the expressed historic and cultural significance of such names associated with Missouri's geography.

Other listings that are associated with Christmas and wintertime include Holiday Lake, Lafayette County; Star Lake, Howard County; Star, Stoddard County; Star City, Barry County; Holly Lake, Clay County; Shepherd Mountain, Iron County; Garland, Henry County; and Snowball Hill in Cass County. For the geologist or possibly the jewelry lover in the family, there are many features in the GNIS with mineral, gem and rock names.  Some include Diamond, Newton County; Black Diamond Mine, Bates County; and Diamond Island, Platte County.  Dent, Phelps and Taney counties each have a Coalpit Hollow of their own.  Other geology-related feature names include Limestone Creek, Dade and Bates counties; Limestone Ridge, Benton County; Granite Bend, Wayne County; Galena in Stone County; Mineral Spring, Texas County; Mineral Point, Washington County; Coal Bank Ford, Moniteau County; Coal, Henry County; Coal Creek, Ste. Genevieve County; and Jasper in Jasper County.  Don't forget Shale Hill in Livingston County; Big Rock, Madison County; Arrow Rock, Saline County; Arrow Rock Bend, Howard County; and Ironton Ridge in Reynolds County.  Some historical features also reside in the GNIS including Onyx in Pulaski County; Onyx Mines, Franklin County; and Snow in Macon County. 

Christmas-related names also reside in the department's Land Survey Index.  Some include Santa Claus Acres in Franklin County; Silver Bell Addition, Greene County; Christmas Tree Lane Subdivision in Cass County; and Angels Camp Subdivision in Webster County.  The online index maintained by the department includes legal descriptions, subdivision plats, U.S. survey numbers and general land office plats. 

In addition to the Department of Natural Resources, the State Archives contributes support to the Board on Geographic Names as does the State Historical Society; the State Spatial Data Center; and the Conservation and Highway and Transportation departments. Federal agencies contributing include the U.S. Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. Members come from state colleges and universities and several at-large citizens.  The board convenes each May and November at the Secretary of State's Office. 

To help build your list, you can search for names at the GNIS Web site geonames.usgs.gov/domestic/.  Links to maps showing the feature are also on the site. Geologic maps of Missouri can be located by going to the department's Division of Geology and Land Survey Web site www.dnr.mo.gov/geology/. Searches on vast holdings of the Land Survey Repository are possible through the online Land Survey Index www.dnr.mo.gov/molandsurveyindex/.  For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel.

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Editor:  Photo is available at /newsrel/mopuzzle.jpg.