Letter to the Editor

Errors in Little River story, editorial

To the editor:A recent article on the Little River Drainage District had some errors. It stated the Diversion Channel started in Stoddard County. It starts in Bollinger County about a mile east of Greenbrier. The Castor River years ago made a bend to the south at that point, and the drainage district cut it off and started the Diversion Channel in an easterly direction.

From that point to the Mississippi River, It is less than 40 miles, not 451 as stated in the Nov. 12 editorial about the drainage district.

To the best that I have been able to figure out, the Diversion Channel does not go through any part of Stoddard County on its way to the Mississippi. It also does not drain any portion of the St. Francis River as stated in the original article. There is a connection to the St. Francis through the Mingo from the Castor River, but it flows southwest when the gates are opened, not northeast.

My great-grandfather laid out the town plat for Greenbrier and was postmaster and station agent for the railroad that ran from Brownwood to Zalma. He also owned one of the stores in Greenbrier in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

JOHN GREEN, Glenallen, Mo.