OUTDOOR CORNER: THE ROAR OF BALL MILL RESURGENCE CAN BE HEARD IN PERRY CO.

Ball Mill Resurgence is a fascinating place to visit

Imagine you are walking down a typical Ozark woodland trail. Clouds loom overhead and it has been raining. With raingear on you decide to enjoy your hike anyway. Rain will not keep you from enjoying this walk!

The sound of the rain hitting leaves is a sound that calms and soothes your nerves. Nearing a ravine you begin to hear a low and yet loud rumbling noise. Stopping to listen reveals that the noise is growing into a loud roar. Before long the sound is drowning out the raindrops. Certainly this noise is not thunder! The sound is lasting way too long and is not varying.

Bitten with curiosity you pick up your pace to find the source of this noise. Toward the bottom of the ravine you notice the path goes through a rocky drainage branch. This branch looks like it is normally dry but the recent rains have filled it to flowing conditions. Looking up stream a bit reveals a short bluff that seems to be the source of the loud roaring noise. To make your way through the rain soaked forest is a bit difficult, but you immediately forget that when you see what is before you. The noise is created by water gushing up and out of a funnel shaped depression at the base of the bluff.

You can tell this is a sinkhole but instead of the water funneling down into the sinkhole it is gushing out almost like an artesian well. Now imagine that inside that gurgling rush of water are rocks that have fallen from the bluff. As the water forces them to jump around they clack against each other and the surrounding bluff walls. Chips of rock are knocked off and edges are worn down. There is no doubt that many years of this process will make a rock or boulder very smooth.

As bizarre as this may sound this is a scene you can witness if your timing is right and you visit a specific spot in Perry County. Ball Mill Resurgence is a unique feature 3 to 4 miles north of Perryville and is open to the public. The site is accessed only by walking a mile long trail through the forest.

While on the trail you should notice some sinkholes in several locations. These sinkholes help to feed the resurgence. During heavy spring rains the water soaks through the ground just like it does anywhere else. Some runoff does occur and sinkholes get that surface water into the ground faster than simple soaking.

The sinkhole, forming the resurgance, at the base of the bluff is lower than the sinkholes on top of the bluff. If it rains fast enough and with a large enough amount of water, pressure builds up in the ground. Thus as water begins to fill up in the sinkholes on top. This generates water pressure in the sinkhole at the base of the bluff. Water begins to force its way back OUT of the lower sinkhole. The process works much like a sewer backing up or artesian wells.

The pressure is high enough to pick rocks up and tumble them around in the basin wearing off the edges.

Residents of the area report that after large rains they can hear the 'mill' roaring from miles away! Consider what it must have been like to be an early settler confronted with such an occurrence. The explanation might have been tough to come by but I am sure the sight amazed them just as much as it will you!

It does not need to be raining to enjoy the site. Visiting the site when it is dry reveals many small smooth stones in the dry creek bed connecting to the resurgence. Seeing these makes you realize this is a unique place. Most of the stones in Missouri streams are jagged with rough edges. Picking up these smooth stones is discouraged and could change the usage of the site. If too much vandalism were to occur then the site could be closed to the public.

Ball Mill is owned by the L-A-D Foundation and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation and although open to the public it is considered private property. The L-A-D foundation allows the public to visit the site but does not want rocks removed from the stream. The rocks are better suited where they are as a story teller, than a window sill decoration.

To get to Ball Mill take Highway V north from Perryville until the pavement ends. Two gravel roads fork from that point and you will want to take the right fork and then keep to the left. One mile down the road you will find a sign and parking lot on the left that marks the trail head leading to the resurgence.

Perry County is famous for its high concentration of caves. It also has a lot of sinkholes.

This resurgence is a rare feature that can not only amaze us, but show us that Missouri has its own natural features that are worth protecting. I have been trying to catch the resurgence at work for a couple of years now and have not been successful. Perhaps you will be there on the right day!

A.J. Hendershott is an education consultant with the Missouri Department of Conservation.