Rich Chiles, who is currently the “big dog” at the Truman Dam operated by the Corp of Engineers spoke at the quarterly meeting of the Benton County Historical Society. The program was held in the meeting Room of the Boonslick Library and area residents gleaned a personal glimpse of Rick Chiles and his connection to the area.
Chiles stated he had grown up in the Henry and St Clair Counties and how the coming of the proposed Dam was resisted by his own family. He heard more times than he could count about how the awful “thing” would forever change their day to day lives and nothing would ever be the same again. They were dreading have to face what countless numbers had already faced in the late 20’s and early 30’s when the Bagnell Dam was built and displaced so many when it created the Lake of the Ozarks.
It did impact his family’s life, so when he first went to work as a Park Ranger for the Corp it wasn’t a popular career choice with his relatives, especially his grandfather. His grandfather was still very much alive and so Rick slowly began talking about the duties of his occupation and different things he did on the job and over time his grandparent became proud of his grandson and his position with the Corp.
He wore different hats in his employment over the years. In 2017 he worked in the Power Plant, has done a stint at Stockton until he came back to Truman and actually became Project Manager. It’s a big task as the project covers 150,000 acres and 55,600 acres of water and 200,00 during flood stage.
He shared the Corp has flowage easements. He said, “We don’t own the land, but we have the right to flood it. It can be farmed or used as wet lands or hunting grounds too.”
He showed a couple of huge record books that are kept in the office and said the one contains Parcel numbers when the Corp bought the land for the Project. The other book contains records about the Parcel number and what transpired as each piece was purchased. He remarked that the landowners that took the money offered and moved on came out ok financially. The ones that fought in court didn’t. Because when they lost they had to pay all the court costs, not the Corp of Engineers.
He explained the extreme bitterness by so many residents, telling about the huge billboards between Warsaw and Clinton and down highway 13 proclaiming in large lettering, “DAM THE DAM!” Many in the audience, new to the area, were shocked to learn there had been so much resistance.
One person questioned where the power goes that is generated by Truman and Chiles stated, “It goes to the Springfield and Tulsa areas. It doesn’t stay here.”
Chiles continued, “Warsaw has done a fantastic job managing Corp land with the Harbor and all the trails they have created.” He concluded that now people see the Dam has created lots of recreation and brings tourist dollars to the area. It has created wildlife and campgrounds and the Corp is careful to monitor water quality and controls flood management that once put parts of the town under water, sometimes annually. Even his Grandpa finally admitted it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
