Most people who know Aldo Leopold also know of the famous “Shack” he owned with his family alongside the Wisconsin River. What most people don’t know is that before Leopold acquired his Shack, he first owned a “shanty.”
Located on the banks of Missouri’s Current River near the Missouri-Arkansas line, the shanty was purchased by Leopold as a quail hunting retreat after he and his brothers made a memorable float trip down the river in 1926.
Intrigued by how little else was known of Leopold’s connection to the Current, Leopold Foundation senior fellow Stan Temple decided a couple of years ago to retrace the 1926 float trip, guided by Leopold’s journals.
Temple is giving a talk on Friday, Nov. 11, at 12 pm about his Current River trip, including his rediscovery – after much sleuthing – of the site of the long-forgotten shanty.
Part of the foundation’s Brown Bag Lecture series, the talk will take place at the Leopold Center: E13701 Levee Road, Baraboo, WI. Get directions
If you aren’t able to join us in Baraboo for the talk, you can read Temple’s account of Leopold’s 1926 trip, his purchase of the shanty, and Temple’s own Current River adventures nearly a century later in the spring 2016 issue of The Leopold Outlook.
Top image: Stan Temple on the steps of Aldo Leopold’s former shanty on the banks of the Current River. Photo courtesy of Stan Temple.
A University of Wisconsin emeritus professor and a senior fellow with the Leopold Foundation, Stan Temple held for 32 years the professorship once held by Aldo Leopold. Stan writes and speaks frequently about Leopold, wildlife ecology, and conservation. Contact him at satemple@wisc.edu.