Loutre River - Present Day

Present Day

In July 2000 Cargill Pork, Inc.'s hog farm in Martinsburg, Missouri illegally discharged hog waste from its holding ponds into the Loutre River. The United States Environmental Protection Agency said the release occurred because of improper handling of waste management equipment by Cargill Pork, Inc., a subsidiary of Cargill. After the waste release, which occurred over a five-day period, the EPA said 53,000 fish were killed along a five-mile stretch of the river. Cargill was fined $1.55 million, including $51,000 as restitution for damage to the environment.

The Missouri Department of Conservation owns and maintains the Loutre Lick Public Fishing Access (163 acres) 3 miles south of I-70 on Route N (Mineola exit) then three-quarters of a mile on County Road 278. Bass, catfish, sunfish, and crappie are abundant in this section of the river. The forest, cropland, and old fields also provide for good public deer, dove, quail, rabbit, squirrel, turkey, and waterfowl hunting. Trapping is allowed with a Special Use Permit.

Graham Cave State Park maintains a paved boat access to the river accessible for free by park patrons with a large paved parking area along with barbecue grills and picnic tables. The park also maintains the Loutre River trail, a publicly accessible hiking and mountain biking trail that runs adjacent to the river bank for about one-half mile.

The Loutre River, the Auxvasse Creek, and the Prairie Fork Creek are the only known bodies of water where the rare blacknose shiner fish species can still be found in Missouri. The appearance of blacknose shiner is considered a marker of very high water quality and pristine stream conditions.

The Katy Trail State Park, a 225-mile-long former railroad bed converted to public use, crosses the Loutre River at McKittrick by means of an iron truss bridge built by the A.P. Roberts Company in 1897. It has been preserved with a wood deck for continued public use.

Interstate 70 crosses the Loutre River in Montgomery County. The Interstate's dip into the Loutre River valley is known locally as Mineola Hill; it is one of the steepest grades on a Missouri Interstate highway. Just south of the highway crossing is Mineola and just north is Graham Cave.

A large piece of St. Peter Sandstone is preserved in the median of the interstate as a historic site. It is known locally as "Slave Rock" or "Picnic Rock". Local tradition holds that before the abolition of slavery, periodic local slave auctions were held atop the rock. It was also the site of seasonal picnics held by the Graham family. Later they donated to the state the property where the Graham Cave was excavated. St. Peter Sandstone is believed by geologists to have formed the coast line of a prehistoric sea stretching from Minnesota through Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri.

As part of the planned rebuild of Interstate 70 throughout Missouri, this particular stretch has generated some controversy. Highway engineers have to correct the steep grade while preserving the many historic and environmentally significant sites that surround it, including Slave Rock, the Loutre River, Graham Cave, Danville Glades Conservation Area, and others.

Seasonal flooding continues to alter the course of the river. The Loutre Island no longer exists, as the slough that once surrounded the island no longer connects to the river. The island has become part of the bank of the river. The now defunct but standing Loutre Island chapel is accessible from Missouri State Route 94. The Loutre Island Cemetery along Missouri State Route 19 still carries the Loutre Island name. Near Mineola, the river has begun to reclaim fertile cropland.

The Flood of 1993 raised water levels along the length of the Loutre River to great heights. Lasting changes of the flood can be seen in severely eroding banks along some sections. The breach of the eastern bank levee of the Loutre just south of the Katy Trail crossing at McKittrick created two large permanent lakes and washed out Missouri State Route 19. It created an 80-foot-deep (24 m) crater that isolated the two banks of the river until it could be filled. Traveling on Route 19 through this area, visitors can still see evidence of the flooding. The two permanent lakes are visible to the west of the highway, where most trees and permanent foliage were destroyed by the breach.

Recently Asian carp have begun to inhabit the mouth of the river, arriving as an invasive species from the Missouri River. This sometimes makes boat fishing treacherous along the first 1–2 miles of the Loutre out of the Missouri.