Current River

About

Current River — Ozark National Scenic Riverways, 1964. The gauge tells the first part of the story. Station 07067000 averages roughly 1,200 cfs, close to its historical figure of about 1,080, and floaters target the 400–2,000 cfs window that keeps the river forgiving through its Class I–II riffles. Over 134 miles the Current drops through classic Ozark country, and its outfitters have built their trips around named runs: Montauk to Cedar Grove (30 miles of upper trout water), Cedar Grove to Akers Ferry (25 miles of classic float), Akers to Pulltite (20 miles of springs and bluffs), and Big Spring to Van Buren (15 miles anchored by a massive spring entry).

What makes the Current unusual is where the water comes from. The river begins in Dent County at Montauk State Park, at the confluence of Pigeon Creek and the headwater spring, and that Montauk Spring alone delivers about 9.4 million gallons per day. Springs are the river's signature the whole way down, and long before conservationists arrived they were understood as something more than hydrology. The Current River watershed was Osage Nation territory for centuries; the Osage used its springs, caves, and game-rich forests, and treated the large springs — with their constant temperature and clarity — as sacred connections to the underworld. European displacement of the Osage accelerated after the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

The next century brought industry. From the 1830s through the 1920s, the Current River watershed was logged to feed the regional timber trade and the railroad expansion that reached into the Ozarks. Local sawmills, logging drives, and downstream lumber operations were the major operators until the resource ran out: the old-growth stands were exhausted around 1910, state forestry conservation began about 1915, and the establishment of state forests in the 1930s ended large-scale logging for good.

That recovering landscape set the stage for the river's defining moment. In 1964 Congress protected the Current and the Jacks Fork as the Ozark National Scenic Riverways — the first national park unit in the country dedicated to protecting a river system — with President Johnson signing the legislation. The park was formally dedicated in 1971 and covers 80,000 acres, encompassing 134 miles of the two rivers along with Big Spring, Alley Spring, and Round Spring. The Current also carries a National Natural Landmark listing and is recognized as a National Wild and Scenic River.

Its crown feature sits near the downstream end. Big Spring joins the Current about 1.5 miles below Van Buren, and in 2020 hydrological studies confirmed it as the largest single-outlet spring in North America, averaging 286 million gallons per day from an aquifer that spans four counties. Today the Current is one of the premier float-fishing streams in the Ozarks, holding both smallmouth bass and rainbow trout, and outfitters such as Akers Ferry Canoe Rental and Jadwin Canoe Rental run canoe, kayak, and multi-day trips on the Current and the Jacks Fork alike.