Senator Harry Hawes Visits Upper Mississippi River Refuge Photo Gallery

The upper reaches of the Mississippi River were the focus of conservationists and engineers alike in the 1920's and 1930's; the free-flowing river’s tendency to flood prompted construction of a series of locks and dams during the New Deal, providing a dependable 9-foot navigation channel for commercial barge traffic. Some years earlier, however, conservationists had secured a river corridor for area wildlife upon the discovery of plans to drain many thousands of backwater acres, culminating in the creation in 1924 of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge – the first national refuge designated to protect both wildlife and fish. Management of the unique refuge, which today straddles four states over 264 linear miles, drew the attention of Congressional leaders and national conservationists during its early days; here, former Missouri Senator Harry Bartow Hawes (1869-1947) converses with an unnamed secretary (in swimsuit) on the gangplank to the refuge vessel “Woodduck” (the actual refuge office) in a 1937 photo. Hawes followed a diverse career path that included service as representative of the Republic of Hawaii during its annexation to the United States, president of the St. Louis police board, a posting to the U.S. embassy in Madrid, Spain, and counsel for the Commonwealth of the Philippines. First elected to Congress as a representative in 1921, Hawes was elected to the Senate in 1926, where he served until his resignation in 1933 to devote his time to the wildlife conservation movement and his law practice. He was chief organizer of the “Lakes to the Gulf” Deep Waterways Association, president of the Missouri Good Roads Federation, and of the Federated Roads Council of St. Louis. Hawes’ legacy was so intertwined with the Midwest and its great rivers that when he died in 1947, his remains were cremated and his ashes scattered in the Current River near Doniplan, Missouri.