Sublunar Photography

Clarksvile Sky Lift is a 39-chair ski-lift ride which was constructed in 1963 in Clarksville, Missouri on a hill called "Lookout Point" which is said to be the highest point on the Mississippi River. The site's main attraction was the ski-lift which, after taking riders about 650 feet above the river, provided one with a commanding view in all directions for some 800 miles. Other attractions included the construction of an "old-west town" and...

...an exposed Native American burial mound.

Click here for the video.

In 1952, six burial mounds containing human remains and associated funerary objects were documented here. In 1962, the site was developed into a tourist attraction and in the process, five of the six mounds were destroyed. The sixth mound was subsequently incorporated into part of the tourist attraction such that bones in the grave were exposed and made available for viewing. Advertisements were as follows: "On top of Lookout Point you'll see old Indian burial grounds.. You're able to view the interior of an Indian grave as it was discovered". Over the years, neighborhood dogs were reportedly digging up some of the graves and returning home with human bones. In total, a minimum of 29 individual skeletons have since been recovered from the site. In 1987, a Missouri state law was enacted which made it a crime to disturb a burial site and in 1990 a federal law was passed which dictated that Native American remains which had been previously unearthed should be retutned to their people. Knowingly disturbing an unmarked burial site is now a Class D felony. The 'Indian Museum' in Clarksville subsequently closed. The Sky Lift itself closed down in 1996. Since then, the property has changed hands several times but the Clarksville Sky Lift has effectively remained "abandoned".

This has become a very difficult situation for everyone involved. Even though all known remains have been removed, it is/was the site of Native American burial grounds and thus any further modification of the site is prohibited by federal law. In spite of that little technical difficulty, the most recent owners tried getting it going again a few years back. There are stacks of receipts for materials paid for in 2006 sitting in piles in the ticket booth. According to the owner of the site, they've invested over $600,000 in various repairs including a complete replacement of the old wooden deck and tower with a new steel framed version. According to a newspaper article in 2007, they were confident the new and improved Sky Ride would be operational once again that same summer. But representatives of the Nations whose people were buried here filed suit and ceased all further progress. Charges have been filed. To make matters worse, actual ownership of the site is also disputed; the title to the land evidently lists the city of Clarksville itself as the owner. Thus it seems that the $600,000 investment to make the Sky Ride operational has gone up in smoke. Last but not least, the same disputed owner of the site was arrested about a decade ago for being in posession of several pounds of "the Devil's lettuce" along with tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Despite the subsequent legalization of said greenery, and cash money being perfectly legal tender, that situation probably doesn't help matters.

That last detail, btw, certainly didn't help me feel particularly great about sneaking up there and potentially being confronted by angry landowners who may or may not have affiliations with whom I did not wish to engage in hostilities. By my calculations, however, the guy would be in his 80s and I could probably outrun him at this point. Besides: who could resist the sound of a potentially haunted/cursed amusement park ride built on an eroded burial site where human bones may or may not be protruding from the ground, PLUS the potential of an abandoned old-west ghost town and some sort of weird museum?! I mean, come on! It sounded too good to be true. Like a rea-life Scooby-Doo Mystery this location begged to be investigated. I did some research and couldn't find any photos of what the thing looked like in recent years. And thus, I had no choice; I had to go out and investigate the site for myself.

As it turned out, the burial sites and the bones were long ago cleared out. There was also no sign of any old-west town or anything else of that nature, aside from one rather fake log cabin. The sky ride itself, however, had indeed been significantly upgraded to a steel framed tower and deck. It has, however, already deteriorated significantly since it was upgraded and the condition of the wood in both the deck and the tower is already dangrously rotten/collapsed and would need to be completely replaced.

It's worth pointing out that this isn't some crappy no-name ski lift, this is a legitimate Riblet Tramway, made by Riblet, a premier manufactureer of ski lifts whose company was in the business for over 100 years. Riblet lifts were somewhat unique in that their style of chair lift incorporated a chair grip which is woven into the cabling rather than clamped onto it. Unfortunately, Riblet went out of business in 2003 (interestingly, their website is currently still up and was last updated with the announcement of their closure over 20 years ago). So at this point even if all the legal difficulties get sorted out, the prospect of physically restoring the lift seems uncertain at best, since such work would rely on third party suppliers for parts and service.

The present author finds it regrettable that the burial mounds were ever destroyed to begin with, but since the damage was already done and the remains already returned to the likely heirs, it's doubly unfortunate (and seems rather unfair) that the Clarksville Sky Ride has been denied the opportunity to be resurrected and to contribute to the vitality of Clarksville. Here sits a $600,000 investment into the community which the community has not benefitted from which instead has been left rusting and overgrown, through no apparent fault of any of the recent owners. The site was developed long before it was illegal to do so and therefore it seems to me that this location should be grandfathered in and granted an exception to the laws which were made decades after the burial sites here were destroyed. A hotel and other buildings sit empty directly across the street, seemingly waiting for the Sky Ride to return and with it some lively recreation and tourism for this quiet little river town. As much as I enjoy researching and exploring cool old stuff, I'd rather see this thing operational and providing income and memories for all involved instead of merely a deteriorating and overgrown subject for one of my blog posts, not to mention being an ongoing legal headache for all involved. I hope they can get this thing going again sooner than later.

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