Mile 40.3 - 40.3 - 39.3 LBD Betsy’s Bar

John Ruskey

20 Apr 2026 � 1 min read

40.3 - 39.3 LBD Betsy’s Bar

One-mile long island named by modern day voyageurs in honor of the river angel Betsy Tribble of St. Louis (who was introduced to canoeing the river by Big Muddy Mike Clark). Sandy camping top end in low and medium water levels, up to 25CGG, and forests only in high water. Topped with milkweed, silver maple and honeysuckle. Back channel opens up in medium water and flows directly into the Santa Fe Chute after being split into two by a smaller splinter island below the bottom-most dike. Sluggsh flow wth shallow passage at 24CGG. Bottom end marks the opening into Santa Fe Chute (back channel of Burnham Island). Paddlers could jump into Back Channel Betsy’s Bar and stay off the main channel for five miles, all the way to Goose Island Towhead. Lots of wildlife and wild muddy scenery. WARNNG: turbulent 4-foot drop through devilish rocky teeth of cross-channel dike at top of Burnham Island 39.5 LBD around 25CGG

Commerce Rock is the only petroglyph in the Eastern United States depicting geography. Not surprisingly it is a serpentine shape, which archeologists have surmised to be a representation of the Mississippi River, a series of prehistoric Mississippian places and perhaps social or political identities (ca. A.D. 1200-1400). Only visble in extreme low water. If you go searching for Commerce rock and are lucky enough to find it, please keep its exact location under wraps, for conservation purposes. No one wants to see this ancient artifact vandalized or looted. Please delete any metadata from your photographs before posting and do not include any identifying surroundings in your pictures. It would be great if this rock were in a museum where everyone could see it, but until then it will be up to the river to watch over it, as it has for the last thousand years.

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