Rhinehart Ranch (Spring Valley Ranch)

For the first three decades of the twentieth century, The Rhinehart Ranch exemplified modern, rural, progressive farming. DeForest Rhinehart, a turn-of-the-century German immigrant, turned the ranch into one of the most prized properties in Shannon County, becoming locally famous for its hospitality, ranching, and as a setting for a rural marketplace. Deforest had the home and farm built in 1907. He had numerous modern, innovative elements added to the design that allowed for such extras as lighting in the house and fresh water carried easily to his cattle. The family vacated the farm during the Great Depression, which further hurt the local economy throughout the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks.

Germans immigrated to Missouri in droves during the nineteenth century, including the Ozarks Region. In fact, they offset the migration of the U.S. Southerners, which proved significant by the time of the Civil War. More than half of Missouri's all-immigrant residents came from German states, and their anti-war stance helped keep Missouri in the Union. DeForest and Susan Rhinehart's family moved to the Spring Valley Ranch well after the war, moving to the county in 1900 from their Phelps County farm. DeForest, a German farmer, left Germany with his family because of their disdain for Catholics. They attended a Protestant church in Missouri and supported the Republican Party.

The Rhinehart family purchased land formerly owned first by Jack McCaskill, who operated a store and the Alley Spring Mill during the early 1800s and then by W.H. Powell, a timber contractor that might have built the two-story house used by the Rhineharts when they bought the property. (Rhinehart also used the old McCaskill store building as a warehouse). The Rhineharts lived in the "Old House" for roughly seven years before building the historic ranch home in 1907. 

The Rhinehart house consisted of nine rooms and stood as one of the first buildings in Shannon County to have a concrete foundation. Local masons built the fireplace used for heating, while builders included a space below the first floor to store a tank for the modern carbide lights which utilized pipes run through the ceilings to connect with chandeliers in the lower-story rooms. A switch at the base of each chandelier made it possible to light only the ones desired for use. Eventually, the family had to replace the carbide lights and their gaseous odor with kerosene lanterns. Additionally, around 1912, a telephone switch was installed in the ranch house. The switch allowed calls to be connected between several nearby towns. The home had four screened-in porches suitable for work and sleeping arrangements. Occasionally, hired hands slept in upstairs rooms, using a separate entrance from the family. The family also routinely hosted neighbors and guests, many of whom slept in the barn, which doubled as sleeping quarters. Indeed, the Rhinehart family often entertained, including holding parties and dances.

The ranch house sits high on its own small ridge, surrounded by the big horseshoe bend of Spring Valley, a tributary of the Upper Current River in Shannon County. Ozark hills with thick forests surround the home. DeForest Rhinehart respected the land so much that he refused to give Missouri & Mining Company permission to build a tram railroad across Rhinehart's land, and he refused to allow companies to timber on his land. The natural and cultural landscapes represented by the Rhinehart Ranch exemplify the lifestyles and histories of those who lived in Spring Valley and the Upper Current country. Homes usually sat in valleys amidst rugged interiors. The rugged Ozark valley proved challenging to ranch and farm, notably when spring floods arrived. Floods destroyed forest lands and crops, damaged fencing, drowned animals, and created a host of maintenance issues. On the other hand, the seasonal deposit of silt from the river covered the valley floor, providing ample land for which Rhinehart could grow feed for his livestock. 

Most farmers living in the Ozarks, notably during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, embraced a rural socio-economic model that differed from farmers in other parts of the nation. The Rhinehart family, like most Ozark farmers, served as the embodiment of rural dwellers. The Rhineharts had twelve children (five at the ranch), although three died before their teenage years. Teachers from three nearby schools boarded with the Rhineharts, one at a time. The children assisted in all the farming and ranching duties. DeForest routinely traveled with his children to nearby towns such as Ink and Summersville for groceries or other necessities; the trip to Summersville took nearly two-and-a-half hours. Nevertheless, DeForest strategically built the home and farm near railroads that benefited his farm and ranch so that for nearly thirty years, the influential Rhinehart Place sat as the center of society, trade, and communication. 

DeForest mainly bought and sold cattle, which included taking long journeys through the Ozarks to Arkansas to buy "Mississippi Yellow-hammers," a lean steer that Missouri farmers fattened on their home ranches. DeForest usually ran cattle drives with his son Cordell and their dog. They drove upwards of 150 to 200 head of cattle in the spring and fall, which they usually sold to Shannon County farmers. The Rhinehart ranch also made money hogs and mule colts, and they raised sheep and chickens for their own use. Just as the Rhinehart ranch included some modern touches, DeForest had builders install a pipe system that fed drinking water into a trough used by the cattle. 

In addition to ranching, the Rhineharts farmed around 250 acres of land, most of which involved harvesting corn while a small portion was used for growing mixed clover and timothy grass. The Rhinehart Ranch stood among the first farms in Spring Valley to rotate growing corn and hay. Rhinehart was also among the first farmers to build a wooden silo. It took nearly three weeks time in the summer to fill the tall silo with corn. The Rhinehart family hired up to five hired hands during the corn harvest, but the hay harvest required the work of up to twenty hired hands. The family provided hired hands with meals, sometimes as a supplement to their wages. The family also hired tenant farmers to help with the butchering in February; they often processed up to thirteen hogs. Tenants also received cows to milk and the use of teams for plowing their own gardens. The hired hands also hunted passenger pigeons that roosted in the Valley; they clubbed them to death before processing them. 

The 1929 stock market crash and subsequent Great Depression dealt a severe blow to the Rhinehart business. DeForest moved the family to Sedalia and started a new farm, leaving the now-historic ranch and farm vacant. Moreover, the surrounding farmers suffered due to the void left by Rhinehart's departure. The Ozark ranch and farm he built, after remaining vacant for decades, eventually fell into the hands of a lumber company followed by private residents, both of whom resumed ranching operations in addition to the sawmill built by the timber company. Deforest died in a car accident at age 87 in June 1955.

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