Finger Lakes turns former coal ground into Boone County recreation

Between 1964 and 1967, the Peabody Coal Co. removed more than 1.2 million tons of coal from a Boone County site called Mark Twain Mine. The work left piles of bare earth and pits full of water. Peabody replanted much of the ground, stocked several lakes, and left the steep cuts and ravines in place.

In May 1974, the company donated 1,028 acres to Missouri’s state park system. That same month, the state received one of only a dozen federal grants meant to show how land mined before modern reclamation laws could be reused for recreation.

Finger Lakes State Park now covers 1,128 acres. More than 900 acres of the rough ground became off-road motorcycle and ATV trails. Nearly a dozen mining pits were joined with dams and canals, creating a narrow chain of water that runs more than a mile and a half along the park’s eastern side. Other replanted ground holds campsites, picnic areas, and a hiking and mountain-bike trail.

The hills riders climb and the finger-shaped water paddlers follow came from the same mine. Finger Lakes did not hide Boone County’s industrial ground; it gave the old cuts a second use.