Dallas County holds part of the Pomme de Terre River's headwaters

The Pomme de Terre River runs through Dallas County in its upper reaches, well above the Pomme de Terre Lake reservoir that sits downstream in the Hickory and Polk county area. The name, French for ‘apple of the earth’ or potato, is part of the Ozark river-naming heritage and points to early French presence in the region. For a Dallas County landowner the practical context is watershed: land here drains toward the Pomme de Terre, so how runoff, livestock, and septic are handled upstream connects to water quality in the river and eventually the lake. The reservoir itself is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project managed from downstream, not from Dallas County. For river facts, accesses, and fishing, the Missouri Department of Conservation is the right source, and the Corps and the Department of Natural Resources cover the reservoir and water quality.