Islands in the stream...that is what we are...

[robotech_master]

I was just browsing Google Maps, looking at St. Charles, Missouri, where I may end up living if my brother is able to get me a job at the place he is working (fingers crossed, fingers crossed).

And my attention wandered a little bit to the northeast of St. Charles, where there was this rather large kind of boomerang-shaped island in the Mississippi River. I wandered over to it, flipped over to satellite mode, and zoomed in, exploring it visually from above. And what I found is that, oddly enough, it seems to be largely empty land—forests and open fields—except that right in the middle of the island is a small cluster of buildings

If I go a bit southwest, to the southwest tip of the island, I notice some kind of causeway apparently linking the island to the east side of the river. Or is it a causeway after all, and not just foam and debris caught up against a wire or something? Though it looks like a causeway given that a road connects to it from the eastern shore and on the island itself. Maybe it's just a sandbar?

Anyway, the island doesn't have a name on the map, the roads aren't on the map either, and now I'm insatiably curious as to who, if anyone, lives there, and who owns the place. It's actually downright tempting to try to drive out there, if I end up moving to that area after all, just to try to solve the mystery. Of course, if it's private property then I'll just have to keep wondering.

Also wonder I, what on earth can this thing, dead center of the smaller island just east of it, be. A baseball diamond? Why would there be a baseball diamond on an otherwise completely empty island?

Comments

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

The last thing is a tower of some sort, highly foreshortened from being seen from above. Maybe broadcast. The sorta-causeway appears to be a breakwater.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Power - you can see the six high-tension wires it carries. Scroll up to the river and you can see the shadow of the wires on the water even clearer.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're right...if I go south, I see two other high-tension-cable towers in a row with it, more normal-looking.

Still wonder what those houses are on that other island and who lives there, though...

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Here's another building on that island.

And there is definitely a 'road' on that thing across the water - dirt road. Looks like a breakwater - like someone just dumped loads of rock and dirt across the river.

From the patterns on the island, it looks like a farm, and that's the access to it. Could be a farmer lives out there, or used to. The fields are actively mown, so it is still in use.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

Looks like another causeway used to be here, or one was started. That's far too regular and square to be natural. And you can see something man made on the other shore.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Yeah. And who knows, depending on how old the satellite pictures are, it could be fully completed by now.

I'd love to know more about whoever lives there, though. I mean, to live on a big ol' farm, on an island right in the heart of a huge sprawling metropolitan area...that's kind of neat.

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

And this (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Saint+Charles,+MO&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=19&ll=38.814299,-90.443546&spn=0.0013,0.00339&t=k) looks like it might be some kind of garbage dump.

[wesmills.livejournal.com]

According to TopoZone, that is Bryan Island, in St. Louis county, MO. From some Google searches, it appears that the island is only reachable via boat (ref), but not sure how old that information is. I couldn't find any info at all on what the buildings are, unfortunately..

[robotech-master.livejournal.com]

Nice find!

On the bright side, it appears it's some kind of park, so there shouldn't be any problem with trespassing if I want to go check it out while I'm up there.