Yoast Station Located

May 28th I finally got around to actually getting on the ground with some research I had collected over the past three years.

Particularly helpful was the information from Ben Gravely of Bolivar. He had sent me some emails that re-confirmed the location of the actual site as being "just beyond the second telephone pole as you look into the field" on the northwest corner of the junction of Highway 83 and H or CR 136. He also gave me the name of the gentleman that now owned that section. Mr. David Cribbbs. Mr. Cribbs is the president of the Bank of Bolivar and when I phoned him in December of 2007 he was very helpful. He gave me very specific directions and permission to scout around the area.

Paul drove me up to the junction while my truck was being serviced in Springfield.

We were delighted to actually see the 1958 marker stone finally. We had literally stood by it twice and not seen it in other excursions.

With David Crib's direction I was able to find the remains of the foundation and the ledge stones that Ben Gravely's friend Jim Skidmore said would still be there. Jim's wife Ellen was a Yoast.

We did not have a portable GPS with us that day but locating the position of the ruins on a map in Google Earth gives these coordinates. (37°49'34.30"N 93°25'55.26"W) We had long suspected that the old Stage road followed the fence line as it angled southwest through this field on the corner of the junction.

Ben Gravely says that the log cabin (pictured above in a later incarnation) was made of walnutand had "gun ports" cut into the sides. He also believes that a later owner, the Vaughns, had it disassembeled and moved to Chicago.

The actual ruins are now marked by a new well and a 12 by 12 foot concrete pad with a waterer. The stones are hidden west of the pad and north of the power pole that feeds the well.

Even though there is not much left to see there was tremendous satisfaction in actually confirming the exact location of the station.