Coin Harvey's Monte Ne Resort - 2005/2006
South Wall of Amphitheater
Entrance to Pyramid?

I've marked this photo of the south wall of the Monte Ne Amphitheater, or pyramid, to show the 1106-foot Beaver Lake level. The lake has been about this level during the winter of 2005/2006. Obviously most of the features of the south wall are below water. A side walk surrounds this end of the lagoon fed by spring water. One of the springs comes from an opening in the sidewalk just past the podium chair on the right. The other comes from an opening in the side walk in front of the first dark opening in the wall. The channel for this stream is flanked by to small columns that will be visible in other photos. At the extreme left, the four-level platform steps in the corner of the sidewalk are visible. Next is a couch and then steps leading up the south wall. The two open rooms are about four to six feet wide and about eight feet deep and maybe seven feet high. One is a little taller overall than the other, but the other is slightly closer to the lagoon. The steps leading out of this part of the amphitheater go through an opening in the wall behind the taller room. Just past the rooms is a narrow set of steps and another couch. The there is another opening closed with a wooden door. Beyond it is a recess in the wall and then the corner. Just around the corner is a dark wood door with a white frame and above it is a large smooth surface that had woods painted on it. Back at the top left or two side by side couches that are just beginning to show above the 1106' water level. Next is the steps leading away, the porches over the rooms and other porches between there and the corner. Above them is the walk along the top levels of the amphitheater.

The Amphitheater's South Wall

Some online documents say that Coin Harvey intended this amphitheater to be the foyer or entrance to the base of his proposed pyramid. The two rooms that are so dark in this photo were small and didn't have any openings in the back. The openings over be the corner were covered by doors and I don't know what was behing them. It's possible that the entire pyramid would have been above ground behind the amphitheater and entry would be gained by climbing these stairs and going through doors in the base of the pyramid. I like to believe that Harvey intended the "time capsule" to be under ground behind the south wall and that he would have made one of these openings the entry.

The view from the east wall gives a better idea of the relationships of the various features on the south side of the amphitheater. The lighting was difficult because the sun was at the back and most of this was in the shade except for the sidewalk. At the left is the four-level platform steps in the corner of the sidewalk. The couch is next and it has seashell cast into the ends of the arms. The view of the steps is obscured in this view, but they led up to a little couch on the right and then came to the left and then up and right past the two large couches at the top then turning up and out of the amphitheater. There are porches on the roofs of the two rooms. The nearer room is taller but further back. Past the rooms are the narrow steps and the other small couch.

Behind and above the rooms seem to be a series of ledges at varous levels and some columns in the corner area.

This view of the south wall was taken in December 2005 when the lake level was 1106 feet. The porches on top of the rooms are visible at left center just under the surface of the water. The backs of the two couches and the tops of the columns on their right are just above the surface. The porch walls and columns on the right are in the corner between the south and west walls. The top of the south stair exits the amphitheater through the gate in the wall to the driveway behind the amphitheater.

The photo on the left shows the inside of the small room on the south wall. It was taken in 1961. The one on the right was taken in 1977 and shows the top of the south stair where it comes through the top of the wall. The backs of the couches and the column tops were just under the water surface in 1977. The water level in July 1977 was about 1107 feet, approximately one foot higher than in December 2005.

This 2005 view shows the porches over the rooms in the south wall just below the surface and the south stair and left end of the couch just under water. The column top on this side of the stair looks just about the same as it did in 1977 in the photo above.

These photos show how the gate or opening in the south wall at the top of the stair looked in 1977 and then in 2005. Notice that some of the concrete in the threshold has been removed in that time. The tip of a re-inforcing rod protrudes from the concrete edge of the driveway in the area that used to be covered.

The Corner of the Walls

	This photo shows the corner where the west and south walls meet. The top of the south wall is in the foreground and the west wall is on the left. In the upper left corner of this photo is a short wall with columns at each end. It is a small porch with water just covering its floor. Above and behind the porch is a wall between two columns that go up to the level of the walkway around the top of the wall. The wall closes off the end of the floor that comes across from the west wall porch that has one drain hole and on across a space with no protective wall and then behind this little wall. Below the floor of this porch is the wall with printing on it flanked by columns and below that is the opening covered by the black door. The part under the water is the porch above the recessed area and the other door that form the south wall side of the corner. The short column comes up along the back corner of the room with the door. It isn't clear what the purpose of the taller column and its pair in the corner the sidewalk is. There is a wall between them that just seems to be the back wall of the porch.
	This photo is a view directly down into the porch that forms the roof above the room on the south wall closest to the corner. Directly below this porch is the door into this room and the recess in the wall beside the door. All these features are visible in the photo of the south wall at the top of this page.
	This photo from July 1977 shows a good overall view of the corner. The water was about a foot deeper then, so the porch over the room on the south wall is not visible. Neither is the column at the back corner of the room. It would be just under the water a little to the right of the column at lower right in the photo. However, the floor from the porch to the wall in the corner is easier to see. In this old photo my wife is sitting on the porch wall above the single drain hole. One son is sitting on the column at the corner of the porch and the other son is sitting on the wall at the back of the porch with his feet on the bench. There is an opening between the column at the back of the porch and the short side wall. Then there is the open floor which has about a three-foot drop-off to the next level under the water. There just seems to be a little triangle of floor between that wall and the sidewalk behind it. The triangular section with the column in its corner is the upper part of the corner of the south wall and forms part of the back wall of the porch. The sidewalk here has two steps down and the two columns in the wall below the steps are closer together than other columns are.

See bottom of this page for LINKS TO OTHER WEB SITES RELATED TO MONTE NE AND COIN HARVEY

THE INDEX OF PAGES FOR THIS ARTICLE

PAGE 1 - The story of Coin Harvey and Monte Ne with photos of the amphitheater.

PAGE 2 - Concrete Bank Block Building and Views of the Lagoon

PAGE 3 - Lodge, Burial Vault, and Photos with the Lake at Three Levels

PAGE 4 - 1977 Lake Level marked on Old Photos, Views into the Water, Checking the Time Capsule, Related Links

PAGE 5 - Lissa Myer's Current photos of the ruins at Monte Ne: the Tower Windows, old foundations, and crowds at the amphitheater.

PAGE 6 - 2005 Views of Oklahoma Row foundation and tower with a new summary of the events of William Hope "Coin" Harvey's involvement with his Monte Ne Resort and the good roads movement. This page includes many links to other informative web sites related to Coin Harvey and Monte Ne.

PAGE 7 - Photo and map of the old townsite with a panoramic photo of some of the foundation ruins on the lake shore and across the lake to the amphitheater. There is a photo that shows the new location of Harvey's tomb. The text includes some comments from a U.S. Corps of Engineers employee who toured the Monte Ne site for the Corps in the early 60s.

PAGE 8 - Coin Harvey's Amphitheater around the Big Spring at Monte Ne. Harvey planned this to be the foyer for his pyramid or obelisk in which he planned to place a "time capsule" or museum room to hold all the important documents and marvels of civilization. However, that was never to be because he was unable to obtain financing. The photos on this page show the upper parts of the amphitheater now exposed by the dropping waters of Beaver Lake. Old photos from before the lake was built and at other times when the lake was low are included for comparison.

PAGE 9 - This page continues the amphitheater description with the south wall. Most of the south wall is under water even with the lake level at 1106 feet above sea level. The south wall may have been the planned entrance to the pyramid and time capsule that Coin Harvey wanted to build. In any case, he probably planned to build the pyramid, or obelisk, on the little hill behind the amphitheater. That little hill is an island when the lake level gets to the 1120 to 1125 range as shown in the photo posted on the previous page.

PAGE 10 - On the side of the hill behind the south wall is a tall retaining wall. The area was so covered in brush in 1961 and I was so hesitant about the possibility of trespassing that I didn't find that wall. There is a paved driveway leading from the east of the amphitheater up to the area above the wall where the railroad depot used to be. There are also panoramice photos of the view from the amphitheater back toward the old Monte Ne town site.

PAGE 11 - Selected Monte Ne Resort photos from the Rogers Historical Museum used by permission. Photo of old Monte Ne in great detail. Photos of the Bank Block when new and years later after it had been gutted by fire or weather. Photos of the amphitheater from its unfinished construction in 1928 and when that part of Beaver Lake was dry in the winter of 1977.

PAGE 12 - 2006 Wedding in the Monte Ne amphitheater. First wedding there in more than 40 years? Photo of Ann in the amphitheater in 2006 compared to a similar photo from 1977.

PAGE 13 - Photos comparing the low lake level in January 2006 with the same areas in January 2007 after the lake level rose about 20 feet.

Friends of Monte Ne! Can the Friends of Monte Ne be reorganized now that there is such great interest in the lost resort? With proper organization, planning, and fund raising, some nice things could be done in the area by the Lake at old Monte Ne. The old Oklahoma Row foundation and adjoining area could be cleared and made into a picnic area. A 1/10th-scale model of Harvey's proposed "pyramid" could be built near the Oklahoma Row tower. The tower could be restored and a log entry room could be built where the Oklahoma Row used to connect to the tower. The room could serve as the entry to the tower and as a museum and gift shop. It would help to have someone with connections to the local district of the Army Corps of Engineers, the State Parks Department, and maybe some of the local politicians. If you're interested, e-mail me at jamesmskipper1141@att.net and I will pass it on to the interested people who live in the area.

For a definitive picture album/history of the resort at Monte Ne, purchase Allyn Lord's - "Historic Monte Ne" published by Arcadia Publishing in its Images of America series.

Posted: 1/20/06