Grandglaize Creek is a creek

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 and tributary to the Osage River

Osage River

The Osage River is a tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The Osage River is one of the larger rivers in Missouri. The river drains a mostly rural area of . The watershed includes an area of east-central Kansas and a large portion of west-central and central...

 that forms the Grand Glaize Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks

Lake of the Ozarks

The Lake of the Ozarks is a large reservoir created by impounding the Osage River in the northern part of the Ozarks in central Missouri. Extents of three smaller tributaries to the Osage, the Niangua River, Grandglaize Creek, and Gravois Creek, are included in the impoundment...

 in Missouri. The creek flows for 10 miles (16.1 km) before reaching the Lake of the Ozarks, and the Grand Glaize Arm extends another 15 miles (24.1 km) before reaching the Osage River within the lake.

The creek as recognized by the Geographic Names Information System

Geographic Names Information System

The Geographic Names Information System is a database that contains name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States of America and its territories. It is a type of gazetteer...

 is spelled as one word. However it is widely spelled as two words Grand Glaize. It should not be confused with the Grand Glaize Creek which is a tributary to the Meramec River in St. Louis County, Missouri

St. Louis County, Missouri

St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...

.

The creek is formed by the confluence of Dry Auglaize Creek and Wet Glaize Creek near Brumley, Missouri

Brumley, Missouri

Brumley is a village in Miller County, Missouri, United States. The population was 102 at the 2000 census, at which time it was a town.-Geography:Brumley is located at ....

 near Toronto, Missouri in Camden County, Missouri

Camden County, Missouri

Camden County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of 2000, the population was 37,051. Its county seat is Camdenton. The county was organized in 1841 as Kinderhook County and renamed in 1843, for Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden, Chancellor of England, and leader of the Whig...

. From there it flows north through Miller County, Missouri,

According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources the lowest flow that could be expected in a 10 day period is 16 cubic foot (0.453069552 m³) a second The creek becomes part of the Lake of the Ozarks at the extreme southeast corner of Lake of the Ozarks State Park

Lake of the Ozarks State Park

Lake of the Ozarks State Park is a park on the Grand Glaize Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks and is the largest state park in Missouri.Originally owned by the United States National Park Service as part of the Recreational Demonstration Areas when the lake was built in the 1930s it was donated to the...

.

Bridge

When Bagnell Dam was built to impounded the Osage River, it also impounded the creek which had previously flowed into the river. The Grand Glaize Bridge carried U.S. Highway 54 over what is now the Grand Glaize arm of the lake. The bridge was known as the "Upside-Down Bridge" because the supporting structure was built below the deck to allow for an unobstructed view of the lake. The bridge was infamous for having very narrow lanes, no shoulders, and steel railings (which one could still see the lake through) as barriers. The bridge was replaced in the 1980s, when a wider bridge was constructed next to it. The new bridge carried Highway 54 and the old bridge was restricted to bicycles and pedestrians. In the 1990s, the original bridge was demolished and replaced with a new bridge to carry two lanes of westbound Highway 54. The 1980s bridge was changed to carry two lanes of eastbound Highway 54.

Origin of the name

Besides the Lake of the Ozarks creek and the creek near St. Louis there is also an Auglaize River

Auglaize River

The Auglaize River is a tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Erie. The name of the river either comes from a Shawnee phrase meaning "fallen timbers" or a French term for "frozen water."It rises in...

 in Michigan/Ohio. Grand Glaize on the Auglaize River near Fort Defiance, Ohio is thought to be the birthplace of Chief Pontiac

Chief Pontiac

Pontiac or Obwandiyag , was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's...

.

According to List of Ohio county name etymologies the etymology could be French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 for "eau glaise" meaning "dirty water" (although the reference is to clay

Clay

Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...

). The Ohio site also mention that it could be a Native American term for "fallen timbers" or "overgrown with brush", or "at the "lick

Salt lick

A mineral lick is a natural mineral deposit where animals in nutrient-poor ecosystems can obtain essential mineral nutrients...

."

Lakehistory.info suggests it could have been the French term la glace, which means "mirror," or "ice."