The castle's exterior was soon completed, but the mansion sat empty and its interior unfinished for years. By 1922 work had resumed and, once the third-floor bedrooms were ready, Snyder's three sons started making occasional visits. But the family never lived there full time.

When the castle burned in October 1942, it was being operated as a hotel.

The cause of the blaze was sparks from a chimney that caught the roof on fire and soon spread to the nearby stables. The elder Snyder had planned a slate roof for his country home, but his sons decided a wood roof was good enough. (They cut costs in other ways, too; the mansion ended up being furnished quite simply.) A fire protection system was in place - big hoses on each floor - but water pressure from the tower was insufficient.

Ha Ha Tonka's visitor center has pictures of the house consumed by flames. A valiant bucket brigade of hundreds of people couldn't do much.

Park superintendent Nancy Masterson has heard visitors cluck about what a shame that fire 65 years ago was. But "if it hadn't burned, we wouldn't be here," Masterson says. "It'd be some rich person's estate." Or luxury condos.

From about the mid-1960s until 1978, when Ha Ha Tonka became a state park, the castle ruins and the rest of Snyder's property were essentially under the authority of no one, Masterson says. Then, as now, folks would travel here to fish or hike or picnic.

Or take a piece of castle home with them. "People were just carrying those stones out of here like crazy," remembers John Shumate, who lives in rural Lebanon, Mo. On one hand, locals kept a protective eye on Ha Ha Tonka during its no-man's-land phase. On the other, Masterson says, some of them have patios made from Snyder's sandstone.

Calls for Ha Ha Tonka to become a state park started as early as 1909. Over the years private development plans never gelled. One proposal was to turn the area into a resort like the Lodge of Four Seasons, Masterson says. Rumor had it that the Walt Disney Co. was interested in the property.

Eventually, "the fates just kind of all came together," Masterson says, and the state got itself a spectacular new park, a showcase of what's called karst geology. The natural bridge is 70 feet wide, more than 100 feet high and spans 60 feet. There's a huge sinkhole called the Colosseum. Counterfeiter's Cave and Robber's Cave were used as hideouts by bad guys in the 1830s. Ha Ha Tonka Spring, which once fed Ha Ha Tonka Lake (since overrun by the Niangua River arm of the Lake of the Ozarks, built in the early 1930s), churns out about 48 million gallons of water a day.

Over the nearly three decades of state control, the park has added land and improvements such as paved roads, hiking trails, picnic shelters, boat docks and the visitor center. There are 13 trails, the newest of which is the half-mile Dolomite Rock Trail along a stream. It was developed three years ago by alternative-school students. If you really want to rough it, backpack overnight along the five- or seven-mile Turkey Pen Hollow Trail.

If you're not into hiking but just want to see the castle, no worries - it's a short walk from a parking lot (look for the castle icon on signs).

Speaking of improvements, the ruins of the castle, stables and water tower (which suffered a fire in 1976) have been stabilized and remortared over the years. They're here to stay.

And by the way, once you've spent a few minutes admiring the castle, take a few steps to the scenic lookout and imagine yourself a king or queen looking out over your wild kingdom. Is that a heron on the opposite shore of the lake? Is that gurgling sound the spring?