It is nice to have a big river within 2 miles of the center of your town. It offers a lot to the welfare of your community. The depth of the river is controlled by a dam located about 20 miles up River and ranges anywhere from 4 or 5 ft to sometimes 20 ft. Years ago flooding was a big problem in the river and the dam was built to control the flooding and to produce electricity for the surrounding communities. The dam was completed in 1957 and solve most of the flooding problems, but there are still some minor flooding that exist today.
Back in the 1930s to the 1950s it was common for the river to flood and go into the businesses and homes that were very close to the river banks. I’ve heard my grandparents and parents talk about during the floods that they would ride around in there homes in a boat the water was so high and you could imagine the mess that this was create. So the dam has basically solved the flooding problems.
Back in the early years the river was used for Commerce, largest and boats all Goods Up and Down the River with products that were used by communities near the river. Nowadays the river is used mostly for recreational purposes as most of the shipping business has gone to other means of transportation.
Now there is boating, skiing, tubing, and a lots of fishing. There are many types of fish to be caught and require a lot of different types of equipment in order to do so. When fishing for bream you need a fly rod or a cane pole with worms and you’ll catch a lot of bream. If you are fishing for a Bass or catfish you will need a rod and reel. This may require artificial bait or you can use worms or live bait such as minnows. Probably the favorite of most fishermen in our area is fishing for bream. Most all of these supplies for fishing are can be bought at the local sporting goods stores or bait shop. Every year there’s a flathead catfish fishing tournament where contestants can win prize money for the largest fish and also for the most fish caught this happens every year the flathead catfish is a very large fish that may sometimes way over 30 pounds. It mostly live near the bottom of the river and you have to fish in deep water in order to catch the Flathead.
Skiing, boating, swimming, and camping are other activities that go on in the river. During holidays families go out and camp on sandbars along the river and spend the weekend enjoying themselves.
Holidays usually find the river crowded with people enjoying the contributions of the river to the enjoyment of the people in the community.
