h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I know that up here in PA creeks and small rivers have a habit of jumping their banks with too much rainfall.

My friend lives several miles west of the river, so I don't thank that is a problem for him.

He knows how much I love Florida and its history, as he does also. We often take drives together up there so he can show me some of the interesting places he has found.

On this last trip he took me to an old cemetery that had several graves of US Civil War veterans, all of whom were, of course, CSA. While we were contemplating the grave markers I happened to mention Jackson capturing the two British agents and executing them. We then had to drive about an hour so he could show me the marker I posted.

To get back yo you original question. On one trip up there he took me over to a friend's place that was located on the west bank of the Suwanee . His place was on a high ridge, or levee,(about 25 feet above the water, high for Florida) that was about 150 yards wide. The other side dropped almost as far into uninhabited land.

Somehow the subject of flooding came up and he told us that when the river rose over its bank they would only get a few inches. less than a foot, on their land and then it would spill over and flood the low area on the other side.

I had another friend, back when I was in high school, who had an aunt and uncle who lived near a smaller river near there, it is a tributary of the Santa Fe river the later flows into the Suwanee. The river is spring fed and crystal clear, you can see the bottom even under 30 to 40 feet of water. It is an amazing thing to be fishing in a place where you can watch the fish smell your bait, We often went up to stay with them for a week or two in the summer. They had a steep path behind their house that led to the waterside, Again it dropped a bit over 20 feet. They had a wooden bench nailed between two large trees at the bottom next to the river. I used there love to sit there and watch the river only a few feet away.

One year we went up there in the spring. I think there had been a death in the family. The snow in the lower Appalachians and Georgia had been melting. The river was almost up to the top of the path. I could only look forlornly at my bench far beneath the surface of the water. There was also an uninhabited spillway on the other side of the river.

By July the bench was back in its proper place, on the dry side of the water.

Sorry for such a long reply, I always found these things interesting - and my wife is out of town for a few days so she can't distract me

F S

Well, I found that fascinating, myself.