David L Taylor

Ripples Over the Dike David L Taylor

In one of the most beautiful valley settings offered by any major inland waterway in the United States, wide, expansive bottomlands stretch from the banks of the Ohio River to the feet of tall, majestic hills that stand guard over the river valley. The Ohio is a common thread binding several small communities on opposite banks of the waterway. In the early years of navigation on the Ohio hazards presented by shoals sometimes would prohibit the passage of steamboats for five to six months of the year. By the end of the Nineteenth Century, the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers had constructed more than 100 wing and training dikes along the Ohio to improve the channel. Today, submerged by a higher river level created by a modern system of locks and dams, the river current still creates ghostly ripples over the old dikes as reminders of long ago life. Many interesting chapters of long ago life along this valley will occasionally be recalled by old-timers - such as rat fights organized for a two-fold purpose: local entertainment and to deplete the rodent population, or the valley's long tradition of riverboat competition; visits by the rich and famous, including presidents, famous entertainers and even a Kennedy connection; lawmen on trial for murder, the school superintendent who survived a submarine attack and wild beasts that roam the countryside at night - all are vignettes, or literary vistas, worth retelling. Today, like the long-submerged old dikes create ripples in the stream, some exciting and some tragic episodes lie just below the surface of modern life in this valley. Some of the ripples may be likened to memories of yesteryear as they flow with the downstream passing of time along their ever-continuing journey into the greater sea of eternal obscurity. Herein, long forgotten chapters of local life submerged just below the surface of present-day living may be scooped up and released like fluid memories dripping from an outstretched researcher's palm - extracted tales of long ago life which can be retold again and again to the next generation, then the next, among the people of these communities linked by a common stream where the charm of yesterday coexists with the bustle of Twenty-First Century living.