The Green River runs...

from it's head near Mammoth Cave to it's mouth on the Ohio River just east of the bridge connecting Evansville, IN with Henderson, KY. It's a deep and gnarly river with a dam at Spottsville, KY, as well as a couple others.

I haven't any idea why there is a dam in Spottsville. I don't think it generates electricity.

I have only been a few miles up river from Hebbardsville, KY, but I've boated the twenty odd miles down to the mouth. The locks in Spottsville are a rush in a canoe. The cliffs at Bluff City provided us a lot of rocks for stepping stones.

I spent my childhood tugging catfish out of the Green River on trot lines baited mostly with crawfish. I seined every wet spot within 25 miles of Hebbardsville for crawfish, minnows, and any other bait we could find.

I was afraid of eels until I showed that fear publicly; the elders ensured I progressed beyond that fear. Ridicule is held in much lower regard now than it was back then.

The water came over the banks in the winter, commonly rising 20-40 feet from pool stage. Coal barges were tough to push through the narrow channel; the tugs regularly failed to navigate the bend above our camp, and came careening out of the channel. All that power.

And me, an 11, 14, 17 year old in a wide beamed 12 foot wooden john boat with a 4 hp Evinrude motor. I barely made any progress against a fast current.

I loved that boat,
                  that river,
            and those old bastards
who taught me poker.