When I lived in Arizona, there was a heavy rain. The story of one woman who had lost everything in the ensuing flood of the Salt River was on national TV crying . She had lost everything and did not know what she was going to do. Michelle and I had just gotten married and Michelle wanted to find some way for us to help. I said No, she should know better than to build a house in the river bed below high water mark. People sent money to her because they felt sorry for this person. She turned around and rebuilt in the same location. The following year once again we saw this same woman on national TV crying, she had lost everything and did not know what to do. This time Michelle started yelling at the TV, saying "stupid woman you need to move".
This woman rebuilt there because it was unregulated land, free in other words. The state considered them squatters, but because the state knew they would be washed out every year they did nothing about it. Those people were considered temparary residents and not worth bothering with. I also saw this in Tennessee. People built homes in flood prone areas. Every ten to fifteen years they would be washed out, but they rebuilt. Their family had been living there for many generations, and they refused to move.
When TVA came in to build the dams, those dams were not built for electrical power. Electrical generation was a side effect. The purpose was to control the raging rivers that washed out peoples homes and farms every year or so. The land taken by TVA was flood prone areas, and people should not have been living there in the first place. But people resisted moving. The land had been in the family for generations, and they could not stand to see it flooded and turned into a lake. I hate to see government step in and do things against the peoples will, but in this case I think the government did the right thing, since the people were too stupid to give up the land and move to a safe location.
I remember seeing the community of Gladys underwater back in the early 50s. Standing in the parking lot in front of the General Store at Highland (actual name of the place, wonder why) and looking out across the valley. Seeing the top of the steel girder bridge above the water, but all the road was under water. Gathel Franklins house and his mothers house standing above the water on stilts, with boats tied up to the front porch. My Grandfather fussing because Gathel refused to move, and this creek flooded every eight to ten years. Will say at least Gathel had enough sense to build his house up in the air above the high water. Once the water went down Gathel had the best producing fields in the area. Seems the flooding always happened during the late winter and everything dried out before spring planting time. But people died every time the creek went into flood stage. TVA finally came in and built the Cordell Hull Dam and controlled that area as well. Now it's all under water, but no more flooding.
For you folks that saw the movie about Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash. Remember the caves they were canoeing in? Those caves are on War Trace, upstream above Highland and Gladys. Back when I was a kid, we swam in the creek below those caves. They were 15 to 20 feet above the water back then. After a heavy rain water would pour out the mouth of the caves and into the creek below. That's where a lot of the water that flooded Gladys came from. I mean lots of water, you could hardly believe the volume of water pouring out of those caves. During warm dry times, we would climb up and run and jump from the cave mouths into the creek below. The Cordell Hull Dam backed the creek up to the point that the caves are now partially submerged.
