The flooding in the mid-West has recently just about pushed our foreign wars out of the headlines as this homeland struggle has become the focus of immediate attention. What is happening out in the world often leads me to relate it in my mind to Polk County experiences.

Benton was located where it is because of Benton Creek and the numerous springs along its course, fresh water having been as important in pioneer days as it is in Third World countries with their water problems about which we hear so much on television today. Benton was also blessed with a rather restricted flood plain. During the years I remember in Benton, now and then there were heavy rains which brought on an exciting flow of muddy water which we called a flood, but little real damage was done. Those people who lived or worked (as in the case of Husky's mill) had built wisely to deal with the occasional creek overflow by raising the living level of their houses high enough to keep it out of harm's way.

The old Dr. McDowell House (George Scarborough's grandfather) actually stood very high with many steps leading up to the front porch and living level. The Hutchins-Haskins House was built just at the edge of the natural flood plain and escaped water damage for a century or more. In the late 1940s Dr. Prince, an elderly and not very sprightly gentleman, came to town and seemed to be courting disaster when he built the house next to the creek bridge going up the School House Hill.. I remember Nell McClary's wry comment at the time: "Why, they'll have to seine for him at the mouth of the Ocoee River every time it rains." Apparently he knew what he was doing, however, for protected by a sort of levee in the construction, the house stayed dry for many years after his death, but the image Nell's comment conjured up in my mind still amuses me.

After so many years of pursuing its tame course, I understand there was a serious flood in the late 1980s, maybe like the so-called "500 year" flood in the current news. Perhaps there was a great deal more water than usual, but I understand that at least some of the trouble might have been avoided. The Lillards had for years kept the foliage along their property on the creek cleared or drastically trimmed back, but at the time of this flooding several seasons of growth restricted the flow of the stream, causing it in places to alter its course and create havoc as never before.

My Grandfather Kimbrough told many stories of the Ocoee River flooding before the Parksville Dam was built. He told the stories, but unfortunately I wasn't properly tuned in and can't recount any of them! "Normal" flooding he didn't really see as a great problem; it was the flash floods coming out of the mountains that most concerned him. In that respect, it is my Grandmother's stories, rather than his, that I recall.

During the early years of their marriage, they lived in a house on the side of mountain where Parksville Dam is now, high enough to be out of normal flooding, but flash floods were a danger at that narrow gap between the mountains. Twice she heard flash floods coming. Once she was putting bread in the oven and just had time to grab my uncle, then a tiny baby, and run up the mountain before it hit the gap, but it passed so quickly that she got back home before the bread was burned. The second time it happened, she said that she had run up the mountain for the last time. They moved to a very safe place well removed from the river channel.

If you have any flooding stories you would like to share relating to Benton Creek, the Ocoee River, or the restrooms in the old Court House, I would be pleased to pass them on. Direct your information to nowandthenbhm@msn.com or to me at 300 W. 6th St., Apt. 4-B, Chattanooga, TN 37402.