June 16, 2011

Historic Highwater

When a river swells with highwater in the spring it is usually due to snowmelt running out of the mountains. This melt water, hurried along by gravity, soon turns to a torrent gathering what ever is in it's way.
Trees, trash, cows, houses, everything, tearing downhill like a wild beast, "out of control" as the damn builders would say. This is the way it's supposed to happen, but all too often in our day and age this annual wildness of the rivers is tamed by the placement of dams.