Creeks Remembered

Shallow water at a ford in Todd County, KY

One of the interesting things about this part of Kentucky (probably most of Kentucky) is that small country roads sometimes have creek fords instead of bridges.

I can't imagine driving a vehicle across either of the little creeks I knew as a child -- the Skull and the Bloody, of southwestern Rock County, Nebraska. Those creeks are bordered with wetlands (we called them swamps) that were up to 1/4 mile wide from one side to the other. The water table is very close to the surface in the swamps and hay meadows that adjoin those creeks.

We owned land on both creeks. My dad (and every other rancher who owned a chunk of either creek) had several "flowing wells" at the edges of both swamps. Those artesian wells were simply pipes set in the ground fifteen or twenty feet, or less. Usually, the pipe was inside a cattle tank that collected the water that poured out year round.

To cross either Skull Creek or Bloody Creek and its associated swamp, you needed a built-up roadbed and a bridge. Otherwise you'd sink in deep mud well before you even reached the creek.

You had to be careful when you were cutting hay along the edge of the swamp. If the tractor wheels started dripping with water and the ground began to quiver, you were in dire danger of getting stuck. I've seen a tractor buried nearly to its belly in mud because someone ignored the warning signs. Spinning the wheels only made them sink farther. The only way to remove a stuck tractor like that is to winch it out from solid ground.

Creeks in our part of Kentucky have rocky, gravelly streambeds. Sometimes they even have a bed of solid rock. If the water's not deep and the road leads to the water's edge, you can drive right across them. Amazing!