Art's story is, amazingly, true in every word. I grew up on the Upper River and I have seen that dam with my own eyes. In fact, he may have understated the length, since when it happened The River flowed "from bluff to bluff." It was only AFTER the dams and levees that it was tamed (yeah, right, tamed!) that it ran in the measly little channel it does now.

Much the same thing brought about the levees, by the way. Only it wasn't catfish, but water moccasins. One snake per levee was the rule, and it got rid of the biggest of 'em anyway.