Rolling Down the River

The Marianna Lions met Monday August 23rd at Jim’s Buffet and Grill. During the business session a letter from the Chipola Foundation recognized the Lions scholarship contribution. A thank you letter was received from Jessica White regarding her receipt of the club scholarship. The board meeting was changed to September 13th

Clint Cox presented an interesting, entertaining and nostalgic PowerPoint presentation entitled “Rollin Down the River, Panhandle Paddler” His trip was instigated as a result of a story that Dick Hinson told of his and Sonny Anderson’s trip on the Chipola several years earlier. Clint and Chris Mathews took their trip in 2008-09. They took the river a section at a time consisting of 11 segments over 14 days and three nights. Clint first went up the river to its origin at Marshall and Cowart’s Creeks. This area of the river is log and limb strewn and infested with gators. As he took us under storied bridges such as Bellamy, Yancey, and Magnolia bridges, and several railroad trestles he pointed out his colleague’s debunking of ghost stories and the fact that several of these bridges were places that young Jackson, and I presume Calhoun and Gulf County, boys, had to prove their manhood by jumping off a bridge. Several Lions raised their hands, silently testifying to their rite of passage.

This reminded me of our son and a friend who were either testing themselves or trying to earn a merit badge, canoed down the Chipola and coming out of a log run, their canoe capsized, resulting in loss of a pair of glasses and shoes much to their parents consternation. Other sites shown included Christoff’’s Ferry which had a hotel that was built in the 1830’s, Federal Shoals that had a fort and local Indians used Alamo cave as a hiding place. Judge McCrary’s river house was shown, supposedly in a 50 year floodplain. The good judge said that “it made him 250 years old”.

Needless to say the 89 miles of the Chipola from its origins to where it joins the “Big River” below the Dead Lakes, is very storied. The Chipola is also very popular, attracting about 2500 people in tubes, canoes and kayaks on any warm weekend. There are several good internet sites with stories about Panhandle rivers. Including Clint’s Rollin Down the River, Panhandle Paddler and “Voices of the Apalachicola”.