Return to the River
The Roanoke River is a “personal thing**
to the writer, an«l he could not resist the
urge to return for a story.
The Roanoke is a river of two slates
and many counties; but by the people
of the county of Martin, it is claimed
as their very own.
As the northern boundary of the
county, it wends and winds its way
for perhaps 60 to 75 miles; from a
narrow but hustling stream at the Hali-
k*/ weiMiell pi:i;le
fax Line to a broader but smoother
waterway as it reaches the county
of Washington.
Along its shores are many sights of
interest. There are the creations of na¬
ture; there arc those of mankind. Of
the latter, some are rustic in appear¬
ance, and some arc as modernistic as
present day industry can make them.
It is a stream of legend that may be
fact, and of fact that may be of leg¬
endary origin. And until recent years
when upstream dams were built to
tranquilizc it, it was a river of unpre¬
dictable temper.
At one time in the 1930’s, its flow
was so limited for several hours, that
at James villc it appeared to be nothing
more than a series of mud puddles. In
the early forties, it became a destroyer
when it swirled out of its channel in
record breaking proportions.
Forests and Fishing Machines
Between Williamston and Jamesville.
three giant cypress trees, one said to
be the largest forest growth east of the
Rocky Mountains, cast their shadows
across the Roanoke waters. And near
Plymouth in Jamesville Township, the
enormous Weyerhaeuser pulp, paper
and plywood plants form an industrial
complex that may be the largest in all
of the eastern part of the state.
On a high bluff down stream from
Hamilton, the earth works of a Civil
War bastion stand restored as an his¬
torical landmark. Fort Branch was so
situated that its guns could be pointed
almost downward on invading ships of
war. Also near Hamilton, and over¬
looking the river is another symbol of
today — the modern plant of Bcaunit
Industries.
At each of the three towns that lie
along the river, fishing is an industry
of large even if of lesser proportions
than it was in earlier years. The herring
is the principal fish of the Roanoke,
but it is also a habitat of the shad
and the rockfish that may be known
elsewhere as striped bass.
Near Hamilton and Williamston, the
waters flow rapidly enough to operate
unattended fishing machines that a
magazine of national circulation once
reported as being in use only on
streams in Alaska. At Jamesville and
near the Washington County line, fish¬
eries that used seines that extended
from one-quarter to onc-half mile in
length, at one time were springtime
attractions.
At Williamston, gigantic barges are
pulled to docks to unload materials at
the plant of the Olin-Mathieson Corp.
The river also serves several bulk pe¬
troleum plants, one of which makes
land tanker delivery to points more
than 50-miles away.
Up the Roanoke used to come show
boats, and through that media a cer¬
tain measure of culture was brought to
the towns of Hamilton. Williamston
and Jamesville. Today, in the fishing
season, a favorite meeting place for
people from near and far is a res¬
taurant located only yards from the
bank of the stream at Jamesville. It. in
keeping with its surroundings, is known
as the Cypress Grill. Thousands of
folk enjoy the seafood there each sea¬
son.
But for all of the attractions of the
Roanoke, including tributaries such as
Devils Gut and various hunting clubs
and grounds, the river is a personal
thing to many of the people who have
been in contact with it.
During the flood of the forties, Hugh
Spruill, lone tender of the Williamston
Bridge at the time except for the help
THE STATE. June 1. 1967
