The Great raft
We cannot learn everything. Remember that. Today while looking for something completely unrelated I came across the story of the great logjam. Or the Great Raft if you will. The first time I have ever come across the story which deals with the way a colonial government decided to clear the river. Little matter that the logjam had been created over a period of a millennium. Little matter that a whole society depended upon the ecosystem for their life. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to make a river available for steamboats. And so with enough dynamite and enough heavy equipment a pathway was cleared. The waters could flow which was the whole point of the exercise. Steamboats would now be able to come up the river and bring new residents. For those that had been there before that did not matter. They were offered a small amount of money and told to find another place to live. I realize that this is an ongoing cyclical story. I realized that the great raft is nothing more than an incident in a long history. But it was to me remarkable. Proof that the old proverb where if you have a hammer everything looks like a nail is true. If you have the equipment to clear a path through a large logjam you can get to it. You can make it all the way you think it should be. No need to consult with anyone else because you know what you were doing. I invite you to look up the history of this incident which took place in Louisiana. I had never heard of it until today and now I will be unable to forget it going forward. That is the way that history works. And keep in mind that history is only written by those who win.
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