HELPER
Sheer necessity required that we make use of a two-car ferry boat years ago when we wished to cross the New River, upstream a few miles above Radford, Virginia. The crossing was widely known as Ingle's Ferry and the site can be visited today just a mile or so down river from Clayton Lake Dam.
The ancient river - deemed to be, by those who know about such things, the oldest river on the North American Continent, is the border between two Virginia counties – Montgomery and Pulaski. The current of the wide river is heavy at that point set within a gentle curve. The Pulaski side is rather steep , a pattern which holds downriver for many miles as the ancient waterway cut it's path through the limestone cliffs on it's way to join the Kanawha, Ohio and Mississippi. Our Montgomery side featured, for the most part, flat, fertile and flood- prone fields. At the top of the hill on the Pulaski side the village of “New Berne” - Newbern to us. The West End section of the City of Radford - a community five miles in cooperate length strung out on the series of “shelves” rising up from the flood plain level of the above the flood plain level of the stream.
The Ingle's Ferry installation is worthy of a book unto itself telling its history and importance, but my immediate concern is to note one way in which the old ferry boat managed to make a quicker trip across those rushing waters.
Loaded the two cars and perhaps a small, cart or buggy the long wooden vessel tugged at the cable to which it was attached and was poled out of the safety of the log-shouldered berth into the current. You could feel the rush of water grab at the emerging boat length; then along side and when it got to the rear end you felt a sudden downstream swerve. A confident glance from the pole man assured your all was well and you quickly came to realize the downward current of the river pushing against the angled side of our boat was being used to move us toward our destination.
By keeping the side of the vessel athwart the main thrust of the current we acquire a source of power we might, otherwise, we might be opposing. The boatman in charge has control of the degree to which the craft is to be aligned with the force available and we rely on his or her wisdom to maintain that condition to our best advantage. It is not the purpose of the boatman to attempt to alter the force of the current, or to arrange the course of the stream itself. It is his job to make maximum use of the power potential, and he may, if he choses to do so, modify the sources of such power just as we have done by the construction of Claytor Lake Dam above the Ingle's Ferry crossing. We have, in so doing, brought a measure of flood control to the bottom land areas below the dam as well as the shores of the resulting lake itself.
This is not just idle nostalgia. Is it too far out for me to see a relationship to what we are now asking the President of the United States, newly installed for a second term, to do for us? He is a steersman in one sense, a pilot, a boatman who keeps our craft in proper relationship to existing forces which impede our progress. A wise leader will use those opposing forces to help us on our way. I learned that simple less on many years ago from watching or riding the small ferry-boat across the New River in southwestern Virginia. I feel, too, that he is capable, if need be, of building a controlling complex above and beyond all at we see, if need be.
A.L.M. November 4, 2004 [c662wds]
