Page 124 - "Mississippi in the 1st Person" - Michael James Stone (Demo/Free)

Since I was losing light when I pulled up to Vekin Dam I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,
or where to camp. The light was in the sky, but since the sun was behind the trees and ridge

line I knew it would be dark soon.

I had read a lot about Vekins Dam and how many people had simply run it with no issues. I al-
so read about a guy who somehow wiped out his canoe at Vekins.

Lots of stories were also posted and books I read about easy and hard portaging. I knew I

should get out and survey but with time running out on daylight and as tired as I was…….

I almost simply took a run at it and would have impaled on two rebar that were sticking out of
the water about a half inch, but were about 6 inches long.

THAT LOOKED LIKE A PURPOSEFUL PLANT

I had never read of a problem with Vekin.

Never heard of Re-barb in the water.

My suspicions would grow when I later met a person who said he was related to the Original

Builders and told me a history as well as a growing feud with DNR who he said destroyed the
original and put this one in for Canoes.

He was agitated but talkative so I let him talk out all his aggravations and having seen the

house nearby I wondered if it was his house.

Finding the rebar raised red flags on reliability of information so my doubts about preparation
continued to grow and I told myself to take nothing for granted.

I anchored the boats and with twilight hiked around and found an excellent camp site.