Editor’s note: This is the second of a three-part series that features the Lumber River. Part I covered ecotourism possibilities for Lumber River State Park and Fair Bluff. In this story, Publisher Les High talks with Fair Bluff residents who frequent the river.
对于费尔布拉夫的人们来说，对木材河的热爱是自然而然的.
牧师. 雷Lundy, 1979年至2009年担任费尔布拉夫浸信会牧师, 花了好几个小时钓鱼, 划船, 和他妻子在河边露营, 孩子们, 和孙子. He grew up fishing the Little Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers with his father near their hometown of Conway, S.C.
“我小时候是一只河鼠，”蓝迪说. “我爸爸每周天气暖和的时候都会去钓鱼. 他让我和他一起去，但前提是我要学会游泳. 他总是告诉我要尊重河流.”
牧师. 雷·蓝迪和托德·布莱恩特在费尔布拉夫河畔散步, 沿着木材河延伸近一英里. 所有照片由Les Hig提供
当蓝迪和他的妻子琳达抵达费尔布拉夫时，整个小镇都欢迎他们. 这意味着要花很多时间与朋友和教区居民在河上.
He points in the direction of the rope swing and sandy bank where dozens of boys and girls swam in the dark waters. Locals still call it the “Minnie Hole,” named for Minnie Waddell, who fished there often.
伦迪记得在寒冷的日子里和儿子乔纳森一起生火, 在冰冷的水中清洗鸭子. 这家人经常在河边野餐, 他和乔纳森会进行三到四天的过夜旅行, 在沙洲上过夜.
“I remember one day when it was hotter than the hinges of the door on the gates of hell,蓝迪说. “乔纳森告诉我有一场大雷雨要来了, 所以我们蹲下，雨下得就像从桶里倒水一样. When it passed through, it was like someone had turned on the air conditioning; it was nice and cool.”
伦迪说，他在清晨醒来时闻到了鹿身上湿的气味, 然后听到了熊的呼噜声. A dank, musky odor indicated the bear was close by, probably on the trail of the deer.
当蓝迪打开帐篷时，熊不见了. He tells the story because it underscores that when it comes to the Lumber River, 荒野“就在你的后门外面”.”
Lundy says the River Walk and the river offer the kind of peace that’s hard to find in other places.
在河上度过时光是费尔布拉夫及其周边地区人们的第二天性.
“我认为有些人天生就有这种能力, 那种你不知道河的下一个拐弯处是什么地方的旅行癖,蓝迪说. “这是我们所有人与生俱来的东西, 我有点为那些没有经历过的人感到难过. I imagine the last thing I’ll have in my head when it’s time to go are the times I had on the river.”
蓝迪天生和蔼可亲，爱交际. 他喜欢在费尔布拉夫河步道上和人们聊天, which meanders for three-quarters of a mile through the cool canopy of cypress and water oaks. He and Linda are on the boardwalk many days, she on foot and he on his recumbent tricycle.
他们会见来自东海岸各地的人, 但当地人特别喜欢缓慢流动的河水的冥想力量.
托德科比, 住在边境对面的南卡罗来纳, 在木板路上散步是完美的吗, 阳光普照的傍晚时分. Bryant and Lundy begin talking about fishing holes and a three-story tree house that men who fish and hunt on the river assembled in stages over the years.
Lundy shows Bryant the old steam engine rail bed that runs through Red Belly Slough. 有轨电车将木材从博德曼的巴特斯木材公司运送到南卡罗来纳州的尼科尔斯.C.大约在下游30英里处. 那座旧栈桥勉强露出水面.
卢克·罗宾逊和他的狗库珀.
Also on the River Walk, Luke Robinson has taken his dog Cooper, age 9 months, for a walk and a swim. 这只狗显然对罗宾逊有很深的感情, who says he got Cooper from someone who was going to “throw out the rest of the litter,“大概是在路边.
“我要去买些冰淇淋，招待库珀一下,” he says before disappearing into the fading light around one of the many bends of the boardwalk.
•••
Few people have caught more fish on the lower end of the Lumber River than 威拉德小, 谁在4月19日满96岁. He was a Fair Bluff town commissioner for 48 years and co-owner of Fair Bluff Ford, 当地的福特经销商.
“人们没有意识到这是一条多么好的捕鱼河，”斯莫尔说. “我们会在周六下午1点锁定经销商.m. I’d get in my Ford Bronco and head to the river with my strip boat and fish ‘til dark.”
Small would mainly fish for red breast and hard head bream, which are varieties of flatfish.
Small closed the dealership every Fourth of July and a group of men would paddle upriver to wet a line and fry fish on a sandbar. 这种情况持续了20年左右.
威拉德小, 96, is a life-long fisher of the river who was instrumental in getting the Fair Bluff River Walk funded. 了照片
大卫小, 威拉德74岁的儿子在家族经销店工作, 说钓鱼是河上的一种生活方式, 追溯几代人.
Small recalls the bond fishing created between him and his grandfather Maxcey Small. 小斯莫尔是他祖父指定的划桨手, 我从他那里继承了对这条河的爱.
“He’d pull up to the house before daylight – around 5:30 – and blow the horn,斯莫尔说. 没有什么妨碍他钓鱼. 如果他听到鱼在咬人，他甚至会离开烟草田.”
Small says his grandfather knew all the fishing holes and lakes along the river: State Line Lake, 绿色的湖, 深湖, 大猪猪和小猪猪湖, 等.
斯莫尔的主要任务是划桨, 虽然他偶尔会在两人在沙洲吃午饭的时候去钓鱼. That led to a lifetime of fishing with his grandfather and father, and later on his own.
He remembers as a child an area behind Fair Bluff’s business district where the merchants kept about a dozen wooden boats tied up and ready to deploy should word get out that the fish were biting.
斯莫尔说:“这条河和费尔布拉夫是一体的.
•••
It seems that everyone who fishes the river has had a traumatic experience with a thunderstorm.
威拉德小 was fishing upriver at 深湖 and heard thunder in the distance. 他还没来得及回家，就下起了前所未有的大雨和冰雹.
“我不得不停下来三四次，把船上的水倒掉，”他说. “我告诉你，我以为我回不了家了.
但是，他补充说，“最好的捕鱼时间之一是暴风雨前后。.”
清晨阳光下低垂的树叶.
不管天气有多恶劣, 然而, Small sees the river and his beloved Fair Bluff River Walk as a place of calm and serenity.
Many locals enjoy the boardwalk daily, and Small was no exception in his younger years. 清晨或傍晚的天气特别宜人, 当水在桩子间蜿蜒流淌. 鸟类、火鸡、水獭、鹿和其他动物都是常见的景点. 这是一个与大自然交流的好地方.
“如果你今天工作不顺心，或者只是需要一些独处的时间,斯莫尔说, “ the boardwalk is where you can be alone with your thoughts or just talk to the Lord.”
•••
One of the most prolific fishermen on the Lumber River is Michael 戈尔, 67, of Fair Bluff.
Most days he can be seen pedaling his bicycle to the Fair Bluff River Walk with a fishing rod and two buckets, 一个装着泥土和蚯蚓，另一个装着他要抓的鱼. He likes to throw a Beetle Spin lure because it attracts every kind of fish and “it saves you from buying worms.”
Michael 戈尔 pushes his bicycle toward home after a successful day fishing on Red Belly Slough.
戈尔选择沿着红腹湾或布恩河徒步钓鱼, 两条路都靠近木板路.
戈尔是米尔德里德和布克抚养的12个孩子之一. 戈尔. “我是唯一一个喜欢钓鱼的人，”他怀疑地说.
他教他的五个侄子钓鱼和游泳.
他的表弟, 小房间戈尔, 迈克尔说他已经80多岁了, 在五月这个温和的下午和他在一起, 但卡比选择在靠近北纬的地方捕鱼.C. 904年桥.
“卡比有一点，”戈尔实事求是地说，“他不喜欢蛇.”
There happens to be one — a rather large water snake — resting on the edge of the river in a fallen tree branch.
戈尔 enjoys the River Walk in part because he was one of “nine or 10 guys” who helped build it. He remembers dragging timbers behind a riding lawn mower to the final section ending near The Boon.
戈尔几乎每天都在附近钓鱼.“他每周会吃两到三次鱼. “有一段时间，我每天都吃，但我不得不停止.”
他主要是在镇上打零工赚钱. His house flooded during hurricanes Matthew and Florence, but he never thought about leaving.
“Fair Bluff是个好地方，”他补充道.
Earlier on this day, he had caught 10 fish and took them to a local convenience store. 他把鱼给了一个老得不能钓鱼的人.
他在红腹谷感觉很自在, 得名于经常在狭窄的通道上出没的一种鲷鱼.
他把钓到的鱼扔回水里. “他们明天就来. 你得留点在这里.”
戈尔回忆起他多年的钓鱼生涯. 红腹沼泽是他的第二个家.“这里很酷，很安静，没有人打扰你，”戈尔在离开前说. “这大概是费尔布拉夫唯一能买到好东西的地方, 安静的和平，因为人们害怕蛇,他笑着补充道.
然后他的语气变了.
“你知道，”他带着一种崇敬的感觉说，“你真的无法打败这个地方.”
戈尔沿着费尔布拉夫的铁轨回家. 他很可能明天回来.