The Embattled Wilderness: The Natural and Human History of Robinson Forest and the Fight for Its Future

CHAPTER 6 Riffles and Runs and Cool, Clear Pools

113 C H A P T E R 6 Riffles and Runs and Cool, Clear Pools James J. Krupa Water is the lifeblood of Robinson Forest. Pumped into the forest as rain and snow, it trickles through the forest floor like blood moving through a maze of capillaries. When trees are leafed out and growing, they pull enough water to fill several reservoirs up their trunks and into their leaves, where it is transformed by photosynthesis into sugar and oxygen. Much of the water departs the leaves as vapor. Water that escapes capture by trees trickles down into the hollows and forms the headwaters of infant streams. Like veins, headwater streams merge into larger streams that increase in volume as they take on water from tributaries. This is the forest’s circulatory system and a crucial part of the global water cycle. The water that escapes as vapor ends up in the atmosphere and can circulate anywhere over the planet. Water that departs the forest via streams flows into the Kentucky, Ohio, and Mississippi Rivers, then into the Gulf of Mexico and on into the oceans of the world. Eventually this water, after spending time at distant points on the globe, will return as rain and snow to feed Robinson’s forest and streams. The major watersheds of Robinson Forest are Clemons Fork to the west and Coles Fork to the east. The headwaters of Wet Fork and Carpenter Branch join the headwaters of Clemons Fork, which grows as it picks up flow from Millseat Branch, Little Millseat, Boardinghouse Branch, and Roaring Fork. Now at its greatest volume, Clemons Fork spills into Buckhorn Creek, which has already received the water from Coles Fork. 114—Chapter 6 All of Robinson’s flowing water leaves by way of Buckhorn Creek, which dumps into Troublesome Creek before heading to the Kentucky River. Robinson Forest is a maze of hollows, all carved out by streams. Seams of sandstone, flint, coal, and shale are worn down as water relentlessly gnaws away; sandstone, the most resistant to erosion, persists longest. Sandstone rocks line the shores alongside streams, and the streambeds are littered with sandstone rubble of small rocks, gravel, and sand. Floods tumble these rocks downstream, and along the way they collide and chip, disintegrating into quartz sand. Eventually all stream rock is reduced to sand and carried away by the current. The surveyors who mapped the forest gave every headwater hollow and stream a name. The history behind many of the names has been lost, although some clearly refer to past events. Some of the hollows are named for those who once lived in the forest: John Miller Hollow, Goff Hollow, and Stacy Hollow. Some are named for farm animals that lived with the landowners: Horse Hollow and Steer Hollow. Some honor the art of distillation—Gin Hollow, Rye Hollow, and Apple Hollow—while others are named for trees and mammals that live in the forest: Coon Hollow, Pawpaw Hollow, Beechnut Hollow, and Buckeye Hollow. Others are descriptive of the hollow itself: Grassy Hollow, Cool Hollow, and Stinking Hollow. Splash Hollow is named for a splash dam that existed at its mouth more than one hundred years ago. Other hollows have names that are simply intriguing. Who died in Deadman’s Hollow? Who committed suicide in Suicide Hollow? Sometimes the survey crew named a headwater stream but not the hollow: Panther Fork, Bee Creek, Tom Branch, and Bracken Branch. Some streams are named for plants, especially trees—Big Laurel Branch, White Oak Fork—and others are geographically descriptive: Grassy Gap Branch, Ridge Fork, Long Branch, and Falling Rock Branch. Improvement Branch suggests a major landscaping event. Boardinghouse Branch, a seasonal stream flowing through Camp Robinson into Clemons Fork, is named for Mowbray and Robinson’s boardinghouse, now demolished, where loggers once lived. Robinson’s three largest streams (Clemons Fork, Coles Fork, and Buckhorn Creek) are a study in contrast. The substrates of each are markedly different. Coles Fork tends to be sandier, while Clemons Fork Riffles and Runs and Cool, Clear Pools—115 is rockier and littered with pieces of flint found in none of the other streams. Buckhorn Creek is the widest of the three, and because it flows through reclaimed surface mines before entering Robinson Forest, it carries a heavy load of silt. Many stream ecologists say that Clemons Fork and Coles Fork are two of the cleanest streams in Kentucky...