Ghost Town With A Water Slide?

[fishinwrench]

Dogpatch...havent heard that place discussed in a long time..I'm not sure that it has any Middleton connection....Starlight Creek seems to be a work of fiction, unless you change the word trout to smallmouth ;>)! Then it could be one of many places.

LOL, I can't believe you said that. That is exactly what was going through my mind during the last 1/2 of the book. My reasoning being that alot of old timers used to refer to river-bass as Green Trout. Also the fish he stalked were always described to be holding in what sounded more like like smallmouth haunts (never in the fast water, ect.). I would have concluded that was the case except for the discription of the flys he bought at the hardware store ....those were definately Trout flys. The way he described his buddy getting blown up with a hand grenade was unlike anything I've ever read before, he was definately a talented author.

[ness]

I believe Harry probably visited the area, maybe even the theme park, and used his experiences and people he met to illustrate the book. I do believe it was just fictional and Starlight Creek was just a compilation of the many places he had wet a line, which takes nothing away from the book as it's one of my all time favorites.

Dano

I have a tendency to believe that, but it is interesting that he may have drawn from that area for his book. I always kinda wondered where it took place, so to speak. Gavin -- good point re: smallmouth.

[Greg]

I went to Dogwood a time or 2 as a kid. It was fun but a pretty quirky place. For a year or 2 there was a ski resort there too. I skied there one winter day and unfortunately broke my ankle. I knew it had closed but didn't know what had happened to the property.

I haven't read "the earth is enough". I looked it up and also Harry Middleton. Looks like an interesting book. I'm going to try to pick up a copy or reserve it from the library. Looks interesting.

Greg