Coosawattee

I recently read an interview with James Dickey where he comments on an encounter with two locals while canoeing this river before the dam. They confronted Dickey and his paddling partner in the late 60's with a shotgun, asking why they were snooping around. Dickey felt that they were protecting a moonshine operation in the vicinity, so they did the intelligent thing and got back in their canoe to continue the run, a bit shaken by the experience - which obviously made a lasting impression on him.

I've subsequently seen old photos of several rapids in this stretch - one a large Class V waterfall - all submerged today beneath the lake. The Coosawattee became the Cahoolawassee and the rest is history. The dam construction scene in the movie is from the bulldozing work going on then as Lake Jocassee was being built in S.C.

Other points of movie trivia: a friend of my dad's was a social worker in Rabun Co. during the movie and said the guy who plays the Banjo Player got $10k for his role (he couldn't really play), bought a Camaro, and totalled it within a month. Also, my Ex's older brother worked for Ga. Outdoors at the time, which supplied paddling gear for the crew. He said Burt Reynolds would hit the ground for push-ups prior to his scenes to look as buff as possible. Funny.