Like many of the great cities of the world, Petersburg is located by a life-giving stream of water. London is on the Thames; Paris is on the Seine and Petersburg is eternally bonded with and blessed by the creek called Cane. Cane Creek is Petersburg’s primary waterway but where did it get its name? IDK means “I don’t know” and that applies here, but I do know that there is plenty of wild cane growing up and down the Cane Creek. I’m going to take a wild guess that the Cane Creek was named after our own small species of bamboo, sometimes called creek cane, river cane or switch cane.

The creek is called “West Cane” as it flows along the Fishing Ford Road til it gets to Talley Station where it starts paralleling the Lewisburg Highway (U.S. 431) to Petersburg, becoming Cane Creek when it arrives at Petersburg and joins Sanders Creek.

Sanders Creek comes down from Arbor Hill Road and flows along Richmond Road until it runs smack dab into the West Cane Creek, which is where the first fork happens. You can see this fork for yourself! Look under the bridge you cross as you leave Petersburg going toward Shelbyville. Petersburg kids have loved this spot since forever.

The Cane Creek winds its way behind Blue Valley Equipment Repairs, the old Petersburg Jail, the rundown-water plant and Paislee’s Restaurant, where it splits – our second fork. A “fork” can be where two streams meet (converge), but it can also be where streams split (diverge). In Petersburg, we have both less than a mile apart!

The second fork, however, is man-made. The branch that runs south was dug in the early fifties as an overflow to decrease flooding. The other branch runs around the old Colt Show grounds then rejoins behind the Gill Circle neighborhood. That’s fork number three.

The final fork is where the Cane Creek meets Little Cane Creek (the one I wrote the book about). I’m going to capitalize “Forks” because when I was a kid, we did not need directions when somebody suggested going to the Forks. It was a place deserving a capitalized name and we gave it one (probably some Indian youngster called it their name for forks 10,000 years ago).

The Forks are beautiful with impressive gravel bars (creek beaches), a lot of water and gorgeous banks where daffodils were in bloom when I visited. However, it’s on private property, so don’t go there without permission. That’s OK. I have a picture.

— Gill, an Elk Valley Times columnist, is also an author. His books can be found on Amazon and other online book websites as well as in stores in Fayetteville and Petersburg.