We Bought A Chunk of River For Back Taxes

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As the water recedes, the cats hang to the deeper pools where you can fish for them with a rod and reel, cane pole or trot line. There are also carp, white bass and acres of perch and gar (that saw-toothed, snaky-looking fish which is, nonetheless, edible) in the river.

When the water is running shallow and clear we pack a lunch and wander up or down the river bed. There's always something interesting around the next bend: Racoons come to fish from logs that have fallen in the sandy spots; deer from the state park (about four miles downriver of our lots) come to drink; rabbits and quail abound in the underbrush along the shaded banks and wild turkeys migrate in flocks along the stream.

High or low, the river offers even more entertainment: When the water is down we can have cookouts on the silvery sand . . . if the current is up we might ride an old innertube miles downstream to a spot where we can be picked up by the family car.

We'll money-grub a little longer until our three teenagers have finished their educations but—in the near future—we plan to build a small house on our lots, raise a garden and relax. Our children (adopted when they were babies) are Irish-Indian and all have a natural affinity for nature. The whole family may end up on the riverbanks after they get out of college.

If you have little money and a large hunger for land, try consulting your local tax sales. Maybe, like us, you too will wind up owning part of a river. It's a can't lose proposition: If the former owner suddenly decides to pay the taxes due during the year grace period he has after you take possession, he'll also have to reimburse you everything you've spent on it before he can reclaim the property. They seldom do this.

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