A Biography of Hatchett Creek
By John B. Scott Jr. The headwaters of Hatchett Creek rise in the Talladega mountains and the creek officially begins where its east and west forks come together near Bull’s Gap in Clay County. Steadily gaining strength from innumerable springs and branches, the creek then flows southwesterly for approximately forty miles through Clay and Coosa Counties before emptying into the backwaters of Lake Mitchell. During its course, Hatchett falls over 400 feet in elevation and is laced with numerous stretches of white water as it flows over rocky shoals and ledges of granite. For much of the way the creek is hemmed in with steep hills, heavily forested with second growth hardwood and pine. For long stretches, the roar of rapids and the unbroken walls of green, give to Hatchett a wilderness character unique among Alabama’s waterways. Hatchett has not always been so detached from man’s ordinary, workday endeavors. When the earliest settlers moved into the area in the 1830’s they i...