The Neches River is not wild in its youth. It flows gently along pastures, under barb-wire fences, and through culverts lying under asphalt roads. It flows placidly through East Texas pastures and farm land, watering stock and nourishing the fringe trees along its margin.The river follows its valley and bottomland through thickets and dense woods, but its path is always narrow. Even when it floods, the water does not stray far from its banks. The young Neches nourishes the usual rural farmland population of deer, 'coons, 'possums and polecats, but nothing wild and scary, unless you count...