The Taylorsville Lake Dam, built in the early 1970s, has tamed the worst of the floods and changed the nature of the river downstream.

The river receives the most rain in the month of May and the least in September, according to data from the local National Weather Service office.

Turtles, fish, waterfowl abound, deer, river otters and beaver are some of the typical animals living in the area.

These include Carex crawei (Crawe's sedge), Cypripedium candidum (small white lady's-slipper), Leavenworthia exigua var.

laciniata (glade cress), Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie dropseed), Symphyotrichum pratense (silky aster), and Viola egglestonii (Eggleston's violet).

[5] This creates areas of flat topped ridges separated by narrow valleys or "hollows," often washed out by small creeks or streams draining into the river.

During the American Civil War, an earth-walled fort was established on a tall hill overlooking the Ohio, near the Salt River.

It also flooded towns like Taylorsville, Shepherdsville, and to a lesser extent southern Louisville and West Point, changing their architecture and growth pattern.

A number of mills used to dot the length of the Salt River and its tributaries, using the water to grind feed and flour, saw lumber and more.