Richard Simoneaux, standing left, and Murphy Painter explained the history of the Amite River Diversion Canal to Edward Livingston Historical Association members at their April 5 meeting. Simoneaux, 83, reminisced about working as an engine room employee, while still in high school, on one of the dredging barges that dug the canal in the 1950s. Twenty-two years ago, he came back to the canal to take over a bankside bar and expand it as the Hilltop Inn restaurant, located on a “hill top” created by the canal’s spoil bank. Painter shared some of his research into the channel’s history, explaining that the 1953 Amite River flood was the impetus for the flood control measure.
