Three Rivers Dirt Works

About Three Rivers Dirt Works

East of town the French Broad and the Holston come together and become the Tennessee, and on a cold morning the whole confluence smokes with river fog. Three Rivers Dirt Works starts in that fog when winter weather reaches Knox County — trucks out on the roads toward Strawberry Plains, blades down, lots opened before the first shift arrives. The answer to a storm here has to be quick and complete: clear the drive, clear the walk, put salt down on the ice that follows the melt. Fog lifts, the river goes green again, and the pavement is where it belongs, visible and gritted and safe. That is the whole of the job, and it is enough.