`- Giles Island was once a working plantation adjoining the north bluff of Natchez, Mississippi. Today, it is a Mississippi bottom land hardwood forest, a place of legend, and the drama of human deeds. Centuries earlier, Hernando DeSoto discovered the Mississippi north of Natchez and soon thereafter died. He was buried by his men in a log and set adrift on the great river. Later, in the early nineteenth century, it was the site of many duels, where men from Natchez settled their arguments at twelve paces. It was during that era that Jim Bowie made himself, and his knife, famous in a savage duel on Giles that became known in history as "The Sandbar Fight." The knife was copied by a blacksmith from Natchez and later reproduced in England. Today it is probably the best known weapon in the world. In 1933, the Corps of Engineers dredged what is known as the Giles cutoff. The end result was the creation of a wilderness paradise called Giles Island.