Topic starter
11/02/2008 2:36 am
Greetings From New Orleans ,
Whenever I am on a job either going to or coming from the port of Baton Rouge I cannot help but be reminded of the way the river meanders , twists and turns between Baton Rouge and Plaquemine , La., and the time and cost per mile this trip encounters . Futhermore , I recall that the ol time steamboat Pilots that tripped on the steamboats told me that after the close of World War II , the Corps of Engineers embarked on a mission to literally shorten the Mississippi River so as to assist the commercial traffic that made these river trips . If you have an opportunity to view any old river chart , you will find dozzens of " Cut - Offs " that the corps created by simply and literally cutting through the upper and lower portions of mostly Ox-Bow Bends . One remaining Ox - Bow Bend remaining today is the one that New Madrid , Missouri still resides on . It is also my understanding that through the Corps efforts that approximately one hundred and thirty river miles were cut off and thus shortening the river . Unfortunately , the one thing that the Corps did not take into consideration was that by shortening the river , they also increased the velocity of the current and consequently creating another issue for the river traffic was forced to contend with . To compound the problem , the river boats of that day and age just did not have the technology and power and the ability to safely navigate through these newly created milraces and unfortunately more harm than good was created . Now fast forward thirty plus years and now the modern day river boats do have the technology and power to sagfely navigate these swift current areas of the river , so why not re-examine this practice of shortening the river . I would just have to image that after the initial expense of cutting and opening new cut-off's , it would both once again assist river traffic with fuel expenses and less expense for the corps in the department of dredging and bank stablization . Also , we have all both heard and learned that time is money and I would therefore have to imagine that the local marine industry would also throw trheir considerable weight behind this project as well . Just food for thought !
Smoothe Sailing !
Ted Davisson
11/02/2008 4:59 am
Ted, the primary purpose of the cut-offs was to speed floodwaters south. This was undertaken after the 1927 flood, along with other measures. You can read all about it in John Barry's "Rising Tide", an excellent book that you won't be able to put down.
You are right about the swifter currents, Ted. The profusion of dikes and other training works in the last 30 years have also made the river much swifter, but also have made it easier to maintain a deeper, wider channel with far less maintenance dredging than everbefore. My bet is that envirmonmentalists would never allow further cut-offs on a grand scale; in fact, in the Upper Mississippi flood of 1993, the river attempted to make a couple of major cut-offs from Alton to Cairo, and the Corps of Engineers took great pains to prevent it from happening. My bet is we will never see any more new cut-offs on the Lower.
11/02/2008 1:43 pm
Boy, were cut-offs ever swift! On my first paid river trip in July 1941 we passed up through Glasscock Cut-off. It had been there eight years by that time. I went off watch at noon and there was almost no perceptible movement upstream to reach a big cottonwood tree. When I came back on at six that tree was still in sight, maybe a little more than a half mile behind us. By midnight we were out of there and making our customary three mph.
In Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain predicted that if the Corps kept on making cut-offs to shorten the river Saint Louis and New Orleans would eventually merge. I think he exaggerated some.