Sat Oct 28: Kaskaskia to Bill Emerson Bridge Anchorage

We all basically jumped off the wall at the same time, with that nervous competitive energy of 'what if they get there before us', etc.  But Rick/I felt pretty chill, and had confidence that the anchorages (we were debating 2) would have plenty of room.

It was a grey, gloomy day with lots of rain so I don't have many pictures.  INSTEAD I have a treat for you.  I'm going to get Rick to tell you a bit about the poor Mississippi River, and how, thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers, it is the most tortured, manipulated river... Over to you, Rick:  

 

Actually this whole river system - the Mississippi, the Illinois, the Missouri, the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Cumberland and many other tributaries have been completely transformed from their natural state.  These rivers are the reason that the US has been so economically successful starting from back in the 1700's.  The rivers allowed for easy and inexpensive transport of agricultural goods and raw materials to economic centers on the coasts, and then to be sent around the world.  As industry and agriculture grew so did the industrialization along the rivers.  Once the whole economic structure grew to be so important the natural cycles of the rivers (flood - drought=very high water and very low water) became inconvenient.   Also, rivers naturally migrate as the river bed accumulates silt and the water course moves to a different area.  So, over the years, the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) has completed many many massive flood control, damming, locks and water course "improvements".   All these to help prevent flooding, control the water levels, and minimize silting so that commercial barges could run up and down the river and people who live along the river aren't flooded out.

We have experienced many of these improvements.  Along most of the banks on the Mississippi river you see very high dikes and walls to prevent flooding, and to keep the water in its banks.  We have gone through locks and seen dams.  One of the most prevalent things we see are earthen "wing" dams that stick out from the banks pointing downstream at a 30 -40 degree angle.  These wing dams are designed to funnel the flow into the center channel to keep the water speed up.  Normally a river runs slowly, meandering along its course and taking its time.  This allows particulate matter to settle out and the riverbed fills with silt.  The wing dams force the water into the center and speed it along downstream. You can see on the chart below the green things protruding into the river. These are the wing dams all along the sides and there must be hundreds of them.  There are two other types of dams - weir dams and chevrons, also designed to funnel the water and speed the flow. Weir dams are usually underwater, so we don't see them except on our charts.  So far we haven't noticed and chevrons.

 

It is just very interesting to see how we have manipulated nature and so dramatically changed these rivers from their natural state.  It would have been interesting to see the area back in the early 1800's. There is a school of thought that many of these 'improvements' have led to devastating flooding and worsened the impact of hurricanes.

As an fyi, I recently read a fascinating book that talked about how these river systems have made the US much more economically successful then other countries of similar sizes.

Me again - Usually we get bored around 11am, and that has become ‘chip-o’clock’, where we have a snack.  Today I was so bored by 10am, I declared it to be ‘lollipop-o’clock’ and had a Tootsie Pop…

Look-I got a boat!  That’s rare, and very good luck. According to me.

We miss the comedy of the crew on Regular Eggs (they are now 1-2 days behind us).  Besides the husband and wife there was a dog, a cat and a bird.  Doesn’t that sound like a handful?!  Or like it should be a sitcom?!!  Our friend, Roger, on the boat Shorthanded started the loop with a wife and cat on board.  Once it was clear that the cat was going to be permanently seasick the wife threw in the towel, and wife and cat went home.  Now he is, well …. literally Shorthanded.  We do meet some interesting people along the way!

We had a spirited debate about which anchorage to choose: narrow sheltered river or off the channel of the main river.  The latter is what we chose, and it was a good decision.  There were only 7 other boats, and with our nose pointing up-bound the current kept us firmly anchored, and from swinging.  Plus we had this awesome bridge view - which was super at night.  It rained almost all day, and all of the night.  Rick had anticipated this, and we factored debris washing down the river in our choice of anchorage.  Remember tomorrow that I said so...

Good night!