Power Plant

The Graveyard

We encountered another flooded riverside park on the north end of Thebes, Illinois.

A sign at the park explained that the stretch of river passing by here was once known as "The Graveyard" due to the large number of steamboats that sank in this congested stretch of river with frequently changing depth. In was reported in 1867 that there were 133 sunken boats sitting on the bottom of the Mississippi between Cairo and Saint Louis.

On the day we visited it wasn't boats that ran aground. It was the river itself that had run aground -- consuming this park and other parts of the small river town of Thebes.

Cairo

Prior to passing through Cairo, Illinois, I had heard that it was one of the most depressing cities in the United States.

Cairo, pronounced CARE-OH,  is situated at the southernmost point in Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Cairo has experienced prosperity, sometimes-violent racial conflict, and eventual economic decline.

We passed through Cairo on our way up the Great River. We found a city much like many others on our journey. We found a city decades into an economic decline fueled by changes in manufacturing and transportation -- changes that started well over a century ago. 

Cairo I-57 Bridge

Reynolds Park

On the river-side of the flood walls in Caruthersville, Missouri, we found Reynolds Park and roads closed due to the Mississippi River encroaching on what is normally dry land.

The Far Side of The River

Ahead lies a bit of Tennessee that is on the Arkansas side of the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River serves as a border between most of the states it touches; however, the river has moved since the borders were officially surveyed and recorded.  This results in pockets of these river-border states being on the far side of the river -- cut off from the rest of the state.

Flooded roads kept us out of this particular pocket of Tennessee.

Levee Llama

Hernando de Soto Bridge

Lower Mississippi River Museum

The Lower Mississippi River Museum is a free museum operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It includes exhibits about the river and the Corps of Engineers' work to manage it.

People have been moving goods on the Mississippi River for centuries

Nature and flood control efforts have dramatically changed the shape of the great river

Over 2,200 miles of levees are the backbone of the Mississippi River flood control system