Today we enter the Tennessee-Tombigbee (Tenn-Tom) Waterway, which starts at the Mississippi-Tennessee boarder to the north, runs through northeast Mississippi, and extends to Demopolis in west-central Alabama. The Tenn-Tom cuts 665 miles from the Mississippi River route between Knoxville and Mobile, and is 144 miles less for us from Chicago to Mobile.
Thousands of acres of water and natural woodlands entice boaters, fishermen, campers, hunters and hikers to the Tenn-Tom shores. The lakes are stocked with Florida black and hybrid bass, as well as native crappie, white perch, catfish, bream and other game fish.
The concept for this waterway originated as early as 1770, but because of estimated costs, the project wasn’t authorized until 1971, two hundred years later! After 12 years under construction and costing nearly $2 billion, the waterway was opened for commerce in January 1985. The system is five times longer and has 3.5 times greater lift than the Panama Canal, making it the largest civil works project ever undertaken by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Here is a local class field trip, directly experiencing history along the lock’s walls.
Boats can safely move through this protected 234 mile-long waterway, with its 10 locks down for southbound vessels. Here is the boat “Grateful”, locking through the Whitten Lock with us.
The lock has now descended its 84 feet, with the contrast evident for “Grateful.”
This is the largest drop of any lock in this waterway. Another advantage of the Tenn-Tom is that it is a “slack-water” system, lacking the fierce current of the Mississippi River, and the locking down is smooth and easy.
Today we enter the Tennessee-Tombigbee (Tenn-Tom) Waterway, which starts at the Mississippi-Tennessee boarder to the north, runs through northeast Mississippi, and extends to Demopolis in west-central Alabama. The Tenn-Tom cuts 665 miles from the Mississippi River route between Knoxville and Mobile, and is 144 miles less for us from Chicago to Mobile.
Thousands of acres of water and natural woodlands entice boaters, fishermen, campers, hunters and hikers to the Tenn-Tom shores. The lakes are stocked with Florida black and hybrid bass, as well as native crappie, white perch, catfish, bream and other game fish.
The concept for this waterway originated as early as 1770, but because of estimated costs, the project wasn’t authorized until 1971, two hundred years later! After 12 years under construction and costing nearly $2 billion, the waterway was opened for commerce in January 1985. The system is five times longer and has 3.5 times greater lift than the Panama Canal, making it the largest civil works project ever undertaken by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Here is a local class field trip, directly experiencing history along the lock’s walls.
Boats can safely move through this protected 234 mile-long waterway, with its 10 locks down for southbound vessels. Here is the boat “Grateful”, locking through the Whitten Lock with us.
The lock has now descended its 84 feet, with the contrast evident for “Grateful.”
This is the largest drop of any lock in this waterway. Another advantage of the Tenn-Tom is that it is a “slack-water” system, lacking the fierce current of the Mississippi River, and the locking down is smooth and easy.
No comments:
Post a Comment