Thursday
Miles Traveled 37.8
Total Miles Traveled 774
Day 43
Today we started our adventure south on the Tenn-Tom waterway. The Tenn-Tom waterway connects the Tennessee River at Pickwick Lake with the Tombigbee River at Demopolis, AL. This 253 mile canal was originally proposed back in the late 1700’s by the French as a way of connecting these two navigable rivers, no effort was ever made to complete the waterway until much later. The waters connecting Demopolis, AL to Mobile are called the Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway.
Over the years numerous proposals were made to the US
Government and finally in December 1972 work began on the canal. From 1972 to 1985 work progressed on the
Tenn-Tom Waterway and after spending nearly 2 billion dollars, the waterway was
dedicated on Jun 1, 1985. This mammoth
undertaking moved more earth than was moved in the construction of the Panama
Canal, and is relatively unknown throughout the US to the general public.
The waterway shortened the trip for vessels to various ports
by as much as 720 miles. Vessels going
from Pensacola, FL to Chattanooga, TN would travel only 771 miles via the
Tenn-Tom Waterway instead of 1541 miles via the Mississippi River. In addition vessels could avoid the swift
currents of the Mississippi River when north bound.
The first section of the waterway we encountered was the
Divide Cut, at this point the water is at 414 feet above sea level. The Tenn-Tom Waterway was cut through the
backbone of the land here to a depth of as much as 175 feet for a distance of
nearly 25 miles. The Tenn-Tom Waterway
has a total of 10 Locks, the first lock will drop us 84 feet, and the remainder
will drop us about 30 feet each.
Entering the Tenn-Tom from Yellow creek. The green buoy on the right tells us that we
need to turn left to stay on the waterway.
Entering the Divide Cut Section of the Waterway.
We spotted this bashful coyote, every time I snapped a
picture he had his head down.
The waterway is narrow but wide enough to pass the tows,
this tow was pushing fuel barges, the captain of the tow radioed “Firebird” and
ask him if he had a Pontiac emblem on his boat.
Baffles are placed where the discharge waters of creeks
enter the waterway to prevent debris and erosion.
“Moni Jean” and “Firebird” anchored in Cotton Springs, AL.
1 comment:
The tree line is gorgeous with the changing leaves.
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