Vicksburg Post_Profile 2016

the≈ river THE VICKSBURG POST • PROFILE 2016

the≈ river THE VICKSBURG POST • PROFILE 2016

The River is the 2016 Profile edition of The Vicksburg Post, produced by Vicksburg Newsmedia, LLC. This section is produced annually, focusing on the Vicksburg and Warren County community. We hope you enjoy this trip down the Mississippi.

PUBLISHER Tim Reeves BUSINESS OFFICE Linda Martin, Manager Shandale Goodman Alyssa Totoro CIRCULATION Stacy Hartley Patricia Russell

EDITORIAL Jan Griffey, Editor Ernest Bowker Terri Cowart Frazier Alana Norris Justin Sellers John Surratt Alexander Swatson Austin Vining ADVERTISING Angela Ross, Advertising Director Sheila Mantz CREATIVE SERVICES David Girard Melissa Scallions These stories also appear online at www. vicksburgpost.com. Log on and share.

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STORY BY ALANA NORRIS • PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS

SIMPLY AN

ANGEL

M

any hear the call of the running waters of the mighty Mississippi. Those who answer the call by traveling down the muddy waters on watercraft sometimes search for a little guidance and a helping hand.

A network of paddlers called River Angels live in various locations along the banks of the river and watch over the travelers on their journey. These men and women help provide food, shelter and advice to aid explorers on their 2,552-mile voyage.

While not all paddlers actually travel from source to sea and only partake in abbreviated journeys, all paddlers can use the assistance the River Angels provide. This group of people knows the lay of the land and the sway of the river as if it were their own childhood home.

Each angel can provide detailed descriptions of what is to come down river and will supply travelers with information on possible camping sites or places to avoid.

Often times River Angels will alert other angels in the next town over when paddlers are headed their way, and they tell the paddlers who to look for at the next stop.

The pastime of river guidance has been around as long as people have taken their vessels to the water, but these days it looks a little bit different. The River Angels communicate heavily through social media, connecting with travelers through the Mississippi River Paddlers’ Facebook page.

~ For those recreational travelers taking on the Mississippi River, there is one Vicksburg group whose mission it is to help in any way they can

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 7

“

I love meeting these people. They all have stories, and they’re all over the country and the world. I’ve developed friendships with them, and we still talk. It’s great meeting like-minded people. — Layne Logue

In Vicksburg, three men head up most of the efforts. Layne Logue is at the forefront of the River Angel scene, while Tim McCarley and Matt Hendrix help when they can.

Logue, Vicksburg guide for the Quapaw Canoe Co., joined the guiding effort three years ago. His love of being on the river and his knowledge from being a native to Vicksburg made him able to help people. Not everyone makes a pit stop in Vicksburg and sometimes he just offers people information over the phone.

“I just wanted to treat others as I hoped to be treated,” Logue said. “So I started meeting with them and letting people know I was here and available.”

Along the river there are numerous members of the network with about 20 people posting regularly online. Rivergator.org is another point of connection for paddlers providing free guides, logs and resources. It serves as a river angel in and of itself.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with alligators. It’s like a navigator,” Logue said.

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The network has connected people with each other, but it’s never really been recorded on paper.

Essentially, travelers report their location on Facebook and the angels choose if or when they can help.

There is no official record of names and locations of the angels. It’s hard to put a number on the amount of people in the network.

“The river is generous,” Logue said. “There’s all kind of helpful people out there.”

The local angels are all paddlers themselves and enjoy hiking, camping and being outdoors, which makes them able to understand what people will want or need during their journey.

“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to start helping out,” Hendrix said.

Last year was the first year Hendrix started volunteering his time as a River Angel. His job makes it tougher for him to find time to host travelers, but occasionally he is able to offer help.

Sometimes they offer a place to stay in their own homes or offices, and Hendrix said his wife has cooked meals for travelers. Everyone stays for a

different length of time with some visiting for a few hours and others staying days.

Since there is no supply shop or grocery store downtown, they’ll drive the visitors to a store to get the supplies they need to continue their journey like water, food, sunscreen or any other need that arises on the river.

“I started helping people by just pick them up and taking them to the grocery store,” Hendrix said.

McCarley said they’re not asking for anything but a ride to the store.

“When you’ve been out paddling for a while or hiking, whatever it may be, you want a good hot meal, you know, run them into town and get them something to eat,” Hendrix said.

Because they are so active outdoors, the angels understand what the people want and need when they come into town, which inspired them to help out.

“I’ve paddled about 2,000 miles in three years on the Mississippi River,” Logue said, which makes him understand the challenges paddlers face.

“I give them a little confidence because I’ve done it and I know they can.”

Hendrix has had paddlers stay at his house and office, including a man who decided to paddle the river after his high school graduation, mainly to try to meet the Robertsons of the television show “Duck Dynasty.”

Layne Logue Hendrix drove him to Monroe, La. to visit the family’s church, and he ended up with an invitation to lunch with Phil Robertson.

“Different paddlers want different things, but most everybody wants a bed to sleep in and a good warm meal,” Hendrix said.

Many paddlers start their journey in late May when ice up north starts to break up. Logue said most people take 60 to 90 days to complete the 2,552 miles. Around 100 people will make a journey on the river this year, Logue said.

“By the time you reach Vicksburg, you’re pretty tough if you’ve made it this far because the majority of the trip is out of the way,” McCarley said.

Some people wait to start their journey in September as to avoid the southern summer. Logue said it’s more dangerous for paddlers in the winter. Because of the cold temperatures in the north regions of the river, it’s not common to have paddlers going the full length of the river anytime other than summer.

McCarley has helped about two dozen people in the past year. Some of the people who make their way down the river are notable for their work like the man who designed the original mouse for the Apple computer, Jim Yurchenco. McCarley took him not only to get supplies but also to the Vicksburg National Military Park.

“It just seems to be a different kind of people. You never run into a PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 9

problem with anybody,” McCarley said.

Logue also has taken visitors to the Vicksburg National Military Park and the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi River Museum, plus sometimes they eat at 10 South.

“I try to give them a taste of Vicksburg through the history and everything else we have here to offer,” Logue said.

Vicksburg is what it is because of the river.

“It’s a big part of a lot of people’s life here.

It’s a part of what I do for a living,” McCarley, who works at DIMCO, said.

Hendrix has learned from the paddlers that following your dreams is important for everyone.

“Most of these people that do this are doing what they love and doing it while they can do it,” Hendrix said. “It feels good to me to help out. It’s not just being a River Angel but being an ambassador of the city too.”

Many of the travelers are working on breaking world records for time, age or method of paddling.

“The most incredible one is Dale Sanders,” McCarley said.

The gray-bearded adventurer Dale Sanders, the oldest man at 80 to paddle the entire river from source to sea, is another paddler McCarley has housed. Sanders himself is a River Angel in Memphis who often cooks for his visitors and has them

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all sign a wall in his house. Hendrix said Sanders is one of the most well-known angels and he said Logue is becoming recognized himself.

McCarley first got involved with the angels several years ago when Dave Cornthwaite of England set the record for standup paddle boarding the entire Mississippi. He also helped Rod Wellington, the first person to paddle from the source of the

Missouri River to the Gulf. McCarley had a funny experience accommodating Wellington’s vegan diet because he wasn’t completely sure where he could buy tofu.

“I’ve met some great people,” McCarley said. “You’re not going to meet anybody bad doing this stuff. They show up beat and they’re always very polite for what they get. I’ve never had anybody ask me for money…I’ve had them try to buy my whole family’s meals when we eat out.”

People come from around the world to paddle the mighty Mississippi.

“I love meeting these people. They all have stories, and they’re all over the country and the world,” Logue said, listing people from France, England, Israel and Canada that he has met. “I’ve developed friendships with them, and we still talk.

It’s great meeting like-minded people.”

As for what brought them to Vicksburg, Logue thinks he knows the answer.

“Mark Twain, his name went everywhere, and I think people see the Mississippi River as an adventure,” Logue said. “I think that’s why they draw here.”

They all enjoy the friendships they’ve cultivated because of the river.

“It’s been fun. I’ve had a good time doing it,” McCarley said.

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 11

~ STORY BY ALEXANDER SWATSON • PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS

WHAT LIES

BENEATH

F

lowing from Lake Itasca in Minnesota through the Midwest and ending its destination at the Gulf of Mexico, one of North America’s most beautiful and powerful resources — the Mississippi River — runs right beside our beloved city.

Numerous events from Fourth of July fireworks, the BluzCruz Canoe and Kayak race, and endurance races like Over the River Run and Bricks and Spokes are held throughout the year just to highlight the aesthetics of the river.

Those events only touch the surface of nature’s masterpiece and a whole new world lies underwater.

As you travel farther south down the river from its origin, the structure changes, impacting the species living in the area.

The upper part of the river is impounded by a series of pools and dams, beginning at St. Louis, while the lower part is freer flowing.

About 100 different species of marine life are found only in the lower region of the Mississippi River.

If the upper portion and the tributaries flowing into the river were included it would be about 250 species, said Dr. Jack Killgore, a research fishery biologist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center.

Killgore compared the number of species found in the Mississippi to the 500 different types found in the Amazon, which he said is the largest and most diverse system in the world.

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The Mississippi River is more than just a river, more than just a way to move goods from one port to another.

The river is a living, breathing thing.

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Dr. Jan Hoover

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“You have different species that inhabit different parts of the river,” said Dr. Jan Hoover, a zoologist studying fish in the coastal and hydraulic laboratory at ERDC. It’s also the epicenter of archaic fish diversity.

“To me, the most interesting part about (the river) is that it harbors interesting populations of archaic fish. I don’t know about any other place in the world where you have these prehistoric-type fish, who in most cases are thriving,” Hoover said.

The paddlefish is one of the primitive species living in the river. The freshwater eel, which spawns in the Sargossa Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, makes its way up the Gulf of Mexico into the Mississippi River. However, only the female eels swim upstream.

Movements and reproduction of fish are tied into the rise of the river and three factors can affect reproduction.

Other than the actual rise of the Mississippi, changes in daylight and water temperature influence how and where a fish can spawn.

“Change in daylight, which tells them the days are getting warmer and longer,” Hoover said. “Fish don’t spawn in the

same temperature, and as water warms, certain fish tend to move to where their young can roam. Some fish spawn as the river is rising, other fish spawn when the water is already high and others spawn when the water is going down.”

One of the most fascinating species of the lower Mississippi is the pallid sturgeon, which became federally endangered in 1990.

The Endangered Species Act of 1972 required any federal agency to comply with certain standards to ensure the survival of those species.

“A lot of species like pallid sturgeon were listed before a lot of information was known about their life history, ecology or abundance.

Once we started looking for the species and actually targeting them in our collections we found out there were many more sturgeon in the river, they were healthy and selfsustaining.”

Sturgeons naturally live at the bottom of the Mississippi River. They have long fins and when encountered with high flows of water, they use their fins to submerge themselves beneath the currents.

Pallid sturgeon found in the lower part of the river look different than those found in the Missouri River.

Hoover said some suggest that the lower Mississippi River Dr. Jack Killgore pallid sturgeons have crossed populated with shovelnose sturgeon, which is contentious.

Habitat destruction, the reduced input in the river, and the change in sediments have been linked to the endangerment of pallid sturgeon.

“Toxins have been implicated, and inter-gender sturgeon have been reported, which is never a good sign for a species,” Hoover said.

Aside from environmental aspects damaging their habitats, sturgeons have been captured and harvested for caviar.

“Caviar is in great demand still, and there’s only a few species that produce the black eggs,” Killgore said. “When the Endangered Species Act kicked in and we started paying attention to these sturgeon, we could start rehabilitating and restoring aquatic habitats to try and PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 15

“

You have different species that inhabit different parts of the river. To me, the most interesting part about (the river) is that it harbors interesting populations of archaic fish. I don’t know about any other place in the world where you have these prehistoric-type fish, who in most cases are thriving. — Dr. Jan Hoover

increase their numbers even further.”

Currently, work is being done to stop an invasive group of fish from entering the Great Lakes in the upper part of the country. Asian carp – mostly the silver and big head, but also grass and black

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carp – are the principle invasive fish. They were brought over from Asia to eat algae and phytoplankton.

Scientists thought the carp would solve problems associated with algae, but they escaped into

the Mississippi River and began reproducing exponentially.

“They went from a few hundred, to 10,000 to 100,000 to now there’s millions of them in the Mississippi,” Killgore said.

Barriers are being built across the only permanent canal connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi to prevent their unwelcomed presence.

Scientists fear the presence of Asian carp in the Great Lakes to be catastrophic.

“We’re doing electrical testing on these fish.

If those barriers go down then they’re into Lake Michigan, and once you’re into Lake Michigan, you got access to all the Great Lakes,” Kilgore said.

Killgore and Hoover experiment with the smaller carp because it’s a more efficient form of testing. It takes more electricity to stop a smaller carp, and if results show they can stop a small one, then they can also stop larger carps as well.

Although there was a problem with legacy pesticides in the Mississippi River, with all the movement of water and sediments the river has encountered, it has become a clean environment.

“There are no fish advisories in the Mississippi River proper. The fish that you catch there are clean of pesticides and heavy metals,” Killgore said. “In the tributaries now there are problems with legacy pesticides and when you get into the fields it’s still a problem.”

~ THE LOOKING

GLASS V

icksburg native J. Mack Moore spent half a century capturing the images of the paddlewheelers that traveled the Mississippi River in addition to life in the River City.

By using homemade negatives and paper, he preserved an era of when the economy relied on the river and commerce thrived in Vicksburg.

“He was a lad at the hem of his mother’s hoop skirt when the STORY BY TERRI COWART FRAZIER Natchez raced the Lee in 1870. Too PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS young to join the crowd at the wharf for that historic contest, he spent the next 50 years making up for his loss. From the hills of Vicksburg, he photographed the passing procession of the river packets. In addition, he bought river negatives from older photographers and compiled a mental library of river lore which has become accepted authority on the topic of the paddlewheelers,” Charlie Faulk wrote in a story for The Sunday-Post Herald in the early 1950s.

Faulk’s story was later reprinted in “Vicksburg Under Glass,” which included 18 • THE VICKSBURG POST

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Geneva Pickett, the daughter of renowned photographer J. Mack Moore, and her husband, Pat, go through some of the photos of Vicskburg by her late Father.

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a compilation of early photographs from Moore’s collection.

Faulk had been a reporter and city editor at the newspaper for 55 years and was a good friend of Moore’s, Faulk’s daughter Geneva Pickett said.

“My father was just a young man and Mack Moore was an old man, and they had a friendship and bond of photography and the news around town,” Geneva said.

In Faulk’s description of Moore, one may conclude the photographer was an eccentric character, not only in actions, but also in appearance.

“Thin and straight, with white hair parted amidships, he bears a genuine resemblance to Mark Twain, the river’s Samuel L. Clemens, who created the legend of Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. An oversized white moustache furthers the Mark Twain tradition and also filters the venom of a tongue which rarely follows a middle-of-the-mouth policy on a controversial topic,” Faulk wrote.

In furthering Faulk’s description of his mentor he wrote, “Moore is vocal, even explosive in his expressions. He is likewise a one-man reference manual on the people and the events of his time, and it is just as well that his business dealings are He was a lad at the hem of his largely with the travelers mother’s hoop skirt when the who come and go and Natchez raced the Lee in 1870. collectors who transact Too young to join the crowd at their affairs by mail.” the wharf for that historic contest, Faulk also described Moore as a visionary, he spent the next 50 years makwriting that before the ing up for his loss. From the hills age of picture windows, of Vicksburg, he photographed he had created his own the passing procession of the architectural version by river packets. In addition, he using the discarded glass bought river negatives from older plate negatives that were photographers and compiled a used in creating photomental library of river lore which graphic images. has become accepted authority Photography had been a labor-intensive process on the topic of the paddlewheelduring Moore’s day, and ers. in place of film. He used glass plates coated in a — Charlie Faulk, writing for the silver emulsion to capVicksburg Evening Post, describing ture the image, Pickett’s photographer J. Mack Moore husband, Bob, who is also a local photographer, explained.

The glass plates could be likened to our modern-day negatives.

“Silver was the compound that was used because when light would hit the silver compound it would form the image,” Bob said.

In addition to making the glass plates, Moore’s printing paper was also homemade.

“Loading his negative and paper in worn frames under the red light of his darkroom, he (Moore) takes them then and one by one, thrusts them through a sliding window into the sunlight,” Faulk wrote.

“It (“Vicksburg Under Glass”) said it sometimes took several days to get his exposure,” Geneva Pickett said, adding that Moore was a perfectionist.

“

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 21

Glass plates have a durability that can endure time and Moore’s photographs can still be reproduced today.

“I have printed an awful lot of the negatives.

They were some beautiful negatives. Some of them were difficult to print, but his work was really remarkable,” Bob said.

Today Moore’s glass plate negatives are housed in the Old Court House Museum’s Eva W. Davis Memorial.

However, before the Old Court House acquired the glass negatives, they were first offered to Faulk after Moore’s death, in 1954.

“Mrs. Moore offered the negatives to Daddy because of their close friendship, but he (Faulk) realized the significance of the negatives and thought the Old Court House needed them to preserve them. This was probably one of their first major acquisitions,” Geneva said.

“Moore was a documentary photographer,” Bob said, and in addition to taking his own photographs, he would also take pictures of others’ photographs for historical value.

“He was there to preserve these images before they were lost,” Bob said.

“J. Mack Moore was also a historian,” said Geneva, because he would also take pictures of what would have been random images and homes to help preserve the past.

Many of Moore’s images of the packets (river-

22 • THE VICKSBURG POST

boats) were of them being loaded or unloaded with cotton. One of his images that was reproduced and included in “Vicksburg Under Glass” shows the Kate Robbins as it was leaving the Vicksburg wharf so loaded down with bales of cotton that the deck of the boat was barely above the water line.

“The packets still blow for J. Mack Moore.

Rebellious and in his eighties, the dean of cameramen in Vicksburg, Mississippi, has run a long

course, but as yet the surge of progress has not altered his way of life,” wrote Faulk. “Neither has it overrun a business built on pictures taken half a century ago. He is the last line of defense for photographic methods, which passed with the Pony Express. He defies traditions of food business and normal procedure, yet his prints of the oldtime packet boats are sought after by collectors, historian and rivermen the world over.”

STORY BY AUSTIN VINING • PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS

WHAT’S IN A

NAME?

I

t was Shakespeare’s Juliet who once said that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Several local business owners would likely disagree with that sentiment as they take pride in having a business named after a local geographical treasure, the Mississippi River.

The overall impact of the Mississippi River on Vicksburg might never be figured, but for some businesses the river is too imporant to pass up.

~ KJ’S RIVER TOWN GRILLE KJ’s River Town Grille owner David Belden said part of the reason for including river in the name of his restaurant was symbolic.

“The river is strong and powerful, and it’s Vicksburg,” he said. “We’re on the river and as we were getting ready to open, there were so many tourists coming through to see the river.”

Vicksburg has become synonymous with the river it lies on, Belden added.

“When you explain where Vicksburg is, you say it’s on the Mississippi River,” he said. “It’s part of this town.”

Belden said including river in the name has helped increase traffic as well.

“When you’re a tourist looking on TripAdvisor or Yelp!, you have to be drawn to something that’s different and something that’s local,” he said. “I definitely think it’s something that draws people to the restaurant.”

Before opening up shop in downtown Vicksburg, Belden said he didn’t truly understand the

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~ PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 25

“

We chose river because it’s something that gives life in the Bible. The river is sustaining and the river is powerful, and we wanted the experience here to be powerful all the way around for families. — Bridgett Hunt, River Pointe Dance

impact the river has on the city.

“I never realized how many people come through Vicksburg until we were working on the remodel and so many people were coming off of the river,” he said. “I didn’t realize how important the river is.”

The restaurant passed its one-year anniversary in October, and Belden noticed similarities in the restaurant and the river.

“Like the river, it’s always changing and developing, and you never know which way it’s going to carry you,” he said. “One thing I’ve learned in the restaurant business is that you have to listen to your customers and steer the boat that way.”

Belden said he wants his place to be somewhere families can come and spend time together. In fact, family is what led to the other part of the restaurant’s name.

“KJ is my nephew who passed away, Kayden James Belden,” he said. “This place was named in honor of him. When the family was down and we started working on this, it kind of preoccupied us, but he was always on our mind, so it just made sense to name the restaurant after him.”

RIVER OUTFITTERS “We always knew we were going to put river in the name,” John Duett said. “We just thought it would be neat because of our location here in Vicksburg.”

When Duett opened River Outfitters in 2005, it was because 26 • THE VICKSBURG POST

of a need he saw in the community.

“My wife was looking for my daughter who was about 9 or 10 at the time a North Face jacket; that was popular at the time,” he said. “I also had these high school and college kids looking for similar brands.”

Duett said once he realized people were traveling to Jackson to buy what they couldn’t find in Vicksburg, he decided to do something about it, and thus, River Outfitters was born 10 years ago.

“It’s been fun,” he said. “I’ve had the ride of my life.”

RIVER CITY CIGARS AND BREW River City Cigars and Brew co-owners Mark Smith and Johnny Reynolds started smoking cigars 15 years ago after Smith signed a contract with the NFL and was sent home with two of his first cigars. The two eventually decided to open up their own shop after driving to Jackson for years.

“We wanted to bring cigars to Vicksburg,” Smith said. “We wanted to bring a smoking atmosphere to Vicksburg because other cities all have it.”

Reynolds said the name for the smoke shop came easily.

“We thought, we’re on the river, why not call it River City Cigars and Brew?” he said. “We knew we were going to sell cigars and brew.”

Smith said it was important to them to incorporate the river

into multiple aspects of the business.

“When you see the logo, you see the Mississippi River and the bridge,” he said. “It’s a part of everything.”

RIVER 101 River 101 morning show host Evelyn Johnson said Bob Holladay bought Big Red 101.1 around 1998, and it moved up the dial to 101.3 and got a new name.

“He had a station in Meridian that was a country station, but he wanted to name this one River 101 because it fit with the location of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River,” she said. “When you think of Vicksburg, one of the main things you think about is the Mississippi River. It’s right here, and what more appropriate name could there be that would be short, catchy and easy to remember to equate something with your hometown.”

The name also ended up being representative of the coverage the station proLike the river, it’s always changing vides. and developing, and you never “The coverage area can go know which way it’s going to carry as far as you really want it you. One thing I’ve learned in the to go up into the Delta,” she restaurant business is that you have said. “I rode up to Rolling to listen to your customers and Fork a couple of weeks ago and there was a strong signal steer the boat that way. — David there.”

Belden, KJ’s River Town Grille The signal carries top-40 country music west to Delhi, La., east to Jackson and south down into Port Gibson.

Johnson said years ago she heard Vicksburg referred to as the Red Carpet City, but now she more often hears it called the River City.

“All of these businesses are branded to Vicksburg and Warren County,” she said. “I think the common denominator of businesses with river in the name is that we all want to be part of the community.”

“

RIVER POINTE DANCE River Pointe Dance owner Bridgett Hunt said her dance studio opened five years ago, and the name was something they spent considerable time debating.

“The name was super important to us,” she said. “We spent a lot of time deciding the name and why we wanted river to signify and stand for what we do. I have a very specific purpose for what I do.”

Hunt said for her, it’s not just about dance.

“We chose river because it’s something that gives life in the Bible,” she said. “The river is sustaining and the river is powerful, and we wanted the experience here to be powerful all the way around for families.”

Hunt said in addition to dance, there is a lot of mentoring that goes on at River Pointe.

“We spend a lot of time, a lot of late nights with girls who are struggling with whatever,” she said. “The name was important to us not only to tie it to our hometown, but for what we felt led to do, we felt like river was a good fit.”

Hunt pointed to the swoosh in the logo as a continuation of the theme the name brings with it.

“There’s a reason for everything,” she said. “That’s our river. We try to bring it all togther with meaning and symbol.”

Hunt said typically dance studios will be named after the teacher but she wasn’t interested.

“I never wanted it to be about me, so I just felt my purpose would be better served by tying it to something we wanted to do here.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 27

~ 28 • THE VICKSBURG POST

STORY BY ERNEST BOWKER • PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS

MAKE A

RUN FOR IT A

~ hundred feet above the churning, muddy waters of the mighty Mississippi River, and about a hundred yards from its banks, more than 300 people stand ready like bulls about to burst from a chute.

A small, wiry man with white hair and a big voice — courtesy of his bullhorn — gives some last-minute instructions that include a warning to stay away from a swarm of bees a mile and a half ahead. A few seconds later he presses the button on an air horn and the horde is off, some running, some walking.

They’ve embarked on the 27th annual Over the River Run, a 5-mile race across the Old U.S. 80 Bridge that takes place on the second Saturday each October. It’ll take the fastest of them about 30 minutes to make it there and back, the slowest more than two hours. For all of them, it’s a chance to enjoy a rare journey over the fabled waterway and partake in an event that has become one of Vicksburg’s biggest community gatherings each year.

“Where else do you get to run over the river? You forget it’s here. Then you see it, and it’s

Some people look at the river and are in awe, others look at the river and say “let’s run over it.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 29

like, ‘God, this is awesome,’” said Kristi Hall, a Vicksburg resident who finished first in the Over the River Run’s women’s division five times. “I love the bridge and the party afterward. Everybody in Vicksburg goes to this and the Run Thru History, so you get to catch up with everybody.”

More than 800 people registered for the 2015 Over the River Run, which was started in 1983 as a companion race to the well-established Run Thru History. The latter is a 10-kilometer race that takes place in March in the Vicksburg National Military Park.

From 1983-88 the Red Carpet Run followed a similar, but shorter, 4 ½-mile path through the Park. It shifted venues to the Old U.S. 80 Bridge in 1989, changed its name to the Over the River Run and became a 5-mile run and race walk and 1-mile fun run.

Mack Varner, a longtime member of the Run Thru History organizing committee, credited his fellow committee member Bobby Abraham with the idea of changing the name and venue.

“It was the Old Mercy Hospital Run,” Varner said, referring to the race’s original sponsor. “We talked to folks from the Bridge Commission and suggested moving it over here, because we already had a run in the Park.”

Nearly 600 people participated in the first Over the River Run in 1989, and the number waxed and waned over the years. It hit a low point in 2008, when only about 400 people signed up, but has climbed nearly every year since. Participation peaked at 829 people in 2013, which marked the first time the Over the River Run had more runners and walkers than its cousin the Run Thru History.

In 2006, the race shifted its date from the heat of early September to the cooler second weekend of October, which helped increase turnout.

Varner said the race’s appeal to runners is its uniqueness and course layout.

“There’s nowhere else you can run across the Mississippi River,” he said. “It’s just unique and beautiful, and flat as opposed to the Vicksburg Military Park. It’s a good length, and we get a good crowd.”

Varner’s first statement was a bit off. Several river towns between Louisiana and Minnesota — including Greenville in north Mississippi — have runs that cross the river. Few make it such a dominant feature, however.

During the event, if they take the time, runners can look to their right and see barges and towboats pass underneath. Later in the race, trains often rumble alongside runners as they make their way back from Louisiana.

The trains’ crews will sometimes step out of the locomotive to watch and wave at the passersby.

There’s a sizable gap between the roadbed where the runners are competing and the railroad bridge adjacent to it, but from a distance it looks close enough for runners and engineers to high-five each other as they head in opposite directions.

30 • THE VICKSBURG POST

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 31

“I don’t know if you feel the bridge moving, but the sound rumbles through your body and you feel it moving,” said Harrisville resident Barbara Duplichain, who has won the 5-mile race walk portion of the Over the River Run a dozen times.

That sort of experience is one runners and walkers from all over Mississippi and the United States — they came from as far away as North Carolina

32 • THE VICKSBURG POST

for last year’s Over the River Run — come to Vicksburg for. It’s also one the locals lap up when given the chance.

Longtime residents fondly recall the days of driving across the tight, two-lane U.S. 80 Bridge, but it hasn’t been open to vehicular traffic or to the public on a daily basis since September 1998.

The Over the River Run is one of a handful of

special events each year when it opens to pedestrian traffic, and only then for a short time. That makes it a special treat not to be missed.

“It’s not something you get to do. You’ve got to do this,” Vicksburg resident Brandie McMullin said after the 2015 race. “I was sick this week and had to get shots to run. I wasn’t missing this. If they open this up, I’m going to come and run. This is it.”

Like McMullin, Hall said the Over the River Run was one she never misses.

“I just like it, and it’s what I do,” Hall said. “I run three races a year — the Run Thru History, the Watermelon Classic (a 5K in Jackson on July 4) and this — whether I’m pregnant or limping. I don’t know what else to do those weekends.”

The after party helps, too. Ameristar Casino sponsors the race and hosts a celebration in its parking lot afterward with live music, children’s entertainment and adult beverages.

It’s as big a draw as the picturesque setting.

“All the Vicksburg races have free beer and good organization,” said Collin Johnson, a Clinton resident who finished second in the 2015 race.

Hall, though, said the ultimate appeal of the race comes back to one thing.

“It’s just the river,” she said. “Getting to be that close to the Mississippi River is incredible. The whole town shows up for a great party and it’s just fun.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 33

~ Photo by Brian Hamilton

34 • THE VICKSBURG POST

~ STORY BY AUSTIN VINING

OFF THE

PATH T

he floodwall in Vicksburg serves a dual purpose: On the west side, its rough concrete walls protect the city from the uncertainty of the Mississippi River, but on the east side, the wall is home to more than 30 murals chronicling the city’s crucial past, present and future roles in American history, commerce, culture, religion and technology.

One scene in particular depicts Jefferson Davis and his wife Varina pruning roses on the lawn at Brierfield one February day in 1861, when a messenger arrived to inform Davis that he had been elected as the first president of the Confederate States of America.

“They actually rode through the backyard of my camp to tell him he had been elected president of the Confederacy,” said Buddy Ball, of Alexandria, La., who has made a hobby of learning everything there is to know about the land. “I think I’ve got everything that anybody’s got all in one place.”

Hunters and owners are just fine knowing the river and development has passed Davis Island by

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 35

Photo courtesy of Buddy Ball

Ball said the land, now known as Davis Island, was once a peninsula of Mississippi, then called Davis Bend. Two years after the Civil War, in 1867, the Mississippi River took a shortcut, severing the peninsula and turning it into Davis Island.

Brierfield, the Davis’ home, was located on Davis Bend, an 11,000-acre peninsula of rich bottomlands, bounded on three sides by the Mississippi River, said Brian Hamilton, a Ph.D. candidate in the history department of the University of Wisconsin studying 19th century U.S. political and cultural history.

Hamilton explained Davis Bend was where the Davis family made its fortunes, along with others who lived and farmed there: Davis’ brother Joseph Davis, Joseph Emory and Mississippi Governor John A. Quitman.

COTTON IS KING It was actually Davis’ brother Joseph who began developing land on the bend, and gave some to his much younger brother Jefferson.

“Joseph already had a successful law practice in Natchez, and as many wealthy, upwardly mobile Americans would

36 • THE VICKSBURG POST

have done at the time, he looked for a way to turn their income into expanded profit, and he turned to land,” Hamilton said. “Recent historian of the lower Mississippi Walter Johnson, a scholar at Harvard, has called this place home to the biggest economic boom the world has ever seen.”

That boom, of course, came in the form of cotton.

“He had no training as a planter or no experience in cotton, but it seems that wasn’t necessarily a prerequisite to getting into this game back then,” Hamilton said.

Davis’ slave plantation was a bit unusual in that he bought into some more abstract ideas at the time that included less discipline and more cooperation.

“Enslaved people when they were seen to violate the rules, they were then brought before a jury of other enslaved people,” Hamilton said. “He was also said to have provided more food and rations than enslaved people usually got. In most cases, enslaved people were given just enough food to survive.”

Hamilton said he’s been told by some today that Joseph Davis’ plantation, Hurricane, was like a paradise for those slaves, which he added wasn’t true.

“It’s important not to say Davis was a more benevolent

Photos courtesy of Buddy Ball person or that he was anti-slavery or anything like that, but he was just interested in other ways to motivate people,” he said. “You can motivate people by the lash, or you can motivate people by feeding them more and giving them the sense that they have more of a stake in the operation.”

In general, very wealthy planters like Davis across the south were a very eclectic lot, Hamilton said.

“They’re not mad scientists, but they’re constantly experimenting with different ways to grow crops and different ways to manage people,” he said. “I don’t think Davis is as unusual as we think he is. He, like others, was interested in making as much profit as he could off of the land.”

Near the beginning of the Civil War, Joseph Davis fled, just as many other planters did when the Army came close.

Hamilton said Davis Bend was quickly seized by the Navy, which the United States used to its advantage whenever possible.

After the war, one of Davis’ famed slaves, Benjamin Montgomery, continued running the cotton production.

Hamilton added it was extremely rare for a slave to be in charge of operations, and legend of Montgomery’s accomplishments seemed to circulate around the South.

“He writes to Joseph Davis who is in exile, and gets Davis to write to then-president Andrew Johnson to return the land to Davis, and it works,” Hamilton said. “You have the brother of the leader of this rebellion against the United States given his land back by the president of the United States. It was a very politically savvy move by Montgomery because by this time Davis turns around and offers the land on a long-term mortgage to Montgomery.”

By the 1870s, it was the third-largest cotton plantation in Mississippi, and their cotton was winning awards all over the country.

Montgomery continued to manage the plantation into the late ’70s when Jefferson Davis began suing to get the plantation back. There is dispute over that claim, about whether or not Joseph Davis had given him the land as a gift, but eventually Jefferson Davis prevailed at the same time the cotton market was bottoming out nationally, and the land was also becoming especially flood prone, largely due to the shift of the Mississippi River and its consequences.

Hamilton said he’s heard claims the river’s change in path was in part due to Ulysses S. Grant.

“Grant built a cutoff because they didn’t want to have to keep going around the bend, so they built a very small canal to Vicksburg, and very soon after the war, the river then decided to choose that canal,” he said. “Grant started something and the river finished it. I certainly know Grant dug a canal, to the degree that that canal was part of the change in the river bed, I don’t know.”

Ball said he’s never heard that claim, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t true. Steamboat companies had also considered, against Joseph Davis’ wishes, to make a shortcut through Davis Bend, which would have saved 19 miles on the trip down the Mississippi River.

“All they were doing was trying to accelerate what was already going to be a natural occurrence,” he said. “It’s a shorter route and every time it would overflow, the channel would get a little deeper. It was going to happen. It wasn’t if it was going to happen, it was when.”

AN ISLAND DIVIDED Though Davis Island lies on the western side of the Mississippi River, most of it belongs to Mississippi, which presents some unique challenges, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

“It’s on the Louisiana side of the river, but it’s Warren County, Mississippi,” Pace said.

“There’s some farming operation, and there’s some big hunting clubs.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 37

With the land belonging to Warren County, the island falls under Pace’s jurisdiction.

“Warren County Sheriff’s Office has worked any number of cases, including two death investigations, on Davis Island in the 20 years I’ve been in office,” he said. “Both of which were ruled accidental deaths.”

Pace said his department accesses Davis Island either by taking a patrol boat from LeTourneau across the Mississippi River into the old river cut behind Davis Island to Davis Island Landing or by crossing the bridge into Louisiana and driving south either on the levee or U.S. 65 to reach a private ferry that takes passengers to Davis Island.

“The majority of Davis Island is actually in Warren County because the original river bed runs on the west side of Davis Island, and that was the state line when the constitution was drawn,” he said. “When the river changed course, it left this huge piece of real estate on what is now the west side of the Mississippi River.”

Ball said a small portion of the southeast of the island belongs to Madison Parish.

“Davis Island is part of Davis Bend but through accretions and movements of the river, Madison Parish has now become a part and is now contiguous to the old Davis Bend, and it is now referred to as Davis Island,” he said.

When the river was there, the property lines were designated by the thalweg, or the deepest part of the river, but the only remnants of the old riverbed visible today are two lakes, John Thomas Lake and the Blue Hole.

Once the river abandoned it, there was no distinguishable line, Ball said.

“In 1918, the Madison Parish owners of the island and the Warren County owners of the island said look, ‘We need to decide where our property line is,’” he said.

The property owners mutually hired a surveyor and determined they would agree that wherever he drew the line, they would agree upon it.

“He went to the high bank on the east side and the west side,” Ball said. “He followed the meandering of the river, and that’s how he determined where the property line was. The owners signed off on it.”

Take a look at a U.S. geological map today, and it will show that line, but it will also show there is an indefinite boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi because the boundary was agreed upon by the property owners, but the state of Louisiana and Mississippi have never had a reason to establish a state line, Ball said.

“They didn’t at that time and probably never will,” he said. “The only way that they would ever have to determine exactly where the line is, is if there is some oil and gas discoveries and the states got to arguing over who got the taxes.”

SACRIFICING THE ISLAND TO THE RIVER Hamilton said when the Army Corps built the levees, they had a discussion about whether or not to try to save the property and they decided it was not worth it.

“It was just a couple of families and there was still some cotton production, but it was nothing substantial, so they built the levees around it which makes it even more prone to flooding,” he said.

The Davis heirs felt the impact of the mighty Mississippi River even before the island’s fate was sealed. In 1922, a flood left Brierfield six 38 • THE VICKSBURG POST

feet deep in water.

Jefferson Davis’ descendants raised the mansion up on brick columns, which saved it from the infamous 1927 flood, but not a chance fire in 1931.

The Davis family hung on to the land as a shrine to their forbearers until 1953 when the property was finally sold for use much more compatible with flooding: timber and more notably, hunting.

Today, several exclusive hunting clubs exist on the island — Brierfield, owned by the Dale family; Titanic, owned by the Coca-Cola Biedenharns of Monroe, La.; Rosedale, owned by the Parker group; Palmyra Hunting Club, owned by 20 owners located in various Louisiana cities; and Davis Island Hunting Club, known as Kelloggs, who bought their holdings from Anderson-Tully Lumber Co. of Vicksburg after leasing it from them for 50 years, Ball said.

“Anderson-Tully Lumber Co. owned some 300,000 acres of Mississippi River hardwood bottomland,” he said. “They had their own forester/wildlife biologist and provided guidance and regulations to their clubs concerning hunting activities on their land. They pioneered conservation before Mississippi and Louisiana got as heavily involved as they are today. They are to be commended for their foresight.”

An excerpt of W.F. Bond’s “I Had a Friend,” obtained by Ball, includes the details of the founding of Palmyra Island Hunting and Fishing club 100 years ago in 1916, as told by founding member W.F. Bond, Mississippi State Superintendent of Education.

Bond, along with 79 others, mostly from Jackson, founded the club to hunt wild geese, as they were not able to secure invitations from the prominent goose hunting clubs in Jackson at the time.

“There were more geese, more ducks, more deer, more squirrels, more raccoons, more doves, more quail, more woodcock, more rabbits, more alligators, and more fish on this island than I have ever seen or known of at any other place,” Bond wrote in his 1916 book. “The lakes in the woods, the blue holes, the sloughs, and old bayous were full of fish.”

Bond wrote that the men never hunted on Sunday and always gave thanks when they sat down for a meal. No drinking or bad language was allowed around the clubhouse or on the hunt.

“Sam Robinson, a one-eyed Negro man, and his wife, Florida, did the cooking and waiting on the club members in general,” he wrote.

Ball, a member of Palmyra Hunting Club since 1971, said Davis Island is part of an ecosystem of the Mississippi River bottomlands that extends from above Memphis, Tenn., all the way down to Baton Rouge, La. “What we have is a true treasure, a wildlife treasure,” he said. “We’ve got cypress trees on Davis Island that were here when Columbus discovered America. It’s not only the historic things, but it’s also the wildlife and the timber. It’s almost like stepping back in time.”

A HUNTER’S PARADISE, IF YOU KNOW THE RIGHT PEOPLE Davis Island has been on a wildlife management program with Mississippi State University since 1997. Since then, the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has also become a partner.

“In fact, Davis Island is probably the longest ongoing wildlife whitetail deer study in the United States. It continues today,” Ball said.

Photo by Brian Hamilton

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 39

Photo courtesy of Buddy Ball

“When we first started getting on the wildlife program, the biologists told us we needed to hammer down the deer population by 100 to 125 doe.”

Ball said he’d been a hunter his whole life, mostly in areas where deer were a lot more scarce, and hearing that went against everything he previously knew.

“They finally convinced us we needed to do it, and after we hammered them down for about three years and got the herd down to a more manageable carrying capacity for our lands, the weights on the does jumped 20 pounds, and the weights on the bucks jumped 30 because they were now getting enough nutrients,” he said. “They evaluate our herd every year and give us recommendations on what to take off. Everybody on the island is under the program. It’s not just us. That’s the great thing about it. We are all on the program. It’s really paid off.”

Wyatt Adams of Bossier City, La., bought into the Palmyra Hunting Club in 2003.

“Over the last 12 years, I think I’ve personally killed 15-plus deer that scored over 150 inches. I don’t know of another place in the southeast U.S. that you can do that, and I’ve hunted a lot of good places,” he said. “From a consistency standpoint, they’re more consistent with really great deer than any other place.”

The island is home to deer, ducks, turkey, squirrels, frogs, doves, bears, fish, alligators and eagles.

Ball said Davis Island is home to one of the 30-something eagle nests in Mississippi, which has successfully hatched 10 of the last 11 years.

In August 2015, a Mississippi record-breaking alligator measuring 14.25 feet and weighing 826 pounds was harvested at Davis Island.

40 • THE VICKSBURG POST

Adams said he’s primarily interested in hunting deer, but there is prime duck hunting and fishing on the island as well.

The island has a reputation for being exclusive, and a search of the hunting clubs turns up no websites, phone numbers or addresses.

“When I was wanting to try to buy in, there was no listing,” Adams said. “It’s always been done by word of mouth, who’s friends and through people already on the island. That’s probably where the exclusiveness comes in. It’s like if you’re an outsider, and you’re not inside with the group, you don’t have a chance to buy into the group because you can’t even get to the right person or the information.”

The exclusiveness may also have something to do with the price tag.

“The share I just sold, I sold it for $800,000, but the next one may sell for $700,000 or it may sell for $1 million,” he said.

“There’s a couple of shares for sale that I think they’ve been asking $950,000 for them.”

Adams currently has another share with a campsite available for $1.35 million. He said he’s the first person he knows of to publicly list a share for sale.

Kellogg shares run about $300,000; Brierfield shares anywhere from $650,000 to $700,000, Adams said. Hurricane, owned by the Biedenharn family, who first bottled Coca Cola, doesn’t sell shares, and Rosedale sells leases, not shares.

Adams said the majority of the members in Palmyra are doctors, attorneys and business professionals from Monroe, La., and Alexandria, La. “The Palmyra share entitles you to one membership in the hunting and fishing club, but they still have to vote you in,” he

said. “You’ll do a sale on the share, but it’s contingent on you getting voted into the hunting and fishing club. You don’t close the sale until you’ve been voted in.”

Adams said he doesn’t know of anyone who has ever not been voted in, except for in a case where a rule was made that no more than two shares can belong to any immediate family. Additional shares mean more rights to the property.

“If you want to bring more people to hunt, you’ve got to have two shares to do that,” he said.

“You can bring five total guests, and of those guests, only two can be hunting guests and three have to be house guests.”

Other rules include only taking one deer that’s nine point or better and two eight points per membership per year and aging the deer to let them get four or five years old at minimum.

For Adams, the price tag was worth it, considering what he was getting for his money.

“When you buy in, each share in Palmyra is allocated 335 acres of undivided ownership,” he said.

“When I bought in, I couldn’t afford to buy 3,000 acres, but I was able to spend the money like I was buying 300 acres, but have access to 7,000 acres.

It was a great deal for me. You own the land, the timber, the minerals and all of that with that share.

If you sold it for $800,000, that’s about $2,500 an acre.”

In the next five years, $2-3 million in timber will

likely be harvested from the land, Adams said.

“When you sell timber, the money goes into the land company account, and you vote on what to do with the money,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll fix roads, sometimes they’ll put it back into the property, and sometimes they’ll pay out a small dividend, but it’s never been more than three or four thousand dollars.”

To promote unity on the island, Ball started an island-wide barbecue in 1992.

“I invited all the clubs to come and we had a big barbecue and all of the committees of the various hunting clubs met and since then it’s rotated around,” he said.

The clubs rotate hosting the annual event each year, and Ball said it’s turned out to be extremely successful.

“Everybody tries to outdo the other. They always have some kind of show, an air show or a historical presentation,” he said. “You meet and you talk and if you’ve got a common problem — someone poached or someone crossed a line — you don’t get all upset about it, you sit down and talk about it. It has really developed into a great event, and the camaraderie is worth talking about and worth perpetuating.”

DAVIS ISLAND HISTORY ISN’T FORGOTTEN Though hunting prevails as the island’s main

attraction, Adams said the history has not been forgotten.

“There’s still home sites all over the island, and slave levees that they used to protect the farmers’ fields,” he said. “It’s pretty neat from a history standpoint.”

Adams said the value now lies in the recreation.

“I bought in for the recreation standpoint,” he said. “People pay to get in and spend that kind of money because of quality of wildlife on the island.

It’s not really the history. As great as the history is, that’s not what has driven the price up on the property and the shares like it is today.”

Hamilton said it’s unusual that Davis Island isn’t commemorated in some way.

“That’s strange to some people given its great importance to the South and the United States as a whole,” he said. “What I heard often was that the South lost the war, but there’s plenty of commemorating of the Confederacy that happens.”

Hamilton suggests the land’s proximity to the Mississippi River, the very reason the Davis family settled there, is one of the main reasons the island isn’t the tourist destination many other Confederate landmarks have become.

“It’s a history of private land owning that really prevails here,” he said. “It’s the hunting that hid the history more than anything. That’s not a bad thing, I think that’s just a better explanation than the South lost the war.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 41

~ STORY BY ERNEST BOWKER •PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS

WITH ALL DUE

RESPECT

42 • THE VICKSBURG POST

B

~ ill Curtis stood on the bluff at Navy Circle, the hot October sun beating down on his weathered 94-yearold face.

The eyes that had witnessed the D-Day invasion at Normandy 71 years prior looked toward the Mississippi River. The lips that had performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and brought a soldier back to life all those decades ago remained stoic as the flag he fought for and served under was raised high once again.

This time, it was in his honor.

As the giant 20- by 30-foot flag was trucked out to the middle of the U.S. 80 Bridge and shepherded up its superstructure, Curtis became part of a Vicksburg tradition. Every few months a new flag, paid for by families or friends of veterans, servicemen or anyone who wants to, is purchased by the Army Navy Club of Vicksburg and raised skyward.

“It just seemed appropriate. We had talked about it at a family gathering and it seemed like a good thing to do,” said Curtis’ daughter Beth Maggio. “It is a great tradition, and a great honor to be able to put a flag up there.

Especially for somebody like dad.”

The idea of raising a flag above the bridge was hatched by Vicksburg resident Blanche Millsaps. Inspired by a similar setup she’d seen on a bridge in Washington state, she approached the Mississippi River Commission

American Flag program ensures new flag adorns the old U.S. 80 Bridge every three months.

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 43

“

Most of the Vicksburg people that make a comment about it say they know they’re home when they see it.

It’s important to me, because I think it’s important that people know the sacrifice veterans and non-veterans have made for the United States. It’s a flying icon to God Bless America. — Lewis Decell, Army Navy Club

44 • THE VICKSBURG POST

about doing the same thing on the Old Mississippi River Bridge.

A 40-foot tall flagpole was erected as close to the Mississippi-Louisiana line as possible, and the first American flag went up over the river on April 13, 1994. Shortly before Millsaps died in June 2010, Army Navy Club member Lewis Decell approached her about taking over the project.

His organization has handled it ever since.

“We didn’t have any civic-oriented project. I suggested they let me talk to Blanche about taking over the project. She said it was an answer to her prayers. She was sick at the time and wasn’t sure if it would continue,” Decell said.

A total of 53 flags have been donated since 1994 — 31 by Millsaps and 22 through the Army Navy Club. They wear out and are replaced every three months. A new flag costs around $600 and is paid for by donations, but Decell said anyone who wants to sponsor one is welcome to give what they can.

“If somebody wants to support the flag project, they don’t have to buy a flag. We’ll take $10 or whatever donations we can get,” Decell said.

More than money, donors need patience.

Decell said he has nearly 20 donors committed to purchasing a flag, enough to create a waiting list that stretches to July 2019. Curtis’ family waited about two years for their flag to fly — and that was after getting bumped up the list.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney had been slotted to have his flag raised in October 2015, but gave up his spot so the elderly Curtis would be assured of seeing his fly high.

Maggio said she was happy to wait, considering it meant so many people were dedicated to the project.

“Isn’t that awesome?” Maggio said.

Decell said the flags are typically donated by families wanting to honor a veteran or someone in the family currently serving in the armed forces. Some, like Laura Callaway, try to honor the entire family.

“We’re a long line of military personnel,” she said. “We go all the way back to the Civil War, Vietnam, the Bay of Pigs, Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom. We’ve had family in all of those conflicts. It’s our duty to be an American, and we’re part of it.”

Not all of the flags have honored servicemen or women, however. Tina Foley, whose donated flag flew several years ago, wanted to honor her son Robert Foley III. He died in 2009 at the age of 33 and often waved or flew a flag at Warren Central sporting events when he was in high school.

Foley said she wanted to honor her son’s memory, as well as that of soldiers who didn’t make it back home.

“I just did it for all of the wars that’s been. He was going out to Warren Central and everybody

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 45

was riding around supporting the troops. He really touched a lot of people’s lives,” Foley said. “I look at it as the next family member. It’s touching to see it fly. It’s also sad because some people didn’t come back.”

Vicksburg resident Stan Collins donated his to honor his wife Melissa “Liesa” Hearn, who died of a heart attack in December 2012.

Hearn was on the Miss Mississippi production staff and was wellknown in Vicksburg, and Collins said the flag seemed like a fitting tribute.

“After I did all my boo-hooing, somebody told me about that flag.

I came down there and paid $500 and we had our little ceremony,” Collins said. “I want to do one for my dad, too. I think it’s a really good program. It honors a lot of special people in this community.”

Seeing the American flag stokes a lot of emotions. For Foley and Callaway, it was the memories of loved ones. For Curtis, it was of a time long ago when, serving on a Coast Guard rescue boat off the Normandy coast, he pulled a drowning soldier out of the water and revived him by giving him mouth-to-mouth.

For all of them, seeing this particular flag invokes another emotion — a sense of home.

The flag on the Old Mississippi River Bridge has become a Vicksburg icon in the 21 years it’s flown and a symbol to its residents that they’ve made it back safely from wherever their journeys have taken them.

“Most of the Vicksburg people that make a comment about it say they know they’re home when they see it,” Decell said. “It’s important to me, because I think it’s important that people know the sacrifice veterans and non-veterans have made for the United States. It’s a flying icon to God Bless America.”

46 • THE VICKSBURG POST

~ STORY BY ALANA NORRIS • PHOTOS BY DAVID RORICK

SOMETHING ABOUT

THAT RIVER 48 • THE VICKSBURG POST

~ PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 49

Calvin Lacey, bass

S

omething about the flow of the river brings an inspiration to the people who live near it.

Whether it’s the green of the plants or the heat of a southern summer, the winding path of the muddy waters that cuts its way around Vicksburg ignites those who witness its beauty and its sorrow.

Some of those people are so overcome by the emotion that all they can do is let it out by expressing their feelings through song.

“There are so many songs written about going down to the river,” said Shirley Waring, executive director of the Vicksburg Blues Society.

Vicksburg is renowned for its blues scene.

The peaceful nature of the flow of the river could nurture the creativity in musicians and be part of the inspiration they feel when they are in Vicksburg, Waring said. She notes the river starts small up north but once it gets down to the Delta it really becomes something to behold.

“It’s such a majestic sight, looking at the river,” Waring said. “If you happen to have a view like we have, you can’t help but be inspired.”

The river means everything to the city with its use for travel through the riverboats, for industry through barge companies and for recreation.

“People realize how important the river is so they’re going to sing about the river because it’s the backbone of so much of our economy,” Waring said.

She calls Catfish Row mystical because of its legend of once being like the “red-light district,” and also its history of being a place people would go to fish amongst the row houses located there.

50 • THE VICKSBURG POST

Rosman Daniels, keyboards

Waring said not only does the river influence music, but also all other forms of expression like art and food. The act of creating something almost rises out of the soil, homegrown in nature. She said it’s all about storytelling.

Vicksburg embraces the blues by having restaurants and businesses interested in booking regular live blues performances and serve food that is indicative of southern soul food, she said.

“We’re trying to preserve the blues as well as perpetuate our legacy of Willie Dickson,” Waring said, referring to the famous blues musician from Vicksburg.

Waring said the blues originated in the fields with the workers singing as they cultivated the crops. It’s called “holler,” she said, consisting of a rhyth-

King Edwards, vocals & guitar Rick Lewis, drums

Dennis Fountain, vocals

mic scream and shout in the fields of the Delta where the overflow of the river nurtured the soil. The simple beauty of the water was enough to inspire the creation of music.

“The way the river flows and the way that it enriches the soil, that originated the blues,” Waring said.

She is particularly proud of Vicksburg’s presence in the International Blues Challenge held in Memphis each year. The first year Vicksburg sent a musician to the competition they placed into the finals, and the next two years Vicksburg’s representative won first place: Mr. Sipp in 2014 and Eddie Cotton in 2015, giving the city international attention.

“We’re able to draw musicians that want to be part of the caliber of entertainment that we are developing, the caliber of the entertainment we are able to present and actually we’re noted for world-class entertainment now,” Waring said.

Musicians from all over Mississippi come to Vicksburg to play for the chance to represent the city at the IBC contest. The Vicksburg representative needs only to have a connection to Mississippi to represent the city.

“If you have any significant tie to Mississippi, either through family or any other way, we would qualify that so you could participate in our challenge,” Waring said.

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 51

Blues inspired mural at LD’s in Vicksburg.

52 • THE VICKSBURG POST

Past winners say the contest has marketed them and given them media attention they would have had trouble gaining otherwise. The notoriety has not only boosted the musicians’ careers, but it has also brought interest to the area with people looking to see what is happening in the local music scene.

“I want people from around the world to know the authenticity and the experience that they can have right here,” Waring said.

She said real blues music is very elusive and very rare, and they are committed to presenting Mississippi blues. She calls blues fans serious music people who really listen to the lyrics, the music structure and know when it’s authentic.

“Mr. Sipp and Eddie Cotton are absolutely the epitome of young blues men that are carrying forward this big tradition and this big style of music that is really embraced and loved by the world,” Waring said.

Musicians founded the Vicksburg Blues Society around 2002, and Waring took over as president of the organization in 2006. Because of her business background, Warring said she understands the impact of blues music on the economy and economic development.

“One of our main goals is to do things that improve Vicksburg as a destination,” Warring said. “We embrace the idea that an important part of Vicksburg’s identity is the blues.”

While Waring leads the organization, she has a board that helps plan activiThere are so many ties and reaches out for sponsorships to songs written about goplace ads that let people know about the ing down to the river ... entertainment offered in Vicksburg.

It’s such a majestic sight, “It’s based on tourism,” Waring said. looking at the river. If you One way blues is being supported in Vicksburg is through the Mississippi happen to have a view Blues Trail, an opportunity created by like we have, you can’t the Mississippi Development Authority. help but be inspired Markers designate famous locations of ... The way the river blues history across the state on the trail, flows and the way that five of which are located in Vicksburg. it enriches the soil, that Part of her job with the society is originated the blues. — to encourage venues and businesses Shirley Waring, executive to book blues acts. To advocate for the blues scene in Vicksburg, Waring director of the Vicksburg contacts businesses around town to set Blues Society up events that present art, live music or food and coordinate them to attract tourists.

“Getting other businesses interested in presenting live blues, reaching out to them, encouraging them when they book live entertainment to work with us on that because it’s a great demand generator,” Waring said. “And they do respond and say they want to be a part of that.”

For more than four years Ameristar Casino has sponsored the Heritage Music Series called The Best in Blues on Saturday nights. She said KJ’s River Town Grille has shown interest in featuring more blues acts, and Monsour’s at the Biscuit Company already features blues pretty regularly.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr., along with the city of Vicksburg and Vicksburg Main Street, are working to bring the blues to downtown through the Downtown at Dusk concert series, which is once a month at the River Stage Plaza on Washington Street.

“And that’s only going to improve,” Waring said.

This spring Waring is working along with the Vicksburg Cruisers to create a new event with the car club called Blues Cruise, which is separate from the April canoeing and kayak race of the same name that has also talked to Waring about working with her this year.

“

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 53

~ STORY BY ERNEST BOWKER • PHOTOS BY MARTY KITTRELL

MISSISSIPPI RIVER

MYSTERIES

F

rom the chilly lakes of Minnesota to the steaming bayous of Louisiana, the Mississippi River flows through America like a life-giving artery.

Since before the United States was even founded more than 200 years ago, the river has been a vital highway, linchpin to its survival and a gateway to the treasures that lay within the continent.

Millions of people have traversed the waterway at one time or another. The early Spanish and French explorers created a line that runs directly through Mark Twain and today’s riverboat pilots.

All of them discovering, all of them building and expanding on the legends and myths that make The Mighty Muddy more than just another river.

Some legends are true. Some are false. Some fall somewhere in between. Here’s a look at a few of the common myths about the Mississippi River near Vicksburg, and where they fall on the scale.

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~ PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 55

MYTH: THE RIVER AND SURROUNDING HILLS PROTECT VICKSBURG FROM TORNADOES AND THUNDERSTORMS

Is it true: No. Of course it rains and storms, and occasionally there’s a tornado in Vicksburg. A strong one in 1953 killed more than 50 people when it tore through the downtown area.

For some reason, however, the worst storms seem to bypass the city. Sometimes they even appear to weaken and re-form as they pass over. The phenomenon has 56 • THE VICKSBURG POST

often been attributed to the large hills around the city and the Mississippi River, which interrupt the storm’s circulation and weaken it.

David Hartman, a meteorologist at Jackson television station WAPT since 1986, said it’s hogwash. The milewide river is just not large enough to affect storms on a large scale.

“I heard that when I got here 30 years ago,” he said.

“Hills and a large river will not affect weather patterns.”

What happens instead, Hartman said, is that storm energy typically tracks north and east as it moves in

from Texas and the plains. That track takes it away from Vicksburg and toward the Delta.

There are certain areas, he said, that tend to generate more tornadoes than normal, although the reasons for that are uncertain. The natural 30- to 60-minute life span of a thunderstorm is usually responsible for the phenomenon of storms “splitting” as they pass, he said.

The rest is largely anecdotal, he said.

“Wives’ tales evolve from observations,” Hartman said. “People observe over time these things, and that’s where myths and wives’ tales come from.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 57

MYTH: THE SANDBARS THAT DOT THE RIVER AT LOW STAGES ARE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS

Is it true:Yes. For decades, local residents have ventured onto the sandbars that are revealed when the water recedes in summer and fall to fish and camp. Depending on where they set up, it can be a recipe for disaster.

The sandbars are created where river currents deposit sediment. While most of the bar will be thick and stable, the sands are still shifting along the edges. The closer a person gets to the water, the greater the chance the ground will literally disappear beneath their feet and suck them into the current.

“I’ve seen them cave off and seen how people can get in trouble,” said Bob Crosby, who owns and operates Blue Cat Guide Service, which leads fishing trips onto the river.

Warren County sheriff Martin Pace said the number of drownings from sandbar accidents locally has dropped in recent years, since the Mississippi River Bridge Commission and the town of Delta, La., restricted vehicle access to some of the most popular spots.

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Pace added it is not illegal for people to venture out onto the sandbars, so long as they are not trespassing on private property or other restricted areas. He did recommend, however, that those who do go onto the bars exercise extreme caution.

“It’s an approach with caution situation,” Pace said. “Some sandbars are relatively stable and some are not. Know you surroundings. Don’t let children play near the edge, because if a breakaway should occur you’re maybe in 10 feet of water or 100 feet of water.”

Having sandbars collapse underfoot is not the only risk they present. For boaters, a bar that is

just below the surface can cause them to run aground and cause serious injury.

Jimmy Cassell, a 63-year-old Port Gibson resident who lives along the Mississippi and fishes on it often, said the low-lying sandbars are true hazards.

“We camp on them all the time. That’s fine, as long as you get one that’s got enough height.You can’t go on one that’s too low or the water will come up on you,” Cassell said. “If you’re not on the river every day you don’t know where those are. The water gets up and over the sandbar and you’re running 40, 50 mph, you’re going to get grounded on the sandbar.”

MYTH: THERE ARE CAR-SIZED, MAN-EATING FISH IN THE RIVER

Is it true: No. While there are large catfish and alligator gar in the river, and large alligators near it, the wildlife between the banks of the Mississippi River is fairly benign.

Larry Pugh, the director of fisheries for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and a Vicksburg native, said he’s often heard stories of blue catfish that are “as big as a Volkswagen.”

The state record blue catfish is only 95 pounds, however, and the largest alligator gar on record is 327 pounds. Alligators, meanwhile, only rarely enter the main channel of the river when the water is low. Gators have a hard time breathing in rough water and prefer the smoother backwaters and oxbow lakes.

“The current state record blue cat came from the Mississippi River and it was 95 pounds. That’s still a big fish, but it’s not going to eat a person,” Pugh said.

MYTH: THERE ARE WHIRLPOOLS ON THE RIVER THAT CAN SUCK A BOAT TO THE BOTTOM

Is it true: Somewhat.

Large whirlpools do exist in the Mississippi River, caused by the strong current and underwater obstacles. While they’re clearly a danger to boaters, how strong they are seems to be up for debate.

“I honestly believe if you fell out of a boat with a life preserver on it’ll suck you under.You see people on jet skis out there, and I think they’re crazy,” Cassell said.

Crosby and Pugh said people in larger boats are typically fine around whirlpools, but those in canoes and smaller boats need to exercise extreme caution.

“You need to be careful,” Pugh said. “I’ve never seen a whirlpool that will suck a boat under. But you still have to use common sense.

I’ve never feared for my life, but you still have to respect it.”

One of the biggest dangers of the river’s whirlpools isn’t what’ll happen if you go into it, but what might be coming out.

Large debris such as logs are often pulled into the whirlpool’s current and dragged under the water. They can remain there as navigational hazards or, more alarmingly, escape the whirlpool and be ejected back into the river — sometimes violently. Cassell said it’s a phenomenon he’s seen several times, often when the river is at flood stage.

“When you’ve got a bunch of water coming down the Big Black (River) you’ll get logs floating down. When they hit those whirlpools, they’ll shoot several feet out of the water,” Cassell said. “If you’re in the wrong place at the right time, it’s bad news.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 59

~ STORY BY JOHN SURRATT • PHOTOS BY JUSTIN SELLERS

LESSONS FROM T

GREAT FLO 60 • THE VICKSBURG POST

~ Photos courtesy of the Old Courthouse Museum

THE

OOD

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 61

Dr. James Lewis

I

n his book “Rising Tide” about the 1927 Great Mississippi River Flood, author John M. Barry describes the Mississippi River in flood.

“There is no sight like the rising Mississippi. One cannot look at it without awe, or watch it rise and press against levees without fear. Unlike a human enemy, the river has no weakness, makes no mistakes, is perfect; unlike a human enemy, it will find and exploit any weakness.”

In 1927, the Mississippi River did more than leave people in awe. Its waters covered 16.8 million acres, killed hundreds of people, left another 700,000 people homeless, made acres of farmland infrastructure in 170 counties in seven states unusable, and destroyed thousands of businesses.

It also changed the way the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers looked at flood control and led to the birth of the Corps’ Waterways Experiment Station, now known as the Engineering Research and Development Center.

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The Corps’ publication “Protecting the Alluvial Empire: The Mississippi River and Tributaries Project,” which discusses the Corps program to improve flood control developed after the 1927 flood, called the flood “the most destructive flood in United States history.”

The Great Flood of 1927, as it’s called, affected 11 states along the Mississippi and its tributaries, causing 246 flood-related deaths. Water covered farmland and infrastructure in 170 counties in seven states and destroyed thousands of businesses, according to the Corps publication.

Property damage at the time was estimated at more than $400 million, the equivalent of more than $5 billion dollars today across all of the states. Economic losses were estimated at $1 billion 1927 dollars, which was equivalent to one-third the federal budget at the time, or more than $13.69 billion today.

A series of heavy rains that began in August 1926 and continued through April 1927 caused rivers and tributar-

ies of the Mississippi to flood.

In October 1926, in Vicksburg, the Mississippi’s level at Vicksburg exceeded 40 feet. On New Year’s Eve 1926 it reached flood stage at Cairo, Ill. On April 21, 1927, the Mounds Landing levee broke below the Mississippi’s junction with the Arkansas River approximately 12 miles north of Greenville, flooding Greenville. Within 10 days, 1 million acres of land across the Mississippi Delta Region were immersed under water at least 10 feet deep.

“Vicksburg itself wasn’t as affected as much as many areas because it sits high on a bluff,” said Charles Camillo, director of the Mississippi Valley Commission. “The impact was on the riverfront, but more than anything was the influx of refugees. They were left homeless after the flood of 1927, and a good many of them were housed in the tent camps here in Vicksburg.”

“The tent camps were all over the city,” local historian Gordon Cotton said.

“Many people here had relatives affected by the flood and took them in.”

The extensive damage from the flood resulted in the 1928 Flood Control Act, which is responsible for the changes and improvements in flood control that saved much of the same area in the 2011 spring flood and presently has totaled more than $14 billion.

It also led to the development of and establishment of the Waterways Experiment Station, which was built in 1931 and had a working model of the Mississippi to work different scenarios and tests.

“The goal was to be able to understand the river, and have the hydraulic experts where these questions could be answered and research could be performed to understand what direction we needed to go to manage the river,” said Dr. James Lewis, acting director of ERDC’s River Engineering Branch.

“Since then the Waterways Experiment Station has been involved with the Mississippi River management.”

At one time, scientists and engineers used prepared models to study the river. Now, Lewis said, computer models are used.

“With computer models we are able to simulate very long stretches of the river for very long periods time, trying to go 50 years in the future with some

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 63

projected conditions trying to take on some complicated scenarios.” he said.

Under the Flood Control Act, existing levees were repaired and other measures built, including a main levee system from Cape Girardeau, Mo., and south to Venice, La., a system of artificial cutoffs along the river to improved the flood-carrying capacity of the channel, and backwater areas located at the mouths of the St. Francis, White, Yazoo and Red rivers, which are designed to allow the river to expand during floods.

The Yazoo backwater area is the largest of the four backwater areas at 634,000 acres.

“The old system was simply trying to use the levees to confine the river,” Camillo said. “And what came out of the 1928 Flood Control Act was a complete reversal that you could not try to confine floods with levees.

“The river just is going to find a way to reclaim its floodplain. What they did was accommodate the river’s tendency to flood in a controlled way. So they had these designated areas (where) they were going to allow the river to have access to its floodplain.

“So what you are going to do is protect all

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Great flood evacuees are sheltered in this tent city.

that property from most flooding, and then when you come up to these very significant floods that would blow out the levee system in the past, they’re going to draw the pressure off and let the river do what it wants to do and give these safety valves and allow that water to go into these predesignated safety areas.”

The levee system was going to be stronger and wider, Camillo said.

The flood control program is based on the construction of an engineering feature to convey a project design flood, which represents the worst probable scenario meteorologists and engineers can develop, involving rainy weather and maximum flooding on the Mississippi’s tributaries.

The project design flood, which was originated in 1928, was revised in 1941 and again in 1956.

“The design flood idea had been debated back into the 1880s,” Camillo said, adding before 1927, the levee systems were designed to handle the last great flood of record.

“It (the design project flood) came out just after the 1927 flood, which just overwhelmed that system,” he said. “In order to prevent that from happening again, they wanted to come up with what they considered to be the worst case, the worst possible case scenario there was, and it just emanated from how badly that (1927) flood overwhelmed the system.”

The proof of how well the research and work on flood control structures since the1927 flood worked was the lack of damage caused by the 2011 spring Mississippi River flood, Camillo said. The Mississippi River at Vicksburg crested on May 19, 2011, at 57.1; 14.1 feet above flood stage and nine-tenths of a foot above the Great Flood of 1927.

“MR&T (Mississippi River and Tributaries Project) worked. That 2011 flood was bigger than the 1927 flood in terms of volume in many locations on the river, and you didn’t see that same devastation,” Camillo said. “All the work, all the taxpayer money that went into that — it proved to be a wise investment. It validated that investment.”

PROFILE 2016:THE RIVER • 65

DID YOU

KNOW? 4 Natchez was settled by the French in 1716 and is the oldest European settlement on the Mississippi River. Natchez once had 500 millionaires, more than any other city except New York City.

4 The Mississippi River is the largest in the United States and is the nation’s chief waterway. Its nickname is Old Man River.

wide. The Mississippi River at is widest point is more than seven miles wide. It is said to be more than a miles wide at Natchez, Miss.

least 360 species of fish, 25 percent of all fish species in North America; 326 species of birds, 145 species of amphibians and 50 species of mammals.

4 At its headwaters, the average surface speed of the water in the Mississippi River is near 1.2 miles per hour. At New Orleans, the river flows at about 3 miles per hour on average.

4 The deepest place on the Mississippi River is 200-feet deep and is located near Algiers Point in New Orleans.

4 The name Mississippi comes from the Anishinaabe people who called the river 4 At Lake Itasca, the average flow rate is 6 cubic feet per second. At New ‘Misi-ziibi’ which means “great river.”

Orleans, the average flow rate is 600,000 4 The source of the Mississippi River is cubic feet per second.

Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota.

4 At Lake Itasca, it would take 10 minutes for one semi-trailer of water to 4 The Mississippi River is 2,350 miles long, according to the Mississippi National flow out of the lake into the Mississippi.

At New Orleans, the equivalent of 166 River and Recreation Area. semi-trailers of water flows past Algiers Point each second.

4 The narrowest stretch of the Mississippi River is at its source, Lake Itasca in 4 The Mississippi River is home to at Minnesota, where it is less than 30 feet

4 The Mississippi River lies in the following 10 states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

4 The first bridge built across the Mississippi River was in 1855, which spanned the river in Minneapolis, Minn., located near where the current Hennepin Avenue bridge is today.

Sources: Science Kids website, sciencekids. co.nz; the National Park Service, nps.gov/ miss/riverfacts.htm; Great River Road, experiencemississippiriver.com.

Photo by Marty Kittrell

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