Tombigbee River
The Tombigbee River is an approximately 650 km long tributary of the Mobile River in the US states of Mississippi and Alabama .
With the Alabama River , it forms the short Mobile River before it empties into Mobile Bay in the Gulf of Mexico . The river's drainage basin encompasses much of the rural coastal plain of western Alabama and northeast Mississippi. The river generally flows south and is one of the main routes for freight in the southern states. The river is navigable along its entire length through locks, and the upper reaches are connected to the Tennessee River by the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway .
description
The origin of the river is in the northeast of the state of Mississippi in Itawamba County . Historically, however, the origin was in the north of Monroe County at the point where Town Creek (which was then also known as the West Fork Tombigbee River) and East Fork Tombigbee River flow together. This is now run as part of the Tombigbee River.
The river flows south, flows through Aberdeen Lake near Aberdeen and receives the Buttahatchee River north of Columbus , before flowing through Columbus Lake at Columbus and through Aliceville Lake on the state border with Alabama . In Alabama, the river meanders strongly in a south-southeast direction through the west of the state. After the confluence of the Sipsey River , about 15 km north of Gainesville , it passes the city where the Noxubee River joins from the west and leads to Demopolis , where the Black Warrior River flows into it from the northeast . It passes the Choctaw National Wildlife Refuge , about 30 km northwest of Jackson . It flows past the city and finally unites on the border between Mobile County and Baldwin County , about 50 km north of Mobile from the north with the Alabama River to the Mobile River.
After the completion of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway in 1985, a large part of the water on the middle reaches was diverted into the straightened canal. Above Aberdeen Lake, the waterway runs along the original course of the river.
history
The upper reaches of the river lies in the area where the Chickasaw and Tohome made their home before they were expelled from the region in 1838 . Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville followed his course in 1736 during the Chickasaw campaign he led .
In March 1955, a flood caused the collapse of a bridge that spans Mississippi Highway 25 / US Highway 45 over the river.
On April 28, 1979, there was an incident in which the tug Cahaba was pushed against a drawbridge that had not opened near Demopolis, Alabama when the water level was high . The strong current was enough to capsize the tug and push it under the bridge. The incident went off lightly because the ship straightened itself on the other side with only slight damage.
Dams and locks
The navigation on the Tombigbee River is led through five lock systems. These are from north to south:
- John C. Stennis Lock & Dam at Mile 334.7
- Tom Bevill Lock & Dam at 306.8 mile
- Howell Heflin Lock & Dam at mile 266.1
- Demopolis Lock & Dam at river mile 213.2
- Coffeeville Lock & Dam on mile 116.6.
The counting of river miles begins at the confluence of the Mobile River and Mobile Bay .
supporting documents
- "Cahaba Towboat Incident" ( Memento from October 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Big Brown Creek ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ^ Tombigbee River ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved March 12, 2015.
- ↑ a b National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA): Mobile River Basin Study ( English ) United States Geological Survey . Retrieved May 6, 2012: "the Tombigbee River Basin (20,200 mi²) annually contributes 30,200 ft³ / s"
- ^ US Army Corps of Engineers Mobile District