Mile 304.0 RBD — Main Channel of Shreve’s Bar

John Ruskey

26 Apr 2026

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Shreve’s Island, the main channel is constricted, often crowded with towboats, and doesn’t seem to flow any faster. If you do take the main channel, watch carefully for tows unexpectedly appearing out of the Lock Channel. Downstream pilots get very cranky, also, when they are negotiating the very tight turn into the Lock, by having to swing their tail end 270 degrees out and into the main channel. Lastly the main channel has to jig-jog through a weird broken bankside, where the current seems to stop in giant fields of huge blooming boils and confusing eddies. This contrary situation is probably maintained for towboat entrance into the Old River Lock and Dam.

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