Mile 233.7 - LBD Monte Sano Bayou

233.7 LBD Monte Sano Bayou

Incorrectly listed as “Bayou Baton Rouge” on USACE river charts, Monte Sano Bayou enters the Mississippi between the Formosa Plastics Corp., Baton Rouge North Wharf and Formosa Plastics Corp., Baton Rouge Plant Wharf (the first two docks you encounter after the US 190 bridge LBD). Native American mounds on the banks of Monte Sano Bayou were dated to more than 6000 years old making them the oldest earthen structures in the Southeastern United States. The mounds were destroyed and the area paved over during an expansion of Formosa Plastics. (Michael & Paul Orr)

Monte Sano Bayou is noteworthy in that it is the last tributary flowing into the Mississippi River. Downstream from here, the only surface water to enter the river must be pumped over the levee. (The name of this stream has no connection with the Monsanto Corporation, which has a chemical plant on the river in Luling, LA, about a week’s paddle downstream.) (Mike Beck)

Directly downstream from Monte Sano Bayou sits Formosa Plastics, followed by the Exxon-Mobil petrochemical complex, once the world’s largest oil refinery (it still ranks). Here, at the Exxon docks, you will see the first deep-draft vessels of your journey. People argue over how large a ship must measure to be considered a “supertanker.” Suffice it to say that here may be seen ships longer than eight hundred feet. The Corps maintains a minimum 45-foot channel depth from here to the Gulf of Mexico. Directly across from Exxon, on the West bank, you can see the Placid Oil refinery docks. Refineries on both sides of you. Welcome to the Chemical Corridor (see entry below on “Cancer Alley”). (Mike Beck)