Mile 246.5 - 246.5 - 246 LBD Profit Island Chute (Exit)

246.5 - 246 LBD Profit Island Chute (Exit)

As you exit the Profit Island Chute (if this is the route you have taken) be sure to “look both ways” before re-entering the main channel of the big river. Wait until the coast is clear and then paddle hard for the center of the channel for the best flow. The water along the base of the island, and left bank descending downstream, tends to be sluggish.

The Monmouth Disaster

In October 1837 three hundred Native Americans died when an upstream steamboat named the Monmouth slammed into a downstreamer by the name of Warren (which was towing the Trenton), sending all 700+ passengers and crew on board into the cold water. The crash occurred below the bottom end of Profit Island. The people were being moved to Arkansas on the Trail of Tears. Besides being overloaded, and running into stormy weather, it has been documented that some of the crew might have been inebriated. A large hold of whiskey was being transported by the Monmouth. And so ends another sad chapter in the long winding tragedy of the Trail of Tears.