Mile 839.0 - Caruthersville Bridge
839 Caruthersville Bridge
The Caruthersville Bridge is the first span found on the Lower Mississippi downstream of the mouth of the Ohio at Cairo, Illinois. Completed in December of 1976 it is purported to be the longest river span at 7,089 feet, although from the distance its clunky lopsided trusswork makes it seem small and ungainly. Only until you float underneath its massive hulk do you appreciate its size. This bridge replaced the Powell Ferry which made national news in 1946 when eleven people perished as result of a collision with a towboat only a hundred yards from the Missouri shore.
Paddlers can use any of the spans for downstream passage under the Caruthersville Bridge, but remember that downstream tows will favor the faster moving waters under the farthest span LBD (which is also the widest span) while upstreamers might stay in slower waters further inside the bend and opt for the next one over (depending on river level). Paddlers should always defer right-of-way to tows in the vicinity of any bridge. Bridges are almost always located in a narrow fast water sections of the river, and timing is everything. When in doubt stop -- or take out! Find an eddy and take a break while that monstrous tow passes. Imagine the perspective from the pilothouse of the tow: If pressed between hitting a bridge and running over some ill-informed paddler... well you can guess which option the captain might take!
The painted numbers center pier indicate clearance under bridge, not river depth. At 60 feet cranes on barges need to lower their booms. At 50 feet the American Queen will need to lower her smokestacks. At 40 feet some towboats will be unable to pass under; small tows only. At 30 feet major flood -- small craft only -- the levees will be over-topped. At 20 feet catastrophic flood. The entire landscape from the Kentucky hills to the Arkansas Ozarks will be underwater.
CAUTION: Downstream tows will favor the faster moving waters under the farthest span LBD (which is also the widest span) while upstreamers might stay in slower waters further inside the bend and opt for the next one over (depending on river level). Paddlers should always defer right-of-way to tows in the vicinity of any bridge.
Bridges & Mud: How deep is the Mississippi Mud?
The Entire Lower Mississippi was once an inlet of the Gulf of Mexico. Catastrophic flooding followed the melting of the continental glaciers. After the last ice age the Mississippi was 20 times its present size, and the massive river deposited mud averaging 32 feet, with some places in the wide Yazoo-Mississippi Delta as deep as 350 feet. But there is at least one place where the bottom was never found: you will paddle over the deepest mud ever plumbed -- underneath the Caruthersville Bridge! The following quote is adopted from Tidwell: Caruthersville, Missouri: 150 Years.
“One of the lasting effects of the New Madrid Earthquake 1811-12 was the changes it made in the earth. When soil borings were taken for the bridge across the river in the late 1960s, drills went down more than six thousand feet and never hit rock. The engineers had hoped to put the bridge pilings on a rock footing, but there was none there. Apparently, the quake had separated any rock foundation that might have been under the river and filled the space with soil!”
Paddlers can stay main channel along Islands 18, 20 and 21. Or at medium-high water levels enjoy the pleasures of the back channel by diving behind all three islands. It would require two crossings necessary to do all. Pick and choose whichever works for your time schedule. If you had to choose only one, Island 21 is the most secluded and wild, but you might have a whitewater ride awaiting you bottom end over a solid dike.
1) Main Channel:
Follow the fast water under the I-155 Bridge avoiding tow traffic as necessary, go middle channel over Is. 18 and then right bank towards Arkansas around the bend past the base of Is. 18 and then slide back left bank descending around the long series of islands & dikes of Is. 20. Follow the buoy line mid-river and then go right bank around Island 21, but be careful to maintain a buffer distance as paddling by the busy port of Nucor Yamamato. Go mid channel again into Tamm Bend toward the mouth of the Obion River. Map line shows approximate route. Adjust as necessary for towboats, wind and any inclement weather.
2) Mid-Channel Is. 18:
At medium water or above (around 15 on the CuG - Caruthersville Gauge) a mid-island channel opens up behind the shallow bar of Island 18. At high water (above 25 CuG) the bar disappears and you can hug left bank with good flow along the big trees of Island 18.
3) Everett Lake (Back Channel Island 18)
High Water route only (above 25 Caruthersville Gauge). Expert paddlers only. Requires fast paddling, quick decisions and turns, and many hazards including snags and strainers. Fast water flowing through trees. Follow strong water flow through narrow opening cluttered with clumps of trees. Channels open and then close several hundred yards through several lines of trees bordered by high-flung gravel bars until opening up one mile from river into Everett Lake. Current eventually disappears into flat water lake. Three mile paddle across lake. Exit chute opens up left bank past gravel aggregate docks & facility LBD. Everett Lake Chute opens around 7 on the Caruthersville Gauge.
4) Back Channel Island 20:
Stay RBD below Cottonwood Point (RBD 832.5) and over dike, and then dive into topmost of the islands for a long float behind a series of three prominent clumpy islands which have grown up along the wing dams of island 20 and go completely under at flood stage 32 CuG.
5) Back Channel of Island 21:
Back channel opens up in medium water through large opening below fifth big dike (near LBD 828.5) During higher water levels you can duck into any one of many back channels disappearing into the main body of this island and find yourself in a watery wilderness of islands and sloughs. The primary inflow is the 2nd opening above the wing dam at LBD 828. A hidden sandbar with beautiful blue holes forms at lower water levels LBD at the bottom of the back channel.
WARNING: a solid cross-channel dike near the bottom end of Island 21 Back Channel that could produce sizable waves and turbulence at medium water levels. If the water seems to drop a level as you approach and you hear the commotion of a waterfall with whitewater beyond, proceed cautiously. Stop and scout if uncertain.