CAPT. DAMON KENNEDY is guiding the white 

paddle wheeler with red gingerbread trim through 

a Mississippi River gorge of ancient limestone, past 

nesting eagles that a passenger spots with a scope 

and a scene so natural it could have been from Mark Twain’s 

day—save for the fact the day’s cruise has a Taco Tuesday theme 

and margaritas are being offered at $1 off.

The Minneapolis Queen is just one member of a growing family 

of vintage riverboat royalty that transports travelers back to 

what’s widely called the most romantic era of river cruising but 

with a decidedly modern twist. 

In addition to the short river cruises like these on scenic 

stretches of the Mississippi, an ever growing number of cruise 

liners better known for trips down the Rhine or across the 

Caribbean now hold riverboat 

cruises on the Mississippi. Instead 

of European capitals, their stops 

are towns like Memphis, Tennessee 

and Natchez, Mississippi. Some 

of the vessels are restored paddle 

wheelers from the Victorian heyday, 

others billed as the “new modern 

riverboat” and designed by boatbuilder owners.

The American Harmony made its 

maiden voyage in August, and with 

multi-story glass atriums, private balconies and 22-day itineraries that start at $12,000 a person (and run up to $22,000), 

cruises on this specially designed vessel bear little resemblance 

to the steamboats of old. But river cruising’s excitement and 

pace haven’t changed. As National Geographic Traveler wrote in 

a piece called “The return of the American steamboat vacation” 

about a trip on the classic riverboat the American Queen: 

“Days on the river pass slowly... Passengers settle into card games 

in the handsome Mark Twain Lounge or relax with a beer and a 

book in the Gentleman’s Card Room (beneath a mounted fish and a 

stuffed bear). At Front Porch of America, hot dogs and board games 

come with soft-serve ice cream, which you can take to a rocker on 

the deck to gaze at the stands of cottonwood and black willow that 

stretch as far as the eye can see. The Grand Saloon, modeled after 

Ford’s Theater, hosts bingo games and song-and-dance revues like 

Hooray for Hollywood, a show of high-saccharine hits à la ‘Over the 

Rainbow.’ After dinner, couples fox-trot to a live band.” 

Much has happened since that 2012 voyage. The American 

Queen has integrated shore excursions that capture river history and culture and launched a new vessel, American Duchess. 

Our Mississippi is a quarterly 

newsletter of the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers about its work 

in the Mississippi River Basin. It is 

published in cooperation with other 

state and federal agencies and 

other river interests with whom the 

Corps collaborates and partners 

toward long-term sustainability of 

the economic uses and ecological 

integrity of the river system.

SUMMER 2019

Today, you can cruise Twain-style on luxurious 

vessels even a creative author couldn’t dream up.

Continued on page 2 >>

ABOVE: Launched in 

2016, American Cruise 

Lines’ America is a newgeneration paddlewheeler 

that comes with a putting 

green on top deck, “Mark 

Twain library and chart 

room” and private decks. 

It’s one in a series of new 

ships built specifically for 

Mississippi River cruising.

Return of the classic river cruise
River towns from Minneapolis to New Orleans 

boast some variation of traditional paddleboat 

cruises, and American Cruise Lines is midway 

through launching its five-ship series of modern 

riverboats, some offered with Twain themes 

throughout the voyage. 

The comeback of river cruising has meant an 

economic boon to river cities like Twain’s home 

town of Hannibal, Missouri. A major riverfront 

renovation is underway, partly so that two cruise 

liners can dock on the shoreline at once, says 

Melissa Cummins, community relations manager 

for the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum. 

Her attraction is a stop on every cruise ship on 

the upper river, the museum’s executive director 

a frequent on-board speaker.

The appeal of such immersion on the 

Mississippi, passengers tell her, is that river 

towns have kept the charm of days gone by, she 

said, and love—as Mark Twain did—telling tales 

of fascinating characters they’d met along the way.

Days of old 

The steamboat’s true heyday—the era between those 

flat-bottomed keelboats that depended on river current (or paddling) to move and the railroad—was 

relatively short-lived in river history terms. 

 As Twain wrote: “Mississippi steamboating 

was born about 1812; at the end of thirty years 

it had grown to mighty proportions; and in less 

than thirty years more it was dead!”

But the popularity was instant, the showboats the floating entertainment palaces of the 

19th and early 20th centuries, bringing theater, 

saloons and music to river towns with organlike steam calliopes, packet boats brought both 

passengers and cargo like cotton, sometimes 

stacked so high you couldn’t see out. 

The combination of increased traffic and an 

unpredictable river in some ways ushered in the 

existence of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

The agency that would become the Corps was 

first formed to remove snags that wrecked some 

steamboats.

“Snag removal was the first job that Congress 

authorized the agency to do,” says Brian Rentfro, 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers historian for the 

Mississippi Valley Division and Mississippi River 

Commission. “The next part was strengthening 

river banks to keep the channel from meandering 

and keep erosion from causing more trees to fall in 

and create more snags. The next phase was building levees. You can’t have the navigation without 

the flood control, and then there was the story of 

dredge boats. They still had to dredge hot spots to 

keep the river open.”

Even with many obstacles removed, river travel 

was treacherous in a way that today’s passengers on 

a luxury—or taco—cruise could scarcely imagine. 

Between 1811 and 1851, 21% of river accidents 

were caused by explosion, according to an Army 

history of steamboats. In a 10-year period in the 

1830s, 272 steamboats were destroyed after less 

than three years of travel. A survey of shipwrecks 

on the Mississippi River bottom within the Corps’ 

St. Paul District shows the ships wrecked by 

explosion, fire, snags and sometimes risky piloting driven by intense competition. At one time, St. 

Paul gave free wharfage for the season for the first 

boat to arrive from below, making river races an 

economic necessity to some. 

Kerosene lighting didn’t help either, notes 

Clarke “Doc” Hawley, a riverboat historian, calliope player and former captain of the Belle of 

Louisville, the Delta Queen, the American Queen, 

Creole Queen, the Natchez and more. 

“They were lighted by coal oil, which was the 

cause of a lot of the steamboat fires—those chandeliers,” he said. “In the winter, you had to light 

them for breakfast, lunch and dinner so you could 

see the menu—or even where to stick the fork in. 

“It wasn’t like if you had an oil lamp or chandelier in a house—those weren’t dangerous unless 

you knocked one over. But say you’re going down 

the river with the current 15 miles an hour, and 

you hit a sandbar. When you hit that sandbar, if 

the boat is a big one, the boat goes “stop!” and 

the oil would come out and go all over the dining 

room, and the boilers were right under the dining 

room, so that was the end of that.” —K.S.

River towns from Minneapolis to New Orleans boast some 

variation of traditional paddleboat cruises, and American Cruise 

Lines is launching a five-ship series of modern riverboats.

ABOVE: In these postcard photographs, steam-powered paddle wheelers dock at the levee in St. Louis, 

where it was common to see more than 150 boats at a time by the 1830s. Then, before additional work by 

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers made the northern river navigable, rapids north of the city made this the 

northernmost point that many boats could travel.

A River Tale

Charles Dickens took a 

steamboat trip on the 

Mississippi River. 

He wasn’t impressed.

When Charles Dickens booked passage on an American 

river steamboat in 1842, his first thought—understandably, 

given the risks of steamboat travel of the day—was room 

selection.

“We had been a great many times very gravely recommended to keep as far aft as possible, because the 

steamboats generally blow up forward,” he wrote in a book 

about his travels, American Notes for General Circulation.

Dickens and his wife traveled from his native England 

for a lengthy tour of the U.S. when railroads were three 

decades from crossing the Mississippi River.

“What words shall describe the Mississippi, great father 

of rivers!” he wrote. “An enormous ditch, sometimes two or 

three miles wide, running liquid mud, six miles an hour: its 

strong and frothy current choked and obstructed everywhere by huge logs and whole forest trees ... For two days 

we toiled up this foul stream, striking constantly against the 

floating timber ... which renders it no easy matter to remain 

in bed.”

He found the western American steamboats curious 

and frightening. “The whole is but a few inches above the 

water’s edge. Seeing the great body of fire that rages and 

roars beneath the frail pile of painted wood . . . the wonder 

is, not that there should not be so many fatal accidents but 

that any journey should be safely made.”

Refreshments and meals were equally depressing, 

Dickens wrote. “We drank the muddy water of this river 

while we were upon it. At each (meal), there are a great 

many small dishes and plates upon the table, with very little 

in them.”

DAY CRUISES ON THE MISSISSIPPI 

There’s one way to really understand the poetry of river literature; take your own trip down at least one small stretch. Here 

are a few ways to do that, the old-school way.

The Natchez: While other trips cruise the river near New 

Orleans, the Natchez is the only true steamboat. Get serenaded by calliope favorites on the ninth steamer to bear the 

name Natchez since 1823. STEAMBOATNATCHEZ.COM

The Minneapolis Queen: This cruise is a deal—$19 for adults, 

$10 for kids, and more if dinner’s included, for the chance to 

traverse the only natural canyon on the Mississippi. Departs 

from downtown Minneapolis. TWINCITIESCRUISES.COM

LaCrosse Queen: There’s live music with dinner during sunset 

one one of the prettiest bluff-lined stretches of the river—and 

as a special treat, the boat locks through Lock and Dam 7. 

LACROSSEQUEEN.COM

Memphis Riverboats: Pick from an Elvis music cruise, river 

history and more. MEMPHISRIVERBOATS.NET

2
Trail cams are known for the wildlife surprises they inevitably 

offer. Rarely do they provide evidence of a potential endangered species comeback the way one 

did this summer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Riverlands Migratory Bird Sanctuary.

“Our trail cameras, located on the tern nesting barges, captured an image of an adult least tern 

with bands from 2017,” says Insiyaa Ahmed, a member of the environmental stewardship team at 

the Army Corps’ Rivers Project Office in West Alton, Mo. “This is the first confirmation we have of 

a returning tern banded at Riverlands.”

Biologists have been monitoring and banding least terns at the migratory bird sanctuary since 

2009 when they set up a nesting barge for habitat and research in the middle of Ellis Bay. One 

confirmed case of a tern returning over a 10-year project period may not sound like much until 

you consider this: There have been no documented or confirmed nesting successes in the wild 

on the Upper stretches of the Mississippi from roughly St. Louis, north, since the 1960s. The only 

exception was a successful nest in Pool 24 between Clarksville and Hannibal, Missouri, at another 

Corps-run project affiliated with its Environmental Management Program that lowered the navigation pool to expose mudflats for vegetation and migrating birds.

The interior population of the least tern, just eight inches long when full grown, has been on the 

endangered species list since 1985, increasing its visibility and making it a conservation priority 

for federal agencies working on rivers within the central U.S. 

Overall population numbers have since risen dramatically on the free-flowing lower river, but 

the bird remains in peril on the impounded 

northern stretches. There, the locks and 

dams that keep the river navigable for 

barge traffic and commerce have changed 

the hydrology—and nesting habitat. The 

river no longer forms natural sandbars as 

it once did, and that’s the bird’s preferred 

nesting habitat, said Ryan Swearingin, the 

wildlife biologist who heads up the tern 

barge project. 

The project at Riverlands seeks to 

mimic nature in a particularly unusual—

but so far effective—way. Biologists built a modified sandbar on top of an old steel barge that was retired when 

the Corps purchased a new navigation dredge. Teams took everything off the deck and covered it with a four-inch 

layer of sand, seeking to replicate the substrate of a Mississippi River sandbar. They added driftwood and placed it 

strategically around the barge to offer a place for tern chicks to get out of the sun and potentially avoid predators. 

The fledglings are kept safe, too, from predators, too, in a particularly extreme way. An electric fence was set up last 

year after a greedy mink snuck onboard and wiped out an entire year’s worth of nesting chicks last year.

“We partner with the World Bird Sanctuary and staff that have a master bander permit; it allows them to put 

leg bands on birds, and we coordinate with them,” Swearingin said, adding the bands are tiny enough to go on legs 

roughly the size of the tube inside an ink pen. 

The record number of chicks banded was 65 in 2017, and while this year they stopped at 46, more continued to 

hatch in spite of an unexpected challenge. One of the two barges that had been linked together for the platform sprung 

a leak and had to be hauled to shore for repair, leaving a smaller platform. River flooding may have made up for that, 

Swearingin notes, given “we were the only show in town” with suitable nesting habitat not inundated by the flood.

Gathering evidence of a particular tern’s return is tough since they tuck their (tagged) leg under a wing when 

flying. But then the cameras caught the red band—the color tagging crews used in 2017—offering more hope of 

project success.

“This was initially started to hopefully bolster the local population,” Swearingin notes. “The larger the colony can 

get, the more easily they can ward off predators. If these artificial habits and habitat restoration could help lead to a 

de-listing of the species, it would be a great thing.” —K.S.

RETURN OF THETern

ABOVE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP 

LEFT: The nesting barge floats in 

Teal Pond within the Riverlands 

Migratory Bird Sanctuary. Surrounded by fencing, it’s not as 

scenic as a traditional river sandbar, but it’s far superior when 

it comes to offering protection 

from the tiny least tern’s many 

predators. The project which 

includes banding tiny legs no 

larger than the tube inside an 

ink pen, is helping to develop a 

sustainable colony on the Upper 

River that might not need such 

artificial nesting help. The photo, 

bottom right, offers visual evidence of project success. This 

bird, banded in 2017, returned to 

the barge to nest.

Overall population numbers 

have since risen dramatically on 

the free-flowing lower river, but 

the bird remains in peril on the 

impounded northern stretches. 

ourmississippi.org 3

PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
THE PERSISTENT HIGH WATER LEVELS of the Mississippi River this 

year are generally good news for its watery residents able to go with the flow to 

new and sometimes better habitat. Though flooding can take a toll on the restoration projects built to improve their lives, in all that water lies some unique 

opportunities to benefit habitat as well.

Dr. Jack Kilgore, research fisheries biologist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 

Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, has seen more than 

200 days above flood stage on the Lower Mississippi at Vicksburg. And that, he 

says, is mostly good news for the creatures he studies.

“Floods are food for fish,” Kilgore said. “More water means access to more 

habitat, more food, and more reproduction.” The broad floodplain and the deep 

river channel of the Lower Mississippi are ideal habitat for “big river” fishes, such 

as shovelnose and pallid sturgeon, flathead and blue catfish, and alligator gar. 

They are used to living in swift flowing water, so the 2019 floods enhance their 

populations.

At the northern end of the river, the high waters are offering a rare opportunity 

for “big river” fish species to pass through the navigational lock and dam system 

unimpeded. Nick Schlesser, large lake biologist with the Minnesota Department 

of Natural Resources, has 

already seen paddlefish that 

were tagged in Pools 14 and 16 

in southern Iowa arrive 300 

miles upstream in Pool 4 at 

Lake Pepin, Minnesota.

The final survey results for 

2019 may show reduced populations of species like sauger in Lake Pepin as those 

populations take advantage of the open river conditions to keep moving upstream. 

In 2011, Lake Pepin experienced a significant drop in its resident sauger population when a fair number of sauger moved into Pool 3 during high water.

He also anticipates they might find the skipjack herring, a Minnesota state 

endangered species, in this year’s population surveys. This silvery flat-sided fish 

was considered extirpated from the upper reaches of the Mississippi by 1928 and 

reappeared after record floods of 1986 and 2011. The survival of the skipjack herring is essential for the ebonyshell mussel, another Minnesota state endangered 

species, and one that depends on the fish to complete its lifecycle. 

Invasive carp also go with the flow

There is a downside to all this new fish access. State and federal managers are 

watching carefully for the high water impacts on distribution of invasive bighead and silver carp—the fish no resources expert want to see further spreading. 

Kilgore expects the current floods to contribute to the upstream movement of 

their populations. “The Lower Mississippi is a buffet for Asian carp” he said. “The 

high water creates more places for them to swim, forage, and spawn.”

Mark Cornish, Chief of the Environmental Planning Section at the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers Rock Island District works on an interagency group seeking 

solutions to Asian carp. He is concerned that these carp have moved upstream 

through Lock and Dam 15, which has been open for more than 90 days this year. 

In normal years, it is closed 95 percent of the time.

“Once the researchers can regain access to receivers, the data on the fish’s movements is going to tell us an awful lot about how we could potentially manage dams 

in future to reduce fish movement or at least understand it,” he said.

Floods affect habitat restoration too

Projects designed through the Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program on 

the Upper Mississippi River are designed to take fluctuating water levels into consideration says Karen Hagerty, who manages the project’s science and long-term 

monitoring elements. But this year’s flood may have tested that resiliency.

“Our evaluations have just begun but a number of projects, completed or under 

construction, may have been affected by the high water conditions this year,” 

Hagerty said. “But while some construction has been delayed a few weeks, no 

projects in the Rock Island District have been deferred.”

While fish respond well to natural flooding, it also increases sedimentation, 

which can rapidly fill in deep areas during high water, said Dan Dieterman, 

Mississippi River habitat specialist with the Minnesota Department of Natural 

Resources. While the river will carve a new deep area when that happens, it takes 

a while. The portions of the river with a managed channel are less able to recreate 

that important type of fish habitat unaided, he said. Planted trees are especially 

hard hit. 

Despite its challenges, high water may provide an opportunity to address a 

pressing habitat need on the Upper Mississippi. Dieterman describes the loss of 

periodic low water conditions that allow mudflats and sandbars to grow as the 

number one challenge for habitat in the Upper Mississippi. 

“Surprisingly, under existing management policies, drawdowns can only be 

done with high water flows,” he said. “With more water in the river, it is easier 

to maintain navigation and still lower the water level. Potentially, there is more 

opportunity with high midsummer flows, such as we are seeing this year.” —D.D.

Fish like

floods 

“Floods are food for 

fish. More water 

means access to 

more habitat, more 

food, and more 

reproduction.” 

—DR. JACK KILGORE

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Fish 

species like the ancient shovelnose sturgeon love fast-flowing 

water that comes with floods, 

says fisheries biologist Jack 

Killgore (FAR LEFT). Fish including sturgeon and paddlefish can 

get entrained in the spillways 

designed to relieve flooding 

pressure on the river, so fish 

biologists including Killgore 

hold a rescue effort as spillways 

close. On the upper river, open 

river conditions at lock are great 

for species like the skipjack 

herring that can reach new 

spawning grounds. 

4
In a laboratory just downstream from the Melvin Price Locks and 

Dams in Alton, Ill., Dr. Anthony Dell peers down the microscope at countless tiny, 

colorful pieces of plastic, so little as to potentially go unnoticed, while nearby, 

plastics of a more familiar form float.

Instead of the fish and invertebrates scientists generally study here at the 

National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, he and colleagues have 

instead floated white plastic bowls like you’d use for a picnic, bright red Solo 

cups, chips bags and water bottles—all to test how quickly each type of plastic 

breaks down and what that might mean for the countless critters and humans 

that ingest what remains.

Dell is a research scientist at NGRREC and is leading development of the new 

“Mississippi River Plastic Pollution” (MRPP) consortium that includes partners 

at Lewis and Clark Community College, Saint Louis University, and a forensic science laboratory at the University of Staffordshire in Great Britain that specializes 

in the breakdown of plastics and microplastics—applying expertise gained in CSI 

cases to the health of those who depend on the river. Photos of the new projects underway in NGRREC’s mesocosms—controlled outdoor laboratories that 

mimic natural conditions—aren’t going to capture the imagination in the same 

way as a dolphin or sea turtle tangled in a plastic grocery bag. But the results 

have the potential to be every bit as startling. 

Microplastics, generally no larger than a Mardi Gras bead, can fill the guts 

of animals, making it difficult for them to consume normal food. They also are 

known to attract other pollutants like a magnet. That magnifies the potential 

poisons for anything that ingests them. And they come from so many sources—

from the breakdown of bags and bottles to tiny plastic beads found in things 

from fleece jackets to toothpaste—that they’re ubiquitous in water column and 

river sediment. Even so, the impacts have rarely been studied or focused on in 

freshwater systems—until now. 

Some 100 Great Lakes mayors recently called 

upon manufacturers to halt use of microplastics 

in personal care items. Mississippi River mayors 

through the Cities and Towns Initiative have 

launched their own project, one that includes the 

United Nations as a partner, to both improve plastic 

recycling capabilities in river towns and to convince 

plastic-producing companies to pledge to reduce 

usage by 20 percent. 

“We’re talking a basin that drains 31 states, and 

40 percent of the Gulf of Mexico’s plastic problem comes right out of the Mississippi River,” says 

Colin Wellenkamp, the Cities and Towns Initiative’s 

executive director. “This plastic waste as it makes 

its way downriver doesn’t remain whole; it gets torn 

up, broken apart and turned into toxic confetti. The 

fish eat it, we eat the fish, it gets sucked into water 

treatment facilities, gets caught into water used 

for things like the beverage industry. It makes itself 

known throughout the food chain.” 

No one sees the problem as vividly as 

those participating in river cleanups as their 

full-time job. One of the most shocking hauls 

of plastics came in a cleanup near Memphis, 

says Meghan Elgan, education and projects 

coordinator for the clean-up organization Living Lands and Waters. Volunteers 

collect tens of thousands of plastic bottles each year, and that’s by far the majority of the tons of waste collected annually in U.S. rivers.

Researcher Dell said he’d heard plenty about plastics in the marine system, 

especially about larger pieces affecting sea birds and fish and marine mammals—but not much about plastics in freshwater or terrestrial ecosystems.

“Only for the last five to 10 years have scientists started exploring the plastic 

cycle in freshwater ecosystems,” he said, “despite that 90 percent of plastic that 

ends up in marine systems coming from rivers.”

Going forward, the MRPP consortium will concentrate on a few key themes 

related to understanding the “plastic cycle” in the Mississippi River basin, including where the plastic is found in the environment, which animals interact with 

the plastic, and what (if any) are the broader ecological effects. As an ecologist, 

Dell is especially interested in understanding how plastics are affecting river ecosystems and the countless microbes, plant and animals species that comprise 

them—many of which are central to the human society.

“Ultimately, our group hopes to contribute to an understanding of how much 

plastic there is in the Mississippi River basic, where is coming from and how 

does it move around, and what impacts it is having on the ecosystem, including 

humans” he said. “Is it changing species interaction and affecting structure of 

the entire food web? Or is it basically everywhere and not doing anything, which 

is of course possible, but is not what early work in this area is showing.” —K.S.

BE PART OF THE SOLUTION 

• Pick up trash in your surrounding area.

• Bring your own reusable cups, straws, silverware, 

napkins and use when getting takeout meals or 

beverages.

• Avoid any personal care products that list “poly” 

as an ingredient.

• Use reusable grocery bags, sandwich bags, food 

covers and paper towels.

• Avoid purchasing fleece and other synthetic 

clothing and wait until it’s actually dirty to wash 

the clothing you already own.

• Take the Living Lands and Waters challenge: 

facebook.com/groups/livinglandsandwatersgroup

SOURCE: LIVING LANDS AND WATERS

Projects draw attention to plastics in the Mississippi 

ABOVE: Dr. Anthony Dell uses a 

mesocosm filled with Mississippi 

River water to see how quickly various forms of plastic break down.

ourmississippi.org 5

PHOTOS: U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS.
If you’ve ever been on or near the Mississippi River, you may have seen a striking configuration of boats nestled together, one that look like a four-star hotel 

with decks, chairs and staterooms attached to a large propulsion vessel. The other 

appears to be a loud industrious workhorse connected to nearly 10,000 feet of 

steel pipes, spewing water and sand onto shore. Combined, you get something like 

a little city in the middle of the river.

This “boat-convention” is home to 53 crew members, all of whom work to make 

it possible for everything from trade to tourists to move up and down the mighty 

Mississippi. 

You are looking at the life, and the work, of a dredge boat team.

The Dredge Goetz, christened in 2005 and working near Davenport Iowa this 

day on one of a series of hazardously hot summer days, deepens the Mississippi 

River to at least nine feet to insure that large vessels, like barges, can pass easily. 

A hydraulic cutterhead spinning underneath the Mississippi’s surface dislodges 

rock, sand and debris from the bottom on the river, turns it into a slurry, and 

sends it through a pipeline to the shore, creating massive sandbars used to restore 

wetlands and encourage riverside recreation. 

Dredge crews work from the moment the river thaws to the beginnings of the 

winter freeze, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with round-the-clock 

teams working 12-hour shifts. As this year’s flooding has greatly increased the need 

for maintenance dredging, there are plenty of opportunities for overtime work, 

and many on the crew undertake these extra hours willingly. This year’s flooding, 

says the dredge Captain Brian Krause, could easily surpass 1 million cubic yards of 

sediment moved, by the Goetz alone, and it is one of several dredges working on 

the Mighty Mississippi. 

A close-knit lifestyle 

Dredge life is a world of hard hats, shared rooms, long hours and intense camaraderie, as crew members get to know each other on an intimate level that resembles 

the familial. Mike Siebel, dredge leverman, says that he “can tell you more about 

this crew’s eating habits than I can my own son’s.”

The teams, which travel from the Goetz to their lodging on the Quarters Barge 

Taggatz via motorboats for breaks, meals, and shift changes, work together for 

seven twelve-hour consecutive days, returning seven days later to repeat the cycle.

Some, like Cook Steward Ilona “Loni” Moen, are going on a three-week stretch 

without a break. No replacement cook could be found, and Moen is dedicated 

to the crew, despite having to miss two major family events. “We give up a lot 

to do this job” adds Susie Tsolakov, Cook Assistant and former Cabin Attendant, 

who still tries to maintain the condition of the ship’s laundry room, lounge, and 

other facilities even as she works full time in the kitchen to fill in the slack until 

a vacant cabin attendant position can be filled. Tsolakov, too, feels committed to 

her crew. One year, she put up Christmas decorations to cheer teams working over 

the holidays. Today, she has baked chocolate chip cookies for crewmen to sample 

while on break. 

While the crew does experience the downsides of being far from family for 

extended periods of time, they also tout the benefits of life on the river. Team 

Long hours, close ties, and homemade 

LIFE ON A MISSISSIPPI DREDGE

6
Have your say

on river flooding and 

sediment 

The Rock Island District of 

the U.S. Army Ca orps of 

Engineers is joining with the 

Upper Mississippi River Basin 

Association to address the 

disruption of river communities, farmers, shippers and local 

residents from an increase in 

major flood events and increase 

in need to dredge the sediment 

in a rather unusual way: simply 

listening.

The groups have been hosting 

Saturday “open space” events in 

which people who come set the 

agenda and lead discussions. 

There’s no presentation at all by 

experts. Instead, conversations 

have and will focus on reducing 

flooding risks, maintaining the 

navigation channel, reducing 

river sediment and preparing for 

a future of long-term drought. 

Attendees are asked to share 

what impacts to them have 

been and how residents and 

leaders can come together to 

better address the issues.

The open forums begin in 

July and continue Aug. 24 in 

Godfrey, Illinois, at Lewis and 

Clark Community College and 

Sept. 7 at Cape Girardeau, 

Missouri, at Southeast Missouri 

State University. Thoughts can 

be shared online, too, at: mvr.

usace.army.mil.

cheesecake

members say they love working on the water, traveling to new places, and running 

their equipment with efficiency and competence. Many spoke of the excellent 

health and retirement benefits that their jobs provide.

Meals, though, came up often as an advantage of life on the Goetz, thanks to 

Moen’s flair and creativity in the kitchen. Tenderloin steak, meatballs with mashed 

potatoes and corn, and Moen’s cheesecake are all crew favorites. Only one “fail” 

was mentioned—a gumbo. 

“We don’t have many southerners on this boat,” reasons Moen, who crafts an 

eight-week rotating menu but confides that “I wing it every week.” For example, 

with today’s weather soaring once again over 100 degrees, lunch’s scheduled lasagna will be replaced by a salad and sandwich bar.

The brains behind these steak-and-cheesecake-loving sailors is the ebullient 

Captain Krause, who boasts 23 years’ experience on the river, during which time 

he has occupied every position on the dredge with the exception of leverman. 

While Krause, sporting a brand new and still-itchy rope tattoo on his forearm, 

enjoys all parts of his job from PR to paperwork, his favorite role is piloting the 

propulsion vessel, the Motor Vessel General Warren, which packs 3,000 horsepower. “It’s a totally different mindset being away from the computers and many 

busy workers,” he says. Also, the view is spectacular from the pilothouse. 

Krause, who knew the four previous dredge captains from the St. Paul District 

where he and the dredge William A. Thompson and the William L. Goetz both originate, 

is very connected to his crew. Tsolakov, who also happens to be an LPN, previously 

worked at a local nursing home and helped care for Krause’s father at the end of his 

life, and one of the previous captains was the father of Krause’s good friend. Many 

on the crew have relatives in the industry who worked with the Captain in the past. 

Krause loves to see his crew take pride in their work. “People have no idea what 

we do,” he says, noting that he loves to share information about dredge life. It’s 

important, he notes, for the public to be aware of the service his team provides.

And a close team it is. A death in someone’s immediate family is always followed 

by a group donation of some kind. When Siebel’s father died, a massive wreath 

appeared at the funeral, even though none of the Goetz team new Siebel’s dad 

personally. When Krause’s dog of 17 years died, full time Engineering Equipment 

Operator and part-time woodworker Channing Helgeson made a soapstone 

memorial to his captain’s companion, the artwork now displayed prominently on 

Krause’s desk. Helgeson has gifted his creations to various other crew members, 

including a mini-computer replica for Administrative Assistant Support Vincent 

Perez, a reticent, soft-spoken man with a dry sense of humor who, it has been 

reported by anonymous sources, “is fun to have a beer with.”

Krause’s 12-hour shift is nearing its end. It has been a busy day. Groceries have 

come in from the Riverview Boat Store in Bellevue, Iowa, and need to be transported and unpacked. The Goetz has finished one cut and must be moved upstream 

to begin again. All pontoon pipes must be dismantled and repositioned. 

While the Goetz never takes a break, Krause gets to—at least for a few hours. 

Tonight, he, together with Perez and Thomas Burrow, St. Paul Survey Technician 

Inspector, will head into Davenport, IA rest their sea legs a bit, and watch a baseball game. The River Bandits are playing. —L.H.C. 

The Dredge Goetz by the Numbers

4 Women on Crew (out of 53)

3 Minimum number of years it will 

take to complete dredging due 

to this year’s flooding

26 Rooms on the Taggatz

7 Rooms on the General Warren

30 Loaves of bread baked per week

4,000 Dollars spent per week on 

groceries 

10,000 Gallons of potable water 

on the Taggatz

146,000 Cubic yards of sediment 

dredged from the floor of the 

Mississippi River in a 12-day 

period (most recent job)

ourmississippi.org 7

PHOTOS: LESLEA HARAVON COLLINS. 
The quavering wail of the common loon 

epitomizes the sparkling lakes and wilderness spirit of 

the Mississippi River headwaters. Its continued presence is threatened by human disturbance and pollutants 

such as lead and mercury. But new hope for the loon’s 

future is rising on the shores of Cross Lake, Minnesota, 

where a community partnership has formed to celebrate, protect, and study loons.

The National Loon Center is dedicated to the survival 

and protection of loons and to educating people about 

how they can help. It will be located on the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers’ Cross Lake Recreation Area, which 

adjoins the lakes where one of the largest migratory 

gatherings of loons occurs.

Leah Heggerston, executive director of the National 

Loon Center is excited about the project’s prospects. 

“For Minnesota, it seems perfect as the loon is the state 

bird,” she said.

The popular recreation area already includes a 

122-site campground, day use area, boat ramps, and 

accessible fishing pier. The Center will encompass an 

interpretive center, outdoor demonstration areas, and 

a freshwater education/research center. Other features 

will include docks, floating boardwalks, and outdoor 

exhibits, bird sanctuaries and a floating classroom to 

study water quality and invasive species. The center 

will operate year-round through an onsite partnership 

with the Corps and the Brainerd Lakes Area Chamber 

of Commerce.

The summer of 2019 saw two vital steps in creation 

of the center. The Minnesota state legislature appropriated $4 million from the Environment and Natural 

Resources Trust Fund towards a National Loon Center. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presented a 25-year 

lease to the National Loon Center Foundation for use of 

land within its Cross Lake Recreation Area. The grant 

from the state of Minnesota will go toward the shoreline restoration and non-building features of the Center.

“Having the boat dock and boardwalk in place will 

continue public access while allowing the shoreline 

to be protected for water quality and loon habitat,” 

said Becca Nash, director of the Legislative-Citizen 

Commission on Minnesota Resources. The LCCMR 

makes recommendations to the Minnesota legislature 

for how the Environment and Natural Resources Trust 

Fund dollars should be spent. 

The newly completed no-fee lease is a first for the St. 

Paul District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. 

“We determined that construction of the National 

Loon Center fits with our mission,” said Will 

Wolkerstorfer, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers - St. Paul District. “It will promote our 

environmental stewardship responsibilities and won’t 

impact existing recreation.” An immediate benefit will 

be the replacement of the old day-use restrooms.

A separate partnership agreement between the U.S. 

Army Corps of Engineers and the National Loon Center 

will establish the details for use of the land for the 

shoreline restoration, docks, boardwalk, and outdoor 

exhibits. With that agreement in place, construction 

could begin in the fall of 2019, after the main tourist 

season. Partnerships will continue to be key as the project develops. 

“It’s awesome working together,” said Corrine 

Hodapp, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Cross Lake Recreation Area manager. “The 

collaboration will help greatly with education and public outreach.” 

Heggerston highly praises the project’s many partners. The Center and 

the University of Minnesota are already 

working on water resources curriculum 

together. The University has been instrumental in the center’s feasibility and market 

studies. Formation of a scientific loon 

council is already underway. Community 

organizations, university, and state and federal agencies are also engaged. 

Project completion is targeted for 2022 

and will require a total investment of 

$10 million. The National Loon Center 

Foundation launched a capital campaign on 

July 20 to raise the balance needed. NATIONALLOONCENTER.ORG —D.D.

Vince King, Elvis Tribute Artist

Houston, Texas

“I’ve been an Elvis tribute artist for more 

than 15 years, and it’s wonderful to see fans 

of all ages smiling and singing along. There’s 

this whole other Elvis world out there, a huge 

hard-core community of fans, and thousands 

of them come together each August for Elvis 

Week in Memphis. I do about 150 shows a year, 

and two years ago I was named Grand Champion at the Elvis Presley EXPO Competition 

and People’s Choice Winner at the King of the 

World contest in Memphis. 

“Elvis had that special something, that 

indescribable ‘it’ that a charismatic few have. 

But he also had enormous talent: a richness 

in his voice, which was why his music has 

endured. So I do my best to respect Elvis’ 

image, his music, and all he did. I’ve studied 

his moves, mannerisms, the way he stood, the 

way he moved his hands, and the way he held 

his mic. When I perform, it’s all about giving his 

fans a chance to experience what an Elvis concert was really like. You know, the Mississippi 

Delta and its gospel tradition inspired so much 

of his music: its roots speak to the story of the 

South, but Elvis’ gift made it America’s music 

too and shared it with the world.” —J.T.

MyMISSISSIPPI

National Loon Center moving toward reality

ABOVE: This architectural rendering shows the airy interior space of the 

National Loon Center being planned in partnership with a U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers recreation center.

LOONS: KIM SCHNEIDER. 

8
S

ome of the most pristine stretches of the Mississippi River—favorite recreation lakes and 

dramatic bluffs with distant views—lie within the 240-mile stretch from Minneapolis to 

Guttenberg, Iowa. It’s a migratory flyway (in some cases permanent home) to 325 species of birds, home to 118 different types of fish and rare species of mussels, and the 

location of many historic resources, not surprisingly since humans of every era have picked rivers 

as transportation and settlement hubs.

How the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will manage and protect the lands and also walk the 

tricky balance between protection and access for recreation is the impetus behind a new master 

plan. While the Corps has multiple missions relating to the river, this plan guides the use and 

development of natural and recreational resources of some 52,000 acres of Corps-managed 

land. A companion plan being updated as well classifies management actions on federally 

owned lands.

The public offered input on what they’d like to see in the plan at a series of meetings held 

through July across the project area. Many comments focused around a new bicycle path, the 

desire for more and better sandbar beaches and continued access for paddling, fishing and hunting, said Megan O’Brien, the Corps’ plan formulator. The public will have another chance to give 

their input on the draft plan later this year.

While most public lands will continue to be managed for multiple purposes, classification is 

helpful in future decision-making, says Trevor Cyphers, fishery biologist and head of the report’s 

environmental sections. 

“If a certain parcel of land is classified for wildlife management, ourselves or the Fish and 

Wildlife Service will try to focus on restoring native species, giving them best chance can to survive,” he said. “If an area is classified for low-density recreation, a place where there are a number 

of beaches or bike trails, that helps us determine what to do there too.”

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, requires that federal projects take 

cultural and historic resources into consideration, said Vanessa Alberto, a Corps archaeologist heading up that section of the report. The focus for the Corps when it comes to historic resources is the 

protection and preservation of resources such as shipwrecks or Native American and other historic 

artifacts. The Corps also preserves history through educational resources like interpretive panels on 

such topics as the pearl button industry, the historic locks and 

dams themselves or reminders of eras like the fur trade.

“We have information going back 13,000 years we knew 

that people were living in the area—that’s when the most 

recent glacial advance retreated,” Alberto said. “From then up 

until today, the river has continued to be used.” 

The master plan, she says, is the baseline guiding document for how the Corps manages the river and Corps-owned 

lands into the future. —K.S.

Brian Gray, Lockmaster

Lock and Dam 2 

“As a child we would go to Lake Pepin every once in awhile. I 

would see the river from the pontoon point of view. It didn’t 

dawn on me there was a towing industry; it was simply pleasure. But I’ve seen all aspects of it now.

“I became lockmaster in 2012. What strikes me most 

about my job is the technology of how this whole place was 

constructed. To have the capability of building this even 

today seems like it would be a major undertaking, but to be 

able to have done it almost 100 years ago is pretty amazing. 

And yet it’s a pretty simple operation. We just use gravity to 

raise and lower our lock chamber. 

“The towing industry runs 24:7, and we never know when 

tows will be here. There are challenges sometimes. We have 

high flows right now, and sometimes it’s hard for tows to get 

to the wall. The river wants to carry them out toward our 

dam. But it’s pretty amazing what these pilots can do. We 

can be conversing with them that whole time, and you get a 

pretty good feel for what their life is like. They work six hour 

shifts, six on and six off every day. Used to be in the day we’d 

save our newspaper and give it to them so they’d have news 

to read. Now they’re on cell phones, so it’s kind of obsolete. 

“What’s coming upriver is fertilizer, concrete material, and 

going down would be oats, corn, soybeans, oil products and 

scrap from the Twin Cities. It’s interesting, like the fertilizer 

for instance. You see it as a chemical coming up river and 

don’t think about it, but it’s critical for all the farmers in the 

Upper Midwest. You realize how important it is for the river to 

remain viable. 

“We get visitors, too. A traffic counter at our parking lot 

shows we get 50,000 cars driving down here a year. Water 

does something to people, and you never know what you’ll 

see. Eagles are here. Heron. You see otter once in awhile and 

some mink. Or you’ll see a coyote going across the ice, or an 

eagle catching fish and flapping wings across the water to 

get it to shore.

“Right now, My Mississippi is the reason I get up in the 

morning and come in here every day. It’s a challenging job, 

and I love it. I love the fact I can be outdoors and combine the 

beauty of the river with actually doing my job. I’m a lucky guy.”

MyMISSISSIPPI

Keeping the river natural

Master plan manages the tricky 

play/protection balance 

Master plans help keep the river attractive to both wildlife and the people increasingly drawn to the 

Mississippi for recreation.

FOR MORE: 

mvp.usace.army.mil/

UpperMississippiRiver

MasterPlan/

CONTACT: 

UMRMasterPlan2019@

usace.army.mil 

ourmississippi.org 9
OUR MISSISSIPPI KIDS

Can you see 

the dino

in that bird?

Look more closely at the next bird you see heading 

down the Mississippi River flyway, and you might be 

getting a glimpse into the ancient past. Experts say that 

dinosaurs almost all had bird behaviors. Fossils from 

the Archaeopteryx (the oldest known bird, shown in 

a 3D rendering at right) show marks left by feathers, 

and experts have correlated bird behaviors with many 

other dinosaur species. Plant-eating dinosaurs would 

feed young for several weeks so they could grow from 

their birth size of 16 inches to four feet before leaving 

the nest. The remains of two carnivores found since 

their remains were buried in a sandstorm found them 

in the position still of brooding eggs on their nest—just 

as birds do. From eagles to hummingbirds, birds are 

the most successful and varied branch of the dinosaur 

family. SOURCE: BIRDS OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND 

DRIFTLESS AREA (STORIES FROM BIG RIVER MAGAZINE).

How to make a bird feeder at home!

Pinecone bird feeder

What you need

Pinecones

Nut butter or vegetable shortening

Bird seed mix 

Twine, string, or yarn

Instructions

• Clean your pinecone by shaking off any dirt or 

broken bits. Tie a long piece of twine or string 

to the base of the pinecone. It should be long 

enough to hang the pinecone from a tree 

branch or porch. Smear the outside of the 

pinecone with nut butter or vegetable shortening. Try to get it inside all the gaps!

• Pour bird seed mix into a shallow container. 

Then roll the covered pine cone in the bird 

seed mix. 

• Hang the bird feeder from a tree or from your 

porch. (Avoid using very thin string, such as fishing 

line, to tie up your bird feeder because it can create a 

tangling hazard for birds.)

• Watch for birds visiting your feeder! 

Citrus Bird Feeder

What you need 

Citrus fruit like oranges or 

grapefruit

Bird seed mix

Wooden skewer

String or twine

Instructions

• Cut the citrus fruit in half and 

scoop out the fruit, leaving 

only the rind intact. It should 

look like a small bowl. 

• Poke three evenly spaced 

holes along the upper edge of the citrus half, and loop 

long pieces of string or twine through the holes. 

• Poke the skewer through the citrus horizontally to 

create a perch for the birds.

• Fill your bowl with bird seed mix. Keep your string out of 

the way so you don’t accidentally bury it under seed!

• Hang your bowl outside from a tree or other structure. 

• Watch your feeder for birds throughout the day—especially in the mornings and evenings as birds are more 

active during these times. 

Send us pictures of birds at your feeders!

editor@ourmississippi.net

Can dive at speeds 

up to 100 mph

Cleans itself with mud, 

dances and bugles 

Snares prey by walking 

slowly or standing still 

for long periods of time

Archaeopteryx, 3D rendering

Great Blue Heron Bald Eagle Sandhill Crane

Match the dinosaur-like 

bird with a key feature of its 

modern-day behavior.

10
OUR MISSISSIPPI TRAVEL

On stage at Club Ebony in Indianola, Mississippi, 

with the image of B. B. King grinning over 

his left shoulder and a few hundred admirers 

sitting within 20 feet, Christone “Kingfish” 

Ingram belts the blues. A Clarksdale, Mississippi, 

native who is barely two decades old, is the upand-coming bluesman who is reviving the Delta blues while his 

career explodes simultaneously. His head shuffles from shoulder 

to shoulder while his guitar and voice howl and groan the stories 

of the Delta. 

At a time when the blues might be considered a dwindling 

genre, heat is rising in Mississippi thanks in part this Clarksdale 

native and to the Mississippi Blues Trail. 

“So many blues lyrics are personal expressions of direct experiences with what life throws at you,” states Greg Johnson, Blues 

Curator at J.D. Williams Library in University, Mississippi. “The 

river symbolizes so much to folks in the Delta. It’s still a force to 

be reckoned with.”

See how the river and the blues are intertwined as you explore 

more then 200 trail markers in Mississippi alone noting artists, 

clubs, historic events and more along the Mississippi Blues Trail, 

starting with The Gateway to the Blues Visitor Center in Tunica. 

There you get an overview of the trail—and the genre itself. 

“The museum serves to educate the blues historian and the 

blues novice on the history and the origin of the music that was 

developed out of the cotton fields of the region,” says Webster 

Franklin, president of the Tunica Convention and Visitors 

Bureau. 

If there ever was a city rooted in the blues, though, it is 

Clarksdale, Mississippi. Tagged “Home of the Blues,” Clarksdale 

promises live music 365 nights a year in venues like New Roxy, 

Levon’s Bar and Grill, Ground Zero, and the legendary Red’s Juke 

Joint promising cold beer and sizzling blues from local favorite 

Lucious Spiller. 

Thanks to the music, this once dying town is experiencing a 

renaissance. From the Crossroads (Highways 61 and 49) where 

Robert Johnson sold his soul 

to the devil for guitar prowess to New Roxy’s tale of Sam 

Cooke being born close by to 

the Riverside Hotel (once the 

hospital for blacks) where 

Empress of the Blues Bessie 

Smith died after a car accident, the city tells each story 

proudly. Downtown accommodations like Travelers 

Hotel as well as the rural 

Shack Up Inn let you lounge 

in history while restaurants 

like Hooker Grocery, Abe’s 

BBQ, and Our Grandma’s 

House of Pancakes fuel your 

body and fill your soul. 

But you might say it all started—as B.B. King exclaimed—at 

Dockery Farms in Cleveland, when Charley Patton’s moved there 

to work as sharecroppers and the redefine the delta’s gift with a 

voice that would be as mighty as the river. 

Patton’s gruff, loud voice established the cathartic 

blues sound as the river carried him away from the 

working plantation life and directed him toward joot 

joints (now called juke joints) along the river’s cities, 

where drinking, dancing and relaxing were key. The 

blues became a soundtrack of expression, where lyrics 

and melodies captured the suffering, anguish and hopes 

of the sharecroppers. His most popular song “High 

Water Everywhere” mourned the Mississippi River 

flood of 1927. “The water at Greenville and Leland, it 

done rose everywhere,” he sang. “I would go down to 

Rosedale, but they tell me it’s water there.”

Others would continue the legacy. South to Indianola at the 

B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center, you learn 

of King’s beginnings in the cotton fields, his days at KWEM in 

Memphis and his road to being named the King of the Blues. 

Pay your respects at his burial site, just outside the museum, and 

finish the night at Club Ebony where King played as a young man.

This night, it is the young performer Kingfish on stage, the one 

many believe will reinvigorate the blues scene with his dazzling 

guitar and gut-wrenching vocals. He affirms 

the claim of Johnson, the blues curator, that as 

long as young audiences keep re-discovering 

the blues, it will never die and the future is 

wide open. —J.G.

Festivals not to miss 

September 20

Mississippi Blues Festival, 

Greenville, Miss.

October 17-20

Deep Blues Fest & Delta Busking 

Stages DEEPBLUESFEST.COMOctober 

17-19

Mississippi Delta 

Tennessee Williams Festival 

DELTAWILLIAMSFESTIVAL.COM

December 6-7

Burdine’s Blues & Greens Festival 

at Shack Up Inn BBGFESTIVAL.COM

April 16-19, 2020

17th Juke Joint Festival 

JUKEJOINTFESTIVAL.COM

Follow the 

river-inspired 

blues trail

ABOVE: “Kingfish” Ingram performs at Club Ebony, one treat awaiting on the Mississippi Blues Trail. RIGHT: Lucious 

Spiller plays at Red’s in Clarksdale. BELOW: More iconic trail stops.

FOR MORE: 

msbluestrail.org

ourmississippi.org 11

BLUES TRAIL PHOTOS: SEEING SOUTHERN PHOTOGRAPHY.
Welcome the new 

Commander

Maj. Gen. R. Mark Toy is the 

newest commander of the 

Mississippi Valley Division 

of the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers. Toy took command in late July from Maj. 

Gen. Richard G. Kaiser, 

who has been assigned 

as Deputy Commanding General for the U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers in Washington D.C.

Toy, highly decorated for both his domestic and military posts, comes to Vicksburg from Cincinnati, Ohio, 

where he most recently served as commander of the 

Corps’ Great Lakes and Ohio River Division. During that 

assignment, he was temporarily deployed to Kabul, 

Afghanistan, where he led a task force comprising Army 

Corps personnel and the Joint Improvised Explosive 

Device Defeat Organization. He previously had served 

several posts, domestically and abroad.

As MVD’s 40th commander, Toy will be responsible for the Corps’ water resources programs in a 

370,000-square-mile area that includes portions of 

12 states.

In addition, Toy will be president-designee of the 

Mississippi River Commission, the presidentially 

appointed agency that oversees the comprehensive 

Mississippi River and Tributaries flood control and 

navigation project, as well as the entire Mississippi 

River and its tributaries.

Record flooding crushes 

duration records 

The entire Mississippi River basin flooded this year 

in what Jared Gartman, chief of readiness and 

contingency for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

Mississippi Valley Division called a “total system 

flood” that crushed records for duration on much 

of the river and had caused $2 billion in damages by 

just the end of March. That doesn’t include the cost 

of repair of the more than 30 levees damaged along 

the river. 

Gartman joined river mayors with the Mississippi 

River Cities and Towns Initiative in a summer press 

conference to discuss the unprecedented impacts. 

The flood fight was the longest on record for New 

Orleans at 240 days of active flood fighting by just 

June, and water levels didn’t start falling until July 29. 

In that district, the Corps opened the Bonnet Carré 

Spillway twice for the first time since its construction 

in 1931. Impacts, though, were spread up and down 

the river into towns like Alton, Illinois, where floods 

idled some 700 workers, and Greenville, Mississippi, 

where 14 sewage pump failures in impoverished 

areas created havoc. The single bright spot was 

the cooperation across levee districts as well as 

volunteerism. 

“This is a great example of the Midwest,” said 

Mayor Frank Klipsch of Davenport, Iowa, Co-Chair of 

the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative. “All 

people are coming together to not only help with the 

immediacy of the problems, but then redoubling their 

efforts to help people get back into their businesses.”

TNC tool targets 

restoration priorities

With limited funding for restoration, coupled with 

growing needs, decision makers look to find the spots 

where their work will have the greatest impacts on 

areas like wildlife habitat, flood risk and wildlife quality. The Nature Conservancy is helping out with a new 

interactive, web-based and data-driven tool that seeks 

to identify such places in the Mississippi River Basin.

TNC’s tool draws upon a recent TNC analysis 

of comprehensive flood risk to allow users to interactively choose subsets of data layers of interest to 

them and view the resulting effects on the portfolio of 

priority sites identified throughout the basin.

The tool couples potential flood event impacts 

with other data to identify priority floodplains for 

conservation or restoration.

The tool also integrates spatial data depicting 

current and likely future development in floodplains 

to project estimated flood damages and population exposure. It also estimates potential losses to 

flooded agricultural lands and soon will also include 

information about projected changes in rainfall intensity, duration and frequency, and social vulnerability. 

Officials say the tool will be most useful when applied 

in partnerships with local planners and decisionmakers; TNC currently is working with a U.S. Army 

Corps of Engineers-funded Silver Jackets Flood Risk 

Management process in Missouri to identify land for 

purchase for flood protection purposes.

PRSRT STD

U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

GREENVILLE, MI

PERMIT NO. 338

Scan here with your smartphone to go to the Our Mississippi website. Here, 

you can subscribe to our e-edition, read past editions and find river-related 

education materials.

Send story ideas to editor@ourmississippi.net

Contributors this issue:

EDITOR/LEAD WRITER

Kim Schneider

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Diane Kolak

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Leslea Haravon Collins

Debra Dietzman

Rick Stoff 

Janis Turk

This newsletter is a quarterly update of ongoing efforts in the Mississippi 

River Watershed and does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Army.

Mailing list changes:

Andrea Sterling, 651-290-5664

To read online:

https://www.mvd.usace.army.mil/Media/

Publications/Our-Mississippi/

Click “Subscribe here” to subscribe via email.

Insiyaa Ahmed, St. Louis, Mo. 

636-899-0076

Vanessa Alberto, St. Paul, Minn. 

651-290-5388

Kevin Bluhm, New Orleans, La. 

651-290-5247

Elizabeth Burks, Memphis, Tenn. 

901-544-0761

Katelynn Dearth, St. Louis, Mo. 

636-899-0086

Angie Freyermuth, Rock Island, Ill. 

309-794-5341

Questions or Comments:

U.S.A.C.E. REGIONAL OUTREACH SPECIALISTS

US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul

PM-E Sterling

180 East Fifth Street, Suite 700

St. Paul, MN 55101