How Deep Is Mississippi River? @SVSeeker question

I got a new customer job to install secondary power to a beer barge. It was planned for boats leaving the marina up the Wolf River channel to stop by this barge and purchase their beer and ice for the day. In order to get secondary cable down to this barge a heavy duty lift pole was required. The question was "Where to set said pole on the waterfront?" This pole was necessary to span the secondary cables from a riser pole on the bank near Riverside Drive to this pole and the customer's secondary cable would tie into this cable at this proposed pole. The customer's cable had to be long enough to allow the beer barge to move in and out with the river rising and falling. The distance the barge would travel horizontally and vertically would vary with the rise and fall of the river. So, I called the Corps of Engineers and got the record low for the River at Memphis. With that information in hand, I sent a survey crew down to the waterfront to stake out the new pole halfway between high and low records. A class 1- 75' pole was set in 9 yards of concrete. It would have to be strong enough without stays or guy wires to handle all the weight of the able put upon it regardless of where the beer barge was due to the river stage. Well, the job was done late that spring after the spring rise had come and gone. That summer the Mississippi River set a new low and the beer barge wound up resting on the mud!

LOL! LOVE IT! And you're right, it's not an easy answer. Thank you for taking the time to answer it.

Thank you, Capt Kyle. Very interesting. A timely subject for sure.👍👍😎🇺🇸

Hey cap thanks for the videos . Me and my son look forward to them

Thanks Capt Kyle, really enjoy your videos

One of the best books on the Mississippi River was written by Mark Twain. Life on the Mississippi about when he was a river boat pilot.

Good video Kyle. It's interesting and something I've wondered myself. Thanks for the explanation.

My picture of what happens in a river like the Mississippi is that the bottom of the river probably resembles sand dunes progressing with the river current, moving a tremendous amount of sand in bed-load every second. A dune top that may be safely below the draft of a tow will not be if the river level drops enough. That dune-top has become a sand-bar. Maintaining navigation on any of the rivers has to be a constant challenge, especially one as dynamic as the lower Mississippi.

Like the question asked at Starved Rock Lock & Dam, before I retired, when we were in flood. What is the river going to do? My answer was it's going to go as high as it's going to go and then go down, and then try to explain what we were seeing on the gauges. Our gauges were so sensitive that during slack water times you could see the tiny rise when Marseilles Lock dropped their pit. Now with remote gauges and satellite receivers, you can get a better feel for what is going on.

Funny you get the same questions from people. When we here in europe have low water, the news always rever to kaub gauge. They freak out when it says 40cm (1 foot something), say that you can cross the river by foot😂. Unfortunately at 40cm our barges can still run 150cm deep (5ft), and the river will be even way deeper in some spots. But every year its the same story.

Another cool video! Can you recall what type of depth readings you see off the French quarter in new Orleans? I've read that it can be very deep there but curious what vessels see when transiting through there. Thanks for all the great vids!

The answer to that question is , when I drag bottom, not deep enough.

How Deep is the Mississippi? ALLLL the way to the bottom my man ... all the way.

Like to see a tow building and why you build it the way you do thanks

At the crescent city wharf in the 1970s it was over 300 feet deep Dauphine st.wharf

It’s so deep it goes all the way down to the ocean 🌊 . LoL 😂

thanks for posting capt

River depths are variable! So, it would be interesting to know the depths at a sampling of places along the course of the Mississippi on a given date knowing that those numbers might change from day to day.

Good answer.

Thanks Captain Kyle.