St. Francis River/Hardin Cutoff/Whitehall Crevasse

St. Francis River/Hardin Cutoff/Whitehall Crevasse. Mississippi River Walk. , A) St. Francis River , Mile 672.0 AHP, Rising in the southeastern Missouri hills, the St. Francis River flows roughly parallel to the Mississippi River for 475 miles to its mouth. The first Frenchmen to explore the lower river were well received by the Arkansas Native Americans who lived near the mouth of the St. Francis River. In the early 1800s, a large tangle of driftwood blocked the river, making long distance navigation impossible. The barricade probably resulted from trees toppled into the river by the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811-1812. The driftwood was finally removed, and the river opened to boat traffic during high water. Log towing is not the only commercial traffic. The St. Francis basin is rich farming country, but was long subject to flooding. The Wappapelo Dam now controls its headwaters, and a 300-mile levee system protects the surrounding farms. , B) Hardin Cutoff , Mile 678.0 AHP, In 1933, the Corps of Engineers launched a navigation improvement project that resulted in 13 artificial cutoffs in the river between Memphis, TN and Baton Rouge, LA. The last of these opened in 1942 at Hardin, where the river meandered as much as ten miles east of the current channel. The Hardin Cutoff removed OK Bend from the river, now known as Tunica Lake. A boiler explosion on the steamer, Pennsylvania, occurred here in 1858. This explosion resulted in the death of 160 people, including Henry Clemens, the boat's clerk. Henry's brother Sam, the boat's cub pilot was not on board. Thus, Mark Twain was saved. , C) Whitehall Crevasse , Mile 680.4 AHP, The levee break just below Whitehall, AR was one of 13 major crevasses in the great flood of 1927. After the river broke through, the gap grew to a width of 2,400 feet. The Whitehall Crevasse was not expected, and many area residents were forced to take refuge in trees and on housetops. Some waited days for rescue. After the 1927 flood, it was estimated that 330,000 people had been rescued from such perches along the river, and that 700,000 had been forced to evacuate their homes.