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It is early spring in 1844, and the rains have come heavy and often. The keelboat Forlorn Hope, roughly 50 feet long and 16 feet wide, just arrived in the rough and tumble river town of Memphis with a load of 83 gales of cotton.
The arrival in Memphis of a boat like this may not sound like an unusual occurrence a century and a half ago. What made it unusual was that the keelboat began its journey to Memphis not from Paducah or New Madrid on the Mississippi River, but from Moscow, Tennessee, just over 70 miles up the Wolf River in Fayette County.
Anyone looking at the Wolf River today would find it hard to believe a vessel of that size could have ever made such a journey. "Headcutting," a widening and deepening of the channel, now erodes the banks in many places. In other areas, the sediment from ban kerosion accumulates and threatens to clog the river. The current eats away at the bank, causing the river to run faster and faster, and the faster it runs, the more bank is eaten away, and the destructive cycle is perpetuated. The force of the fast-moving water also threatens to undermine several highway bridges and utility lines spanning the river.
As the river speeds toward its confluence
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with the Mississippi River at Memphis, surrounding wetlands which are seasonally flooded are drained of water much too quickly, and wildlife species depending on these wetlands are deprived of their natural habitat and food sources.
In the upper reaches of the river, agricultural practices such as clear cutting timber and farming adjacent to the river bank, have also caused sediment to move and accumulate in the channel. Over time, this clogged tributary streams, further reducing fish and wildlife habitat, and filled wetlands with sediment.
Encroaching urbanization changes in land use and the presence of easily eroded bank soil have all combined to cause serious problems. By the early 1900s increased run-off and water quality problems associated with urbanization within the Wolf basin made it clear to residents of Shelby County and surrounding counties that the Wolf was in trouble.
Ironically, the source of these problems began with the best of intentions. For generations, seasonal flooding along the Wolf River plagued Shelby County residents. Croplands were often inundated. Homes filled with water and families endured devastated financial and personal losses. |
Responding to the dilemma, Congress authorized and funded a flood control project to protect the lives and livelihoods of the people along the river. In 1964, they directed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come up with a solution. Applying standard flood control procedures of the day, the Corps channelized a 22-mile stretch of the river through Shelby County.
The channelization took a lazily meandering river that slowly carried floodwaters away, and transformed it into a much straighter waterway capable of handling far greater quantities of runoff water.
The Corps even moved the mouth of the Wolf River north of its original location to carry away floodwaters more efficiently. Thanks to the work, residents along the Wolf River said good-bye to most of their seasonal flooding woes.
The Corps' work significantly shortened the river. After the channelization was completed, the small community of Moscow, once located at river mile 70.65, found itself at river mile 56.(continued...) |
