The Pearl River is a major river in Mississippi, not that anything travels along it, it is not a navigable river by most means, but it is part of our heritage. The river flows from Winston County all the way through the capital Jackson, and down through Terry (where this photo was taken) until east of Picayune where it spits into two before finally meeting the Gulf of Mexico. Sometime in the 1960’s the river just north of Jackson was dammed creating the Ross Barnett Reservoir with it’s famed 105 miles of shoreline created for recreation, and somehow flood control… however the flood control never fully worked. Easter 1979 the upper Pearl river was inundated with water, and it washed over it’s banks, many businesses in down town Jackson were flooded as well as in most cities down river, the reservoir flowed over, and many feared that the huge earthen dam would fail washing everything down stream away, this did not happen, and eventually the river returned to normal… but most who were here do remember the Flood of ’79. The river still maintains it’s flood cycle despite the reservoir, and many new “Flood Control” plans are underway to help illeviate the problem…but with recreation still being the main focus, is it really worth it?
This is a rare sight in Mississippi, very rare indeed; and I apparently missed most of it by an hour. I’ve only seen snow maybe a dozen times in my entire life and the most I have ever seen was 7 inches on January 1, 2001. So needless to say I was surprised to walk out my front door and see about an inch of snow on the neighbors roof, and on mine and my room-mates car.. I love it!!!
The Pearl River is a major river in Mississippi, not that anything travels along it, it is not a navigable river by most means, but it is part of our heritage. The river flows from Winston County all the way through the capital Jackson, and down through Terry (where this photo was taken) until east of Picayune where it spits into two before finally meeting the Gulf of Mexico. Sometime in the 1960’s the river just north of Jackson was dammed creating the Ross Barnett Reservoir with it’s famed 105 miles of shoreline created for recreation, and somehow flood control… however the flood control never fully worked. Easter 1979 the upper Pearl river was inundated with water, and it washed over it’s banks, many businesses in down town Jackson were flooded as well as in most cities down river, the reservoir flowed over, and many feared that the huge earthen dam would fail washing everything down stream away, this did not happen, and eventually the river returned to normal… but most who were here do remember the Flood of ’79. The river still maintains it’s flood cycle despite the reservoir, and many new “Flood Control” plans are underway to help illeviate the problem…but with recreation still being the main focus, is it really worth it?