Long-term readers may remember my 2010 post on the brick Lassiter Warehouse on Levee Street. This was the last example of this type of commercial warehouse that once lined the Yazoo canal and Vicksburg waterfront. It was partly dismantled to recycle the bricks, and now the shell stands empty and unused.
The casino just to the south is also closed. The barge is still in its artificial cofferdam lake, but the aerating machines are not running and the water is getting fetid. The property opened as Harrah's in November, 1993. It became Horizon in 2003 and was then sold to Delta Investments in 2010. As usual, fate unknown.
A good sign is the visit of the American Queen on May 17, 2012. The American Queen was launched in 1994 and may be the largest steamboat ever built (I assume this means river paddle boat). This vessel and two other others, the Mississippi Queen and the Delta Queen, were regular visitors to Vicksburg before the 2008 recession. The Delta was a classic wood steamboat, originally outfitted in Scotland and operated on the Sacramento River in California for decades. The original operator filed for bankruptcy and the American Queen was taken over by the U.S. Maritime Administration. The current owner, Great American Steamboat Company, bought it from the Maritime Administration and recommissioned it. We are glad to have her back.
The floodwall has a new mark painted on it to commemorate the record high water from the flood of 2011. This 2011 article provides some background to water levels and what the numbers mean. This article shows how the City of Vicksburg blocks the roads when the river level reaches the floodwalls.
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