The Flood of 2019 (Part 2), the Yazoo Backwater near Redwood, Mississippi

This is Part 2 of our article about the 2019 flood in west central Mississippi. In the previous article, we covered the inundation in the area around Vicksburg, which is directly affected by the level of the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers. Here we will look at the flooding that occurred north of the Steele Bayou flood gates.

Yazoo Backwater (from NOAA)

The Yazoo Backwater is the area of the Mississippi Delta that is north of the Steele Bayou floodgate. As I wrote in the previous article, if heavy rail has fallen in west central Mississippi, the water heads south through creeks and bayous, eventually into the Yazoo River and then to the Mississippi River. But levees line the Yazoo River, and if the Mississippi River elevation is high, the US Army Corps of Engineers closes the Steele Bayou gates and the local drainage has no way to escape into the Yazoo River. The result is varying degree of inundation in the area shown in gray on the map.

MS route 465 just west of US 61, Redwood, Mississippi, March 13, 2019 (Kodak Ektar 25 film, 250mm Sonnar lens)

Eagle lake is an oxbow lake in the southern part of the Yazoo Backwater. It is the blue crescent at the lower left in the gray area. The residents were told to evacuate in January. But many decided to stay in their homes and tried to hold back water with sandbags. One of my friends lives there and said convicts were brought in to help with sandbagging. She cooked meals for all the workers.

Hunting camp on stilts off US 61 near MS 465 turnoff, March 14, 2019 (50mm Distagon lens)

In March, this elevated mobile home was visible from a dirt road, but now the foliage is too thick.

Hendricks Lane off Floweree Road, March 14, 2019 (80mm Planar lens)

Farm shed, Perry Circle off Floweree Road, Redwood (photograph from former railroad embankment, 80mm Planar lens)

Morning Star MB Church, Floweree Road (80mm Planar lens, polarizer)

Tree trunk, Floweree Road, March 15, 2019 (80mm Planar lens, polarizer)

Floweree Road is a U-shaped road that takes off from US 61 just north of the turnoff for MS 465. It was an interesting road to bicycle in January because of the water all around. We saw a dead boar being eaten by vultures. Presently (June 6, 2019) Floweree Road is completely inundated and impassible by cars. All the scenes above are at least 1-2 ft deeper in the water now. The railroad once ran near Floweree Road, and many farmers parked farm equipment up on the embankment.

House and flooded car, US 61, Redwood, March 29, 2019 (Fuji Acros 100 film, Voigtländer Vito BL camera, 50mm f/3.5 Color-Skopar lens, yellow filter)

Inundated house, US 61, Redwood, March 29, 2019 (Acros film, Vito BL, GGr filter)

Mobile home and almost-safe vehicles, US 61, Redwood, March 29, 2019 (Acros film, Vito BL, GGr filter)

Cars parked along US 61 for safety, near Floweree Road, Redwood (Acros film, Vito BL camera)

Farm off US 61 near Floweree Road, Rdwood (Acros film, Vito BL, yellow filter)

This has been a quick look at the scene off US 61 (the Blues Highway) near Redwood, Mississippi. I will continue this 2019 flood topic the next article.

From the archives: Country Stores, Roosters, and other Oddities

Dear Readers, I recently found in my too-many boxes a plastic slide holder with some slides that I sent as a submission to Leica Fotografie International. They never published my essay and returned my slides, but I never got around to filing them away. I decided to scan them first and show you some samples. Store fronts and home-made signs have always interested me. They demonstrate merchants advertising their wares and trying to attract customers, a form of folk-art. So here we go, in chronological order, but no specific geographical order.

Front Street, Morgan City, Louisiana (Leica IIIC, 5cm f/2.0 Summitar lens)

Front Street, Morgan City, Louisiana (Leica IIIC, 5cm ƒ/2 Summitar lens)

In the early 1980s, I worked for a marine geotechnical company. We had steamed (dieseled) in to Morgan City after a couple of weeks offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. I had never been to Morgan City before and found the floodwall a convenient viewpoint of the old downtown.

Jerry's, Corpus Christi, Texas (Rollei 35S, 40mm ƒ/2.8 Sonnar lens)

A relative lived in Corpus Christi, and this pottery company offered a wealth of garden art. I should have bought that pink donkey, or maybe the leopard.

Galveston, Texas (Leica M3, 50mm ƒ/2.8 Elmar-M lens)

Hurricane Alicia was a powerful hurricane that caused major damage in coastal Texas in August of 1983. We drove to Galveston to see what had happened. Many cottages on the beaches had been damaged, but others, like this beach shop, were intact.

Bremond, Texas (Rollei 35S, 40mm ƒ/2.8 Sonnar lens)

Bremond was a typical agricultural/cattle town northwest of Houston. Even in the 1980s, many of these small towns were quiet, with closed stores along the main strips. That is when I first became interested in photographing urban decay. Bremond looked like it was doing a bit better than many other Texas towns, but I have no idea of its status now.

Mendenhall, Mississippi (Olympus OM1 camera, 35mm ƒ/2.8 shift lens)

In 1990, on my way to Mobile, I decided to stop in Mendenhall and look around. There was an old theater/cinema in reasonably sound condition near the courthouse. Do any readers know if the theater is still existent? (Update: the building burned down)

Rooster-mobile, Mary Esther, Florida (Olympus OM1, 35mm ƒ/2.8 shift lens)

Mary Esther, Florida, had a rooster car, as well as some pig- and cow-mobiles. And the rooster was built onto an old Chevrolet El Camino. Maybe I should have offered to buy it and drive it home to Vicksburg. El Caminos now fetch serious prices (and a rooster may enhance the value).

Crossroads store, Reganton, Mississippi (Leica, 50mm ƒ/2.8 Elmar-M lens)

The venerable Crossroads store is on Old Port Gibson Road in Reganton, near the Big Black River, about 20 miles south of Vicksburg. I have visited on an off over the years, most recently in 2018.

Biloxi, Mississippi (Leica M3, 50mm lens)

Before Hurricane Katrina, US 90 along the shore featured many beachy shops, including this pink palace. But I prefer the gorilla on Alberti's Italian Restaurant. I wonder if he swam to safety in Katrina?

Snuffy Smith's, Wilmer, Alabama (Leica M3, 50mm lens)

Snuffy Smith's antiques and gasoline was a famous landmark on Moffett Road in Wilmer, Alabama. Classic folk art - I stopped several times to photograph. But the last time I drove through Wilmer, I did not see Snuffy's. Is it gone, or did I just drive by too quickly?

Original Oyster House, Gulf Shores, Alabama (Leica 50mm lens)

The Original Oyster House, as I recall, had excellent seafood (and alligator, if you were interested), along with condiments from Greece. I assume the owners were Greek, which usually bodes well for a restaurant. Is this still existent?

Santa in Seminary (Nikon F3, 50mm ƒ/1.8 Nikkor lens)

Finally, the well-traveled Santa Claus comes to Seminary via tractor. Good choice in a farming community.

Madison St. (Old Hwy 80), Bolton, Mississippi (Leica M3, Kodachrome film)

Well, Santa can relax with a brew or a Bud at Mack's Cafe in Bolton.

This is the end of our short random tour of southern stores, rooster-mobiles, and other oddities. All photographs were from Kodachrome film, mostly K25. Using Kodachrome was a bit clumsy because you needed to mail the exposed film to one of the few processing laboratories in the United States that could handle the highly specialized processing and dye chemicals. The ISO 25 emulsion was unsurpassed in grain size and resolution. Also, Kodachrome had excellent archival properties when stored in the dark in reasonable climate control. As you can see, the examples above scanned well and the colors are still vibrant.

Sadly, Kodachrome manufacture ended in 2009, after 7 (seven) decades of production. The last processing was in December of 2010 at Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kansas. The movie, "Kodachrome," is about this last processing and a road trip to Parsons. In the poster, you can see that Ed Harris is wearing a Leica.

From the Archives: Tourist Pics of Vicksburg, Mississippi 1985-1992

While looking through a box of old negatives, I saw a film from my 1985 job-hunting trip. At the time, I lived in Houston, Texas - absolutely flat and topographically boring. But Vicksburg was an interesting place, with its history and its setting on the bluffs above the river. Not knowing if I would move here, I took snapshots around town. This will be a quick tour of some of the places a new resident might see. 

Driving from the east, many visitors first see the Big Muddy from the Mississippi Visitor Center. The scene is timeless - these photographs could be 1985 or 2019. I had driven here from the west and had therefore crossed on the I-20 bridge from Louisiana. In the late-1980s, the old bridge was still open to car traffic.

Walking on the Old Mississippi River Bridge, Kodak Stretch camera

By 1990, as I recall, the old bridge had been closed to traffic, but pedestrians could walk on it. This is a negative from a Kodak Stretch, which was a single-use (i.e., disposable) camera which purported to be a panorama format. That was deceptive: it had a 2-element, 25mm f/12 lens lens that projected onto a narrow strip of the 35mm frame, about 13×36 mm. However, I am surprised how well the Kodak Gold 200 film did with this crude lens. The APS film system also tried this fraud: the so-called panorama was just a thin strip in the middle of the frame. The entire frame was exposed but the processing lab automatically printed the thin strip.

Mississippi River north of the old bridge, Kodak Stretch camera

Mississippi River Bridges, Vicksburg, Fuji GW690II camera

The view from the overlook north of the Visitor Center is different now because the Ameristar Casino is in the foreground at the river's edge.

Mississippi River, Kodak VPS film, Rollei 35S camera, 40mm Sonnar lens

This is the bend in the Mississippi where the Yazoo Canal comes in from the north.

June 1991 view of former Vicksburg Hospital, Fujichrome 50, 4×5" Tachihara camera, 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens

View north from Vicksburg Hospital, Ektar 25 film, Fuji GW690II camera, 90mm lens

In the 1980s, the old Vicksburg hospital was a concrete shell, standing where the police department is now located in a modern building. The view north to the City Hall and Post Office was rather boring. The architectural abomination on the right is now BancorpSouth Bank, but I am not sure what it was called in the 1980s.

Continuing north, this is a view of Clay Street at the intersection with Monroe. The Aeolian Apartments in the upper center were still rented as apartments in 1992.

This is Walnut Street looking north. I am not sure which of these houses are still extant.

Washington Street view south, Rollei 35S, 40mm Sonnar lens

Grove Street from Washington Street, Rollei 35S, 40mm Sonnar lens

Velchoff's Corner Restaurant & Miller's Still Lounge formerly occupied the building at the corner of Washington and Grove Streets (Summerlin and Summerlin 1995). I only ate there once and cannot remember when it closed. Look up Grove Street and you can see a car repair shop on the left. That building is gone, and again, I do not recall when it was demolished. The lot on the left was once occupied by the Masonic Temple, which was torn down in the mid- or late-1970s.

In front of the 61 Coffeehouse, view north, December 2018, Ilford Delta 100 film, Voigtlander Vito BL camera

61 Coffeeshop, 35 mm f/3.5 Super-Takumar lens, Pentax Spotmatic camera

Today, the corner building houses Attic Gallery and the 61 Coffeehouse. Daniel Boone runs 61 and provides the best coffee in town (except at my house....). And he employs charming coffee ladies. Look north along Washington Street and you see a building in the distance. Decades ago, this was a club and various other businesses.

Washington Street, Kodachrome 25 slide, Pentax Spotmatic camera, 150mm f/4 Super-Takumar lens

No. 913 Washington Street was once an automobile showroom. The second building, possibly a 7-Up bottling plant at one time, was unceremoniously demolished by City of Vicksburg in 2007.

Washington Street, Fujichrome 50 film, 4×5" B&J camera, 20" lens (presently the site of the M/V Mississippi on land)

The 1985 photographs are from Kodak VPS color negative film using a Rollei 35S camera. Its 40mm f/2.8 Sonnar lens was top quality for such a compact camera.

References

Summerlin, C. and Summerlin, V., 1995.  Traveling the Trace: A Complete Tour Guide to the Historic Natchez Trace from Nashville to Natchez. Rutledge Hill Press, Nashville, Tennessee.

UPDATE 2021. Here is a photograph on the Mississippi River Bridge during the 2021 Bricks & Spokes bike ride. This is one of the few times that the bridge is open to the public. It is fun to bike over the river.

Vicksburg in the Fog/Mist 2018 (Tri-X film in Hasselblad)

Walnut Street with St. Paul's Catholic Church and USACE Mississippi River Division office, 50mm Distagon lens.

Old Court House Museum from Relax Inn 4th floor, 250mm lens.

Winter is the best time to wander around Vicksburg and take photographs. The light is soft, the temperature reasonably comfortable, and the results look different than the normal bright sunny day snaps with harsh shadows. One misty day last January, I loaded some Tri-X 400 in the Hasselblad and wandered around town.

Walnut Street, view north from Relax Inn, 50mm Distagon lens. 

The manager of the Relax Inn generously let me take my tripod and camera up to the 4th floor balcony. There is a good view of the Old Court House Museum from there, and I was testing my new/old $87 250mm Sonnar lens. For the views of Walnut Street, I leaned out over the edge of the balcony wall and held the camera sideways. With the Hasselblad's waist-level finder, you can still see the ground glass while holding the body out to the side.

Clay Street, Vicksburg

Clay Street drops downhill quite steeply from the intersection with Cherry street. The ugly white slab on the right is the Thomas Building, which seems to be perpetually for rent. For some reason, it is a troubled or unusable building.

A two-floor asbestos-clad house sits next to Stouts Bayou at 900 National Street. The house has been empty for years. The open windows are a bad sign.

Vicksburg Southern Railroad tracks at Haining Road, 250mm Sonnar lens.

Vicksburg Southern Railroad tracks view south from Haining Road.

Haining Road leads to the Port of Vicksburg and crosses the railroad tracks at the junction with North Washington Street. The buildings on either side are part of the Anderson Tully wood mill, which now has a new owner.

Vicksburg Southern Railroad tracks view north from Ford Road. (Kodak Panatomic-X film (expired 1989), 250mm Sonnar lens, March 2018).

This is an March view of the tracks north of the Anderson Tully complex.

Grammer Street, Vicksburg, 250mm Sonnar lens

Finally, here are the remaining shotgun houses on Grammar Street. Once, both sides of the street (alley) were lined with these cottages, but most have been demolished over the years. In a previous post, I showed scans of Kodachrome slides from the 1990s and early 2000s.

We will look at more Vicksburg scenes in future posts.