High Water Again: 2020 in Redwood and Eagle Lake, Mississippi

Flood Notes

Residents of the southern part of the Mississippi Delta (not the geologic delta in the Gulf of Mexico, the flat alluvial plain in west central and northwest Mississippi) remember the flood of 2019. The water rose and stayed up, month after month. Thousands of deer and other forest animals died. Crops were delayed or not planted at all. Houses were inundated for months. The Corps of Engineers closed the Steele Bayou flood gates for months, and water in the Yazoo basin rose and rose. It was a messy scene.

Comparison of 2019 and 2020 river level measured at the Vicksburg gage (from US Army Corps of Engineers at https://rivergages.mvr.usace.army.mil/

Unfortunately, 2020 saw another flood. It was shorter but still a mess for residents of the lower Delta. The plot above shows the river level measured at the Vicksburg Gage (they spell it "gage"). The 2019 high water lasted almost four months. While 2020's peak was shorter, it was almost as high at 50 ft. Note that the Corps of Engineers defines flood stage as 43.0 ft.

February 27, 2020 satellite view of lower Mississippi River valley from NASA Earth Observatory. The lower Yazoo basin is the blue region near the center of the frame.

The NASA Earth Observatory published the satellite image above on February 27, 2020. "..the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the NOAA-NASA Suomi NPP satellite acquired an image showing high water along the lower Mississippi, Pearl, and Pascagoula rivers, among others." The Yazoo Basin is the triangular area in the center of the frame, where the Yazoo River flows into the Mississippi.

Eagle Lake

The residents of the little town of Eagle Lake were inundated for weeks in 2019. Many of the homes and trailers became uninhabitable. In December, group of volunteers called Team Rubicion helped demolish houses at no cost to the residents. Most of the members were veterans.

Eagle Lake on a foggy morning is peaceful and scenic. You can hear the ducks and other waterfowl in the distance.

These photographs are from Shell Beach Road. The Rubicon group was efficient in helping tear down damaged structures. But a friend from Eagle Lake told me that months afterwards, the piles of debris were still there and the county had not sent any trucks to take the junk away. I am not sure of the resolution.

Redwood and Floweree Road

Floweree Road on an overcast day (Moto G5 digital file)

Floweree Road is off US 61 north of Redwood. In 2019, I took photographs of flooding on and around the area. My wife and I biked there several times. This year, I returned with my Tachihara 4×5" camera and Tri-X film. This was in April, but there were no other people about and it was not hazardous re. the virus.

These are all Tri-X frames taken with a 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens with yellow or green filters. Click any picture to expand to 1600 pixels wide.

Tar shingle house, US 61 (Tri-X film, 135mm ƒ/4.5 Xenar lens, GGr filter)

This little shack is at the junction of US 61 and W. Deer Creek Road. It is faced with old-fashioned asphalt tiles (similar to roofing tiles). I have photographed it before, but this year, it looks distinctly more fragile or decayed.

The square photographs at Eagle Lake are from Kodak Panatomic-X film exposed in my Rolleiflex 3.5E camera with 75mm ƒ/3.5 Schneider Xenotar lens. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi film scanner. The photographs from Floweree road are from 4×5" Tri-X film, most with a 180mm Caltar lens.

Weekend in Vienna - from the Archives 1979

Many years ago - a previous life - I took the train from Vienna to London en route back to USA. I had spent seven months in southern Europe, and it was time to return to the US. My original plan was to take the train all the way from Athens, but at the last minute, I bought a cheap student air ticket to Vienna and bypassed the long and questionable train ride through Yugoslavia. 

It was March, winter, the best time to tour a city like Wein, when the cultural season is in full swing. I took a few frames with Kodak Tri-X film using my Nikkormat FTn camera. I can't recall who developed the film, but it is a mess of scratches.

Dorky American traveler in the Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna

Schönbrunn Palace Glorietta

Schönbrunn gardens, 28mm ƒ/3.5 Nikkor lens

Schönbrunn gardens, 28mm ƒ/3.5 Nikkor lens

Vienna is full of astonishing cultural and artistic treasures - churches, palaces, statues, concert halls, and museums - remnants from the glorious years of the Hapsburg Empire.* And it looks amazingly good. It is not an urban decay place. The photographs above are from the Schönbrunn Palace, the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers.

The Karskirche is a Baroque church located on the south side of Karlsplatz. It is a curious architectural mixture of ancient Greek and Roman elements with Byzantine, Renaissance, and Baroque styles. Vienna is full of sights like this.

Photograph of Strauſs from https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8453822q/f1.item

Vienna is the city of music. Here is Johann Strauſs the Younger (1825-1899). You see him all over town, along with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Joseph Haydn, Antonio Vivaldi, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Antonio Salieri, and Franz Schubert also spent time in Vienna.

Staatsoper from the student ticket section

As I noted above, European cities are rewarding in the off season, when cultural events are in full swing. As I recall, I bought a student ticket at the Weiner Staatsoper and had to stand in the upper balcony for a 5-hour performance of Tristan und Isolde. Note how in those days I traveled with a suit and neckties. That is how you dressed in a city. Not only that, back then, gents wore a suit on the airplane, and ladies were similarly properly attired. Today, we have become swine, especially Americans.

In the future, you will see more photographs from the archives. Despite the flaws in these 1979 negatives, the data is still there. Will our digital files be readable (or even last) 40 years? Think about it - you already know the answer.....

* My grandmother told me she remembered visiting Vienna with her sister when it still was Hapsburg. It is amazing how many changes have occurred in one century.

Demolition Pending: 2-Story 1920s (?) House, 900 National Street, Vicksburg, Mississippi

900 National Street from bridge crossing Stouts Bayou (Hasselblad 50mm Distagon lens, Kodak Tri-X film)

A 2-story asbestos-clad house at 900 National Street has been unoccupied for many years. It has a relatively new steel roof, so it has not obviously suffered the water damage and rot that destroys most abandoned Vicksburg houses. But the windows have been open or rotted, and vines have crept up and into some rooms. Someone does periodically cut the lawn, sort-of.

A February 18, 2020, article in the Vicksburg Post stated that this was one of three blighted houses in town slated for imminent demolition.

The house was clad with asbestos shingles, which were popular in the 1920s and later. The shingles hold paint well, do not rot, resist vermin, and resist fire from external sources, meaning embers from fires. During the turn of the century, many homes in Vicksburg heated with coal. Embers often went up chimneys and landed on roofs. Asbestos shingles solved the hazard of roofs and siding catching on fire.

National Street is pretty grungy now. It is an example of the urban decay I see in so many USA towns and cities - our race to the bottom. As of July 2020, the 2-story house was still standing. Possibly the Covid virus disrupted the City's plans regarding blighted properties, or possibly someone bought the house and promised to make repairs.

1920s concrete bridge over Stouts Bayou, National Street

Stouts Bayou view north from National Street (Olympus Trip 35, Kodak TMax 100 film)

Stouts Bayou flows through Vicksburg. It was partly channelized in the 1930s as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. It has received minimal maintenance since then.

I took the four 2019 photographs with Kodak Panatomic-X film with my Hasselblad 501CM camera, tripod-mounted. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film in XTOL. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner.

Update Jan. 2022: The house is still standing. A nearby resident told me that she had not. seen any activity there for years.

Update Jan. 2023: Someone is doing some minor repairs. Some of the windows have plywood panels over them.

More Scenery in South Jackson: East Rankin Street

Canadian National rail line, view south from E. Rankin St., Jackson, MS (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 250mm ƒ/5.6 Sonnar lens)

Over the last few years, I have been exploring the industrial area in east Jackson. As a follow-up, during the winter of 2019-2020, I wandered around East Rankin Street with my medium format cameras. Jackson never disappoints regarding dumpy places to photograph. This part of town was once industrial, but today, many of the warehouses are unused, and I see little evidence of a revival.

There are a number of car repair shops off Rankin, some in business, some comatose. This place repairs the classic square Volvos.

Town Creek, Jackson, Mississippi (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, yellow filter) 

Near State Street, a bridge carries E. Rankin Street over Town Creek. The waterway is revolting, with trash, debris, and stagnant water. A 2013 article in Jackson Free Press described some plans to make the water course a recreational asset for the city:

Many see Jackson's multiple creeks as nothing more than drainage ditches. They are undevelopable space offering only the threat of flooding, bank caving and snakes. Other cities, however, are increasingly recognizing the value that urban creeks can offer as parks, recreational corridors, and in improving water quality and environmental health. 

Town Creek stretches from northwest Jackson (through the heart of the proposed "Medical Corridor"), past the Jackson Zoo, to where it flows under downtown Jackson, day-lighting again just to the south of the Mississippi Museum of Art. Numerous planning sketches have been drawn for the downtown portion of Town Creek, stretching from the art museum to its confluence with the Pearl River. The future of the "Town Lake" and "River Walk" portions of the creek, however, are largely tied to flood-control planning along the Pearl.

 

Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) advisory map for Town Creek, 12 Dec. 2014.

This map from MDEQ shows Town Creek in central Jackson.

Town Creek from E. Rankin Street (Moto G5 digital file)

Auto Platinum, a now-defunct car shop, backs up to Town Creek. These two cars are Cadillac Allanté coupes. These were 2-seaters with bodies made in Italy and final assembly in USA. Platinum must have intended to restore and sell them, but now they sit forlorn and lonely in the grass.

State Street view north, Jackson, Mississippi (Panatomic-X film, Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar, yellow filter)

We reach State Street, a major north-south road which eventually connects with US 80 and I-20 a short distance south of the Rankin intersection. State Street is pretty grim in this area. Auto Platinum had an interesting sign with a Corvette perched on top. The fiberglass body was light weight, so a suitable item to perch on a billboard.

State Street view south, Jackson, Mississippi (Panatomic-X film, Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar, yellow filter)

This was once car dealership row. The Paul Moak Volvo dealer was formerly across the street, but they moved to a new shop next to I-20 many years ago.

This has been a very brief view of parts of south Jackson. We will continue our survey in the future. For more articles about Jackson, type "Jackson" in the search box.

On the Dixie Overland Highway, Historic US 80 - Vicksburg area (MS-04)

R.H. Henry Bridge, Big Black River, Bovina, Mississippi (Fomapan 100 Classic film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm Distagon lens) 

In the previous article, I explored US 80 (formerly the Dixie Overland Highway) in west Jackson. Proceeding west, US 80 went through the town of Clinton and eventually to Vicksburg. It then crossed the Mississippi on the old Mississippi River bridge (now closed to traffic). Once Interstate 20 was built in the 1970s, part of 80 disappeared, and the route is no longer continuous west of Clinton. But from Edwards west, you can still drive on 80 as it crosses the Big Black River and cuts straight through the loess bluffs. Here are some photographs from US 80 east of Vicksburg.

Colored Motel, US 80 east of Mount Albans Road (expired Kodak Ektar 25 film, Hasselblad 501 CM camera, 50mm Distagon lens)

This is the former Colored Motel on US 80. In the 1980s, a sign above the building still showed the name, and somewhere I may have a Kodachrome slide. Regardless, the motel has been unused for 4 decades and the jungle is slowly engulfing the buildings. The pink paint on the stucco walls was rather cheerful and warranted some color frames.

Aluminum Fiberglass lady, somewhere on US 80, Vicksburg (4×5" Tri-X film, 180 ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens) 

The aluminum fiberglass lady was so sweet. She was always impeccably dressed. She never objected to having her portrait taken. She was quiet. And then she went away without a word. I did not record the address in 1989 and do not know exactly where she stood, but I hope she proudly graces another home now. If any of you readers recognize her, please let me know.

UPDATE: This may be the former Miss Uniroyal, also known as the Uniroyal Gal. Amazing, she once lived in Vicksburg! Please see the last comment from a reader below. 

Oops, minor problem, US 80 (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens, yellow filter)

Just west of Mount Albans Road, the soil under part of the roadbed washed out during the January 2020 rains (rain fell for a solid month). As of May 2020, the MSDOT highway department is in the process of purchasing land and settling contracts for the repair.

Pinewood Motel, US 80, Vicksburg (Tri-X film, 180mm ƒ/5.6 Caltar IIN lens)

A short distance west, closer to Vicksburg, was the former Pinewood Motor Court. I took pictures there over the years and wrote an article about the Pinewood in 2019. Preservation Mississippi covered the Pinewood in a 2014 article. I included a 2006 photograph to remind you what the old motel looked like. As of early 2020, all the buildings have been demolished because the site may be used for a new Warren County jail.

No more pecans here, Hwy 80, Vicksburg (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM, 50mm ƒ/4 Distagon lens)

A long-unused steel warehouse sat on the south side of the road adjacent to the Pinewood. At one time, it may have been a car repair shop as well as a pecan shed.

The junk pile was pretty trashy. A few friends like the pickup truck perched on top of a Honda.

Some abandoned houses/trailers are in the woods south of the road. Once the foliage comes out in spring, they are hard to see.

A driveway drops down into a gully and leads off to a house somewhere. I liked the old real pickup truck.

Shed off US 80 near Anderson Road, Vicksburg (Kodak Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501 CM camera, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar-CB lens, green filter)

Once you reach the junction of 80 and MS 27, the scene becomes totally boring strip America, with gas stations and cheesy strip malls. It is un-photogenic. From here, Clay Street leads downtown, but there is no real US 80 connection to the old Mississippi River Bridge any more.

We will close with a photograph of the old Mississippi River Bridge in 1993 during construction of the Ameristar Casino. The company had to install a serious amount of geotechnical protection to reinforce the bluff and stabilize the road leading down to the casino. By 1993, the old bridge was already closed to car traffic. It may, one day, become a walk and bike trail. I wrote about 80 in east Louisiana in an earlier article (please click the link).

This ends our survey of US 80, the former Dixie Overland Highway, in Mississippi. Thank you all for riding along. Standby for more coverage of 80 in Louisiana.

On the Dixie Overland Highway, Historic US 80 - west Jackson, Mississippi (MS-03)

Hideaway Club, 200 Oklahoma Street (Hasselblad 501CM camera, 80mm ƒ/2.8 Planar lens, Kodak Panatomic-X film)

Introduction

Dear Readers, I have written about US 80, formerly known as the Dixie Overland Highway, before. I covered it in three chunks: east Mississippi, west Mississippi, and east Louisiana. This time I will cover west Jackson between State Street and I-220.

In the post-war era, the Dixie passed south of downtown Jackson and served as a urban industrial and commercial zone. General Electric and other companies built factories there. Preservation Mississippi wrote about the Jackson Lamp and Glass Works in a 2016 article. On a recent MPB (Mississippi Public Broadcast) talk show, some reporters remembered how during the 1980s, 80 was the place to go for good restaurants and other activities. I recall a restaurant called the Green Derby.

What Happened?

Today, US 80 in west Jackson is horrifying. Hotels and motels are closed or cater to a rough clientele. Stores are shuttered. Factories are empty shells. Trashy cars crash over potholes and gaping expansion joints in the crumbling pavement. Payday loan stores occupy storefronts in seedy strip malls. Former filling stations have been converted into various functions or abandoned entirely.

Former gasoline station (possibly Pan Am or Amoco), Gallatin at Oklahoma (at US 80), Jackson (Moto G5 digital file)

Example of Pan Am gasoline station, location unknown (from 1961 MSU yearbook, provided by Thomas Rossell)

Over the years, a coworker and I both lamented the decline of Jackson. He experienced it personally, having lived in west Jackson in the 1970s and early 1980s. A pertinent article from City Journal by Aaron M. Renn, titled, "The Lifeblood of Cities," describes the decline of so-called middle neighborhoods.

"The media tend to portray urban neighborhoods as either booming gentrified districts or zones of impoverishment. Neighborhoods in between get overlooked. But these older urban and inner-suburban “middle neighborhoods” may be where the next generation of urban problems—or solutions—will be found. Cities once held vast tracts of such neighborhoods, populated by workers in manufacturing or the civil service. With what analysts call a “barbell” economy dividing increasingly into rich and poor, it’s no surprise that urban middle-class neighborhoods are feeling squeezed."

In the post-war period, especially the 1950s and 1960s, Jackson was a bustling and thriving industrial and commerce city. (So were Greenville, Meridian, and other Mississippi cities). Thousands of modest homes were occupied by traditional middle class families, where dad was the main breadwinner and mom was at home or working part-time. Former middle neighborhoods, neither slum not wealthy, went downhill when the demographics changed as a result of loss of jobs, crime, drugs, deteriorating schools, and changing social conditions.

The author noted how today, there are an increasing number of single women households, and those families are often low income. The houses are not maintained and deteriorate. Soon, the entire neighborhood looks degraded. Therefore, people with means move to the suburbs, which, in USA, means white flight to government-subsidized suburban developments (i.e., socialism for developers). The older neighborhoods are left behind with diminished tax base, crumbling infrastructure, and crime.

This is a complex topic with numerous factors at play, such as tax policy, zoning codes, subsidy of developers, political corruption, and cheap land in the far suburbs. Regardless of the reasons, we have grossly mismanaged urban and suburban growth in the United States. Many American cities look more shoddy, dirty, and dilapidated than cities I have visited in the Third World, let alone anywhere in Europe.

Former Gipson Discount grocery store, 1420 Hwy US 80 (Panatomic-X film, 80 mm Planar lens, yellow filter)

BelAir shopping plaza, 1999 US 80 (Rolleiflex 3.5E Xenotar camera, Panatomic-X film)

This sign for Bel Air has a 1960s moderne appearance. The shopping plaza is pretty seedy, and some of the stores suffered a fire in 2011. The "Land of Sleep" has been gone for decades. However, the Patel Brothers store has an excellent selection of Indian and Pakistani groceries and spices.

Jackson Southwest Hotel, 2649 US 80 (Panatomic-X film, Hasselblad 501CM camera, 50mm F/4 Distagon lens, 1 sec. exposure at ƒ/5.6)

I saw a rutted driveway that went up a hill just west of Ellis Avenue. At the top, an urban decay treasure: the former Jackson Southwest Hotel at 2649 US 80. It was horrifying. The window frames and wiring had been looted by metal scavengers. I did not venture too far into the building by myself, but the lobby was worth capturing. (Click any photograph to see the gruesome details enlarged.)

An article from WLBT Channel 3 on May 31, 2013, stated:

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - The former Holiday Inn and Jackson Southwest hotel on Highway 80 in Jackson was once a popular spot for dinners, meetings and social functions -- now it's a dilapidated eyesore. 

"It makes everything around it look like Beirut. Does this not look like somebody bombed it. People leave their properties and go somewhere else and we allow them to do this," said Nina Holbrook of the Metro Area Coalition. Many windows on the building are broken, and the 14-acre property is overgrown. Recently someone broke through the gates and thieves have been rummaging for metal and copper. 

Holbrook says the building was sold at auction to P & N Properties in Hattiesburg for about $50,000, and the owner was hoping to flip it for a huge profit, which never happened -- and now probably never will due to it's condition.

The Pearl Street AME Church purchased the wreck around 2015, but all plans for renovation have been thwarted by vandals and homeless occupants.

Former Green Derby Restaurant, at the corner of US 80 and Ellis Ave., built in 1955 in a very post-war modern architecture. Post card courtesy of Preservation Mississippi.

Best Western Metro Inn, 1520 Ellis Ave., Jackson (Panatomic-X film, 250mm Sonnar lens, yellow filter)

On the way back to I-20 via Ellis Ave, I saw another decay treasure, the former Best Western Metro Inn. The sign proudly proclaims "Gorgeous Atrium and Indoor Pool." Oops, what happened to the windows? This dump closed in 2015. WLBT Channel 3 reported on April 26, 2018:

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - Properties along Highway 80 in Jackson continue to be targeted by metal thieves. The abandoned Metro Inn on Ellis Avenue and Highway 80 is the latest property to be hit. 

Metal thieves have ripped the entire front off the rooms, including windows and doors, just to get to the metal frames. 

Thursday, people were seen loading their haul into a truck and taking it to the nearby Can Man where it appeared they received cash for the stolen metal. 

Jackson - on its race to the very bottom....

UPDATE, April 26 2021: The Metro Inn is being crunched up and demolished!  WLBT Channel 3 wrote on April 20, 2021:

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - It’s been the scene of numerous crimes and an eyesore for years, but this week the old Metro Inn is being torn down. 

It’s a sight many locals were happy to see this week. The demolition of Metro Inn on Ellis Avenue is in full swing. 

The property, which went into foreclosure in 2015, has been the sight of numerous crimes since then. Vagrants moved in tearing off scrap metal.

To see earlier articles, please type "Jackson" in the search box.

The square photographs are from Kodak Panatomic-X or Tri-X 400 film, exposed in Rolleiflex 3.5E or Hasselblad 501CM cameras. Praus Productions in Rochester, NY, developed the film. I scanned it with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner controlled by SilverFast Ai software.