Land & Conservation

When the Mississippi Isn’t Mighty

A photographer captures the downstream effects of a historic drought

The Mississippi River, like all rivers, is an ever-changing tableau. In the drier fall months it recedes, sometimes exposing a border of fresh sand, while spring rains and snowmelt send it spilling into the surrounding floodplain and, not uncommonly, the communities beyond. But even those who live along the waterway have marveled at the scenery wrought by recent months of historically dry weather: From Missouri to Louisiana, broad beaches have emerged on the river’s shoreline along with the odd shipwreck and Civil War artifact. Meanwhile, barges carrying the fall harvest of America’s breadbasket have run aground or languished in crowded ports.

At the peak of the crisis in October, more than three thousand barges were stalled along the river to the tune of billions of dollars in losses. Thanks to ongoing dredging efforts, they are now flowing again, albeit with lighter loads. It’s uncertain whether winter will bring replenishing rains, but the long-term forecast promises more frequent extreme weather. Shaped as it is by levees, locks, dams, and other feats of engineering, the Mississippi River is a constant reminder of nature’s upper hand.

Photographer Rory Doyle lives in the heart of the Delta near the riverside town of Greenville, Mississippi. Three years ago, Greenville withstood five months of continuous flooding, eclipsing a record set in 1927. This fall, the farming community and its busy port have endured the extreme drought. Last week, Doyle set out to document the drought’s impacts on the landscape and on those who rely on the river for their livelihoods.

Photo: Rory Doyle

Near the Port of Greenville, barge towboats pass by a stretch of revetment—a concrete mat installed by the Corps of Engineers for erosion control—that is typically submerged. 


Photo: Rory Doyle

The Mississippi River is a vital commercial artery, moving some 60 percent of the country’s soybean and corn exports, among other commodities. Historically low water levels have led to weight restrictions on barges amid the existing global food and supply chain crises. Here, a barge (center) assembles its cargo as as another barge passes.


Photo: Rory Doyle

Barges wait to be loaded in an abnormally crowded back channel of the river. Tommy Hart, the director of the Port of Greenville, says drought-induced restrictions on barge capacity have caused the port’s costs to surge. “When you load the barge half full, you still pay the entire barge cost. Then you rent another barge for the other half—well, that rent has now increased because of demand,” he says. “You can see how it gets real expensive.”


Photo: Rory Doyle

Starved of oxygen, Asian carp and other fish die off in a receding pond on batture land—the land between a river and a levee.


Photo: Rory Doyle

Normally swampy batture land near the levee in Greenville is cracked and dry.


Photo: Rory Doyle

Fisherman Greg Dycus throws a silver carp back into Lake Lee, an oxbow lake off the Mississippi River. When the river is low, so are the oxbows: “The fish have less than half the space they normally have to swim around in,” he says of the current situation. “It makes the fishing easier, but the boat ramps are falling apart.”


Photo: Rory Doyle

Dycus unloads a haul of buffalo fish at his family’s fish house in Greenville. Though he primarily works the area’s oxbow lakes, he sometimes fishes on the river in the winter. That’s not an option now. “There’s nowhere to fish that’s not in the main channel,” he says.


Photo: Rory Doyle

The Dycus family has relied on the Mississippi River for seven generations. After Greg brings in the catch, his mother, Mary Dycus (right), and her husband, Steven Dycus (left), process the fish to be sold.


Photo: Rory Doyle

Greenville resident James Baldwin owns a trucking company that hauls grains—mainly soybeans, corn, and wheat—from area farms to the port. During peak harvest, the barge backup caused long delays for truckers at the grain terminal. “We sat in line for nine hours for one load,” he says. Because he pays his drivers per load, he ended up losing five of his seven drivers over the course of the season. “They needed the money, and I couldn’t afford to pay them.”


Photo: Rory Doyle

The drought also forced Baldwin to downsize his fleet of hopper trailers from ten to five. “Last year wasn’t a great year—the funny thing is we got a lot of rain,” he says. “But this year is just wild. I need to try to go in a different direction.”

 

 

Rory Doyle contributed to this story.


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