What a difference a river makes.
As the contractor continues to make significant progress in clearing the roadway alignment on both sides of the Mississippi River, it’s now easy for me to imagine what the drive will feel and look like when the project is complete in 2010.
One would imagine that on a 14-mile project, there would be little change in scenery and topography. While that notion may hold true for a majority of highway construction projects, that’s not the case for this project.
The West Feliciana side of the river offers many steep and rolling hills along the approximate 3.5 miles of alignment from U.S. 61 to the river. And for those of you who travel U.S. 61 and pass the project’s construction entrance, those hills are not visible. However, for those of you who reside or have visited St. Francisville, you know they are there. After all, that’s one of the area’s most acclaimed characteristics and attractions.
When I first visited the construction site several months ago with a fellow employee, the roughly cleared path to the river presented us remarkable hills and valleys that residents are not used to seeing in Louisiana. It was challenge for us but an adventure that I will never forget.
You may wonder why I say, “What a difference a river makes.”
Once you cross the ferry from West Feliciana to Pointe Coupee, everything changes! The topography transitions from hills and valleys to nearly flat. Lands used for extensive cattle grazing become rich and fertile soils ideal for sugarcane and cotton production. Where the river bluff provides flood protection to West Feliciana, an extensive levee system is utilized in Pointe Coupee.
Each of these differences can be explained and each relate to the land’s close relationship—since the beginning of time—to the Mississippi River. Where the great river has carved out a magnificent bluff on its east bank, it has laid thousands of acres of productive soil on the west bank.
This phenomenon is not unique to New Roads and St. Francisville or to the Mississippi River. It holds true for hundreds of towns and communities along all rivers. It is an interesting characteristic, however, that is often overlooked yet so important to our history and landscape.
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