Joe & Isaac's Adventure: Episode 3 - Chapter 5

The floodwall at Vicksburg is painted with detailed murals depicting the city's history.

Vicksburg was our next gas stop and our return to civilization. The east bank of the river is again bordered by high bluffs beginning at Vicksburg and continuing, on or near the river, to Saint Francsiville, then tapering off down to Baton Rouge. Nearly two hundred river miles from the Gulf, Baton Rouge is the last high ground. We had to wait in Vicksburg for our gas to arrive by truck so we walked into town to pickup a few supplies and eat lunch. I got a new hat and Isaac picked up a few more canned hams. We stopped for lunch at The Burger Village Restaurant on Washington Street. I ordered beans and rice while Isaac ordered a burger. The beans were exceptionally good. While we ate an old man came into the shop and went behind the counter to the cash register. He was still there when we went to pay our bill. I complimented him on the beans saying that I could tell they were made from scratch and not with a can opener. Turns out he was the owner of the shop. He was eighty two and he told me with a tear in his eye that the beans were indeed made from scratch exactly as his wife had made them. It was her family recipe. She had passed the month before and in fact we had walked into the shop on its first day reopening after her loss. The restaurant had been hers he told me, but he was determined to keep it open in her memory. So with a tear in my eye I walked with Isaac back to the waterfront.

Vicksburg is a strange place. The town is a victim of its location and its history. That the town is there is no surprise when you examine the area's geography. For over two hundred miles below Memphis the river flows through a huge expansive flood plain. Until the arrival in 1935 of the modern levee system this flood plain was unfit for settlement. (Some argue it's still a bad bet to live there as the levees are sure to fail yet again. Like they did in '73.) At the confluence of the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers two hundred foot high bluffs again buttress the east bank of the river. There is no more obvious place in the entire lower valley for the placement of a town and/or fortifications. Vicksburg's location is obviously strategic. Likewise the Mississippi is obviously strategic and so Vicksburg's early history is predominately a tale of who was seizing the town in any given decade. Everybody took multiple turns at it -- the English, the French, the Spanish, the local populace, and the Americans. But it was during the Civil War that Vicksburg finally realized its geographic destiny. Control of the Mississippi was essential to winning the war and control of Vicksburg was essential to control of the river. From May 22nd until July 4th 1863 the Confederate troops repelled all attempts by General Grant to take the city. The bombardment of the city was nearly continuous so that hardly a building was left standing. Surrounded and without food, the surrender of the Confederates was inevitable. Vicksburg fell as Lee was repulsed at Gettysburg and the war entered its final stage.

Today Vicksburg is the site of The Vicksburg National Cemetery and National Military Park. The National Cemetery overshadows the city such that a visit to Vicksburg feels like a visit to a Civil War museum. The city is effectively a large display case for canon balls, artillery pieces, gunboats and statues and memorials to those who were killed on those blood stained bluffs. So many died in such terrible fighting that one hundred and fifty years is hardly enough time to wash away the stain, and the horror that was once Vicksburg remains an undercurrent to daily life. As a visitor to the city I can never sufficiently suppress that undercurrent and soon a chilly morbidity seizes me. I often end my visits to Vicksburg in tears. Vicksburg also confuses and astounds me for I have never been able to understand those who derive enjoyment, pride, I don't know what, from visiting war memorials. I look around the cemetery at smiling happy tourists and laughing children and I cry that much more.

We left Vicksburg without enough fuel to make it to our next stop at Donaldsonville. We'd have to carry our gas cans into town or spend a couple days floating with the current. Natchez was about one hundred miles down river, but there was no place there to beach or tie up the boat. Across the river however in Vidalia Louisiana we found a sandy beach just south of the bridge. Isaac and I knew that there were gas stations on the main street in town so we loaded up four empty cans on our luggage carriers and hiked off over the levee. It was between one and two miles into town. We filled up our cans at the local Texaco and were about to head out when a pickup truck pulled into the station. I approached the driver with an offer to pay him for a ride back to the boat. Jay Hamilton, once he understood our situation, was happy to give us a lift free of charge. As we drove back to the boat we explained what we were doing and Jay was very enthusiastic. He thought it was a great adventure. He asked us what we were going to do with the boat once we'd made it to the Gulf and we explained that we would try and sell it. I told him only half-jokingly that if we couldn't sell it I was prepared to punch holes in the pontoons and push it out into deep water. Back at the river Jay took a tour of the boat. He asked us what we hoped to sell it for and I gave him a figure. Right there he told us to consider it sold. He gave us his card and told us to call him when we were ready to go home and he'd come pick it up.

Old River Control was our next milestone and an end to the State of Mississippi. Once past Old River we'd have Louisiana on both banks. We were into the home stretch -- Baton Rouge and the Cancer Alley gauntlet and we'd be in New Orleans. As we motored into Baton Rouge we saw our first ocean-going ship. We'd seen them before on road trips to the region, but now we would have to share with them what all of a sudden looked like a very narrow river. They're an amazing sight to see on the water and from the water. We were at the entrance to Cancer Alley or The Chemical Corridor; pick the name that best suits your politics. For two hundred miles inland the Mississippi remains deep enough to allow these giant ocean-going tankers passage. Taken as a whole it's the largest seaport in the world. Dozen's of ships each day load or unload their cargos directly at the backdoor of oil refineries and chemical plants that line the river without interruption from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. It is an awe inspiring and frightening sight to behold. It overwhelms with immensity.

Across the river from Donaldsonville just south of the bridge is Weber Marine. They're a business that operates boats and heavy equipment on the river. They're also nice enough to allow travellers like ourselves to tie up at their facility. Thank you Weber Marine! Right across the levee there's a gas station -- it's about a fifty yard walk. We arrived in the early evening just before closing time. We couldn't stay on the boat so we called Wayne's taxi service for a ride into town. Wayne showed up promptly and immediately took an interest in our expedition. When he learned that we were interested in the history of the river, Wayne started to drive us around on a little tour. Wayne was a native old enough now to have a very respectable collection of stories to tell. He took us to where he had grown up and learned to swim in the river. He took us to see plantation homes and new development. It was great because Wayne knew all the interesting details about what we were seeing. When the bridge entered our discussion I told him I was aware that it had been named for Jimmy Davis, Louisiana's singing governor. Jimmy is in the Country Music Hall of Fame for among other things his campaign song You are my Sunshine.(It's The Sunshine Bridge.) Jimmy was governor of Louisiana twice. In both cases he ran as a reformer. I told Wayne I knew Jimmy had run against Earl Long, Huey's brother, and mentioned that Louisiana had had more than its fair share of corrupt politicians. Wayne's comment was, "Yeah and our present governor is in jail right now, and I'll tell you, if he runs for office when he gets out we'll elect him again." Wayne was referring to Edwin Edwards who got ten years for extorting a quarter million dollars from riverboat casino owners. You gotta love Louisiana. Politicians across the country are thieves and scoundrels, but still we behave as though we expect they're honest. In Louisiana they have a more realistic attitude, as Wayne said about their incarcerated governor, "He was good for the state."