The Homochitto River (pronounced "ho-muh-CHIT-uh") is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

in the

U.S. State In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. It flows from its

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

in southwest Mississippi for about west and south, emptying into the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

between Natchez and Woodville. According to one source, Homochitto is a

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

name likely meaning "big red".

Course

The Homochitto River originates in several headwater tributaries along the border between Copiah County and Lincoln County. It flows west and then south through the

Homochitto National Forest Homochitto National Forest is a U.S. National Forest in southwestern Mississippi comprising . In the mid-1930s, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) began reforestation of the area and developing a system of roadways and recreational areas. Ge ...

. After passing through Lincoln County the river enters Franklin County, still flowing generally south. Just before McCall Creek joins from the east, the Homochitto is crossed by two bridges, one for U.S. Route 84 and one for the

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line al ...

. Then the river begins to flow southwest, passing by the town of

Bude Bude (; kw, Porthbud) is a seaside town in north east Cornwall, England, in the civil parish of Bude-Stratton and at the mouth of the River Neet (also known locally as the River Strat). It was sometimes formerly known as Bude Haven.''Corn ...

. Below Bude the river is crossed by

U.S. Route 98 U.S. Route 98 (US 98) is an east–west United States Highway in the Southeastern United States that runs from western Mississippi to southern Florida. It was established in 1933 as a route between Pensacola and Apalachicola, Florida, and has sinc ...

. Not far below that the river is joined by the Middle Fork Homochitto River, from the north. Several miles downriver from there, the river becomes the boundary between Franklin and Amite counties, at which point it begins to flow more directly westward. On the south side the border between Amite County and Wilkinson County is located just east of the town of

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The R ...

. At Rosetta the river is crossed by two bridges, one for

Mississippi Highway 33 Mississippi Highway 33 (MS 33) is a state highway in southwestern Mississippi. It runs from north to south for and serves the counties of Jefferson, Franklin, Amite, and Wilkinson. Route description MS 33 begins in Wilkinson County at the L ...

and one for the Illinois Central Railroad. Still flowing westward, the river flows through a broad floodplain. Once highly meandering, it has been straightened and channelized to a degree. On the north side Franklin County changes to Adams County. Near the town of Doloroso the Homochitto River is crossed by U.S. Route 61. Below Doloroso the river originally flowed south, then west, to join the Mississippi River at Lake Mary, an Oxbow Lake formerly part of the main Mississippi channel. Today most of the Homochitto's water flows instead west from Doloroso, through the Abernathy Channel created in 1938 by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

. Via this route the Homochitto River enters the Mississippi River several miles north of Lake Mary.Course info mainly from http://www.topozone.com

River modification

In 1938 the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

began channelizing the river by building the Abernathy Channel, a cutoff running from the Homochitto River near Doloroso to the Mississippi River about upstream from where the Homochitto originally emptied into the Mississippi. This reduced the river's length below Doloroso from about of

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

ing distributaries to a relatively straight outlet. Additional cutoffs between Doloroso and Rosetta were constructed in 1940, reducing the river's channel by about . Other flood control projects on the lower Homochitto, completed in 1952, included the cleaning and desnagging of the main channel, as well as the excavation of more cutoffs. All these projects were for the purpose of flood control along the lower Homochitto River. They had unintended consequences, as engineers did not fully understand river dynamics when undertaking these projects. Since the channelization projects were completed, the lower Homochitto River and several of its tributaries have been degraded at an accelerated rate. The shortened channel has caused a greater streamflow velocity, increasing erosion and

scour Scour may refer to: Hydrodynamic processes * Hydrodynamic scour, the removal of sediment such as sand and silt from around an object * Bridge scour, erosion of soil around at the base of a bridge pier or abutments via the flow of air, ice, or ...

, which in turn causes bank sloughs and channel instability. Accelerated channel degradation probably began near the Mississippi River and moved up the Abernathy Channel during the early 1940s. It was noticeable at Doloroso by 1944 and at Kingston in 1947. Channel degradation at Rosetta began in the late 1940s. This acceleration of erosional channel degradation has resulted in the collapse of several bridges. In 1955 a flood washed out the old

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

bridge at Kingston, the

bridge at Rosetta, and a country road bridge on the tributary Second Creek. In 1969 a bridge on the tributary Crooked Creek was washed out, and in 1971 the State Highway 33 bridge at Rosetta was washed out. During the flood of 1974 both the State Highway 33 bridge and the Illinois Central bridge at Rosetta were washed out.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Mississippi Bodies of water of Copiah County, Mississippi Bodies of water of Lincoln County, Mississippi Bodies of water of Franklin County, Mississippi Bodies of water of Amite County, Mississippi

Course

River modification

See also

References