Mississippi River's low water level reveals shipwreck
A shipwreck has emerged along the banks of the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as water levels plummet — threatening to reach record lows in some areas
BATON ROUGE (AP) — A shipwreck has emerged along the banks of the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as water levels plummet — threatening to reach record lows in some areas.
The ship, which archaeologists believe to be a ferry that sunk in the late 1800s to early 1900s, was spotted by a Baton Rouge resident walking along the shore earlier this month. The discovery is the latest to surface from ebbing waters caused by drought. During the summer, receding waters in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area revealed several skeletal remains, countless desiccated fish, a graveyard of forgotten boats and even a sunken World War II-era craft that once surveyed the lake.
“Eventually the river will come back up and (the ship) will go back underwater,” said Chip McGimsey, the Louisiana state archeologist, who has been surveying the wreck during the past two weeks. “That’s part of the reason for making the big effort to document it this time — cause she may not be there the next time.”
McGimsey believes that the ship may be the Brookhill Ferry, which likely carried people and horse-drawn wagons from one-side of the river to the other — before major bridges spanned the mighty Mississippi. Newspaper archives indicate that the ship sank in 1915 during a major storm.
