Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana)

Pearl River
The Pearl River in Hinds County, MS
Origin	Neshoba County, Mississippi
Mouth	Lake Borgne
Basin countries	U.S.
Length	444 miles (715 km)
Source elevation	400 feet (120 m)
Basin area	8,760 square miles (22,700 km2)

The Pearl River is a river in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Louisiana. It forms in Neshoba County, Mississippi from the confluence of Nanih Waiya and Tallahaga creeks. It is 444 miles (715 km) long. The Yockanookany and Strong rivers are tributaries. Northeast of Jackson, the Ross Barnett Reservoir is formed by a dam. The lower part of the river forms part of the boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana.

Pearl River towns

The Pearl passes near or through the following towns (in order, north to south):

• Philadelphia, Mississippi
• Pearl River, Mississippi - Named after the river.
• Carthage, Mississippi
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Flowood, Mississippi
• Pearl, Mississippi - Named after the river.
• Georgetown, Mississippi
• Rockport, Mississippi
• Monticello, Mississippi
• Columbia, Mississippi
• Bogalusa, Louisiana
• Picayune, Mississippi
• Pearlington, Mississippi - Named after the river.
• Pearl River, Louisiana - Named after the river.

Pearl River navigation

West of Picayune, about 50 miles (80 km) above the mouth, the river forks. The East Pearl River empties into Lake Borgne where the dredged Pearl River Channel meets the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The discharge flows eastward past Grand Island through St. Joe Pass and into the Mississippi Sound. The West Pearl River, on the other hand, flows into The Rigolets, thence into Lake Borgne. Both discharges eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico. The Pearl River serves as the 115-mile (185 km) boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana in its lower reach near the Gulf of Mexico.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has undertaken three significant navigation projects in the Pearl River Basin. In 1880, Congress authorized a 5-foot (1.5 m) navigation channel on the West Pearl River from Jackson to the Rigolets. That project was discontinued in 1922. Beginning in 1910, a channel was dredged from the mouth of the East Pearl River into Lake Borgne, a project which is maintained on an irregular basis. In 1935, the West Pearl River Navigation Project was authorized. It provided for a navigation channel from Bogalusa to the mouth of the West Pearl River. The project includes a canal with three locks. The Corps of Engineers placed the project in "caretaker" status in the 1970s because of a decline in commercial traffic. Maintenance dredging resumed in December 1988.

In the 1950s, underwater concrete sills were constructed to help maintain water levels in the navigation channel. This has prevented Gulf sturgeon and other migratory species from accessing upstream areas. A rock ramp constructed in 2003 helps fish navigate over one of the sills, but environmental groups propose further work to mitigate the effects of the navigation project.

Hurricane Katrina damage

Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 caused extensive damage in the Pearl River. Bottom sediments and marsh vegetation—including uprooted cypress and oak trees—blocked the mouth of the West Pearl and other parts of the channel, preventing navigation and diverting flow. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and other agencies removed 27,000 cubic meters (35,000 yd³) of debris.

In popular culture

The journalist and poet Pearl Rivers and the country music band Pearl River named themselves after this river. In wrestling, Ahmed Johnson's finishing maneuver was known as the Pearl River Plunge.

See also

• 1979 Easter flood

External links

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Pearl River
• Heinrich, P. V., 2005, Contrasting Pleistocene and Holocene Fluvial Systems of the Lower Pearl River, Louisiana and Mississippi, USA. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 2, p. 41.
• Heinrich, P. V., 2006, Pleistocene and Holocene Fluvial Systems of the Lower Pearl River, Mississippi and Louisiana, USA. Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions. vol. 56, pp. 267–278. (Contains geologic map of Lower Pearl River Valley)
• Heinrich, P. V., R. P. McCulloh, and J. Snead, 2007, Bogalusa 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle. Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• Heinrich, P. V., R. P. McCulloh, and J. Snead, 2004, Gulfport 30 x 60 minute geologic quadrangle. Louisiana Geological Survey, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.