No skyline shots here.. All taken west of the Mississippi River in the state of Louisiana. Shot about one week ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fascinating photos! That's a lot of water, added to a place that's already wet.

 

The most striking image, IMO, is the pipeline bridge across the river. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, there.

I think the aerial of the barge fleet is the Ingram fleet in Reserve, LA.  The reason I say that is there is an ocean-going vessel having coal offloaded just upstream of the barges, and when I worked there there was a ship being offloaded in that exact position relative to the barge fleet.  Also, the tug appears to be Ingram's colors.  If so, I've possibly been on that exact tug, since I trained as a deckhand in this location for four or five days. 

I think the aerial of the barge fleet is the Ingram fleet in Reserve, LA.  The reason I say that is there is an ocean-going vessel having coal offloaded just upstream of the barges, and when I worked there there was a ship being offloaded in that exact position relative to the barge fleet.  Also, the tug appears to be Ingram's colors.  If so, I've possibly been on that exact tug, since I trained as a deckhand in this location for four or five days. 

 

I sort of envy you that experience, but I doubt I ever would have had the physical strength and stamina for it. I've watched barge tows locking through on the Ohio River, where they had to break a tow and make two passes. Those guys worked hard and moved fast, and it looked like there was a high potential for getting killed by one false move. There's tremendous tonnage on motion, and it doesn't change speed or direction very easily.

Thanks for posting these.  I had been searching for photos of the Atchafalaya Valley after they opened the Morganza spillway and found nothing.  I had been reading the New Orleans Times-Picayune every day: www.nola.com

 

They opened the Morganza spillway last Saturday, IIRC.

Breaking the tow while heading through locks is relatively easy, since there is a pattern to it, and there's a bit of waiting around.  If you are the novice deckhand, you have the easiest job, which is climbing the ladder to the top of the lock chamber and basically catching the line they throw and putting it on the mule, which pulls the whole tow through with a cable-driven device on a single railroad track. 

 

The really hard work is at these fleets, which are essentially railroad yards.  This is where the huge tows are assembled, and the crews work 12-hour shifts.  The way it worked, from what I remember, is that you worked five 6am to 6pm "watches", then five 6pm to 6am watches, then you had five days off. 

 

Assembling those big tows could take about an hour per barge because even after you have the whole thing together *then* you double it up, which means you put a second set of cables on EVERY connection.  The mate would lay out the rigging in the pattern he wanted (a mix of empty and loaded barges could make it very complicated), then it was the job of the lesser deckhands to tighten the ratchets.  It usually took five or more minutes to tighten each ratchet, and on a 15-barge tow there would be maybe 40 or 50 of them.  A lot of times the tow would get underway to its destination while you were still tightening the second set of rigging. 

 

Yeah I was on there once when cables broke, and it sounded like a shot gun.  When it happens at night you actually see a big spark.  Basically if you are nearby when it happens you die instantly.   

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, most of the pictures are from the Atchafalaya basin. The spillway pictured is the Old River Control system, just north of the Morganza Spillway. The Morganza was opened to relieve the pressure on the Old River Control, and looks very similar, albeit longer overall.

Wow, just incredible.

Oh wow, thanks for posting these.  What an incredible set.  I think they tell the story far better than any news channel can.  Those barges btw are huge!!!