Tunica Lake | |
---|---|
Location | Lee County, Arkansas Tunica County, Mississippi United States |
Coordinates | 34°39′00″N90°29′39″W / 34.650032°N 90.494303°W Coordinates: 34°39′00″N90°29′39″W / 34.650032°N 90.494303°W |
Type | Oxbow lake |
Basin countries | United States |
Max. length | 15 mi (24 km) |
Surface area | 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) |
Surface elevation | 157 ft (48 m) at normal pool |
Tunica Lake (also called Tunica Cutoff) is an oxbow lake located in Lee County, Arkansas and Tunica County, Mississippi. [1] The Arkansas-Mississippi border follows the center of the narrow, curving lake.
Prior to 1942, the north-south flowing Mississippi River curved east into Mississippi, flowed along Tunica Lake (then called "Fox Island Bend" and "OK Bend"), and then continued its north-south route.
In 1933, the United States Army Corps of Engineers began construction of 13 cutoffs along the lower Mississippi River.
Previous cutoffs had been constructed along the river, and were of commercial benefit because they allowed ships to bypass lengthy U-shaped bends. Typically, cutoffs were created by digging a channel across a peninsula, leaving the bypassed bend to form an oxbow lake.
Tunica Lake was created when the "Hardin Cutoff" was constructed across "Hardin Point" peninsula in 1942. It was the last cutoff constructed during that period. [2]
All the communities near Tunica Lake are located in Mississippi.
The present-day town of Austin was historically located directly along the east bank of Fox Island Bend. In 1884, the area was flooded when a nearby levee broke, and when the floodwaters receded, steamboats could no longer land because a large sandbar had been left between Austin and the Mississippi River. [3]
North of Austin is the community of "Fox Island".
At the northern end of Tunica Lake is a small community with cottages, fishing camps, bait shops, an RV park, and four boatramps.
A small channel at "Shoo Fly Bar" on the south end of the lake connects to the Mississippi River. This channel permits spawning fish to enter Tunica Lake, and provides recreational boaters with access to the river. The channel also causes water levels in Tunica Lake to rise and fall along with the seasonal variations in water level in the Mississippi River. [4]
Fish species found in Tunica Lake include bowfin, bream (bluegill), buffalo, channel catfish, common carp, crappie, drum, flathead catfish, gar, green sunfish, largemouth bass, white bass, and yellow bass. [5]
Although the lake can be legally fished with either an Arkansas or Mississippi fishing license, all vehicles and most recreational boats can only access the lake from Mississippi. [6]
Mississippi author Larry Brown mentioned the lake in his 2003 novel The Rabbit Factory:
It seemed his daddy had been dead forever now. He still thought about him often, though, and about the times he'd taken him fishing for fat bluegills at Tunica Cutoff. They used to catch piles of them. [7]
Mittry Lake is located in the Mittry Lake Wildlife Area, just north of Yuma, Arizona, on the Lower Colorado River. It is located in between the upstream Imperial Dam and the downstream Laguna Dam. Mittry Lake comprises about 750 acres (300 ha), with much of the shoreline covered with cattails and bullrush. The lake has undergone rehabilitation work including marsh dredging, revegetation and fish habitat improvement, making it a great location for small game hunting and sport fishing. It is public land managed by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Bureau of Land Management, and available to the public for recreational purposes.
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called resacas. In Australia, oxbow lakes are called billabongs. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether or not it is cut off from the main stream.
Lake Winnebago is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres, it is the largest lake entirely within the state, covering an area of about 30 miles by 10 miles with 88 miles of shoreline, an average depth of 15.5 feet, and a maximum depth of 21 feet. It has many shallow reefs along the west shore and a drop-off type shoreline on the east. There are several islands along the west shore.
Somerville Lake is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reservoir on Yegua Creek in the Brazos River basin, 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Brenham, Texas, United States. The town of Somerville in Burleson County is adjacent to the reservoir. The lake extends into portions of Burleson County, Washington County, and Lee County. The dam lies in Washington County. The dam and lake are managed by the Fort Worth District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The reservoir was officially impounded in 1967, and serves to provide flood control and water for irrigation for the communities downstream. Somerville Lake is a popular recreational destination.
Lake Chicot is a lake adjacent to the Mississippi River. The lake is located on the east side of Lake Village, Arkansas in Chicot County. It is not only the largest oxbow lake in North America, but the largest natural lake in Arkansas, formed 300 years ago by the meandering of the Mississippi River.
Saylorville Lake is a reservoir on the Des Moines River in Iowa, United States. It is located 11 miles (18 km) upstream from the city of Des Moines, and 214 miles (344 km) from the mouth of the Des Moines River at the Mississippi River. It was constructed as part of a flood control system for the Des Moines River as well as to aid in controlling flood crests on the Mississippi, of which the Des Moines is a tributary. The lake and dam is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District.
DeGray Lake is a reservoir on the Caddo River constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Arkansas, 8 miles (13 km) from Arkadelphia. Arkansas Scenic Byway 7 is located on the eastern shore of the lake, and provides views of the lake, and also places to stay. DeGray Lake Resort State Park was opened in 1974 to encourage tourism and recreation on DeGray Lake.
Sardis Lake is a 98,520-acre (398.7 km2) reservoir on the Tallahatchie River in Lafayette, Panola, and Marshall counties, Mississippi. Sardis Lake is impounded by Sardis Dam, located nine miles (14 km) southeast of the town of Sardis. It is approximately an hour drive from Memphis, Tennessee. The dam is 15,300 feet (4,700 m) long, has an average height of 97 feet (30 m), and a maximum height of 117 feet (36 m).
Arkabutla Lake is a reservoir on the Coldwater River in the U.S. state of Mississippi. It was created following the construction of the Arkabutla Dam in 1940 on the Coldwater River.
The Rough River is a 136-mile-long (219 km) tributary of the Green River in west-central Kentucky in the United States. It's located about 70 miles southwest of Louisville, and flows through Breckinridge, Hardin, Grayson, and Ohio counties. Via the Green and Ohio rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. According to the Geographic Names Information System, it has also been known historically as "Rough Creek". In the 1950s it was dammed, creating Rough River Lake.
Village Creek State Park is a state park in the Piney Woods of eastern Texas in the Hardin County city of Lumberton. The heavily forested, 2,466 acres (998 ha) park opened in 1994. It is named for Village Creek, a sand-bottomed, free-flowing tributary of the Neches River.
Lake Pueblo State Park is a state park located in Pueblo County, Colorado. It includes 60 miles (97 km) of shoreline and 10,000 acres (40 km2) of land. Activities it offers include two full-service marinas, recreational fishing, hiking, camping and swimming at a special swim beach.
McCook Lake is a natural oxbow lake found in Union County, South Dakota, United States, about one mile north of North Sioux City. It was formed from a "cutoff" of the Missouri River. The lake is named for General John Cook, who commanded a company of soldiers stationed there in 1862–63 following the Dakota War of 1862. When or why the "Mc" was added is unknown. Most residents are located on the north side of the lake, while land around the south side is used for farming. The Izaak Walton League, an environmental organization active in lake issues, has a clubhouse located on the lake and owns most of the southern shore.
A meander cutoff is a natural form of a cutting or cut in a river occurs when a pronounced meander (hook) in a river is breached by a flow that connects the two closest parts of the hook to form a new channel, a full loop. The steeper drop in gradient (slope) causes the river flow gradually to abandon the meander which will silt up with sediment from deposition. Cutoffs are a natural part of the evolution of a meandering river. Rivers form meanders as they flow laterally downstream, see sinuosity.
Lake Beulah is an oxbow lake located in Bolivar County, Mississippi and Desha County, Arkansas, United States. The Arkansas-Mississippi border follows the center of the narrow, curving lake.
Lake Whittington is an oxbow lake located in Bolivar County, Mississippi, and Desha County, Arkansas, United States. The Arkansas-Mississippi border follows the center of the narrow, curving lake.
Lake Washington is an oxbow lake in Washington County, Mississippi, United States.
Harbert Landing is a ghost town in Tunica County, Mississippi, United States.
Raccourci Old River, also called Old River, is a 12-mile (19 km) long ox-bow lake located in northern Pointe Coupee Parish and western West Feliciana Parish in Louisiana, USA. It is also sometimes called Old River creating some confusion with the other Old River. It encompasses approximately 4,000 acres (16 km2).
DeSoto Lake is a lake within DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, Harrison and Pottawattamie counties, Iowa and Washington County, Nebraska. The 811 acres (328 ha) lake has a maximum depth of 26 feet (7.9 m). Though it has the appearance of a natural lake it is man-made, created from a channel leading from the Missouri River in 1958.