By David Peel
Through our modern eyes, we see the Mississippi River as wide and relatively tamed by Levees on both sides. This is a recent development, however, as the old “meander maps” of the river clearly show.
Natural rivers curve, and as they travel through the curves, the water on the outside travels faster than the water on the inside. Much like the hub of a wheel doesn’t spin as fast as the outside of the wheel. So the outside of the curve is bitten into by the river and the inside of the curve allows some sediment to settle out enhancing the curve. These curves eventually create a peninsula into the river.
Eventually, an untamed river will eat away at the neck of the peninsula until it straightens itself out again and bypasses the peninsula. In the case of the Mississippi river, when it does this quickly fills up the old inlet with silt and creates what is known as an oxbow lake. The lower Mississippi Valley alone boasts over 1500 of these lakes.
But what happens when there’s a border that is the center of the River channel and it moves? The center of the deepest part of the channel is known as a “Thalweg.”
The Supreme Court in our country, determined that states borders can move a little as erosion, and accretion (or increase) of river channels occur, changing where the center of the deepest part is. These tend to be relatively gentle changes.
But prior to modern flood control, the Mississippi would sometimes just wash out a peninsula and change the entire course of the river by several miles. What happens then?
Well, that is known as an “avulsion.” And that avulsion often takes a piece of a state and shoves it over into another state’s area. The Supreme Court determined that an avulsion does not change border at all, and that the border stays exactly where it used to be at the Thalweg of the old channel before the washout.
And that is why today there are still several pieces of states on opposite sides of the Mississippi river up and down its courses.
Peel seeks justice for those injured in tractor trailer and car accidents, medical malpractice, and disability. He often addresses churches, clubs and groups without charge. Peel may be reached through PeelLawFirm.com wherein other articles may be accessed.
