The Flood of 1927

I was traveling up Highway 61 Wednesday, The Blues

Highway through the Mississippi Delta. Off to my left I caught sight of this house. I was three hours away from home and clouds were coming in but I had to get closer and get a picture.

In 1929 or was it 1927the Mississippi overflowed its banks. Water was several feet deep all across the Delta from south of Memphis to Vicksburg. Those who could, fled on trains, wagons, automobiles and on foot. Others were caught in the rising water. I don't know the death toll. I am told that eventually the levees were blown further to the south in order to give relief to miles and miles of Delta to the north. People waited for days on tops of houses. Some huddled on little humps of high ground though I haven't seen any high ground.

I guess "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" or the Odessey gave us a visual glimpse.

When I saw this beautiful home, I knew immediately what it was all about. You may ask, "Why would anyone live in a place like this?" Some of these farmers own huge plantations. They do very well. Where I'm from in the West Tennessee rolling hills the soil is six to twelve inches deep. Below that is sub-soil or parent material, that is, if you give it a few thousand years, it may become rich soil in the right conditions. In the Delta the soil is dark, rich and deep. It has floated down from many states in North America, a little of Minnesota, Iowa, Kentucky, and Montana, to name a few. I watched a backhoe once dig out a ditch on a pipeline there. It was over twelve feet deep and the soil at the bottom of the hole was just as rich as the soil at the top! There is something beautiful about the Delta in the fall.