The Pearl River Navigation Canal

The Pearl River Canal was completed in 1956 and is a 22 mile manmade offshoot of the winding and sometimes unnavigable West Pearl River.  There are three locks along the canal and our club skis on an 11 mile section between Lock 1 and Lock 2.  Its sides are protected from the wind by tall, mature pine trees and is most often glass unless there is a direct north or south wind.

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