COAST GUARD READY TO RAISE SUNKEN BARGES ON MISSISSIPPI

THEBES, Ill. - The Coast Guard plans to resume salvage operations as early as next week to raise three sunken barges from the Mississippi River.

Two of the barges are just south of the Thebes railroad bridge. The third has yet to be found.

A collision with one of the bridge piers sank the barges in late 1992. Another collision caused a barge to sink in March 1993.

Salvage operations to raise one of the sunken barges began in mid-February. Work was halted a few days later, however, when the river began rising.

Lt. Eric Moser of the Coast Guard Marine Safety office at Paducah, Ky., said salvage operations will resume when the river drops to 15 feet on the Cape Girardeau gauge.

Divers are unable to work safely in the river currents below the bridge when the river is above 15 feet, said Moser.

On Tuesday the river at Cape was at 19.2 feet, down two-tenths of a foot. That is the lowest the river has been at Cape since mid-February. The National Weather Service predicts a slow descent to 16 to 17 feet by next week. The river is expected to fall to 14 feet by Aug. 10.

Two of the sunken barges contained grain. The third was loaded with rock. The Coast Guard said two of the barges extend out partially into the navigation channel from the left descending bank, and will pose a hazard to navigation when the river falls to around 12 feet on the Cape gauge.

"Our buoy tenders and the Corps of Engineers' survey boat, Pathfinder, have sounded the riverbed south of the bridge several times looking for the missing barge, but so far we haven't found any trace of it," said Moser. "The problem is the riverbed there is almost solid rock, so it's hard to pick up something like a barge with the sonar."

The falling water level in the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo isn't causing any problems for barge line operators.

Steve Dierker, chief of the channel maintenance branch of the Corps of Engineers' St. Louis District office said, "With the river stages we have right now, the navigation channel is in excellent condition."

The St. Louis District Corps dredge, Potter, is working in the Lower Mississippi River, at Mile 920, at the north edge of the Memphis District, said Dierker.

"We have a civilian contract dredge working in the river right now near Prairie du Rocher that's filling in a blue (scour) hole left over from last year's levee break," he said.

On the Ohio River, the only low water problem reported by the Coast Guard is at the mouth of the Cumberland River, northeast of Paducah, where shoaling is occurring from sediment emptying into Ohio.

Moser said a few barge tows have gone aground, but were able to refloat their tows without difficulty.

In 1989, a prolonged drought in the upper Midwest resulted in record low river stages along the Mississippi River between St. Louis and Cairo. Last year, record high levels were set in the same area during the Flood of 1993.

Recalling last year's flood fight by the Corps, Dierker quipped, "It's been so long since we've had low water, I'm not sure I know what to do."