Barge Tows Loose on the Mississipi North of Wittenburg

Took a plane ride with a friend yesterday. He had noticed several barge tows pulled over to the Mississippi's banks close to Cape, and wanted to see if he could find out why.

Flying north toward Tower rock, we discovered that several coal barges had broken loose upstream from Wittenburg.

The photo shows two of them stuck on the rocks in the gap between Tower Rock and the Missouri side.