"Today we are visiting the Bay Springs Lock and Dam site on the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. The Lock is just off the Natchez Trace Parkway about 30 miles north of Tupelo, Mississippi.

"Construction of the Waterway began in 1972 and was finished in 1985. The RIVER section of the Waterway is south of Bay Springs and utilizes the Tombigbee River coming north from Demopolis, Alabama to Amory, Mississippi. Using a chain of lakes construction, the CANAL section runs from Amory to Bay Springs where barges locking through change elevation by 84 feet. The final DIVIDE CUT SECTION was the most difficult to construct. It had to be cut through the Hills of Northeast Mississippi for 39 miles from Bay Springs to Yellow Creek, which flows into the Tennessee River.

"The Natchez Trace bridge across the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway at Bay Springs is named in honor of U. S. Representative, Jamie L. Whitten, from Mississippi, who fought in Congress to complete both the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. This bridge stands where two of the Congressman's greatest accomplishments cross each other's paths.

"Join us next time when we will visit Tishomingo State Park. I'm Frank Thomas, your guide along the Natchez Trace, a road through the wilderness."

For more about Natchez Trace: A Road Through the Wilderness, visit eddieandfrank.com