Los Angeles Times - 12/29/12, Ryan Haggerty/Chicago Tribune
Crews try to keep shipping channels open, but the Mississippi's dangerously low water levels already are causing kinks in the supply chain.
Water levels are low along the entire Mississippi River, but the Army Corps of Engineers says the worst stretch is from St. Louis to Cairo, Ill., where the Ohio River flows in. Above, barge traffic on the Ohio River at Cairo. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune / December 20, 2012)
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — Tim Cox was supposed to be steering an 800-foot string of barges through the twists and turns of the Mississippi River last week, moving tons of grain and coal toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Instead, his towboat and about half a dozen others spent nearly 15 hours stationary in the drought-parched river, about 115 miles south of St. Louis.
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