Journey through the Locks of Time on the Alabama River Part I: Claiborne Lock and Dam to Millers Ferry Lock and Dam
Above: Detailed map of Claiborne Lake as it lies above Monroeville and below Camden. Click on the image to download a high-resolution PDF version for planning and printing.
The town of Claiborne could be the place referred to in the DeSoto Chronicles as Piache, but the death and devastation sewn by the diseases that DeSoto left in the wake of his travels may leave us never to know for sure. His army may have crossed the river here and marched to Choctaw Bluff. Or, he may have embarked upon the Tombigbee to make his encounter with Chief Tuscaloosa.
The now-dead town of Claiborne was established in 1813 by Andrew Jackson’s general of the same name who had in his army a number of Mississippi Choctaws friendly to the American cause and who fought bravely against the Red Stick rebels. The Mississippi Choctaw Indians were led by the famous Pushmataha. The American Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de LaFayette was entertained in the town at a lavish ball in 1825 on his post-revolution sweep of the country he helped to create. He was brought downriver from Montgomery aboard the Henderson, which sank at Claiborne upon its return trip.
Claiborne was once a river town connected to the Alabama River by a covered cotton slide and a 365-step staircase for pedestrian traffic. Today it is but a name on a map. Monroeville has become a literary Mecca because of the likes of Harper Lee and Truman Capote who were born there and went on to leave their marks on American writing. Today, there is plenty of literary-related activity for the Monroeville visitor including a visit to the Monroeville Courthouse where Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” was filmed. The town puts on the play each April, the last scenes of which are acted out in the Courthouse where the movie, starring Gregory Peck, was filmed. Movie and book fans alike will be pleased with the “insider” connections to the movie making still kept throughout the town.
Naturalist Nugget: Below the dam, the river is open all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Large fish, unable to travel further, can be found below the dam.
The Fort Mims Massacre and the Great Canoe Fight
On the twelfth of November of 1813, the world of the white settlers along the lower Alabama Rivers was on edge after the recent massacre downriver at Fort Mims where hundreds of men, women and children had been murdered in what would today be considered a terrorist attack. It sent up an alarm around the nation and across the world. After the attack, skittish settlers sent out scouting parties to determine the extent of Indian activity in the region. One such group had camped near Lovett’s Creek where it enters the Alabama River. There were three in the party, which included Sam Dale, the big frontiersman who was to the Alabama territory what Davy Crockett was to Tennessee; nineteen-year-old Jeremiah Austill; and a slave named Caesar. No sooner were they in the water that morning than Sam Dale looked upstream to see a dugout canoe with eleven Indians. The three paddled for the Indian craft, two of whose occupants left the canoe and swam for shore. The nine remaining Indians closed on the canoe of white settlers and joined them in battle.
In those days, canoes were used not in the seated position as we are accustomed to today, but were rowed by standing crew. We can but imagine the fight that took place as Caesar’s mighty grip held the two boats together as the occupants clubbed each other wildly with whatever they could find. The Indians perished in that bloody struggle, and their symbolic defeat at the hands of a smaller number of whites locked in hand-to-hand combat went down in history as the Great Canoe Fight.
The site of the Great Canoe Fight is south of Claiborne Dam at approximately mile 52 where Randon Creek and Lovett Creek enter the Alabama.
What is the black belt?
In hearing or reading about Alabama, you’ll often find references to the state’s Black Belt. Don’t feel bad if you’re not sure what it means. Many Alabamians can’t tell you either.
The term refers primarily to dense black topsoil over a layer of Selma chalk, a light limestone in a belt that stretches from Virginia to Texas. It covers the lower middle of Alabama. This land produced great quantities of cotton before it was worn out by exploitation, and is farmed very little in its current state. The Black Belt cotton grown in years past depended upon the Alabama and other related rivers to reach the cotton markets and shippers in Mobile and New Orleans.
Naturalist Nugget: The black belt is the prairie of Alabama, in a literal sense as well as a geological one. The land was scraped flat by glaciers in a previous ice age, and among the glaciers were open spots where plants and critters were pushed south to the black belt. Mitchell’s satyr butterfly, for instance, can be found only in certain spots in the black belt and areas of Minnesota and Michigan. The insect, one of the living things brought south with the glaciers, never left after they moved on.
Claiborne Lock and Dam
On Fridays and Saturdays, modern-day river passengers can visit the Alabama River Museum adjacent to the Claiborne Lock and Dam, March through October. Here you can view exhibits that will take you through a 60-million year trip from the geological formation of the area to the operation of the dams and its locks today. In between are represented Indian cultures (don’t miss the dugout log canoe suspended over your head) and steamboat days, including an exact replica of the Nettie Quill, queen of these waters, and actual artifacts rescued from the wrecks of these great vessels.
From Monroeville, take Highway 41 North 8 miles and turn left on County Road 17 and follow signs to the museum.
Lock schedules and information is available from the lockmaster at 251 282 4205. If paddlers arrive and need to pass the dam when the lock is not operating, or if you simply prefer to tote your boat, a takeout is available on the east bank within Isaac Creek at the campground boat ramp. The paved road will allow paddlers to portage past the lock and put in again below the dam at another U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boat ramp.
Isaac Creek Campground
Operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the campground offers full-service sites with concrete pads that can accommodate the biggest rigs with boats and toys in tow but are secluded and wooded to satisfy the primitive camper. Fishing must be good here if the number of boats are any indication.
Staying a while at a place like Isaac Creek Campground can sharpen one’s aptitude for leisure, and there’s a satisfying atmosphere about this quiet, remote stretch of the Alabama River.
Directions vary depending on where you are arriving from. For information, call the gatehouse at 251 282 4254.
The campground is expansive, well-kept and well planned. The amenities will accommodate anything from a fish camp to a fish fry.
Naturalist Nugget: Haines Island Park on the river’s east bank is connected with Davis Ferry Park on the west by the operation of Davis Ferry. Davis Ferry is operated by Monroe County and connects Haines Island Park with Packers Bend. The Big Leaf Magnolia Trail begins just a 500-foot walk from Haines Island Park. This short loop trail through a hardwood forest has signs identifying the plants located along the trail. There is a restroom and parking at the trailhead, where the Upper and Lower Ironwood Trails also begin. The park is home to the rare Red Hills salamander.
The 60-mile span of Claiborne Lake is provisioned for the camper with two full-service campgrounds: Isaac Creek Campground as mentioned above and Millers Ferry Campground upriver. Between the two full-service campgrounds are day use parks, which, with the exception of Hollys Ferry’s ability to serve as a paddler-only campground, do not allow camping. They are listed here in ascending order upriver:
- Silver Creek Park
- Haines Island Park/Davis Ferry Landing
- McDuffie Landing Park
- Bells Landing Park
- Lower Peachtree Park
- Black Creek Park
- Holleys Ferry Park
- Clifton Ferry Park
- Cobbs Landing Park
Most of the facilities mentioned in this article and shown on the attending map are on properties operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. A link to their Rules and Regulations follows. Consult the Contact Information provided for Rules and Regulations of other properties you might visit:
http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/employees/visitassist/pdfs/title36-lrl.pdf
It is the policy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to provide universally accessible recreation opportunities for all people. The Corps will ensure that all new and existing facilities and programs meet or exceed current guidelines. Some existing facilities are continuing to be retro-fitted as funding allows.