BARGE ON THE TENN-TOM WATERWAY The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway used to exist as two separate rivers, each used for commercial and travel purposes. Work officially began to create the unified waterway in 1972. The creation of a waterway which would stretch from Mobile, Alabama, through Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky had been first recommended by a French explorer around 1770. The United States Army Corps of Engineers tried many times before succeeding in receiving congressional funding for the lock and dam system that created 234 miles of navigable waterway. PHOTO BY GREG CAMPBELL