By Sabrina Dalton | Chief of Public Affairs, USACE Vicksburg District

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District welcomed home the Dredge Jadwin and crew Nov. 18 to the Vicksburg Harbor just in time for the holidays.

The dredge and crew of around 50 set out May 3 for their annual season of dredging on the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers as well as the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

“The Dredge Jadwin crew’s job is so very important, and we are thankful everyone made it home safely,” said Col. Robert Hilliard, Vicksburg District commander. “The crew is to be commended for their dedication to the mission of keeping our nation’s waterway on the lower Mississippi navigable.”

Approximately 6.2 million cubic yards were dredged during the six-month-long season, which typically begins as soon as the water rise is over in April and ends sometime in November. During the off-season, the dustpan dredge will undergo critical repairs and routine maintenance to prepare for next year’s dredging season.

Nearly the size of a football field, the 88-year-old Dredge Jadwin is instrumental in ensuring that river barge traffic has a clear path to its next destination to deliver and receive goods, hence bolstering our nation’s economy.

There are only four dustpan dredges total in the United States, and three of those, the Jadwin, Potter, and Hurley, belong to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The fourth dredge is owned and operated by a private contractor.

The USACE Vicksburg District encompasses a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana that holds nine major river basins and incorporates approximately 460 miles of mainline Mississippi River levees. The Vicksburg District is engaged in hundreds of projects and employs approximately 1,100 personnel.