A crowd gathered at the river on December 11 for the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially re-open the Chickasawhay River Boat Ramp in Quitman.
After years of disrepair, Pat Harrison Waterway District was proud to be able to redo the ramp to be safer and better serve the community.
The ceremony was opened in prayer by Ben Moore before Dr. Danny Box, the Director of Pat Harrison Waterway District, welcomed all those in attendance and explained the significance of having better access to the river with the new ramp.
“This is more than just a dedication of concrete, rock, and rip rap,” proclaimed Box. “It’s a dedication of access to the most pristine river system in the lower 48 states in the United States. The boat ramp ends down on the edge of the Chickasawhay River, which gives you access to the Pascagoula River system and an opportunity to spend time with family, friends, and just enjoy the beauty of this resource that God has given to us.”
Quitman Mayor Chris Reeves then provided a statement about the boat ramp and how important it is to the city.
“Thank you Pat Harrison and our representatives for getting this done for the people of Quitman and Clarke County,” expressed Reeves. “Having safe, reliable access is a big part of being able to utilize that resource. It is a pristine river. I grew up on the river, a few miles south of here, and it is an unspoiled natural resource that we have. Having this boat ramp allows people to take full advantage of that and enjoy its beauty. One thing kids need nowadays is getting out of the house and getting in nature, and this right here provides that. I really appreciate the work y’all have done to make this happen. This is big for the City of Quitman, even though it’s just outside the city limits. A lot of people will be coming to visit and get on this river, which will bring money into Quitman, so we appreciate it. We look forward to utilizing this wonderful boat ramp.”
After Reeves spoke, all those in attendance who work with Pat Harrison in some capacity were acknowledged. Those in attendance included James Buchanan representing Clarke County, Don Pittman representing Smith County, Billy Joe Jay representing Lauderdale County, Danny Box, Josh Todd, Alan Wright, attorney Randy Pierce, and Archusa Park Manager Donna Miles.
After they were acknowledged, Pat Harrison Board President James “Buck” Buchanan expressed his thanks to those who made it possible to get the new boat ramp.
“It’s been a long, drawn out affair since we had so many industries working together, but we couldn’t have done it if we hadn’t all been kind of pulling the same way,” declared Buck. “We give a special thank you for our legislative people for donating a large amount of money from Jackson to get this done. I think it’ll be used well and will help Quitman and bring some economic development here.”
Along with different representatives and employees for Pat Harrison, elected officials from the local and state level were also in attendance. Those who attended were Enterprise Alderman Ben Moore, Quitman Mayor Chris Reeves, Quitman Alderman Harry Wheat, Supervisor Paul Mosley, Supervisor Scott Evans, Supervisor President Lorenzo Carter, Senator Jeff Tate, Representative Troy Smith, and Representative Billy Adams.
Supervisor Evans discussed how the boat ramp would be a great resource for the county before Clarke County Chamber of Commerce President Greg Jackson expressed appreciation from the Chamber of Commerce and how the ramp will be beneficial in the future.
“On behalf of the chamber, we really appreciate this effort,” expressed Jackson. “Every year at the end of July, we have what we call the River Fun Run. We have people here in the City of Quitman, people in Clarke County, and people in surrounding counties and neighboring states come be a part of this event, and we look forward to it each year. One of our chairman members, Mr. Jim Crappes—he’s the guy that goes up and down this thing helping people get their kayaks in and out of the water here—is going to appreciate this more than anyone else. We really appreciate the initiative to get this done because we’ve asked about this for a few years now. Seeing this come to fruition is really a great thing for us, and we really appreciate everybody that had a part in making this come to fruition here today.”
Lee Mott and his crew with Dungan Engineering were then acknowledged for coming up with a solution to the challenge that the boat ramp was constantly facing and developing a design to make the boat ramp functional and visually appealing.
Senator Tate, Representative Smith, and Representative Adams were then allowed to give a statement about the ramp and how it will be beneficial to the community. Representative Smith also acknowledged that while they are proud of what they accomplished with the boat ramp, they are also steadily working on their other goal with Pat Harrison to get the dam at Archusa rebuilt.
Supervisor Carter then spoke on behalf of the Clarke County Board of Supervisors about the new boat ramp.
“Speaking on behalf of the board of supervisors here in Clarke County, we want to let the Pat Harrison agency know that we appreciate this great project that you have done,” stated Carter. “I do know that the people appreciate this. It’s been a long time coming, and I want to thank Mr. Buchanan who serves on the board as our appointee for the board of supervisors. I want to thank Senator Jeff Tate and appreciate Troy for allowing us to be able to get these funds to make this happen. This is greater than you realize because I look at it from several ways. One thing is it creates better safety, especially with our first responders. If something happened where someone may be in the river from an accident, they are able to respond more aggressively with this beautiful project. Also, Clarke County people love recreation. We get phone calls saying the ramp needs to be cleaned up, and they need it done now. They do a lot of canoeing and fishing, and I’ve never seen a launching pad like this. We just appreciate Pat Harrison in many ways. They don’t only help us with stuff like this, but they help with keeping our roads safe, drainages, and trail walks. We just appreciate the relationship that we have with them. Thank you very much.”
In order to build the ramp, they had to overcome some different challenges to make sure that the ramp would last. There are multiple springheads underneath the ramp, so they had to figure out what to do for the spring water to go so that it wouldn’t create structural damage again. The new ramp is 230 feet long, and although it is in the same location over the natural springs, it was built with French drainage underneath it with rocks, allowing the water to come out through pipes and flow out of ditches they created for it.
Anyone can now use the beautiful new boat ramp to safely access the Chickasawhay River in Quitman.
