County signs contract to provide ferry access to King’s Point

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According to Warren County Board of Supervisors President Kelle Barfield, the county has signed a contract with Yazoo River Towing to provide ferry services to King’s Point.

Earlier this year, the county-operated ferry went out of service. The combination of the aging transport, albeit with a new engine in 2019, and new coast guard regulations have sidelined the ferry.

The reason why the King’s Point ferry was needed

In 1876, the Mississippi River unexpectedly changed course leaving Vicksburg without a riverfront. The plan to restore water to the riverfront, by the US Army Corp of Engineers, was to dig out the old riverfront and connect it with the Yazoo River. The project, called the Yazoo Diversion Canal, allowed water to flow back to the city front and then into the Mississippi river. It also created a water barrier for landowners of King’s Point. The solution was to ferry the owners across the diversion canal to King’s Point.

120 years later we are still ferrying people across the Diversion Canal.