Pearl River Lock 1

They recently dug out the Canal mouth at the Pearl but I haven't been thru it since it was completed. Before that, it was ankle deep water and you could only get small flat boats in and out and you had to get out and push/pull the boat.

Even if the mouth is now passable for a bay boat, I WOULD NOT recommend traversing the Lower West Pearl in anything but a flat boat. It is so silted in from years of dredging not being allowed that unless you know the river like the back of your hand, you WILL run aground on a sand bar. I cant even go a mile up or downriver without running aground in my 15ft flat.

It's a MESS. MAYBE after the northern snow melts and the rivers come up around here, it may be more navigable, but I still don't trust running the West Pearl.

You can launch on the north side of Lock 1 and cruise UP the navigational canal. but that'll get boring quick. No where else to go except up and down the canal. You can stop at the spillway(waterfall) and walk down to the lower area for a little bit but that's really the only place to stop and do anything.

Stick to the EAST Pearl from HWY 90 or south from there if you want to cruise the Pearl.

Yes. You'll be fine launching there. The back down ramp concrete pad was replaced not to long ago and it extends out much further than it used to, but it's still at a pretty shallow angle so for a bay boat you may have to back in a bit further to get the boat floating.

They've redone the north side boat launch and upgraded it tremendously. Added a longer, wider 2nd back down and expanded the parking area as well. In the pic below I've indicated the old and new back downs.

I used to fish up there. I miss it.

Off topic but I Always wondered why they built those locks

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Off topic but I Always wondered why they built those locks

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It was built in the 30s and 40s for barges and large log rafts to have a straight shot from the west pearl to the paper mill in Bogalusa. Due to the elevation changes from Bogalusa to the south they had to include a series of 3 lock systems.

I remember in the 70s as a teen there were reflectors in the curves of the river for the barge traffic.

Haven’t been there in decades but if you left lock1 canal and went south in the West Pearl there was a spot in the river that was shallow with a lot of gravel; on the west side there was remains of some vessel that had large bottom timbers and rusted remains of a boiler that would show in low water. This is north of the pipeline. There was water flow wells in many places where water just flowed supposedly drilled by Army Corps of engineers.

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Off topic but I Always wondered why they built those locks


It was built in the 30s and 40s for barges and large log rafts to have a straight shot from the west pearl to the paper mill in Bogalusa. Due to the elevation changes from Bogalusa to the south they had to include a series of 3 lock systems.

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That sill where the bogue chitto crosses the canal has claimed many lives over the years.


also some pretty solid fishing up there in that neck near lock 2

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Believe one way or the other, but the canals are nothing more than pleasure areas now. They need to open the locks when the river gets high a few times per year and allow the river to "dredge" out the canals as they are starting to fill in some. (However that will never happen because of the wealth land owners in St. Tammany that live on the Canal)

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Navy used it through the mid to late 80s extensively for special warfare and swcc training. Offered some unique similarities to certain riverine environs. Training cadre at Stennis still uses the area from time to time but not nearly as heavily as years ago.

Very very few mill barges went through but there was some other limited traffic that used the locks.