Harbert Landing is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * Ghost Town (1936 film), ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * Ghost Town (1956 film), ''Ghost Town'' ...

Tunica County, Mississippi Tunica County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 9,782. Its county seat is Tunica. The county is named for the Tunica Native Americans. Most migrated to central Louisiana during th ...

, United States. The settlement was located directly on the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, along the southeast shore of the U-shaped "OK Bend". Other settlements along OK Bend included Fox Island and

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

History

During the 1800s, Mississippi River steamboats used cord wood for fuel, and a number of woodyards were located along the river, including one in Harbert Landing, owned by Tom Turner. Following the Civil War, ships began using coal for fuel. In 1942, the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

constructed the "Hardin Cutoff" across "Hardin Point" peninsula. This cutoff allowed commercial ships to bypass the lengthy OK Bend which flowed around the peninsula. Eventually, the bend became an

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

now called

Tunica Lake Tunica Lake (also called Tunica Cutoff) is an oxbow lake located in Lee County, Arkansas and Tunica County, Mississippi. The Arkansas-Mississippi border follows the center of the narrow, curving lake. History Prior to 1942, the north-south flo ...

References

Former populated places in Tunica County, Mississippi Former populated places in Mississippi Mississippi populated places on the Mississippi River {{US-ghost-town-stub