The Mighty Mississippi

I had always thought of the Mississippi River as a swirling river of turbid water with barges and tugboats carrying commerce between the Northern and Southern states reminiscent of the stories Mark Twain. I imagine most of us have that same image. However, I learned a great deal more during a recent vacation with my wife, Candy.

In preparation for our vacation to the Land of 10,000 Lakes, Candy and I read up on a variety of things. In our reading, we learned that the origin of the Mississippi River starts in Minnesota’s Itasca State Park. The birth of the river starts as an out flow of Lake Itasca and its surrounding water shed. We quickly marked this spot as one of our destinations for the vacation. It was a 1,850 drive to get there.
Upon arriving, we found that the water was as different from my impression of the Mississippi River as possible. It’s crystal clear, about knee deep and only 40’ wide. Candy and I took off our shoes and waded across the river through stones, wondering about all the things that would find their way into the river on its meandering 2,340 mile, 90-day trip to the Gulf of Mexico. The river drops 1,475 foot in altitude between where it begins in Lake Itasca, Minnesota and where it spills into the Gulf of Mexico.

After exiting the Park, the river flows to Lake Bemidji then on to Lake Cass. Lake Cass is unique in that it has an island in the middle of the lake with another 20+ acre lake in the middle of that island. Supposedly, this is the only place in North America with that geography.

On the remainder of the Mighty Mississippi’s trip south, it touches ten states and picks up the inflows of a great number of rivers including the Minnesota, Saulk, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas rivers to name a few.

Another interesting fact about the Mississippi River is that it’s only the 5th largest flowing river in the world with only 9% of the flow of the Amazon River. For you construction guys, the flow comparison would be if the Mississippi River was a 10” pipe then the Amazon River would be a 33” pipe (if such a thing existed).

Posted by Richard Frey

Richard began his long career with Hennessy in 1982. Fresh from school, he worked in the fields doing everything from shoveling dirt to concrete formwork. After a mere 6 months in the field, Richard was promoted to Project Engineer. He worked on three of the FPC 500kv substations in Central Florida. After that, he made his move into the main office where he did quantity surveys and started learning the ins and outs of Estimating. In 1990, Richard became our Chief Estimator; a position he’s held for nearly twenty years.

Elks Return to the Great Smoky Mountains

We just returned from a trip to North Carolina and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park where they are reintroducing elk which had vanished from the Carolinas more than 200 years ago. Enclosed are two pictures of elk roaming in the Park. It is a rare treat to see them grazing so close to the road. The Park Service has brought the elk down from Canada. Hopefully they will thrive. There are some fun facts below.

The experimental release of elk into Great Smoky Mountains National Park began in February, 2001 with the importation of 25 elk from the Land between the Lakes National Recreation Area along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. In 2002, the park imported another 27 animals. All elk are radio collared and will be monitored during the five-year experimental phase of the project. If the animals threaten park resources or create significant conflicts with park visitors, the program may be halted. Project partners include the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Parks Canada, Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association, Friends of the Smokies, the U.S.G.S. Biological Resources Division, and the University of Tennessee.

Elk once roamed the southern Appalachian Mountains and elsewhere in the eastern United States. They were eliminated from the region by over-hunting and loss of habitat. The last elk in North Carolina was believed to have been killed in the late 1700s. In Tennessee, the last elk was killed in the mid-1800s. By 1900, the population of elk in North America dropped to the point that hunting groups and other conservation organizations became concerned the species was headed for extinction.

A primary mission of the National Park Service is to preserve native plants and animals on lands it manages. In cases where native species have been eliminated from park lands, the National Park Service may choose to reintroduce them. Successful wildlife reintroductions in Great Smoky Mountains National Park have included the river otter, Peregrine Falcon, and three species of small fish.

Elk Facts
SIZE: adult males weigh an average of 600-700 pounds. Cows average 500 pounds. Adults are 7-10 feet long from nose to tail and stand 4.5 - 5 feet tall at the shoulder. Adult males have antlers that may reach a width of five feet.

DIET: grasses, forbs, and acorns; bark, leaves, and buds from shrubs and trees.

PREDATORS: coyotes, bobcats, and black bears may kill young, sick, or injured elk. Gray wolves and mountain lions, both of which have been extirpated from the Great Smoky Mountains, are successful predators of elk elsewhere.

OFFSPRING: cows usually give birth to only one calf per year. Newborns weigh about 35 pounds. They can stand within minutes of birth and calf and cow usually rejoin the herd within a couple of weeks. Calves nurse for 1-7 months. Females are ready to breed in the second autumn of their lives.

LIFESPAN: elk can live as long as 15 years.

SENSES: elk have an acute sense of smell and excellent eyesight.
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Seasons of the Elk
SPRING: most elk shed their antlers in March. The antlers, which are rich in calcium, are quickly eaten by rodents and other animals. (It is illegal to remove antlers from the national park.) After they have shed their antlers, elk immediately begin growing new ones. In late spring elk shed their winter coats and start growing sleek, copper-colored, one-layer summer coats.

SUMMER: most calves are born in early June. Male elk roll in mud wallows to keep cool and avoid insect pests. By August, elk antlers are full grown and have shed their "velvet." Calves have lost their spots by summer's end.

FALL: male elk make their legendary bugling calls to challenge other bulls and attract cows. Their calls may be heard a mile or more away. Large bulls use their antlers to intimidate and spar with other males. Most encounters are ritualistic and involve little physical contact; only occasionally do conflicts result in serious injuries to one or more combatants. During the "rut" in September and early October, dominant bulls gather and breed with harems of up to 20 cows.

WINTER: elk wear a two-layer coat during the colder months. Long guard hairs on the top repel water and a soft, wooly underfur keeps them warm. Elk may move from the high country to valleys to feed. Elk may travel beyond the boundaries of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in search of new territories. Most non-cropland adjacent to the park is designated as elk buffer zone. If elk move onto these lands but do not come into conflict with private property or the public, no action will be taken. If elk cause significant property damage or other conflict, the National Park Service will remove the animals.

Posted by: Alan Lukas

Alan, who celebrated his 15th Anniversary with Hennessy in 2008, is our Vice President and CFO. Alan is tasked with a wide range of number-crunching duties but is always available to help with any accounting question or even a chat about the latest Ray’s game.

Inaugural Blog

Welcome to the first official blog from Hennessy Construction Services (HCS).

HCS is a commercial construction company with a ninety year history of satisfied clients building a wide range of projects from hospitals and multi-million dollar office complexes to parks and low-income housing.

You may be asking yourself, what would a commercial construction company have to say that I would want to read? Lots! These blogs will be written by the employees themselves who represent every walk of life you could imagine. We have varied interests, skills, and opinions. We are more than business people. We are more than hard hats and steel-toed boots. We are a very eclectic group.

We have fisherman, hunters, bowlers and golfers. We have musicians, bakers, and avid book readers. We have kayakers, sky-divers, and world travelers. We donate our time to local charities, churches and the PTA. Our interests range from pets to gardening, cooking to motorcycles, and wine tasting to crafts. We are techies, movie buffs, weekend warriors and photographers.

Each week a valued member of our team will blog about his/her take on the latest project we are working on, a vacation they took or any number of other topics. We hope you’ll check in with us because you never know what the blog will be about.

To learn more about Hennessy Construction Services, please visit us http://www.hcsfl.com/.

Posted by Debbie Armour

Debbie has been a part of the Hennessy team for over six years now. After nearly four years working as a Field Administrative Assistant, Debbie has been back working out of our main office for a little over a year now. She multitasks between her duties as Administrative Assistant, DPO Administrator and Webmaster.

Check back with us next week for a few words from our Project Engineer and in-house jack-of-all-trades, John Poloney.