Copiah County, Mississippi

Copiah County Rivers, Lakes & Streams

The Pearl River is a river in Mississippi and Louisiana. It forms in Neshoba County, Mississippi from the confluence of Nanih Waiya and Tallahaga creeks, and has a meander length of 444 miles. The lower part of the river forms part of the boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana.

Mississippi's capital and largest city, Jackson, is located along the upper reaches of the river. Most of the towns along the river, starting with Philadelphia, Mississippi in the north, are within the boundaries of Mississippi.

The Yockanookany and Strong rivers are tributaries. On the upper section of the river north of Jackson: the Lobutcha, Tuscolameta, and Pelahatchie creeks also feed in as tributaries in this region. In 1924 the Tuscolameta Creek received 24-mile channelization and Yockanookany River received a 36-mile canal, which was completed in 1928.

Northeast of Jackson, the Ross Barnett Reservoir was formed by a 1962 dam. Average annual rainfall is about 52 inches in the upper third of the basin, and below Jackson the basin rainfall increases to 64 inches or more, contributing to the greater discharge of the Bogue Chitto as noted below.

The Bogue Chitto River is a major tributary on the lower section. The Bogue Chitto's mean low-water discharge to the lower river is nearly six times that of the mean low-water discharge of the Pearl River at Jackson, Mississippi, according to a 1936 government report of the Mississippi Planning Commission. West of Picayune, about 50 miles above the mouth, the river forks.

The Pearl River runs along and creates the eastern border of Copiah County beginning near Moncure Road in the NE and continuing to a GPS point of 31.751820, -90.124021 in the SE.