Human Remains and a Shipwreck Uncovered as Mississippi River Levels Continue to Drop amid Drought

Intense drought conditions are causing water levels of the 2,300-mile-long Mississippi River to drop. In the process, some hidden mysteries are being uncovered.

One of the discoveries is now being handled by investigators after Mississippi resident Crystal Foster found human bones while walking along the bank on Saturday in Coahoma County, she told NBC affiliate WMC-TV.

"Because these water levels are so low that we knew it was only a short matter of time before human remains were found," Foster told the news station.

According to CNN, the county's medical examiner said the remains include a lower jawbone, rib bones and other unidentified bone fragments. The outlet said investigators plan to take DNA samples from the bones to compare to cases involving missing persons.

"I just hope that the MBI works quickly on this case and is able to identify the victim to the dental records at the very least so that way their family can get closure because that would bring me some peace at least," Foster told WMC-TV.

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Outside of Foster's disturbing discovery, a ferry thought to have sunk in the river sometime during the late 1800s to early 1900s has emerged in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to the Associated Press.

The ship was found by a local resident as they walked the shore of the river earlier this month, the news agency reported. Parts of the boat were previously spotted when the river experienced low water levels about 30 years ago.

Louisiana state archeologist Chip McGimsey believes the boat may be the wreck of the Brookhill Ferry, which carried passengers and horse carriages across the river and sank during a storm in 1915.

"Eventually the river will come back up and (the ship) will go back underwater," McGimsey told the AP. "That's part of the reason for making the big effort to document it this time — cause she may not be there the next time."

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Per the AP, the Mississippi River's water levels, which are already threatening to reach record lows, are expected to decrease even further in the coming weeks, threatening to impact jobs and economic activity.

In April, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that a megadrought that had persisted in the western part of the United States would move east, affecting areas such as the Great Plains, per ABC News.

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Now, about 82 percent of the continental U.S. is currently experiencing conditions between "abnormally dry" and "exceptional drought," ABC News reported, citing the U.S. Drought Monitor.

"It's sort of a grim situation," Kent Winter, a wheat farmer in Kansas, told Reuters.

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Another Kansas farmer, Martin Kerschen, told the outlet that many of them can only hope for a turn of the tides.

"No farmer wants to see his ground blowing," he said. "So you go ahead and plant wheat, and hope like heck you get it up before winter comes."