Google Little River Drainage District. They may look like canals, but they
don't "connect" directly to a major river or waterway. They are drainage
ditches. The reason for multiple ditches laying parallel to one another is
simply to increase drainage capacity. The "canals" are used to drain what
is sometimes called the Missouri "glades". The water eventually flows into
the St. Francis river and exits into the Mississippi about 1/2 way down the
eastern Arkansas border at Helena, AR. Started in 1907, it became one of the
largest drainage projects in the world, draining over 1.2 million acres.
Jim