Old River Control Research Paper

Over the course of history, humans have attempted to control and define nature in numerous ways. For example, in modern times people try to predict the weather

Repeated events, highlighted by the flood of 1993 and the fallout of Katrina, continues to illustrate the US Army Corps of Engineers’ failure in strengthening flood control up and down the Mississippi, including the redesign and upgrading levees. America is a product of this constant struggle in dominating nature using science and reason.

The Artificial River, a well thought of 177 paged book written by the author Carol Sheriff whom at the time was an graduate at Yale University and finished it off while an assistant professor at William and Mary. This compelling book captures and emphasis the success and downfall the Erie canal has brought to the people. Sheriff has a clear notion that “progress” viewed differently through the eyes of conflicting people and status. What one envisioned the Canal turn out to be fluctuated from another. Progress to them meant in large part men and women take apart an active role in the community that they are in which the construction of the Erie canal consisted of people doing just that. She apprehended that whomever supported the canal had some dream and hope to actively be apart a wider range or market exchange. In Sheriff words she says that progress would play a central role in defining Northern sectional identity in decades. The book will explore six topics which are titled Vision of Progress, The Triumph of Art over Nature, Reducing time and distance, Politics of land and water, Politics of Business and The Perils of Progress all of which I will touch on throughout the paper.

They had thought about it but there was certain effects they just couldn’t over look. The Atchafalaya was used as a safety valve, to relieve a good deal of pressure and help keep New Orleans from ending up in Yucatan. The Atchafalaya was the source of water in the swamps and bayous of the Cajun world. The Atchafalaya was the water supply of countless towns and small cities. The Corps was not in a political or moral position to kill the Atchafalaya. The principles of nature said the more the Atchafalaya was given, the more it would want to take, because it was the deeper stream. The more it was given, the deeper it would make its bed. The Corps would have to build some kind of contraption that could give the Atchafalaya a portion of the Mississippi and at the same time prevent it from taking it all.

Congress decided to take action and ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) to build a control structure that would restrict the flow down the Atchafalaya River to 30% instead of it channeling all of the Mississippi River. The goal of restricting the flow of the Atchafalaya was to maintain the Mississippi River’s current route and prevent the merging of the Atchafalaya and Mississippi River. During the Corps attempts to maintain river control, a large flood threated to destroy the main structure the Corps had created. After the flood occurred, the Corps went back to the drawing board and redesigned a more efficient control system called the Old River Control Structure, otherwise known as ORCS. The Old River Control Structure was a lock and dam used to control and maintain the flooding of the Atchafalaya River. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the Old River Control Structure in 1963 placing it in a side channel of the Mississippi known as the Old River, between the Mississippi’s current channel

The outflow channel was dig between the two rivers in the path of the former Upper Old River. The overbank structure did just what it sounds like. It’s a large dam the spans over the land. It has large levees on each side to keep the river separate but in the event that the Mississippi River was out of its banks they could open the overbank structure and continue to allow water to the Atchafalaya River as well as relieve the stress on the Mississippi River. This potentially saved the Mississippi River from breaching its banks and flooding the city of New Orleans. In 1973 a massive flood plagued the area and sent the Mississippi river over its banks. The overbank structure opened and began letting massive amounts of water flow into the Atchafalaya. The flood of 1973 nearly caused the downfall of the Old River Control Structure. During the flood a large hole opened up causing the Low Sill Dam to partially collapse. The Army Corps was able to dump large amounts of rock behind the dam in order to prevent a complete failure. Had the dam failed the Mississippi river would have changed course causing thousands of miles of southern Louisiana swampland to become completely flooded. Following the flood of 1973 the U.S. Army Corps were able to repair the dam and restore original flow rates. In order to prevent failure in the case of a future flood that began renovations and additions to the

The 70-30 split, as it came to be known, was approximately the breakdown of the flow in the Nineteen Fifties and was thought to be an affordable selection that may permit the Mississippi to keep up its current route. The Corps completed the first components of the management equipment within the 1960’s. In 1973, a large flood vulnerable to destroy the most management structure and therefore the Corps began a design of the system to incorporate extra structure components. The resulting “Old watercourse management Structure” that exists nowadays was designed and engineered {to permit|to permit} the maximum amount as half the combined flow of the Rivers to be entertained down the Atchafalaya throughout a serious flood and to allow configuration of the flow to attenuate stress to the structures. the aftermath of the huge floods that may cause the most flow of the watercourse to leap to the Atchafalaya watercourse, aside from the price, anxiety, tragedy, and aggravation of dealing with massive amounts of water being within the wrong place, there would be lingering issues that would amendment the approach of life on the lower Mississippi. Instead of 70% flow down the lower Mississippi and half-hour

How was life up and down the Mississippi river? Life on the Mississippi was no cakewalk. The first settlers had to endure floods, war and disease. Many died coming West to start a new life for their families. It was hard for them, but they made it work and more people followed suit and came to settle along the banks of the Mississippi.

The Howe Sound to Whistler region has further been shaped by both fluvial and mass wastage processes. There are many river systems in this area that have been created to shed the water from this U-shaped valley. These river systems are in various stages of age ranging from youth to maturity. There are also man made drainage systems to allow water to flow from areas where rivers haven't formed down to the water's edge. With Howe Sound being a U shaped valley, this area is prone to rockslides and landslides.

Spaniards in the sixteenth century came upon it at the wrong time, saw an ocean moving south, and may have been discouraged. Where the delta began, at Old River, the water spread out even more through a palimpsest of bayous and distributary streams in forested palatal basins but this did not dissuade the French. When rivers go over their banks, the spreading water immediately slows up, dropping the heavier sediments. The finer the silt, the farther it is scattered, but so much falls close to the river that natural levees rise through time. In the Mississippi, whatever the arrested logs were called individually, they were all “snags,” and after the Army engineers had made Shreve, a civilian, their Superintendent of Western River Improvements he went around like a dentist yanking snags. People began to wonder if the levees could ever be high enough and strong enough to make the river safe. There was no high command in the fight against the water. Every atom that moves onward in the river, from the moment it leaves its home among the crystal springs or mountain snows, throughout the fifteen hundred leagues of its devious pathway, until it is finally lost in the vast waters of the Gulf, is controlled by laws as fixed and certain as those which direct the majestic march of the heavenly spheres. In 1882 came the most destructive flood of the nineteenth century. After breaking the levees in two hundred and eighty-four crevasses, the water spread out as much as seventy miles. In the fertile lands on the two sides of Old River, plantations were deeply submerged, and livestock survived in flatboats.

The St.Lawrence river is a large tourist attraction for northern New York. With invasive species being introduced to the river and the land surrounding they have affected the way the river looks and the species that are in it. Any plant or animal found outside of its normal range is considered to be invasive to the area it is now located. There has been an estimated 163 invasive species that have been discovered in the Great Lakes and the St.Lawrence since the late 1800’s. Of the 163 species that have been unintentionally introduced to the area, 85 of them reside in the St.Lawrence river. The variety of non-native plants and animals in the St.Lawrence river and surrounding land have had a continuing negative effect on the native ecosystem.

Daniel Weintraub in the article , River Restoration Project Offers a Sprinkling of Hope , claims that the San Joaquin River restoration will begin in earnest thanks to changes in federal laws . Weintraub supports his claim by telling us that the new river will flow in parts that have been dry for decades , it will also provide fresh water to the Delta. The author’s purpose is to state that the newly restored river will bring back fish and help all kinds of endangered species. The author writes in an informative to for the readers.

The Illinois River is a very interesting tourist stop, with everything from being a part of the setting in the novel, Where the Red Fern Grows, to the current use of the river for entertainment. The Illinois River has many uses, some important and some for fun. The many attractions draw people in to explore the river. The location of the Illinois River is something not a lot of people know, because the name indicates it would be in Illinois. The river is actually located in Oklahoma and runs through Arkansas.

Do you know what the definition of Atchafalaya is? It’s a river two hundred and twenty five miles (three hundred and sixty-two kilometers) S Louisiana flowing S into Atchafalaya Bay (inlet of the Gulf of Mexico). IT’s actually pretty interesting. The Atchafalaya is a distributary of the Mississippi. Around the late ninetieth century and early twentieth century a flood happened in Mississippi causing the Atchafalaya River to increase its size of the channel and the carrying capacity. That is until concern started worrying the people because it might capture most of the flow and redirect the Mississippi once again. The congress then directed the U.S. Army of Engineers (Corps) to build a structure to control the water flow. The U.S. Army of Engineers

Daniel Weintraub in the article River Restoration Project offers a Sprinkling of Hope, shows that by bringing the water back the river will flourish and the salmon will come back. Weintraub supports his point by explaining how the fish could return with all of the obstacles in the way. The author's purpose is to expose that we will have trouble getting the fish back, but it will help us in the long run.The author writes in an informative tone for the people that are interested on if the fish will return to the San Joaquin River.