The Mississippi River System

Throughout history the Mississippi river has been notorious as being one of the most powerful and iconic river systems in the United States as it stretches from its initial source in Lake Itasca, MN, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico, carving and cutting paths both old and new as well as periodically wreaking havoc along the way. Since the dawn of mankind it has been traditional that early civilizations migrate towards bodies of water and begin settlement as rivers, lakes, and streams can provide multiple uses and benefits. To the early Mid-American settlers the Mississippi River was most notably one of their key resources for survival and economic prosperity. Transportation of goods and resources along with easily accessible irrigation …show more content…
By 1743 French landowners occupying property along the river were required to construct and maintain their own levees along the areas they occupied in order to help minimize rising water damage as a whole, or be forced to give up their land to the French crown as a sort of incentive per say. As one could imagine the near primitive design and structure of the earthen levees proved unsuccessful as the unprotected sediments of the levees eventually eroded in the fast moving waters of the Mississippi, causing constant maintenance and repairs to the levees leading to expenses that far outweighed the partial benefits. Adding to the already obvious financial displacement these levees provided, large floods proved too much for these levees to handle over time as aside from erosion, the river would often break through the weakened points in the levees, known as crevasses. Many of these crevasses caused almost as much damage as the initial untamed river due to people relying too heavily upon them to work error free and placing houses or crops within feet of the levee only to have them destroyed when the water would breach through the crevasses. Federal 'support' was temporarily given in 1849 as the creation of the Swamp Land …show more content…
In 1852, Congress called for two studies to be conducted related to minimizing the effects of flooding more efficiently and effectively. Aside from the two Army Corps Engineers, there was one civil engineer by the name of Charles Ellet Jr. who was assigned to conduct a study to help identify these aspects and methods from which could be applied to decrease river damage. The results of his study attributed to four overall factors that played major roles in the development of the river, one of them being that "the extension of the levees along the borders of the Mississippi, and of its tributaries and outlets, by means of which the water that was formerly allowed to spread over many thousand square miles of low lands is becoming more and more confined to the immediate channel of the river, and is therefore, compelled to rise higher and flow faster, until, under the increased power of the current, it may have time to excavate a wider and deeper trench to give vent to the increased volume which it conveys." (Kemp 2000). Other findings from Ellet included the effect of increased cultivation, manmade cutoffs, and the lengthening of the delta, which can all play a major role in increasing