Old River Control Structure
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Old River Control Structure is an artifice built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at the divergence of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in order to maintain the water distribution between the two, at 70% and 30%, respectively. This was done in response to the increasing amounts of water flowing from the Mississippi to the Atchafalaya, due to the latter's steeper and shorter course to the Gulf of Mexico. The floodgate system was completed in 1963.
The details of the Old River Control system are explored in the "Atchafalaya" section of the book "The Control of Nature" by John McPhee.
[edit] External links
- The Control of Nature reprinted in The New Yorker
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or MapQuest
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, or WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
[edit] References
- McPhee, John (August 1989). The Control of Nature, 1st Edition, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 272pp. ISBN 0-374-12890-1.
- Angert, Joe and Isaac. Old River Control. The Mighty Mississippi River. Retrieved on January 24, 2006.. Includes good map and pictures.
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