John McPhee on Human Control of the Lower Mississippi

This links to an article from John McPhee's book "The Control of Nature" on the Army Corps of Engineers' attempts to control the lower Mississippi. The river has apparently been trying to change course back to an old course it followed at some point in its history, which is now the course of the smaller Atchafalaya river. This would flood communities (made by people trying to establish "permanent" societies) in its way, and divert the river away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans (probably affecting tourism and other industry). The Army Corps' solution is "The Old River Control System," built in 1963 a not-very-stable concrete floodgate system to stop the river from breaking its current banks and flooding out into the new ones. It prevents the river from following the force of gravity and flowing downhill into the Atchafalaya, and instead makes it continue its above-ground-level course towards New Orleans

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1987/02/23/1987_02_23_039_TNY_CARDS_000347146