Table Of ContentDesigning
the
Bayous
The Control of
Water in the
Atchafalaya Basin
1800-1995
Martin Reuss
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1998 2. REPORT TYPE 00-00-1998 to 00-00-1998
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Designing the Bayous: The Control of Water in the Atchafaiaya Basin
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1800-1995
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,Office of History,Alexandria,VA REPORT NUMBER
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Prescribed by ANSI Std Z39-18
u.s.
Army Corps of Engineers projects shown on cover
Front: Dredging in the Atchafalaya River, 1964
Back: Charenton Floodgate, Atchafalaya Basin, 1988
Designing the Bayous
The Control of Water
in the Atchafaiaya Basin
995
1800-1
by
Martin Reuss
Office of History
u.s.
Army Corps of Engineers
Alexandria, Virginia
1998
Ubrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Reuss Martin, 1945-
Designing the Bayous: the control of water in the Atchafalaya Basin
: 1800-1995/ by Martin Reuss.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
I . Water resources development-Louisiana-Atchafalaya River
Watershed-history. 2. Water resources development-Government
policy-Louisiana-Atchafalaya River Watershed-History. 3. Water
resources development-Social aspects-Louisiana-AtchafaJaya River
Watershed-History. I. Title.
TC424.L8R48 1998
333.91 '009763--dc2 I 97-26701
CIP
EP 870-1-53
Approved for public release. distribution is unlimited.
Foreword
OF ALL THE NATURAL RESOURCES that bless the United States, none
is more important than its water. The nation's rivers and streams
provide vital navigation links, hydropower, fishing, recreation, and
water for domestic, agricultural, and industrial use. At the same time,
they occasionally overrun towns and farms, destroy property, threaten
livelihoods, and take lives.
Perhaps nowhere in the country have the conflicting purposes of
water development stimulated more studies, engineering responses, and
public involvement than in Louisiana's Atchafalaya Basin-which
includes the largest river basin swamp in North America. Since the
early nineteenth century, all levels of government have been involved.
The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers' part in the basin's development
includes providing flood control and maintaining navigable channels.
Today, the Atchafalaya Basin serves as a major floodway to convey
Mississippi River water to the Gulf of Mexico.
In this history, Dr. Reuss tells the complicated, but fascinating story
of how local, state, and federal agencies have attempted to reconcile
conflicting visions for the basin. In so doing, he illuminates the
interaction of politics, technology, and environment. Though focusing
on one area of the country, this book addresses many themes associated
with the development of water resources throughout the United States.
c=;:;; .. /
~
JOE N ALLARD
Lieutenant General, USA
Commanding
About the Author
MARTIN REUSS IS A SENIOR HISTORIAN in the Office of History,
u.s.
Headquarters, Army Corps of Engineers. He specializes in the
history of flood control, navigation, and civil engineering. Among his
monographs are Shaping Environmental Awareness: The United States
Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board, 1970-1980
and Reshaping National Water Politics: The Emergence of the Water
Resources Development Act of 1986.
He also introduced and edited Water Resources Administration in
the United States: Policy, Practice, and Emerging Issues and co-edited
The Flood Control Challenge: Past, Present, and Future.
Numerous professional journals, including The Public Historian,
Technology and Culture, Environment, The Journal of Policy History,
Central European History, Louisiana History, and South Atlantic
Quarterly have published articles by Dr. Reuss.
He received his Ph.D. from Duke University and has taught at
Georgia Southern College, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State
University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Contents
FAobroeuwt othrde A. .u .t h. o. r. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. III
.................................... IV
Glossary .......................................... Xl
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Prologue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XU3I
..........................................
Pan I: Assuming Responsibility
1: Early Flood Control Efforts, Louisiana Style .............. 17
Early Settlers and River Transportation ................. 19
Clearing the Streams: The Beginnings of State Aid ......... 26
The First Federal Flood Control Plan .................. 36
The Beginning of Federal Assistance: The Swampland Acts .. 40
2: Interregnum: Growing Federal Involvement .............. 49
The Humphreys-Abbot Report ....................... 49
The Civil War and the Atchafalaya Basin ................ 52
Once More, the Levees ............................. 56
The Federal Role Increases .......................... 62
Commerce and Transportation in the Atchafalaya Basin ..... 67
3: The Outlet Question ............................... 71
The Mississippi River Commission and the Outlet Question . 73
Navigation Interests and the Outlet Question ............ 89
Floods and Outlets ................................ 93
4: Apres Le Deluge: The Jadwin Plan .................... 103
New Remedies for Old Problems .................... 103
The Special Board ................................ 121
The Unwinding of the Jadwin Plan ................... 127
Pan II: Defining Responsibility
5: The Politics of Engineering .......................... 137
The Critics and the Corps .......................... 139
Dredging ...................................... 147
Private Property and Public Good: Levee Rights-of-Way ... 157
Private Property and Public Good: Flowage Easements .... 167
Designing the Bayous
VI
6: Louisiana and Mississippi: The Battle Over Floodways ..... 173
The Markham Plan ............................... 176
The Overton Act ................................ 181
Real Estate Problems ............................. 188
The 1938 and 1941 Flood Control Acts ............... 192
Morganza Floodway Construction ................... 198
Part llI: The Burdens of Responsibility
7: The Old River Problem .................. •.. ....... 207
Nature Takes the Low Road ........................ 209
Seeking Answers ... ........................ ... ... 218
Preparing the Plan ............................... 230
Authorization ................................... 234
Construction ................................... 238
Post-Construction Problems ........................ 242
8: Let the Public Be Heard: Reconciling Multiple Objectives ... 249
The Setting ... .......... ... ........ ........... . . 250
Coordination or Confrontation? ..................... 254
Recreation ..................................... 264
Growing State Involvement ....... .. ................ 267
9: Environmental Activists and the Corps of Engineers ...... 273
The National Wildlife Federati,on-Corps of Engineers
Agreement .................................... 275
Institutional Arrangements and Objectives .............. 282
Impasse and Reorientation ......................... 284
10: Defending the Turf .............................. 291
The Environmental Protection Agency's Approach ........ 294
The Fish and Wildlife Service Makes Its Move .......... 299
Environmental Issues, Old and New .................. 312
11: Denouement? ......................... .... ...... 323
Real Estate Problems Again ......................... 324
Political Resolution-and Irresolution ................. 331
New Controversies and Steps Toward Implementation .... 347
The Uncertain Future ............................. 351
Afterword: A Sense of Place, A Sense of Balance ......... ... 355
Contents
VII
Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Bibliography ................ :::::::::::::::::::::: 425
Illustration Credits .................................. 453
..........................
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457
11 [ustra ti ons
The Atchafalaya Basin floodway system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 2
The "Swamp Expressway" ............................. 4
West Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6
Towboat Betty Brent moves upstream on the Atchafalaya ...... 7
One of many oil wells in the Atchafalaya Basin .............. 8
The Atchafalaya Basin as shown in William Darby's 1816 map .. 18
The arpent system in the Atchafalaya Basin ................. 20
Acadians haul boats on Bayou Lafourche ................... 25
Transportation routes in the Atchafalaya Basin, c. 1863 ........ 27
Henry Miller Shreve .................................. 28
Henry Shreve designed The Archimedes . ................... 29
The Mississippi River at Old River ....................... 31
Map of Atchafalaya Basin, c. 1829 ....................... 38
Charles Ellet, Jr. ..................................... 43
Andrew Atkinson Humphreys ........................... 50
Henry Larcom Abbot ................................. 51
"King Cotton Captured" ........................... .. .. 53
Union positions around Brashear City ..................... 54
"Taking cotton and sugar aboard a steamer" ................ 55
Louisicma levee districts subject to Mississippi River floods ..... 61
James Buchanan Eads ................................. 63
Steamboat and rafts on the Bayou Teche ................... 68
Junction of the Atchafalaya and Old rivers, 1874 ............ 72
The Atchafalaya, 1883 ................................ 74
Eads' plan . ........................................ 75
Stickney's plan ............................. . ........ 79
The MRC's plan ..................................... 80
Map of the Old River area, early twentieth century ........... 82
The Ram working in Bayou La Rompe, 1933 ................ 83
Prisoners construct a levee close to Morganza Crevasse ........ 85
Plaquemine Lock, 1947 ............................... 89
Main Street in Melville, Louisiana, 1912 flood .............. 93
High water in the Atchafalaya Basin, mid-May 1927 ......... 104
A crevasse at Moreauville, mid-May 1927 ................. 105
