| Flood control and navigational improvement on the Lower Mississippi River can be divided into several distinct phases. The first begins with the discovery of the Mississippi River and early settlement in the valley. It was marked by local and private efforts to control the river which were largely ineffectual. The second period is one marked by limited federal involvement, but fairly significant intervention by the states. The third period is one that established national responsibility for controlling the river and for setting national standards for engineering technology. This period was marked by the creation of the Mississippi River Commission in 1879 and encompasses the operation of the commission from its creation until 1917.;The section of the Lower Mississippi River below Cape Girardeau, Missouri will provide the general scope of this paper. It is not a history of the river, or the states which it passes through. It is a history of technology such as levees, dredging, flood control, flood prevention, and the people involved. It will discuss the floods that spurred these endeavors, the effects of these floods on people and land, and the lessons taught by these floods. Although this account does not examine completely in detail the world outside of the Lower Mississippi River Valley, it does discuss the effects of political, constitutional, and sectional controversies on those responsible for flood control. |
