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The End of the River
When it comes to climate-change-inspired threats, it is rising sea levels we hear most about. But if the oceans are, as Herman Melville put it, “the tide-beating heart of the earth,” rivers are its circulatory system. In the United States, there is no river more storied, symbolic, and vital than the Mississippi, and none, to use Mark Twain’s word, more lawless. The struggle to control it has been going on nearly as long as there has been human civilization on its banks, and the attendant drama and dangers have been memorialized by many writers, among them Twain and, in his seminal 1987 New Yorker account, John McPhee. Now Simon Winchester, the consummate, critically acclaimed storyteller and bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, turns his eye to what could well be the height of the battle, one increasingly doomed by man’s interference.
The most fateful instance of this interference was accomplished by an inventor and steamboat captain, Henry Miller Shreve, in the nineteenth century. In vivid detail, Winchester re-creates the smashing and digging and the great man- and steam power that Shreve wielded to clear the river of snags and logjams and, in order to shorten the passage to New Orleans, carve an entirely new channel for it. What no one foresaw was that his celebrated shortcut, Shreve’s Cut, would form a sloping chute to an adjacent river, the Atchafalaya, and, aided by gravity and shifting weather patterns, increasingly tempt the waters of the Mississippi in its direction. Resisting this trend with ever more ingenious methods (and ever more expense) began just after, first with a system of levees, then with added spillways, and, finally, with the conception and construction of a floodgate system, the Old River Control Structure, still in place today. And the stakes are If—many say when—the Atchafalaya captures the Mississippi’s stream, it will be the end of life as it’s currently known in the American South. The great cities of Louisiana—New Orleans and Baton Rouge—would be rendered fetid swamps; entire sections of the American infrastructure, from pipelines to electricity and water supply, would collapse. Homes would be displaced and livelihoods, if not lives, would be lost.
Deftly combining the hydrological and the historical, Winchester tours the challenges that upped the ante on the Mississippi River Commission’s duty to protect the watershed and its the upheavals that came in the form of the Great Flood of 1927, one of the most destructive natural disasters of all time, displacing more people than almost any event in American history, and the record-breaking inundations of 1937 and 1973. He pays tribute to the Army Corps of Engineers, for their Herculean efforts to keep the river on its current track, and to one civilian, Albert Einstein’s son Hans Albert Einstein, a hydraulic engineer and one of the main architects of the mighty control structure that continues to divide the Mississippi from the Atchafalaya. But how long can it hold in a time when extremes of weather are the norm, when storms come faster and more furiously, sending sediment-loaded water pounding against the floodgates—events that not only pit man against nature but, given that we cannot always agree which causes and correctives to pursue, man against man?
In this elegant synthesis of past and present, the exigencies of the natural world and the human, Winchester offers an engrossing cautionary tale that readers cannot afford to ignore. It is a call to arms that asks whether accepting defeat—letting nature take its course—may be the only way to win.
The most fateful instance of this interference was accomplished by an inventor and steamboat captain, Henry Miller Shreve, in the nineteenth century. In vivid detail, Winchester re-creates the smashing and digging and the great man- and steam power that Shreve wielded to clear the river of snags and logjams and, in order to shorten the passage to New Orleans, carve an entirely new channel for it. What no one foresaw was that his celebrated shortcut, Shreve’s Cut, would form a sloping chute to an adjacent river, the Atchafalaya, and, aided by gravity and shifting weather patterns, increasingly tempt the waters of the Mississippi in its direction. Resisting this trend with ever more ingenious methods (and ever more expense) began just after, first with a system of levees, then with added spillways, and, finally, with the conception and construction of a floodgate system, the Old River Control Structure, still in place today. And the stakes are If—many say when—the Atchafalaya captures the Mississippi’s stream, it will be the end of life as it’s currently known in the American South. The great cities of Louisiana—New Orleans and Baton Rouge—would be rendered fetid swamps; entire sections of the American infrastructure, from pipelines to electricity and water supply, would collapse. Homes would be displaced and livelihoods, if not lives, would be lost.
Deftly combining the hydrological and the historical, Winchester tours the challenges that upped the ante on the Mississippi River Commission’s duty to protect the watershed and its the upheavals that came in the form of the Great Flood of 1927, one of the most destructive natural disasters of all time, displacing more people than almost any event in American history, and the record-breaking inundations of 1937 and 1973. He pays tribute to the Army Corps of Engineers, for their Herculean efforts to keep the river on its current track, and to one civilian, Albert Einstein’s son Hans Albert Einstein, a hydraulic engineer and one of the main architects of the mighty control structure that continues to divide the Mississippi from the Atchafalaya. But how long can it hold in a time when extremes of weather are the norm, when storms come faster and more furiously, sending sediment-loaded water pounding against the floodgates—events that not only pit man against nature but, given that we cannot always agree which causes and correctives to pursue, man against man?
In this elegant synthesis of past and present, the exigencies of the natural world and the human, Winchester offers an engrossing cautionary tale that readers cannot afford to ignore. It is a call to arms that asks whether accepting defeat—letting nature take its course—may be the only way to win.
44 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 14, 2020
64 people are currently reading
157 people want to read
About the author
Simon Winchester
94 books2,322 followersSimon Winchester, OBE, is a British writer, journalist and broadcaster who resides in the United States. Through his career at The Guardian, Winchester covered numerous significant events including Bloody Sunday and the Watergate Scandal. As an author, Simon Winchester has written or contributed to over a dozen nonfiction books and authored one novel, and his articles appear in several travel publications including Condé Nast Traveler, Smithsonian Magazine, and National Geographic.
In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.
After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.
Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.
Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
In 1969, Winchester joined The Guardian, first as regional correspondent based in Newcastle upon Tyne, but was later assigned to be the Northern Ireland Correspondent. Winchester's time in Northern Ireland placed him around several events of The Troubles, including the events of Bloody Sunday and the Belfast Hour of Terror.
After leaving Northern Ireland in 1972, Winchester was briefly assigned to Calcutta before becoming The Guardian's American correspondent in Washington, D.C., where Winchester covered news ranging from the end of Richard Nixon's administration to the start of Jimmy Carter's presidency. In 1982, while working as the Chief Foreign Feature Writer for The Sunday Times, Winchester was on location for the invasion of the Falklands Islands by Argentine forces. Suspected of being a spy, Winchester was held as a prisoner in Tierra del Fuego for three months.
Winchester's first book, In Holy Terror, was published by Faber and Faber in 1975. The book drew heavily on his first-hand experiences during the turmoils in Ulster. In 1976, Winchester published his second book, American Heartbeat, which dealt with his personal travels through the American heartland. Winchester's third book, Prison Diary, was a recounting of his imprisonment at Tierra del Fuego during the Falklands War and, as noted by Dr Jules Smith, is responsible for his rise to prominence in the United Kingdom. Throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s, Winchester produced several travel books, most of which dealt with Asian and Pacific locations including Korea, Hong Kong, and the Yangtze River.
Winchester's first truly successful book was The Professor and the Madman (1998), published by Penguin UK as The Surgeon of Crowthorne. Telling the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, the book was a New York Times Best Seller, and Mel Gibson optioned the rights to a film version, likely to be directed by John Boorman.
Though Winchester still writes travel books, he has repeated the narrative non-fiction form he used in The Professor and the Madman several times, many of which ended in books placed on best sellers lists. His 2001 book, The Map that Changed the World, focused on geologist William Smith and was Whichester's second New York Times best seller. The year 2003 saw Winchester release another book on the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, The Meaning of Everything, as well as the best-selling Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded. Winchester followed Krakatoa's volcano with San Francisco's 1906 earthquake in A Crack in the Edge of the World. The Man Who Loved China (2008) retells the life of eccentric Cambridge scholar Joseph Needham, who helped to expose China to the western world. Winchester's latest book, The Alice Behind Wonderland, was released March 11, 2011.
- source Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 11, 2024
The Mighty Mississippi is one of the three longest rivers in the world. It drains much of the entire heart of the USA: an area --- 2,000+ miles east to west and 1,500 miles north to south. In many portions of the river it is over a mile wide, and its power can be dramatic as writers, such as Mark Twain, have documented and described. I have witnessed it up close and personal and have had the opportunity to try to prevent its flooding (more than once) by placing sandbags on its banks. Though that was decades ago, it was the basis for my interest in this geological phenomenon.
Then, about 35 years ago, one of my most admired authors of non-fiction, John McPhee, wrote this: "The Mississippi River, with its sand and silt, has created most of Louisiana, and it could not have done so by remaining in one channel. If it had, southern Louisiana would be a long narrow peninsula reaching into the Gulf of Mexico. Southern Louisiana exists in its present form because the Mississippi River has jumped here and there within an arc about two hundred miles wide, like a pianist playing with one hand—frequently and radically changing course, surging over the left or the right bank to go off in utterly new directions. Always it is the river’s purpose to get to the Gulf by the shortest and steepest gradient. As the mouth advances southward and the river lengthens, the gradient declines, the current slows, and sediment builds up the bed. Eventually, it builds up so much that the river spills to one side. Major shifts of that nature have tended to occur roughly once a millennium. The Mississippi’s main channel of three thousand years ago is now the quiet water of Bayou Teche…" (The Control of Nature). McPhee provided succinct details of human attempts to control this shifting.
Winchester updates and expands with detail the efforts to keep the river serving human interests and not wandering off on its own. In addition to the previous, I gravitated toward this book because I have been impressed at the author’s ability to describe natural phenomena from oceans to volcanoes.
"Already by this time, the Low Sill structure was looking more worn than it should. Rogue barges had from time to time broken free of their towboats—the reason for all captains’ skittishness on passage from Widow Graham Bend to Angola—and slammed into the upstream side of the barrier, hurting its cosmetics, doing untold but invisible damage to its gates and walls. Some engineers were losing confidence in the mechanical integrity of their charge; in particular, the stilling basin at the downstream side was developing enormous scour holes as a consequence of the relentless pounding by sediment-loaded runaway water, which acted like an endless series of immense tungsten-tipped dredges, scavenging away at the bottom. One hole was 130 feet deep—a third again as deep as the very foundations of the dam."
"It is possible to walk on an iron grid around to the downstream side of the gates, and at a stroke to appreciate for once the difference in height—seventeen feet or so; it varies by season and by whim—between the Mississippi and the stream that so dearly wants to capture it, and which is the reason for the existence of all these Einstein-designed monster creations. On the downstream side it is warmer, less windy; and below my feet, through the grid, the water thrusts its way out of the gates at first smoothly, like molten copper, until it breaks into huge, white, airy billows as it smashes against invisible underwater cement speed-breaking baffles, which force it up into the air, slow its velocity, and help break and mitigate its destructive force as it barrels—millions of tons of high-speed water—down the outflow channel and on its way down the sluiceway."
"GIVEN THE CRITICAL ROLE that the entire Old River Control Structure plays in America’s economic future, it is often remarked that the five structures constitute the nation’s Achilles’ heel."
Winchester describes the repair work that several massive “river-flow events” necessitated: "Divers and depth gauges and plumb lines with fifty-pound balls that might sink faster than the rushing stream would divert them showed that the scouring both upstream and downstream of the structure had been phenomenal. Some of the holes, found months after the floods had abated, were scores of feet deep and would take almost two hundred thousand tons of gravel to fill. And the destroyed southern wing wall had vanished completely—its pieces pulverized and swept under the open gates, out into the channel, and ultimately into the Atchafalaya, a massive Army building reduced from cathedral status to the humiliating description of sediment."
This is an expensive and ongoing struggle. I appreciated Winchester’s decision to include illustrative maps of this portion of the Mississippi and the progressive “adjustments” attempted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is clear, from both of these authors, that any pause in maintenance or reduction in the resources necessary to keep the river flowing toward New Orleans would have massive consequences.
Here is part of Winchester’s summary of the current struggle: "AND IF NOT? If, one spring day in a year not too far in the future, the Project Design Flood comes a-calling, and three million cubic feet per second of conjoined American watershed outflow comes a-smashing down through to break the gates and pour helter-skelter into the outflow channel and thus, after three wild miles, cascades into the short, steep, Gulf-bound sluice of the Atchafalaya River itself—what happens then? Mayhem, basically, and of two very different kinds—the one related to the passage of the newly directed river, and the other to the abandoned valley of the Mississippi. The first would be dramatic, the second pitiable, and profoundly so. The first would be marked by tragedy—and by commercial interruption, all on a Herculean scale. The Mississippi’s immense outflow would all of a sudden, like a flash flood in some Arizona arroyo, be streaking down a valley that had been designed, if that be the word, to accommodate less than half the water that would now be breaking through the ruined gates….(and for the abandoned riverbed of the current Mississippi River) Unfed river waters would soon draw back from the shores, wild grasses would spring up, with egrets and swooping birds of prey serving as a reminder that all of Louisiana was once swamp, was bayou, was a salt marsh by the sea. In short order New Orleans itself would become a steamy mausoleum of tropical wilderness, doomed to desuetude and an early commercial death. Moreover, the city faucets would soon begin to sputter and groan rustily, and run dry. There are no aquifers beneath or close to the city—all the potable water has come from the Mississippi. The city would thirst itself away, people would leave, the heart of the city, its very reason for being, would erode."
For how long will the Corps of Engineers be able to "control nature?"
Then, about 35 years ago, one of my most admired authors of non-fiction, John McPhee, wrote this: "The Mississippi River, with its sand and silt, has created most of Louisiana, and it could not have done so by remaining in one channel. If it had, southern Louisiana would be a long narrow peninsula reaching into the Gulf of Mexico. Southern Louisiana exists in its present form because the Mississippi River has jumped here and there within an arc about two hundred miles wide, like a pianist playing with one hand—frequently and radically changing course, surging over the left or the right bank to go off in utterly new directions. Always it is the river’s purpose to get to the Gulf by the shortest and steepest gradient. As the mouth advances southward and the river lengthens, the gradient declines, the current slows, and sediment builds up the bed. Eventually, it builds up so much that the river spills to one side. Major shifts of that nature have tended to occur roughly once a millennium. The Mississippi’s main channel of three thousand years ago is now the quiet water of Bayou Teche…" (The Control of Nature). McPhee provided succinct details of human attempts to control this shifting.
Winchester updates and expands with detail the efforts to keep the river serving human interests and not wandering off on its own. In addition to the previous, I gravitated toward this book because I have been impressed at the author’s ability to describe natural phenomena from oceans to volcanoes.
"Already by this time, the Low Sill structure was looking more worn than it should. Rogue barges had from time to time broken free of their towboats—the reason for all captains’ skittishness on passage from Widow Graham Bend to Angola—and slammed into the upstream side of the barrier, hurting its cosmetics, doing untold but invisible damage to its gates and walls. Some engineers were losing confidence in the mechanical integrity of their charge; in particular, the stilling basin at the downstream side was developing enormous scour holes as a consequence of the relentless pounding by sediment-loaded runaway water, which acted like an endless series of immense tungsten-tipped dredges, scavenging away at the bottom. One hole was 130 feet deep—a third again as deep as the very foundations of the dam."
"It is possible to walk on an iron grid around to the downstream side of the gates, and at a stroke to appreciate for once the difference in height—seventeen feet or so; it varies by season and by whim—between the Mississippi and the stream that so dearly wants to capture it, and which is the reason for the existence of all these Einstein-designed monster creations. On the downstream side it is warmer, less windy; and below my feet, through the grid, the water thrusts its way out of the gates at first smoothly, like molten copper, until it breaks into huge, white, airy billows as it smashes against invisible underwater cement speed-breaking baffles, which force it up into the air, slow its velocity, and help break and mitigate its destructive force as it barrels—millions of tons of high-speed water—down the outflow channel and on its way down the sluiceway."
"GIVEN THE CRITICAL ROLE that the entire Old River Control Structure plays in America’s economic future, it is often remarked that the five structures constitute the nation’s Achilles’ heel."
Winchester describes the repair work that several massive “river-flow events” necessitated: "Divers and depth gauges and plumb lines with fifty-pound balls that might sink faster than the rushing stream would divert them showed that the scouring both upstream and downstream of the structure had been phenomenal. Some of the holes, found months after the floods had abated, were scores of feet deep and would take almost two hundred thousand tons of gravel to fill. And the destroyed southern wing wall had vanished completely—its pieces pulverized and swept under the open gates, out into the channel, and ultimately into the Atchafalaya, a massive Army building reduced from cathedral status to the humiliating description of sediment."
This is an expensive and ongoing struggle. I appreciated Winchester’s decision to include illustrative maps of this portion of the Mississippi and the progressive “adjustments” attempted by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. It is clear, from both of these authors, that any pause in maintenance or reduction in the resources necessary to keep the river flowing toward New Orleans would have massive consequences.
Here is part of Winchester’s summary of the current struggle: "AND IF NOT? If, one spring day in a year not too far in the future, the Project Design Flood comes a-calling, and three million cubic feet per second of conjoined American watershed outflow comes a-smashing down through to break the gates and pour helter-skelter into the outflow channel and thus, after three wild miles, cascades into the short, steep, Gulf-bound sluice of the Atchafalaya River itself—what happens then? Mayhem, basically, and of two very different kinds—the one related to the passage of the newly directed river, and the other to the abandoned valley of the Mississippi. The first would be dramatic, the second pitiable, and profoundly so. The first would be marked by tragedy—and by commercial interruption, all on a Herculean scale. The Mississippi’s immense outflow would all of a sudden, like a flash flood in some Arizona arroyo, be streaking down a valley that had been designed, if that be the word, to accommodate less than half the water that would now be breaking through the ruined gates….(and for the abandoned riverbed of the current Mississippi River) Unfed river waters would soon draw back from the shores, wild grasses would spring up, with egrets and swooping birds of prey serving as a reminder that all of Louisiana was once swamp, was bayou, was a salt marsh by the sea. In short order New Orleans itself would become a steamy mausoleum of tropical wilderness, doomed to desuetude and an early commercial death. Moreover, the city faucets would soon begin to sputter and groan rustily, and run dry. There are no aquifers beneath or close to the city—all the potable water has come from the Mississippi. The city would thirst itself away, people would leave, the heart of the city, its very reason for being, would erode."
For how long will the Corps of Engineers be able to "control nature?"
February 1, 2024
The Majesty of the Big Muddy
This very brief examination of the future of the Mississippi River would be of interest to anyone with firsthand knowledge of the river or the states and cities where it flows. It is interesting reading and generally jargon-free.
This very brief examination of the future of the Mississippi River would be of interest to anyone with firsthand knowledge of the river or the states and cities where it flows. It is interesting reading and generally jargon-free.
June 24, 2020
Decent enough for a short read, but not much that can't be enjoyed in much more detail and splendor in John McPhee's Atchafalaya.
May 12, 2020
I have enjoyed previous works by Simon Winchester, so I was looking forward to reading The End of the River, a story of how we have tried to tame the Mississippi River.
And I was not disappointed. Mr. Winchester has a style that takes a tiny, specific sliver of history and makes it fascinating. In this case he writes about a very specific part of the Mississippi River, and how man has interfered with nature for the past century or so. It started (as most things do) with someone (Henry Miller Shreve in this case) trying to do the right thing by straightening out the river at one point. This cut ended up having catastrophic consequences down the line, as the Mississippi now tried to jump to the Atchafalaya River, which provided a shorter, faster path to the gulf. If (or when) the Atchafalaya does completely divert the Mississippi’s stream, New Orleans and many other downstream cities and ports will fade into obscurity.
But of course the government isn’t going to allow that. Mr. Winchester shows how we have constructed levees, spillways, and the Old River Control Structure floodgates (and the associated structures that were almost immediately required to bolster the defenses) to keep the Mississippi flowing in its channel. And now, with the climate changing, how much more effort and dollars are going to be required to keep Old Man River going where we want it to go? And is this effort going to succeed, or are we fighting a lost cause?
Wonderful history and story about something that I had no idea existed. My only quibble is that I wasn’t aware that this was basically just a long essay – I was expecting a full book and was mildly surprised as I read it in one sitting!
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Scribd/Scribd Originals via NetGalley. Thank you!
And I was not disappointed. Mr. Winchester has a style that takes a tiny, specific sliver of history and makes it fascinating. In this case he writes about a very specific part of the Mississippi River, and how man has interfered with nature for the past century or so. It started (as most things do) with someone (Henry Miller Shreve in this case) trying to do the right thing by straightening out the river at one point. This cut ended up having catastrophic consequences down the line, as the Mississippi now tried to jump to the Atchafalaya River, which provided a shorter, faster path to the gulf. If (or when) the Atchafalaya does completely divert the Mississippi’s stream, New Orleans and many other downstream cities and ports will fade into obscurity.
But of course the government isn’t going to allow that. Mr. Winchester shows how we have constructed levees, spillways, and the Old River Control Structure floodgates (and the associated structures that were almost immediately required to bolster the defenses) to keep the Mississippi flowing in its channel. And now, with the climate changing, how much more effort and dollars are going to be required to keep Old Man River going where we want it to go? And is this effort going to succeed, or are we fighting a lost cause?
Wonderful history and story about something that I had no idea existed. My only quibble is that I wasn’t aware that this was basically just a long essay – I was expecting a full book and was mildly surprised as I read it in one sitting!
I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Scribd/Scribd Originals via NetGalley. Thank you!
May 6, 2020
The End of the River by Simon Winchester is a recommended short treatise on the seemingly impossible future challenge of controlling the path of the Mississippi River as it rolls to the Gulf by New Orleans.
The Mississippi is the third largest river in the world and ends up moving two-thirds of the watershed of the continental USA down to the Gulf. It is the most commercially active river on the planet. The struggle to control and tame the mighty Mississippi has been an ongoing effort for years and, in many ways is an impossible herculean task that never should have been undertaken. At this point in history the structures built to contain and control the river were made half a century ago and are inadequate to deal with a river that no longer resembles the one from years past.
Winchester covers the history of the methods of control, the structures built, and the looming environmental and human disaster that awaits due to changing weather patterns. "The ultimate problem for these structures relates not so much to their engineering shortcomings as to one simple reality: They were designed half a century ago, and were made to try to deal with a river that barely resembles its current incarnation, and to function in an environment that is also now drastically and unrecognizably different."
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribd.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/0...
The Mississippi is the third largest river in the world and ends up moving two-thirds of the watershed of the continental USA down to the Gulf. It is the most commercially active river on the planet. The struggle to control and tame the mighty Mississippi has been an ongoing effort for years and, in many ways is an impossible herculean task that never should have been undertaken. At this point in history the structures built to contain and control the river were made half a century ago and are inadequate to deal with a river that no longer resembles the one from years past.
Winchester covers the history of the methods of control, the structures built, and the looming environmental and human disaster that awaits due to changing weather patterns. "The ultimate problem for these structures relates not so much to their engineering shortcomings as to one simple reality: They were designed half a century ago, and were made to try to deal with a river that barely resembles its current incarnation, and to function in an environment that is also now drastically and unrecognizably different."
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribd.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2020/0...
July 3, 2020
This is a long essay, or a mini-book. A novella length if this was fiction. The writing style of Winchester’s in this piece is splendid, particularly in the beginning pages. The essays tell us the history of man engineering the Mississippi River and what the future may hold for it. The engineering and taming of this massive river is ultimately going to end in failure, according to Winchester. Perhaps the plans for the nearby Red River and Atchafalaya can be engineered enough, built quickly enough, to take enough of the pressure off the Mississippi to avoid complete disaster.
There are a few images that show the various versions of the Mississippi alongside the Red River with the various stages. The old 16th century natural flows, then how it naturally changed by the 19th century. This is when mankind started to muck about and change the flow.
It is an enjoyable read of history of engineering of the river. I would have liked a longer work as well, adding in more history of the region; although as it stands now it is enough. It is short enough that it could be read in one sitting (but I didn’t). This wasn’t my first read of Winchester, but it reminded me of his writing and the other books I have awaiting my attention.
Thanks to Scribd Originals and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
There are a few images that show the various versions of the Mississippi alongside the Red River with the various stages. The old 16th century natural flows, then how it naturally changed by the 19th century. This is when mankind started to muck about and change the flow.
It is an enjoyable read of history of engineering of the river. I would have liked a longer work as well, adding in more history of the region; although as it stands now it is enough. It is short enough that it could be read in one sitting (but I didn’t). This wasn’t my first read of Winchester, but it reminded me of his writing and the other books I have awaiting my attention.
Thanks to Scribd Originals and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance review copy of this book.
January 1, 2025
This was listened to on Audible.
Very interesting. Not actually Kindle single but a Scribd single. Winchester trained as a geologist.
Subject here is the end of the Mississippi River and how to avoid it. It is a highway for barge traffic. I used to watch them from my office window near the Chicago River. I had never heard before that Albert Einstein was involved in the solution. "Everything is relative."
I think the book needs some updating after this fall and Hurricane Helene. He ranks the disasters that have affected this country - The 1927 flood of the Mississippi River being the most expensive natural disaster until it was superseded by Hurricane Katrina. And I have heard that Hurricane Helene now supersedes Katrina in value - $53 billion estimated.
Very interesting. Not actually Kindle single but a Scribd single. Winchester trained as a geologist.
Subject here is the end of the Mississippi River and how to avoid it. It is a highway for barge traffic. I used to watch them from my office window near the Chicago River. I had never heard before that Albert Einstein was involved in the solution. "Everything is relative."
I think the book needs some updating after this fall and Hurricane Helene. He ranks the disasters that have affected this country - The 1927 flood of the Mississippi River being the most expensive natural disaster until it was superseded by Hurricane Katrina. And I have heard that Hurricane Helene now supersedes Katrina in value - $53 billion estimated.
September 14, 2024
3.5* could even be 4* but I don't feel generous enough today
easy interesting read with good writing, raises my interest in other projects (some I already know about that are much closer to home) that have interfered with nature to accomodate humankind
easy interesting read with good writing, raises my interest in other projects (some I already know about that are much closer to home) that have interfered with nature to accomodate humankind
August 27, 2020
A nice, quick read that overviews the engineering history of the lower Mississippi River and the main weakness in the extreme lower Mississippi River. The author vaguely ties this into global warming and the hubris of Americans in the closing pages, which I found to be perfunctory and forced - a socially-responsible coda of questionable relation to the rest of the interesting historical narrative. Not that I disagree with the author - I don't - but it was a blunt transition that could have been reduced to a finger-wagging.
Learned more than a little about this interesting stretch of water. Would recommend this to anyone who likes non-fiction focused on geography/exploration/travel.
Learned more than a little about this interesting stretch of water. Would recommend this to anyone who likes non-fiction focused on geography/exploration/travel.
January 25, 2021
53 - 2021
May 20, 2023
I really enjoyed this short book from Simon Winchester. It seems like it could have been another chapter in Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, but I really like this short format.
And what a startling read. I had no idea that this looming disaster lurked down in Louisiana. I know the Mississippi River is prone to flooding and hard to control, but Winchester really lays out the mind boggling disaster of having it change its course into the Atchafalaya River. Remember when that boat , the Ever Given, got stuck in the Suez Canal, and it caused problems all over the world? This would likely be a much bigger, longer-lasting version of that.
This was a known problem years ago, and as the dire consequences of climate change become ever more severe, it seems like the problem is only worsening. Winchester lays out the sobering state of affairs of this part of the river. Highly recommended.
And what a startling read. I had no idea that this looming disaster lurked down in Louisiana. I know the Mississippi River is prone to flooding and hard to control, but Winchester really lays out the mind boggling disaster of having it change its course into the Atchafalaya River. Remember when that boat , the Ever Given, got stuck in the Suez Canal, and it caused problems all over the world? This would likely be a much bigger, longer-lasting version of that.
This was a known problem years ago, and as the dire consequences of climate change become ever more severe, it seems like the problem is only worsening. Winchester lays out the sobering state of affairs of this part of the river. Highly recommended.
May 2, 2023
I came away disappointed after reading this. Simon references centuries of geological history of the Mississippi River, long before man could have any significant control over it, only later to call it man made- even implying that the original bubbling head or mouth of the the river in Minnesota was artificial. Moreover, after introducing the topic as "The End of the River" he seems to suggests that the few miles of the Mississippi discussed comprises the whole of it. This quality of writing is uncharacteristic of Simon Winchester.
June 24, 2024
This book explores the very real possibility of the Mississippi River “jumping” channels in which the flow of the river heads down the Atchafalaya River leaving the existing channel dry. This would be a catastrophe for a number of reasons not least of which is economic devastation that would impact the major downstream economic hub and metropolitan areas (Baton Rogue, New Orleans) that would cease to function without access to the river.
January 23, 2025
A 1.5 hour little thing that I picked up on Audible for 4$. It is about how the Mississippi wants to be diverted down the Atchafalaya River about 150 miles north of the Gulf because the grade is steeper so it would flow better that way. But the entirety of the Midwest economy relies on that not happening, so huge river control walls have been built to try and control the mighty Mississippi. But can man overpower nature? Only time will tell....only time will tell....
August 29, 2022
A short 90 minute exploration of the story of attempts to control the Mississippi River. An excellent description of Shreve’s folly clearing historic logjams on the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers. Further descriptions of near disasters and portending threats are dramatically and scientifically portrayed.
Highly recommended for anyone who has ever glanced on the Big Muddy with awe.
Highly recommended for anyone who has ever glanced on the Big Muddy with awe.
January 13, 2023
A Delicious Seance
A Simon Winchester devotee for many years, I stumbled onto this title recently, unsure of how I’d missed it. With his typical British-inspired prose, the author weaves a cloak of doom about the mighty river whose existence is mostly taken for granted. Absorbing and well-researched as usual, my only criticism of this story is its length and ability to leaving one aloft with thoughts of apocalypse.
A Simon Winchester devotee for many years, I stumbled onto this title recently, unsure of how I’d missed it. With his typical British-inspired prose, the author weaves a cloak of doom about the mighty river whose existence is mostly taken for granted. Absorbing and well-researched as usual, my only criticism of this story is its length and ability to leaving one aloft with thoughts of apocalypse.
February 3, 2024
Hubris vs natural forces
The Mississippi River is described as a powerful force of nature that has been contained by man made structures for decades. But most scientists and hydrologists concede that containment cannot be continued forever and the consequences of the Mississippi breaking free will be catastrophic.
The Mississippi River is described as a powerful force of nature that has been contained by man made structures for decades. But most scientists and hydrologists concede that containment cannot be continued forever and the consequences of the Mississippi breaking free will be catastrophic.
March 18, 2023
A well done book. Gives a description of one of the greatest threats facing the Mississippi drainage basin--the control project at the intersection of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers. A well done and precise history of this major (but little known) project.
May 12, 2022
A very good short book on the history of flooding and flood control on the lower Mississippi River near New Orleans.
June 19, 2022
Shocking concern unknown to almost anyone. Bravo Simon.
January 17, 2023
Just didn’t do it for me. I think reading vs audio book is likely a better option.
May 11, 2023
Good read but not as detailed as other works by this author.
November 18, 2023
Insightful story...well done
Good story, well crafted, and very interesting... a picture of the river, the history, and maybe the folly of man trying to control nature.
Good story, well crafted, and very interesting... a picture of the river, the history, and maybe the folly of man trying to control nature.
April 29, 2024
This quick and informative listen was fascinating, especially for anyone who has driven across or explored nearby the Mississippi River.
March 4, 2025
Beautiful and terrifying.
May 18, 2025
fascinating summary of various attempts to manage the Mississippi river. and a sobering contemplation of what the future might bring
February 9, 2025
Scribd Audio
Got almost nothing out of this. A podcast would’ve had more information. But it didn’t claim to be anything else 🤷🏼♀️
Got almost nothing out of this. A podcast would’ve had more information. But it didn’t claim to be anything else 🤷🏼♀️
April 18, 2024
I didn’t realize this was essentially the length of a long form article vs a full nonfiction book, but loved how dense and compelling the story was. The Mississippi River has a much more dynamic history than I realized, and Winchester (as he’s known for) did a good job telling the natural and national history of it.
October 25, 2025
Simon Winchester is one of my favorite historians, and I generally by his books in audio format just to hear him speak. "Krakatoa" is one of my favorite books of all time.
All of that said, I did not enjoy this book as much as I would traditionally enjoy one of Winchester's. It may well be that the subject matter itself just did not resonate with me. As always, though, the book itself was well- researched and well-presented.
All of that said, I did not enjoy this book as much as I would traditionally enjoy one of Winchester's. It may well be that the subject matter itself just did not resonate with me. As always, though, the book itself was well- researched and well-presented.
February 9, 2025
1. Listened on my own. 03/18/2024 - 03/18/2024.
2. Listening with Ryan. Began 06/05/2024. Restarted 01/25/2025 - 02/08/2025 (listening with Ryan at Deception Pass).
2. Listening with Ryan. Began 06/05/2024. Restarted 01/25/2025 - 02/08/2025 (listening with Ryan at Deception Pass).
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