Mark Twain, the Mississippi, and modern river engineering

摘要

For nearly 200 years engineers have been actively engaged in the management of the mainstem Mississippi River and many of the tributaries that fill its banks with flood waters and provide a riverine highway for national commerce. From the beginning of this activity, many have doubted the ability of these engineers to deal with the challenges that such management would impose upon them as the waters of the Mississippi basin were gathered across the central part of the United States to ultimately flow into the Gulf of Mexico. Today, the mainstem Mississippi continues to serve as a major transportation artery. The floods that threatened the earliest settlers along its banks have grown in magnitude and now require constant attention to prevent the rises in river flows from creating national catastrophes. In spite of these challenges, modern engineers, when given the required resources, have been able to meet these challenges and, while doing this, to maintain the ecological integrity of this mighty river.