For more than two hundred years Americans have tried to tame the Mississippi River. And, for that entire time, the river has fought back. 

Journalist and author Boyce Upholt has spent dozens of nights camping along the Lower Mississippi and knows the river for what it is: both a water-moving machine and a supremely wild place. His recent book, “The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi River” tells the story of how engineers have made the Mississippi into one of the most engineered waterways in the world, and in turn have transformed it into a bit of a cyborg — half mechanical, half natural. 

In this episode, host Nate Hegyi and Upholt take us from the flood ravaged town of Greenville, Mississippi, to the small office of a group of army engineers, in a tale of faulty science, big egos and a river that will ultimately do what it wants. 

Featuring Boyce Upholt.

 

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LINKS

You can find Boyce’s new book The Great River, at your local bookstore or online. 

The 2018 study which attributed increased engineering of the Mississippi as a greater influence to worsening floods on the river than climate change. 

Check out Harold Fisk's 1944 now famous maps of a meandering and ever-changing Mississippi watershed.

The Mississippi Department of Archives & History has a remarkable collection of digitized photos from the 1927 flood.

To get a sense of the type of work being done on the Mississippi in modern day, a US Army Corps of Engineers video detailing concrete revetment on the Lower Mississippi. 

Curious about recent controversy on the Mississippi? Read up on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion – a $3 billion coastal restoration project that will divert portions of the Mississippi’s flow in hopes of rebuilding lost land via sediment deposition.
 

CREDITS

Our host is Nate Hegyi.

Written and mixed by Marina Henke.

Editing by Taylor Quimby and Nate Hegyi. 

Our staff also includes Felix Poon and Justine Paradis. Our executive producer is Taylor Quimby. Rebecca Lavoie is NHPR’s Director of On-Demand Audio.

Music in this episode from Blue Dot Sessions, Martin Landstrom, and Chris Zabriskie. Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

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