In order to log this cache you must send and email with one of the following physical attributes.
A) Approximate height of the natural bank (where you are). To help obtain this height you should know that the levee at Baton Rouge is 45 feet. If you sight along the bench that is level you can get an estimate of the difference in height. Also note that the trash cans on the levee are about 3 feet tall.
B) The Approximate width of any of the historical courses (listed below).
Mail your answer to jvsibley@gmail.com.
Before levees controlled the flood plain of the Mississippi the flood plain was much wider. This flood plain is now the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest fresh water swamp in the US. If you drive west over the I10 Mississippi bride and head west, you will cross several of the historical courses of the river. These are now small bayous or the Atchafalaya River which is the new desired course.
- Mile marker 140 you will cross Bayou Gross Tete
- Mile marker 120 you will cross the Atchafalaya River (which is the desired course)
- Be sure to stop at the Atchafalaya Welcome Center
- Mile marker 108-109 you will cross Bayou Teche
- Mile marker 103-104 you will find the historical uncontrolled west bank of the Mississippi River
Referencing the map from 1857 you can see that the Red River is flowing into the Mississippi and the much smaller Atchafalaya River is diverting a small amount of the flow through the Atchafalaya Basin. Since this map was pinned the Atchafalaya has captured the Red River and now the US Congress mandates the Army Corp of Engineers to let no more than 30% of the Mississippi River from going down the Atchafalaya River. In a study the Corp conducted in 1953 estimated that left uncontrolled the Mississippi would change course by 1990. This holding of the Mighty Mississippi River in it's current course is accomplished by the Old River Control Structure, link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_River_Control_Structure
For more details on the Atchafalaya Basin see the National Park Service Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, link: http://www.nps.gov/attr/index.htm
Another good overview of the Atchafalaya Basin is in National Geographic, September 1979 article “Trouble in Bayou Country: Louisiana’s Atchafalaya”. See page 393-396 for details on the Corps’s efforts.