The Athenaeum Study Club met Feb. 22. Bobby Bridwell reviewed the book “Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America” by John M. Barry.
The author traced the geographic history of the Mississippi River from prehistoric times until the present and how its periodic flooding has affected the land beside it and the people who lived there. Various methods have been tried to control the river and have failed.
In the 19th century, two engineers in particular — James Eads and Andrew Humphreys — spent most of their lives trying to make the Mississippi conform. Their efforts brought them international honor, recognition and medals. They disagreed on nearly everything involving the river, but both made lasting contributions. However, their efforts were not enough to stop the massive flood of 1927.
The flood was perhaps America’s greatest natural disaster. It was brought about by record rainfalls and snow storms throughout the midwest, east and the Mississippi Valley, lasting from the fall of 1926 through the spring. All of these areas were flooding and water from these tributaries was flowing to the Mississippi.
More water than had ever been measured was flowing southward from the confluence of the Ohio River. By May, in some places there were 30 feet of water over land inhabited by nearly a million people. It was September before the last of it drained away. The whole Mississippi Valley had been inundated.
This flood changed race relations, destroyed the old planter aristocracy, accelerated black migration to the north and brought federal intervention into the region’s social and economic life.
Policies created to deal with the disaster and greed changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta, helped launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and Huey Long into Louisiana politics. And the United States government took full responsibility for the Mississippi River, setting a precedent of federal involvement in local affairs.
