Return to the Sea: A Story of the Mississippi River (1980s?)

[Music] one of Nature's Most Precious Miracles a gentle afternoon rain shower arising from the moisture of the Great Seas carried Inland by clouds brought to Earth [Music] again with the rain comes the promise of Life of regeneration of new beginnings it is the source too of another natural phenomenon the endless journey of water returning to the Sea finding its way along Brooks and streams flowing on to form the small and large rivers of our land and none is greater among them than the Mississippi discovering the size and Majesty of the Mississippi hundreds of years ago the American Indians called it mebi father of waters its origin is at Lake itasa high in northern Minnesota Gathering into it other rivers like the Missouri the Illinois the Ohio the white Cumberland Arkansas Tennessee and yazu the Mississippi River drains 1 and a/4 million square miles of land in 31 states 41% of our nation as as well as two Canadian provinces stretching out over a course of 2,340 Mi to empty into the Gulf of Mexico an average of more than 350 billion gallons of water are returned to the Sea each day enough water for the needs of a city like St Louis Missouri for nearly 8 years the land along the Mississippi's Banks is Rich and bountiful and the river plays an important role in the lives of some 80 million people who live and work there more than a third of the nation's [Music] population yet that's just the beginning for the labor of these people the products of their farms and businesses will reach out to touch the lives of millions more at home and around the world I'm a moving getting underway today's a new day no time to play I move fast I move slow got many miles to go before tomorrow well I'm moving getting underway got to load it here and unloaded there got people waiting got to do my share while I'm moving there's a piece of Steel for a man down in pixburgh a load of cold is found for Tennessee got a belly full of grain fresh out of Kansas and some sweet sweet sugar from a land across to see while I'm moving yes I'm a moving I got materials for industry things for the home things to make life better at work or play I move all night I move all day I'm part of the heart of the USC well I'm a moving [Music] yes I'm a [Music] moving without the river the economy of the vast midsection of the country could not continue to function or grow as well as being a principal source of water supply for people and Industry the Mississippi is the supply line the lifeline all through the day and night barges are unloaded loaded ready to travel again now she's moving ahe slow on their decks and in their giant holes ride coal and oil to heat the nation's homes and power its factories gasoline and refined fuels for aircraft trains trucks and Automobiles Iron and Steel Timber and Wood Products the tools for building and growth ore and chemicals for industry and Manufacturing grains and food stuffs to serve our own table and to trade with our International neighbors add to these the scores of different Commodities moving along the gulf inter Coastal Waterway and pouring off ships calling from the Far East from Australia from Europe in the Mediterranean from sugar to [Music] cement from fertilizer to pharoh Alloys and spaceship components more than 300 million tons of cargo moving from source to Market on the Mississippi yet it was not always so in fact the hardworking River of today hardly resembles the river of years ago well it's difficult to visualize now but you must understand that in the early 1800s the Mississippi River was free it went where it wanted to go it did what it wanted to do no organized attempt had ever been made to either one control the flow of the water or two keep a channel open for navigation so at that time Life along the Mississippi was at best an uncertain proposition if you lived along the banks of Mississippi at that time you were faced with floods and the wandering characteristics of the riverbed the riverbed might be here at your doorstep this year and a mile away over there next year or you might be underwater if you were bold enough to put a boat on the river a big boat a freight boat for example you face treacherous currents shifting sandbars and stumps and snags that could rip out the bottom from your craft in a matter of seconds it's an astonishing fact the average lifespan of a river boat was only about 18 months yet well obviously navigation persisted why because the river was absolutely essential to the survival and growth of the enormous Valley surrounding it it was essential to The Westward Movement to Westward Expansion it could not be done without recognizing this fact Congress in 1824 charged the Army Corp of Engineers with a task of keeping the Mississippi River and other vital waterways in the nation open for Commerce and further of increasing their usefulness the engineers first task along the Mississippi was to conduct thorough surveys of the river's course and to clear out the sandbars and snags which impeded navigation many people later to become quite famous were connected with these projects Henry shrieve for whom shreport Louisiana is named built and operated the snag boats that finally ripped out the treacherous dams of sunken Timber Robert E Lee was responsible for removing a huge Sandbar that threatened to turn the river's course away from St Louis leaving the city land un locked and Stranded well these early efforts on the part of a core of engineers gave rise to a tremendous growth in navigation and ushered in the Golden Age of the steamboat [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] to establish a reliable navigation channel in the river required imaginative ideas and tremendous effort pxz2 series of far-reaching projects 34 locks and 29 dams were built to help the river step down from the higher elevation of its origin near Minneapolis to the lowlands near St Louis so that towboats and other traffic could navigate even in times of low water the operation of a lock is very simple it's based on the principle that gravity forces water to seek its own level or level out so when a tow going down river enters a a lock chamber on the high side of the river what we do is close the gates and open a set of gravity valves as the water seeks to level out the chamber empties and the tow drops down then we open the down river Gates and a toe moves [Music] out now where we have traffic coming the other way or up River we simply reverse the procedure so actually the locks are sort of like stair steps made out of water you can go up and down as you [Music] please the activity here goes on S days a week every day of the year but operating the locks is only a small part of the job of keeping more than 177,000 M of waterways on the Mississippi and its tributaries open for business [Music] [Music] [Applause] to get the feel of what's really happening on the river you need to talk to a towboat pilot a man like Captain John rhods he's been on the river for more than 40 years and has seen toes grow from two or three barges to 30 or 40 at a time today he is commanding one of the most powerful motor vessels on the river with three diesels developing more than 10,000 horsepower pushing 8 Acres of floating cargo piloting the river has always been an art because no two trips up or down her are ever the same there's always an element of Adventure here and a quiet sort of suspense but navigating the Mississippi today is much less uncertain much less treacherous than it used to be well it's the people that's criticizing what what the river is today it's just the people that don't understand they don't know what's going on out here otherwise they wouldn't be aorn it if you'd been out here 40 some years like I have myself seen seen this Improvement then they would know Army Engineers got this Dy system first they put the dkes in then they revetted the banks and they uh theyve got now a good Channel where maybe they'll have to dredge once twice a year before we lucky to have a 8ft channel most of a lot of was 7 and 1/2t channel in days but since then we've uh we got uh practically no problems with our Channel anymore traffic on the river rarely ever stops most modern towboats operate Around the Clock radar depth finders and other electronic equipment help Pilots keep their cargo moving even through darkness and bad [Music] weather there's a new breed of pilot on the River today young men who are following veterans like Captain rhods in a career that traces its origin all the way back to the packet boats and the Steamers made famous by Mark Twain and his stories of the Mississippi I guess the reason uh I got involved in work on the river is that I like the independence uh the feeling that uh uh I'm My Own Boss I guess um it's a good way to get away from the hassle of the city uh to uh because out here it's like being on your own private island guys I know have tried it oh a month or so and then they give it up they say U you know that it's too routine or too boring or something like that uh for me I can't see anything routine or or boring about something that changes as much or or shows you as many different faces as the river does I'll tell you you'll see some things out here you just won't believe um it's incredibly beautiful out [Music] here the character of the river changes Midway below St Louis lie towns whose names awaken images of the nation's rich and colorful Heritage Koo Memphis Arkansas City Vicksburg natches Baton Rouge and finally New Orleans and the Sea The Avenue grows wider now as the river gathers the volume of its tributaries dams are no longer required to pool and hold the Mississippi open the water runs fast and free the power of the river's natural energy is used to help establish the navigation Channel and ensure its depth dkes made of wood pilings or stone narrow and direct the water's Force to the center of the channel the current helps deepen it and sweep it [Music] clean where necessary dredging operations clear the bottom to maintain the [Applause] channel sand and silk carved Away by The Dredge are pumped through a floating pipeline to a position outs inside the [Music] [Applause] channel when the water's force is directed against a bank as is the case in a Bend or curve caving is a frequent problem revetments are used to stabilize and Define the bank one type is a unique flexible mattress of concrete the mattress is extended far enough out along the river bottom that the water can't cut beneath it miles of revetments have been put in place to control the river's tendency to wander and seek new [Music] channels another kind of control is the system of levies found along the Mississippi these structures raise the height of the River Bank several feet above what would be normal helping protect lives and property in times of high water through the years the levy system has greatly expanded the amount of land devoted to farming Recreation and development yet in spite of all these efforts to contain and control it the river can grow ugly as a case in point consider the flood of 1973 one of the worst in recent history and an ultimate test of the flood control plan on the middle and Lower Mississippi well how it got going was just too much rain up in Iowa and on north of us they had several big rains up in there got her water high and then it started to fall in a little bit and they had another 11 in rain in Iowa and it covered a large area and the our water was already high and the people that living out here in the country they told Hannibal to get ready for four 4 and 1/2 ft of water more than we'd ever had I knew the levies couldn't take it so everybody that I knew that move I told them to move well they pretty well they all Tak my advice and they all moved but they didn't move enough stuff they moved what they wanted and left the rest behind which they lost my brother said that there was um about 2 ft of water out in front of our house and I didn't believe him so walked downstairs came up in KNE deep water you know I thought it was kind of exciting now I had something to do the U core of engineers furnish the sandbags you wonder where all this stuff comes from the civil defense furnished the sand the people furnished their backs and sore hands the farmers had the tractors and wagons that haul the bags to the levies private citizens head boats in a major flood fight the struggle on the middle Mississippi is containment sometimes sandbags are enough levies can be built higher if need be flood walls can be closed new levies can Shore up old ones there are failures too but even so flood control devices contain billions of extra gallons of water and and every Victory above means a new threat below more water pressing into the Lower Mississippi the flood control plan provides tremendous safety valves to disperse the pressure on the 8th of April the Bonnie Cary Spillway located here on the Left Bank of the Mississippi River just above New Orleans was opened to discharge excess Waters from the river to Lake pona train the spillway remained open for about 80 days and in doing so lowered stages by New Orleans by about 4 ft and kept them well within safe limits the control plan had successfully throttled the flood of 1973 yet in many ways it was only the beginning of course after this flood fight was over and the river began to recede we expected that the water would return to a normal level of low water and stay there but that didn't happen in 1973 instead it reached a low point about in about mid-september and then the river started back up again and that certainly set the stage for another flood fight in 1974 beginning with the Flood Control Act of 1928 Congress has directed the investment of $2 billion in a carefully planned construction program of levies flood walls cut offs revetments floodways and other control devices along the Mississippi and its tributaries and although much work remains to be done the flood of 1973 74 and 75 demonstrated that the investment has paid off many times over the river is a giant with a mind of its own floods can never be completely prevented as long as it performs its essential role in turning water to the Sea as long as man chooses to occupy the flood plain seeking plentiful water and good soil raw materials and jobs room to build and grow he places himself within the reach of potential disaster but by continuing the projects of the comprehensive flood control plan for the middle and Lower Mississippi the river's threat can be reduced dramatically one important benefit is in the area of [Music] conservation a controlled level of water and land free from constant flooding creates the stable environment essential for all forms of animal life to propagate and grow recent years have seen an important Reawakening of public interest in protecting this life sustaining balance of water food and and cover for wildlife along the river the results can already be seen well like I said it's it's a th% better to me all the way around because uh we've got good fishing we've got good hunting we've got good recreational area we got plenty of swimming around there's plenty of skiing there boat riding sometimes on a sun here you'll see 3 to 400 boats go by where back before the dam built a lot of times day go by you never see one boat because it couldn't go through we didn't have any water just this one fact the insurance of plentiful controlled water has changed the complexion of the River from foe to friend the Mississippi today is an important source of leisure time activity placing Millions within a half today's Drive of the fun and relaxation provided by water and open spaces there are other changes too changes in the way people feel about the river well uh I I guess the most important thing is that uh we finally come to realize that this river is not exclusive property you know I mean it's uh it's not the exclusive property of The Shipping Lines or the government it's not the exclusive property of the environmentalists either it belongs to all of us and uh and I think we know now that if it's going to be a better River we're going to have to all work together my dad and I have been coming over here to sail in this Lake for years and uh it's a hardworking River but uh but we're glad to see so many people convinced that it's a river that can be enjoyed and protected too to man's awakened interest in the environment must be added the fact that the River itself makes a unique contribution toward conservation for it allows us to economically move more essential Commodities more efficiently and with less pollution than any other Transportation Source the environmental impact of this contribution is felt every mile of the way from high in Minnesota through the Bountiful Midwest and finally to New Orleans gy of the South and last of the great City along the river's course to the Sea even as the day ends its docks bristle with activity as the outpouring of fields and forests and factories cross paths the work of the Mississippi is never finished the flow of water is ceaseless Timeless the efforts and inventions of man pale beside its boundless strength and energy reminding us that the river is much less fragile than the lives it sustains and supports but what is happening along the banks of the Mississippi today suggests the hope that man and nature can live and work in harmony as this greatest of America's rivers daily repeats its return to the Sea