The Vicksburg District traces its history back to 1873 when Capt.
William Henry Harrison Benyaurd opened a U.S. Army Engineer office
in Monroe. The new office was primarily concerned with surveys and
removal of wrecks and other navigational hazards in the Yazoo River
in Mississippi and the Ouachita River in Louisiana following the
Civil War.
On June 28, 1879, an Act of Congress created MRC
to direct all work on the Mississippi River.The same act provided
for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers districts to do the work.
On August 1,1884, Capt. Eric Bergland established the first permanent
Engineer office in Vicksburg. However, this office had no responsibility
for work on the Mississippi River. Since Bergland, the district
has had nearly 50 district engineers.
In the 1890s, the United States was divided into
five Engineer Divisions, and the Vicksburg office was placed in
the Southwest Division. Vicksburg was later transferred to the Gulf
Division headquartered in New Orleans and, in 1909, was transferred
to the Western Division headquartered in St. Louis.
In 1929, the Western Division was reorganized into the Upper and
Lower Mississippi Valley Divisions, and LMVD was headquartered in
Vicksburg. It supervised the work of three Engineer Districts-Memphis,
New Orleans, and Vicksburg.
During its more than 100 years in the area, the
Vicksburg District has been responsible for a wide range of activities,
including shortening the river by more than 100 miles, building
seven flood control reservoirs, returning navigation to the Red
and Ouachita Rivers, standardization of 1,758 miles of levees, and
returning navigation to the port city that serves as its headquarters.
In the early days of flood control, Corps levee
construction was limited to areas where it improved navigation.
It was because of this requirement that the Vicksburg District was
able to aid local levee boards in the Mississippi Delta in the early
1900s.
With the Ransdell-Humphreys Flood Control Act of 1917, the Federal
Government committed itself to flood prevention and control. The
act appropriated $45 million to the MRC, to be spent $10 million
a year, and required local interests to pay at least half the cost
of flood protection works and provide all levee rights-of-way.
At the turn of the century, the Vicksburg Engineer
office also assumed a major portion of the responsibility for construction
of the Vicksburg National Military Park, commemorating the siege
of the historic hill city.
A system of six locks and dams on the Ouachita
River to provide year-round 6-1/2-foot navigation to Camden, Arkansas,
became the first major navigation project for the office in the
early 1900s. The work was completed in 1924 at a total cost of $4.5
million, making it the cheapest canalized waterway in the nation.
In 1927, the Lower Mississippi Valley was literally
swamped by one of the worst floods on record, and the Vicksburg
District was caught in the middle. Much of the land along the Mississippi
and its tributaries was protected by levees, and only by levees.
The district was responsible for watching 420 miles of these levees,
and the innovative Maj. John C. H. Lee brought in Navy seaplanes
to patrol the levees for signs of weakness. Despite all efforts,
levees along the Arkansas and Mississippi Rivers broke, flooding
large areas of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Losses from
the flood in the Vicksburg District were estimated at about $104
million.
With the Flood Control Act of 1928, the district
became involved in a comprehensive flood control program, which
eventually included lakes, levees, and other measures. Following
the 1927 Flood, it was realized that, while levees were indispensable,
to depend on them for flood protection was suicidal. A plan developed
by Lt. Gen. Edgar Jadwin called for floodways, spillways, levee
improvements, channel stabilization, mapping, and a navigation channel,
a system capable of safely passing the worst possible flood in the
valley.
Jadwin's plan was not written in stone, but allowed
modifications to accommodate the developing river over the years.
The plan called for at least one floodway in the Vicksburg District,
but it was never built. Instead, a cutoff program proved so beneficial
that the floodway was dropped, and 14 cutoffs were made, shortening
the river by 152 miles. Cutoffs allow the river to pass increased
flows more quickly.
While Jadwin's plan ruled out flood control reservoirs
on the Mississippi's main stem, he advocated studying them for the
tributaries as part of the comprehensive plan for developing all
water resources. In 1936, the Yazoo Headwater Project, pushed by
Congressman Will M. Whittington of Greenwood, Mississippi, became
a reality and resulted in Arkabutla, Sardis, Enid, and Grenada lakes.
Construction was begun on Sardis Lake in 1936
and, in 1940, the project became operational. Sardis Dam is a hydraulic-fill
dam, one of the earliest of its kind in the nation. Work was begun
on Arkabutla Lake on the Coldwater River immediately after completion
of Sardis. The dam was built between 1940 and 1943 to control the
runoff from 1,000 square miles of surrounding hill country. Arkabutla
was followed by construction of Grenada and Enid dams, but completion
of these two structures was delayed by World War II.
Three similar lakes were built about the same
time on the headwaters of the Ouachita River in Arkansas-Ouachita,
DeGray, and Greeson. In addition to flood control, the three Arkansas
lakes were designed for hydropower production. In the early 1950's,
work was begun on the first of the three Ouachita River Lakes. Narrows
Dam at Lake Greeson on the Little Missouri River, the only concrete
dam constructed in the Vicksburg District, was the first of three
multipurpose flood control dams built in Arkansas. Narrows was followed
by Blakely Mountain on Lake Ouachita in 1955 and by DeGray on the
Caddo River in 1970.
In 1960, the Corps began the Flood Plain Management
program to provide floodplain management assistance, upon request,
to local, state, and other federal agencies, including the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Farmers Home Administration, Federal
Housing Administration, and the U.S. Postal Service.
The construction inspection services of the Vicksburg
District were contracted out to the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) in 1978 to oversee construction of federally funded wastewater
treatment plants throughout Mississippi.
In the early 1980s, the Vicksburg District went
international, with a water resources development study in the Niger
Basin of West Africa. Also, engineers from other nations have come
to the Vicksburg District to study the way we do business.
Since the Engineers first opened an office in
Vicksburg, the work and responsibility of the district have grown
and diversified. From simple clearing and snagging operations on
two small rivers in Mississippi and Louisiana, the mission of the
Vicksburg District has grown to an annual program regularly exceeding
$200 million and work responsibilities with international impacts.
Flood control structures, such as Steele Bayou
Structure near the confluence of the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers,
and pumping plants, such as Tensas-Cocodrie on the Black River in
Louisiana, have been built allowing water to pass outward while
preventing rising stages from backing through the levees.
But even with all of the work accomplished to
date, the war is not necessarily won. Local levee boards work constantly
to ensure that the levees and drainage structures are ready to meet
any high- water emergencies. The Vicksburg District continues to
work closely with local boards, providing technical assistance and
advice and, in emergencies, men and equipment. Flood protection
is a partnership between Federal, state, and local governments. |