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Our transcription: One place where human activity has come into conflict with a great river seeking to maintain its equilibrium is the Mississippi. Stretching almost 4,000 kilometers, the Mississippi drains approximately 42 percent of the United States. It is a sediment-laden river, shifting an estimated 516 million tons per year from its headwaters in Minnesota all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the great length of this River, the process of deposition sometimes causes serious problems. If bars build up in important areas of navigation, they can disrupt shipping and regional commerce. In the industrial corridor between New Orleans and Baton Rouge lies one of North America's most important navigational routes. In order to keep the River open to the many ocean-going vessels which use it year round, the United States Army Corps of Engineers must continually grapple with the forces of nature. One frequent trouble spot lies just south of Baton Rouge, in a stretch of the River called "Red Eye Crossing." Here the River tends to deposit sediment, threatening to close the channel to deep-water ships.
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