| Show BIG MUDDY engineers playing with model forecast mississippi s actions I 1 VICKSBURG X IS gulf 0 mexico map shows Ficks vicksburg burg site of the waterways experiment station and the lower mississippi river area whose fluctuations it anticipates by WADE W SCOTT j ta MISS they cy have the mighty mississippi river under control in a model that sprawls between two hills at the united states waterways experiment station just outside the city limits of vicksburg and only a stones throw from the mighty river itself engineers assistants ssi stants and laborers strong conduct their own ravaging floods record the antics of the mississippi and its tributaries tributa ries as casually as any other group ot of men at work on an easier job comparisons pari sons are frequently made and surveyors field books closely studied all during the operations there is no guesswork about what the river is doing at one point when it is eving ing over the levee at another 6 depater SE pater ater may be turned in at one point and after a few minutes the experimenters can tell what would happen at a point hundreds of miles further down the stream by merely glancing at a gauge or by walking a few steps they can actually see what is going on there is no mistake about the water backing up into certain tributaries tributa ries nor how much of the water is taken from the mississippi through the atcha balaya river to the gulf of mexico it takes only a few minutes to see the happenings of a 24 hour day inches represent miles as the harm less little rivulet tells in a few seconds what the mississippi would take hours to do gauge flood effects in another section as the floods are holding the interest of one group another crew may be using powdered coal in a separate part of the model to determine how much silt and mud would be deposited at a certain point if the river reached a certain height by chipping off a concrete levee about two inches high the water is turned loose to seek its level and the time it takes to cover a certain area is known as well as what tributary the water would eventually reach which town would be endangered there may be some controversy about the effect of trees retarding the current but the argument has been settled by screen wire bent and stood on edge at the comparative distance with trees on the real rivers banks or the hundreds of islands along the stream when changes are made in the river by cutoffs similar changes are made on the model the model is built on a di distorted scale in some respects but by using the slide rule the engineers are never stumped they take their readings as simply as a carpenter would read his rule |
