
Atchafalaya (1987) - mauvehaus
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/23/atchafalaya
======
mjibson
The Control of Nature
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Control_of_Nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Control_of_Nature))
is a book that contains this essay and two others (one about Iceland
attempting to divert lava flows using pumped ocean water, one about southern
CA attempting to build housing in an area dominated by complementary mudslides
and firestorms). The whole book is a really great (in John McPhee's unique
style) description of what happens when humans attempt to restrict or alter
the earth's natural changes.

The above Atchafalaya essay is eye opening about the Mississippi River and how
its natural course has swayed back and forth hundreds of miles over the
centuries. We have now decided these two rivers should stop moving, but the
earth doesn't see it that way. When they hit the gulf, their flow speed
lowers, dropping the carried sediment. This causes their mouth to move
slightly to an area with less dropped sediment. Humans have built walls
attempting to constrain movement, but that may be a long-term losing battle.

Recommended reading, and a nice entry point to McPhee if you haven't read him
yet.

~~~
jcranmer
The Yellow River has had more dramatic movements in recorded history, see this
Wikipedia image for how varied its course has been in the past two millennia:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River#/media/File:Yello...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_River#/media/File:Yellow_River_watercourse_changes_en.png)

~~~
PhasmaFelis
What caused the coastline (the dotted blue lines) to change that dramatically
over 2500 years?

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sizzzzlerz
There is a Simpsons episode where the family goes to Australia. In the
American embassy there, they are shown a toilet with a huge pump attached to
it so that the water will circulate the way it does in the northern
hemisphere. A totally false assumption made for comedic effect but the amount
of time and money spent by the US government to make Mother Nature behave is
anything but funny. At some point, a failure or flood or some other disaster
is going to release the river to flow wherever it wants and mankind is not
going to stop it.

~~~
oh_sigh
It's not like the government is just containing the river for fun - they are
containing it because huge investments have been made along its current banks,
and to just let it run it's course would destroy billions of dollars of value
permanently(because other groups would not invest in the new water course if
it could change again after 20 years leaving them high and dry).

~~~
sizzzzlerz
My point wasn't the money being spent is being wasted. It was that when nature
decides it's time for change, all the money in the world isn't going to make a
difference.

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ketzo
Pronounced 'uh-CHA-fuh-LIE-uh,' for anyone curious. CHA like CHApstick. At
least, if you're speaking in the kind of accent used with great frequency in
this story.

~~~
halbritt
There's no "uh" sound at the beginning.

~~~
crusso
This coonass, who grew up along the Atchafalaya, says that people normally use
a soft "uh" sound at the beginning of the name.

~~~
halbritt
Mostly I grew up along the Ouachita, but I lived in Church Point for a time,
and I don't remember the soft "uh" sound.

Not sayin' I'm right, just that I never pronounced it that way and don't
remember it commonly being pronounced that way. That was... about 35 years
ago, though. The way I remember it, there was no vowel before the CH sound.

~~~
crusso
Church Point! Jeez, that's north of the I-10. Once you get past Opelousas,
you're practically in Yankee territory. :)

Here's a guy going through some Louisiana names and their pronunciations. Skip
ahead to hear him pronounce Atchafalaya the way I grew up hearing it.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wFX0BNbVf0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wFX0BNbVf0)

~~~
halbritt
Thanks for posting this.

"Laughy-ette" ...pretty much.

Man I miss good boudin.

So, he said, "This is most closely associated with the Atchafalaya basin..."

Said in that way, you don't notice the "uh" sound preceding it. I'm guessing
that's what I'm remembering.

He covered Herbert as a last name, but not Richard.

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dmix
A link to the Google Maps:

[https://www.google.com/maps/place/Three+Rivers+Wildlife+Mana...](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Three+Rivers+Wildlife+Management+Area,+Vidalia,+LA+71373,+USA/@31.0831268,-91.728827,11.14z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x86247108e378d30b:0xae63081d0e80831f!2sAtchafalaya+River!3b1!8m2!3d30.2380944!4d-91.5589892!3m4!1s0x8625ba8b61b8ef53:0x51be037acd67f981!8m2!3d31.0804304!4d-91.6469193?hl=en)

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dukoid
I think this is the location of the illustration on Google Maps:
[https://www.google.ch/maps/@31.0669716,-91.5765602,407a,35y,...](https://www.google.ch/maps/@31.0669716,-91.5765602,407a,35y,255.9h,73.3t/data=!3m1!1e3)

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sjs382
Map from 1944 depicting how the Mississippi River has changed its path:
[https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/nature/river-course-
changes.h...](https://www.nps.gov/vick/learn/nature/river-course-changes.htm)

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mark-r
This is not the first time this has been posted here. I remember vividly this
bit:

> With a diamond drill, in a central position, they bored the first of many
> holes in the structure. When they had penetrated to basal levels, they
> lowered a television camera into the hole. They saw fish.

~~~
mauvehaus
I'd love to read the comments on previous postings, but couldn't find them on
hn.algolia.com. Pointers?

~~~
mark-r
I'm having trouble finding it too. I wonder if the same article was published
by a different source?

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sremani
Only today did I realize that Red River and Mississippi are sort of connected.
I mean the navigable river infrastructure of USA is itself .. EXCEPTIONAL!

I am sorry Shreveport.. I underestimated you ;)

