Old River at Old River Control Complex

What's the Story?

The connection between the Mississippi, Red and Atchafalaya rivers began long ago when the Red started flowing toward a large meander of the Mississippi. This meander (later called Turnbull’s Bend) intercepted the Red River, turning it into a tributary. The Atchafalaya River also eventually connected with the meander, becoming a distributary. In the mid-1800s, construction of a cut through the narrow neck of Turnbull’s Bend made navigation on the Mississippi more efficient. While the upper channel of Turnbull’s Bend gradually silted in and separated from the Mississippi, the lower channel—Old River—became an important connection between the three rivers. 

After extensive logjams in the Red and Atchafalaya rivers were removed in the 1840s, the Mississippi started showing signs of switching course by sending increasing amounts of water via Old River to the Atchafalaya, which offered a shorter route to the Gulf of Mexico. In the early 1950s it became clear that, without more human intervention, the Mississippi would eventually change course to the Atchafalaya. If this happened, the old Mississippi channel would become a saltwater estuary, causing significant disruption to cities and industries that relied on it for fresh water and transporting goods. The river’s new path down the Atchafalaya would flood that area and create additional social and economic upheaval.

To prevent this course change and address flooding issues, multiple structures and floodways were built over several decades to create the complex controls that define this area today. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built the Old River Control Complex to regulate the Atchafalaya, which takes all the Red River’s outflow and some of the Mississippi’s. Flow through the control structure was regulated to a 70-30 split—70 percent of the combined flow of the Red and Mississippi rivers at the latitude of Old River is sent down the Mississippi. The remaining 30 percent passes down the Atchafalaya. 

When completed in 1963, the Old River Control Complex contained a Low Sill Structure designed to regulate normal flow and an Overbank Structure used only when the Mississippi exceeds its banks. During the Mississippi River flood of 1973, the Low Sill structure was almost destroyed as the river threatened to dig it out of the ground, so the Morganza Floodway was operated to relieve pressure. The Auxiliary Structure was competed in 1986 to provide additional emergency capacity during excessive spring floods. 

The other elements of the Old River Control Complex are the privately funded Sidney Murray Jr. Hydroelectric Plant at the north end and the Old River Lock and Dam at the south end. By 1990, all five structures were completed and operational.

During the peak of the Mississippi River Flood of 2011, when the Old River Control Complex discharged 706,000 cubic feet per second of water, the structure at Morganza was opened for the second time in history. The floodway system functioned as advertised, but the power of nature should not be underestimated.

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This site’s geology/geomorphology: Holocene natural levee deposits of Mississippi River

Site GPS Coordinates: 31.062562, -91.590901
Closest Address: None, but the site is ~15.5 miles north of Lettsworth on LA-15 N.
Driving Directions: From Baton Rouge, take I-110 N to US-61 N. Take exit 8C to merge onto US-61 N toward Natchez. In about 18 miles, turn left onto LA-10 W for 20 miles (the road turns into LA-1 N/Gayden Road). Continue for 11 miles, then turn right onto LA-418 W. In 9 miles, turn right onto LA-15 N. Drive 9 more miles to trail site. From Simmesport, take LA-1 S toward Lettsworth. Turn left onto LA-15 N/LA-970. Follow LA-15 N for 14.5 miles to trail site.