A River Runs Through It -- Big Trouble on the River - The Floods of 1927 and 1937

Trouble from the Mississippi River -- The Floods of 1927 and 1937

     Today’s program features two vintage newsreels from the 1920s and 1930s, including historical footage of the massive Mississippi River floods of 1927 and 1937.
     The first is a 30-minute depression-era documentary, simply entitled, “The River: A U.S. Documentary Film,” which chronicles the exploration and exploitation of the Mississippi River from the Civil War through the 1920s. It shows the importance of the Mississippi River to the United States, and how farming and timber practices had caused topsoil to be swept down the river and into the Gulf of Mexico in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
     The second half-hour video is also a timepiece, “The Valley of the Giant: Mississippi River Story.”  Opening with an explanation of the national importance of the Mississippi River as a major trade waterway, the film explores the Army Corps of Engineers' historic methods of maintaining it as a safe navigational channel. It also chronicles how the Corps has built countless levees, dams, floodways, etc., in order to prevent a reoccurrence of the massive destruction of the delta that resulted from the 1927 flood.