Mississippi River Basin Model

[1] From 1928 onwards, the Army Corps of Engineers built a huge number of locks, run-off channels and extended and raised existing levees.

This would cover approximately 200 acres, include all existing and proposed control measures, and a network of streams nearly 8 miles in total length.

By 1952 the Missouri River segment was fully operational and used extensively to predict problems during that year's April floods, helping to avoid damage of an estimated $65 million.

The model was used to show that the untested Morganza Spillway could be opened effectively, without diverting polluted water through New Orleans and Baton Rouge, as well as identifying levees that required topping up.

In 2000, the model was included in the Mississippi Heritage Trusts' 10 Most Endangered List,[7] featured in a Google Sightseeing post in 2007 [8] , and thereafter was visited and blogged about by several urban explorers and photographers.

[9][10] In 2011 students from Louisiana State University received an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for their project to revitalise the park and relaunch the model as a tourist attraction.

[11] Richard Coupe of the Jackson Free Press visited the site in 2013 and reported it as overgrown, but open to the public within Buddy Butts Park.

[3] A team from 16 WAPT News surveyed the site using the Eagle Eye 16 drone and reported it as overgrown, defaced, and with several pieces of the grid collapsing.