The Atchafalaya River

The Atchafalaya River is a distributary river of the Mississippi River in Atchafalaya. The word means long river in Choctaw. It is an alternative to the Mississippi by threatening to overtake it as the master stream. Atchafalaya's growth in volume makes it the third or fourth largest river. It exceeds Mississippi's slope by three to one. The Corps uses the Atchafalaya to flow water for swamps, bayous and small cities of the surrounding area.

The Mississippi River

The Mississippi River in Atchafalaya forms Louisiana by overflowing its channel. Silt and sand is deposited back and forth across an arc of two hundred miles. The river flows by a most direct route to the Gulf. As silt deposits build up the river flows to lower levels that create a new course. Each time the river relocates it leaves bayous and natural levees in its wake. The...