Mississippi River Basin Model
A 200-acre hydraulic model of the Mississippi River basin.
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The Mississippi River Basin Model, a hydraulic replica of the entire Mississippi River system, sprawled across 200 acres near Clinton, Mississippi, as part of the Waterways Experiment Station. Construction began in 1943 and concluded in 1966, with the model operating from 1949 to 1973. For scale, the more famous San Francisco Bay Model covers just 1.5 acres, and the Chesapeake Bay Model spans 8 acres. Today, the model sits derelict but remains open to the public inside Buddy Butts Park in Jackson.
Background
Localized flood control efforts, like levees, had been built since the early 1900s, especially after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and the Flood Control Act of 1936. Starting in 1928, the Army Corps of Engineers constructed numerous locks, runoff channels, and raised existing levees, but these measures targeted only single sites, ignoring the river system as a whole. Earlier modeling at the Waterways Experiment Station in Vicksburg had focused on individual river sections, including a 1,060-foot-long model of 600 river miles from Helena, Arkansas, to Donaldsonville, Louisiana. By early 1937, it was clear these piecemeal controls were not fully effective.
In 1941, Eugene Reybold proposed a large-scale hydraulic model to let engineers simulate weather, floods, and evaluate flood control measures across the entire basin. This model would cover roughly 200 acres, incorporate all existing and proposed controls, and feature a network of streams nearly 8 miles long.
Design
The model used a vertical scale of 1:100 and a horizontal scale of 1:2000. At this ratio, the Appalachian Mountains rose 20 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, and the Rocky Mountains stood 50 feet high. The exaggerated vertical scale was intended to reduce surface tension and better mimic turbulence.
It was built from individually cast concrete panels, each about 10 feet by 10 feet, contoured with land shapes and riverbeds—including tributaries, cliffs, lakes, floodplains, bridges, and levees. Metal plugs or divots in the riverbed provided roughness to simulate different materials, while folded metal mesh stood in for dense foliage. Every gallon of water represented 1.5 million gallons, and a full day of river flow across the entire system could be recreated in just five minutes.
Construction
Because wartime labor was scarce, construction relied on Italian and German prisoners of war.
Quick Facts
- Area
- 200 acres
- Scale
- 1:100 vertical, 1:2000 horizontal
- Construction period
- 1943–1966
- Operational period
- 1949–1973
- Location
- Near Clinton, Mississippi, within Buddy Butts Park, Jackson
- Proposed by
- Eugene Reybold (1941)
- Designation
- National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (2018)
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The model was built to simulate weather, floods, and evaluate flood control measures on the entire Mississippi River system, after localized measures proved insufficient. Its scale was 1:100 vertical and 1:2000 horizontal, with the larger vertical scale intended to reduce surface tension and better simulate turbulence. It used individually cast 10 ft x 10 ft concrete panels contoured with land shapes and river beds, with metal plugs or divots for roughness and folded metal mesh for foliage. Each gallon of water represented 1.5 million gallons, and an entire day of river flow could be simulated in 5 minutes.
Construction began in January 1943 using Italian and German prisoners of war, with the first 200 prisoners from Rommel's Afrika Korps arriving in August 1943. By December there were almost 1,800 prisoners.
Enlisted men received 90 cents for 8 hours labor; officers and non-commissioned officers could volunteer. The last prisoners were repatriated by May 1946. Individual sections were operational from 1949, but construction was not completed until 1966 due to complexity and irregular funding.
By 1952 the Missouri River segment was used to predict problems during April floods, avoiding an estimated $65 million in damage. By 1959 the model was complete as far as Memphis.
In 1964 the site opened for self-guided tours, drawing about 5,000 visitors a year. After completion in 1966, basin-wide tests examined reservoir effectiveness and historic floods of 1937, 1943, 1945 and 1952 were reproduced. The last use was in 1973, when the model showed that the Morganza Spillway could be opened effectively during a crisis at the Old River Control Structure.
Reader's Guide
The Mississippi River Basin Model represents a monumental effort in physical hydraulic modeling, unmatched in scale by other models such as the San Francisco Bay Model (1.5 acres) or the Chesapeake Bay Model (8 acres). Its significance lies in its ability to simulate the entire Mississippi River basin, allowing engineers to test flood control measures and predict flood behavior across the whole system. The model helped avoid an estimated $65 million in damage during the 1952 floods and provided critical guidance during the 1973 Old River Control Structure crisis.
However, high costs and the rise of computer modeling led to its decommissioning in 1973. The site was taken over by the City of Jackson in 1993 and designated a Mississippi Landmark, but maintenance costs proved too high, and the model became overgrown. It was listed on the Mississippi Heritage Trusts' 10 Most Endangered List in 2000 and featured in a Google Sightseeing post in 2007. In 2011, students from Louisiana State University received an Honor Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects for a revitalization project.
The model was designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2018. As of 2013, it remained overgrown but open to the public within Buddy Butts Park. A volunteer group, Friends of the Mississippi River Basin Model, along with the Libertarian Party of Hinds County, has begun clearing the site with the hope of reopening it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What scale was the Mississippi River Basin Model built to?
The model used a 1:100 vertical scale and a 1:2000 horizontal scale to represent the full river basin. This allowed engineers to observe flood behavior and test levee designs at a manageable physical size.
When was the Mississippi River Basin Model constructed and when did it operate?
Construction ran from 1943 through 1966, and the model first came online in 1949. It remained in active service until 1973, after which it was decommissioned.
Where is the Mississippi River Basin Model located today?
The structure sits near Clinton, Mississippi, inside Buddy Butts Park in Jackson. Although the model is now derelict, the site is still open for public visitation.
Who proposed the Mississippi River Basin Model and what was its purpose?
Eugene Reybold put forward the idea in 1941 as a research tool for the Mississippi system. It was intended to help engineers evaluate levee designs and other flood-control strategies that had been in place since the early 1900s.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Mississippi River Basin Model (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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