The 1944 report from Harold N Fisk on his Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River, conducted for the Mississippi River Comission and the US Army Corp of Engineers, is a fascinating combination of science, research, and early GIS technology.
Landscape architects in every specialty have much to glean from it, not the least of which are water engineering techniques, ecological and geological processes, graphic representation, and the ideological and philosophical implications of reconstructing the Mississippi River.
The entire 170 page report with all charts and graphs included is now available online in high-resolution scanned PDF form, hosted with the USACE for maximum bandwidth.
- Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River – Fisk, 1944 Report (197MB)
- Oversized Plates – Fisk, 1944 Report (686MB)
- Oversized Plates Rectified – Fisk, 1944 Report (369MB)
Some truly beautiful work in here from the days before Electronic Computers and Satellite Imaging.
via Pruned: Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River.
Thanks from China, do you know where I can download Fisk’s report of 1947? I am writing a review about his excellent work on the Mississippi delta.
Sir, really now, we both know it is not the Mississippi River… it is the Ohio River: the “Mississippi River” empties into the Missouri River at St Louis, and the Missouri River empties into the Ohio at Cairo, IL…
Let’s change all the maps and lay this debacle to rest!
D. Bruce Nothdurft, PE, PG