81.4 LBD Caernarvon Crevasse

Caernarvon Crevasse has always been a controversial location. In its history is both the “Trapper’s War,” and the often criticized freshwater diversion canal. But most famously, it is the exact location where the levee was exploded to save New Orleans from the rising waters of the Great Flood of 1927. As John Barry so eloquently details in his book by the same title, the “levees only” policy of the USACE was simultaneously blown sky high.

In 1927, the Lower Mississippi Valley was experiencing the worst flood ever recorded in the river's history. By mid-April, the river was so swollen at New Orleans that levees around the city were in real danger of being overtopped. After long conferences between State and city authorities and the Army Corps of Engineers, it was agreed that the situation at New Orleans was desperate enough to call for drastic remedial measures. It was decided that an artificial crevasse would be made at Caernarvon plantation, in the hope that this would reduce the flood height at New Orleans and save the city. On April 25, 1927, a large crowd of engineers, government officials, reporters, and spectators gathered at Caernarvon to watch the blowing up of the levee. There was some embarrassment when the first charge of dynamite failed to do more than open up a small gap, through which the water trickled very, very slowly. Again and again, divers slid into the muddy water and carefully placed additional charges of dynamite, but the river refused to cooperate. After several days, successive charges opened a wide gap in the levee and the crevasse quickly enlarged until it was about 2,600 feet wide. At New Orleans, the river began to fall. Many of the people who had lived behind the Caernarvon levee were small farmers, trappers, and fishermen. Not all of them were willing to sacrifice their own homes and fields for the sake of New Orleans. "Let nature take its course and choose her own victims," they grumbled. Residents of New Orleans promised to reimburse the small farmers for their losses. For a while, it had been feared that the farmers and fishermen might oppose the levee crevasse with violence, and the Governor of Louisiana had ordered a small contingent of national guardsmen to Caernarvon, but they were not needed. The Islenos had bowed to the inevitable and were jamming the road to New Orleans with their ox carts and wagons, carrying all their worldly goods with them as they evacuated their homes. Small farmers in the Caernarvon area still raise cattle and vegetables today. St. Bernard Parish, in which the community is located, has ground elevations ranging from 11 feet above mean sea level to below sea level. Many shallow lakes, bays, bayous, and canals make the parish attractive to both commercial and sport fishermen. There is some oil and gas production in the parish, as well as several refineries. The population of the area is increasing rapidly, as people spillover from the New Orleans area. (Braggs)

81.4 LBD Caernarvon Fresh Water Diversion Structure

Possible exit to the Gulf of Mexico via long series of lakes, chutes, bayous and bays that empty into Cape Breton 20-25 miles SE.

The tight bend Poydras Bend experienced crevasses at Poydras and Caernarvon. The Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion was opened in 1992 to allow the natural process of sedimentation to help restore the disappearing swamps south and eats of here. As result of this opening, paddlers could portage over the levee and enter the waterway below for a possible expedition conclusion in the Gulf of Mexico following the long series of lakes, chutes, bayous and bays that empty into Breton Sound 20-25 miles SE. You would have to make some open water crossings along the edge of Breton Sound, and work your way back up another opening further downstream, such as Mardis Gras Pass, or maybe Baptiste Collette. The possibilities for conclusion of your Mississippi River expedition are almost endless from this opening on downstream!

The Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion has come under fire from area anglers in recent years. The structure is a controlled break in the Mississippi River levee designed to allow fresh water into the marshes of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Early in the diversion's life, from 1992-1994, research by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Coastal Restoration Division showed a net increase in marshland of 406 acres in the sampled area. DNR trumpeted the results, and also pointed out that the area held seven times the amount of freshwater plants than before the diversion was opened and supported fewer than half the amount of saltwater flora. But a fundamental flaw with the Caernarvon structure may be that it was designed to minimize the amount of sediment that passes through its five gates. The facility is a true freshwater diversion, not a sediment diversion, which is also true for Caernarvon's larger neighbor to the west, the David Pond Freshwater Diversion. Some people believe that Dredging is the only solution to saving the coast. Indeed, the state's coastal master plan calls for a sediment diversion that would be capable of dumping 5,000 cubic feet per second of river water into the Violet area. The project is scheduled for the first implementation period of the plan, which includes all projects completed by 2031. This phase of the plan also calls for sediment diversions of 50,000 cfs near Black Bay, 250,000 cfs near Braithwaite, 5,000 cfs near White Ditch, 50,000 cfs near Myrtle Grove and 50,000 cfs near Empire. The plan also includes small freshwater diversions into Bayou Lafourche and the Blind River. Sediment diversions are key components of the master plan because saving Louisiana's coast is impossible without them, according to Graves. The plan calls for $20 billion to be invested in dredging and other mechanical forms of marsh restoration, but that technique is very inefficient. (Nola.com)

81 RBD Twelve Mile Point

Best camping below New Orleans, good in low water, 0-8NO Gage. Good protection from north winds or storms approaching from north or northwest.

Twelve Mile Point is the best camp within 20 miles below New Orleans. At low water (2-8NO gage) you’ll find a series of low dunes right bank descending at this point and extending downstream for hundreds of yards, in between outcroppings of willow. Pick the highest place not already occupied and paddle in for estimate of bank height vs. water level. Big waves crash ashore here, up to 3 feet tall, so make sure your intended campsite is 3 feet above water level if possible. BTW: welcome to Plaquemines Parish, the last parish along the Mississippi River in Louisiana! Slowly but surely you’re checking off all of the “very last of” from the list, first the last bridge, now the last parish. Soon it will be the last refinery, the last town, the last boat ramp, and then eventually the last bend of the river, leading to the last fork, and into the last pass, and then finally the last mile, and then at long last, the very last paddle stroke -- you’re almost there paddler! As we say on the river, “it’s just around the bend!”