[wolfpat]

I have a vague memory of reading something about the Mississippi River not going to NO were it not for the Army Corp of Engineers. I think it has been trying to change course for years.
IIRC this was in National Geographic about 20 years ago.

[deport]

Your memory is correct.... If not for the Old River Control Structure etc the Mississippi River would now be flowing down the Atchafalaya into the Gulf of Mexico.....

DESCRIPTION:
At the northernmost tip of the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary is the Morganza Spillway and, just to the north of the spillway, is the Old River Control Complex, built between 1957 and 1986. These two Mississippi River control structures impact the estuary by controlling the inflow of freshwater from the Mississippi River. The structures prevent the capture of the Mississippi River by the Atchafalaya River.

[Vinnie]

That's right.
It's natural course would be down the Atchafalaya River.
Where it would come out at the Gulf I don't know, possibly Morgan City.

[Vinnie]

Here is a link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atchafalaya_River