June 2020

Shortly after its creation, the MRC began coordinating 

local efforts, setting standards for levee construction, 

and allocating funds to the cash-strapped levee 

districts.

In that process of face-to-face interaction and open 

dialogue, the MRC evolved into a springboard for 

Mississippi Valley interests to have a greater voice in 

shaping federal policy - a vehicle that continues to 

operate to this day through semi-annual high- and 

low-water inspection trips each spring and fall.

Since 1882, these inspection trips and public meetings 

have been conducted aboard vessels named 

Mississippi.

The current vessel,

Motor Vessel

MISSISSIPPI V,

has been in use

since 1993

In fact, it can be argued that the practice of 

addressing issues and concerns through the formal 

public hearing process, so critical in the federal 

government's civil works mission today, began in the 

Mississippi Valley with the creation of the MRC.

MISSISSIPPI

RIVER

COMMISSION

HISTORY

CURRENT COMMISSIONERS

VACANT

President

Corps of Engineers

Mississippi Valley Division

Vicksburg, Miss.

RDML Shepard Smith

National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration

Silver Spring, Maryland

Brig. Gen. Robert F. Whittle, Jr.

Corps of Engineers

Southwestern Division

Dallas, Texas

Hon. James A. Reeder

Civilian/Civil Engineer

Memphis, Tennessee

Hon. Norma Jean Mattei, Ph.D.

Civilian/Civil Engineer

New Orleans, Louisiana

Hon. Albert Riley James

Civilian Member

New Madrid, Missouri

Public 

meetings,

then...

and now

Brig. Gen. Peter D. Helmlinger

Corps of Engineers

Northwestern Division

Portland, Oregon
The MRC has a proud 

heritage that dates back to 

1879, when Congress 

established the sevenmember commission to 

remake the Mississippi 

River into a reliable 

commercial artery while 

protecting adjacent farms 

and towns from its 

 powerful floods.

Today the MRC has largely realized its ambitious 

assignment through the prosecution of the 

comprehensive river management program known as 

the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) project 

- a project brought about by the greatest flood in 

recorded history of the lower Mississippi River.

The Great Flood of 1927 drove 700,000 people from 

their homes, inundated 26,000 square miles, and 

forced an overhaul of the flood control plan for the 

lower Mississippi River.

The MR&T project is arguably 

the most successful civil works 

project ever undertaken.

Since the initiation of the 

project, the nation has invested 

a total of $15.9 billion, with 

damages prevented reaching 

$1.27 trillion, and 80 to 1 return 

on investment.

Early levee 

construction

Early dike 

works

The 1879 congressional legislation that created the 

MRC granted the body extensive authority and 

jurisdiction on the Mississippi River from its 

headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Head 

of Passes near the Gulf of Mexico.

The legally mandated membership of the MRC 

called for three officers from the U.S. Army Corps 

of Engineers, one member from the U.S. Coast and 

Geodetic Survey (now the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration), and three civilians—

each nominated by the President and confirmed by 

the Senate.

This mix of membership reflected a national desire 

to mend a growing rift between the military and 

civilian engineering 

communities epitomized 

during the early 1870s 

through the between 

Brigadier General Andrew 

A. Humphreys, the Chief of 

Engineers, and James B. 

Eads, the internationally 

renowned civilian engineer 

and original member of the 

Mississippi River 

Commission.

While there were many reasons for creating the MRC, 

one of the most pressing issues involved the need for 

federal assistance for the flood-plagued Mississippi 

Valley. For decades the national legislature had toyed 

with the concept of federalizing flood-control efforts, 

but opponents to such a move argued that protecting 

private property from overflow at federal expense was 

unconstitutional.

These arguments consistently won the day, therefore, 

flood control remained a function of the individual 

states. In response, local interests at the state and 

county level organized levee districts. These 

insufficiently financed efforts, however, lacked 

centralized coordination and mostly proved 

inadequate because, as noted by James P. Kemper, a 

longtime student of the Mississippi River, 

“floodwaters will not respect political boundaries.”

With the establishment of the MRC, the federal 

government finally appeared as an active agent on the 

river capable of transcending the regional issues that 

had hampered the development of a more effective 

flood-control system.

 

1939 MRC 

members.

BG Andrew A. 

Humphreys

James B. Eads