+1 for a mention of McPhee and
The Control of Nature. Awesome book. And it's just a fascinating fact, I think, that the Mississippi "wants" to do a major reroute. I had lots of fun maybe 1.5 decades ago poking around the Old River Control Structures and taking photographs, until a guard chased me away. (If I did that these days, I'd probably be flown to some Undisclosed Location & tortured; alas for my country ....)
In any case, I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on that Natchez gauge link during the next couple of days.