Margaret S. Petersen
The people in MRD were very competent. They really knew what the districts were doing.
A:
They understood the problems. I think in many cases they had been in the district at the time
of the feasibility studies or the preliminary design work. Then they were in the division
reviewing plans, specifications, and so forth. But there was some resentment by the people
in the district. MRD would call them up and say, "Bring your computations and come up
and explain them." They'd all known each other for many, many years, and it wasn't a
problem that it might have been.
Little Rock District
When we transferred to Little Rock in 1955, Little Rock District was beginning their
emergency bank stabilization program on the Arkansas River. Irene's work was mostly in
hydraulic structures, and I was more in river engineering--sediment, channel work. Working
on the Arkansas was the most fun I think I've ever had. We were there from about August
of `55 to the spring of `64, during which time I worked initially on bank stabilization, and
then we both worked on the locks and dams. During that period, we made many, many trips
to the Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg because they were running models of our
locks and dams. What sort of detail do you want?
We'll get into the details later, as much detail as you want. We're basically interested in
anything that you did in those positions, the projects you worked on, the people you worked
with, observations on the Corps' strengths, weaknesses, designs. You have a sedimentation
background, which is a little different than the people we've talked to, such as Jake
who was basically a structures person.
Are you going to talk to Tony Thomas at WES?
I don't know. It depends on what the Office of History wants to do.
Tony retired just this past year. Tony worked for me when he was a co-op student in Little
A:
Rock and a student at Georgia Tech. We did some sediment computations. I wasn't directly
involved in most of the Arkansas River sediment computations, but was involved in the
Little Rock District's sediment models. We had a sediment advisory committee made up of
General Whipple, whom you probably [know], and [Hans Albert] "Young Albert" Einstein
and Don Bondurant from the Missouri River Division. That was before the Corps had
computers so all of the sediment computations were done by hand. It was the sediment
computations that Tony was involved in on the Arkansas River that he later at the Corps
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