Old River, which connects the Mississippi River with the Atchafalaya River and which once threatened ruin for New Orleans and Baton Rouge, tentatively is scheduled to be closed to navigation at noon on Wednesday. At this time Old River Lock (center) with a usable length of 1200 feet and width of 75 feet, will be opened to navigation. The new navigation channel connecting Old River with the Mississippi River via the lock will be buoyed and will be marked with floats on which warning signs will be mounted. Vessels are warned not to attempt to navigate the Old River channel (right) after next week as a dock dam will be under construction across the river, announced the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lock cost $15 million. Old River had to be closed when it threatened to divert the flow of the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya at a point 60 miles north of Baton Rouge. The lock will permit the interchange of commercial tows and other traffic between the Mississippi and the Atchafalaya and Red Rivers.

Photo is dated 1963.

Photo measures 9.75 x 8.25 inches.