I have always envied these batture people who live between the River levee and the Mississippi River. They get to feel the spirit of the River all the day and night. Once a year when the River rises, they risk having to evacuate and lose their belongings. There are only 10 houses in this area now and the Corps is battling them to give up their property. One of the houses is a plantation house over a hundred years old. I hope they battle forever.
This statue is in one of the yards of the batture dwellers. If the Bonnet Carre' Spillway 20 miles upriver from this were not opened the water would probably have covered the statue and floated the houses. The Spillway takes the pressure off the levees and anything downriver towards New Orleans, which is why it was built.