Here's a link from the Army that details the history of the New Orleans pumping stations and designs. It should be noted that these pumps are absolutely phenomenal in most senses; not only were they well ahead of thier time (they look like jet engines), but they also moved insane amounts of fluids. Several of the pumps were rated to 1,000 cfs -- cubic feet per second. Unless you're used to dealing with those units, you don't realize that's something on the order of 16 million gallons per minute.

It's well worth the read if you are an engineer or engineering student of any kind.

-- Catonic

History of the NOLA Pumping Stations