Wheeling times and advertiser. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1839-1849, 1843-07-07
MISSES. PPI RIVER.

"H0 'NcF, ~ ABOUT thir-y SIX feet, and
the current at high water mark runs
near seven miles 10 the hour; and oppo
site New Orleans The difference between
high ana low water mark is only . feet.
and the current little over three miles
10 the hour, the width aud depth OF the
rtVcr being the same. From which we
calculate that near six tunes as much
water passes by the mouth Of White ri
yer rs by New Orleans. What goes
with the excess? The only solution |
have heard offered is that it escapes hv
The bayouS Plalucmue. La!uurcke, and
ibcrEllle. And when We calculate the
width, depth, and current orthuss bayou>
ihey fail vastly short Of atiording Il SUI
hcicnt escapcment. The trle ex lana.
ton can, think, be given. AT low va.
tee throughout the whole extent we see
"a sand struc ure exposed underlying the
bank, or that the alluvlal structure on
~hich OR plantations are, isa stratum
OF deposits made by the river above its
low water mark, which, opp site to thu.
mouth ofWhite rivcr,is thirty feet thick
and as you descend the river dimnishes
IN thickness, as the difference between
high and low water diminishes and near
~ corresponds 10 il. And VIII rever the
bottom is exposed it shows throuuhou,
the whole eX ent that the bottom is pure
c'arse sardshowing u: many places the
ocean Single.
Through the superimposed alluyi1l
structure, mixed With Ene sand the wa
tar Percola'es wi h such facility aud RAJ
pidIty that the waiU. iu Il well dug at n
considerable distance from the river
baHk rises and fails With the rise and
tuIl in the river, 0at VARYING an inch
and through the coarse sand and shin
gle ofthe bottom it passes rs rapid y as
through common sieve BY the accu
rate u.veys Of several engineers il is
ascertained that he fall OF the Afissis
slPpi river is four inches TO the mile
TIE distance from Natchez 10 New Or
leans, Of three hundred miles, will give
twelve hundred inches or one hundred
feet. The depth OF the river is below
fifty feet al high water. The river de-
bouches into the ocean from promon-
tory itself has made. The surface oc
the ocean Is. by measurement, below the
bottom OF the river above New Orleans.
and corresponding with the low water
mark below New Orleans; therefore
the river Is pouring through lis own
bottom INTO the ocean, the sppcrlmpOsed
weight giving lateral pressure 10 hurry
the subterranean current. Ii the reader
has ever stood upon Mississippi sand
bar, in hard rain, or seen water poure
from bucket on the sand bar, he has
seen that neither can be done in sun.
clent quantity 10 produce any current or
mn 81
The river is therefore from the time
u comes Lc'ow the limestone stratas of
Missouri and Kentucky, wasIina use II
through lis own bottom. J the Missis
supp river had to pursue lis course like
the OHIO over rock strata, walled IN by
rock and Imperyious clay banks, the
high water mark at New Orleans would
rel ch one hundred feet above its present
limit; but running over coarse sand,
w6lied in by deposite made Of sand AN
cientdIluVIal, delrItus, aud vegetable
mould, no more water reaches the o.
cean than the excess over the amount
that can pcrmCate the surrounding struc-
ture, and pass off 10 the process Of per
collation. or Transportation in sublerra
mean descent 10 The ocean The river
WITHOUT any restraint from rock or cay
IN the bottom or bank, is left free To nc
other government than that Of hydros.
tatics. The 'washing,' or wasting ol
the banks cannot be prevented, though
the 'caying' or Sliding OF large portions
at one time may be easily guarded a.
galnsf. There are many proofs Of The
validity OF the foregoing theory derived
from other rivers.
The Arkansas, west OF that State, re.
celves several large tributaries, and is
itself above their junction as large rs
the congIegated r,vers after their juno.
ton within the state Within the Stale
II has no more Tributaries before reach
ing the Mississippi river, a distance o
seven hundred miles, which lies withir
thesand district; as a Consequence q ris,
Of ilfcen or twenty feet sometimes en-
tiers the stem Of the main river withou
producing any rise at the mouth, unless
the supply is maintained for a considsra
bic time. And the far framed Niger ri
yer OF Africa, whose mouth has never
been found, may be lost nd wasted IL
the great sand plains OF The desert Of Sa
sbara, and is sublerrunsuu flood may b,
again collected on tie surface ola sub
terFaBean strata Of rock aud Droiccte,
on the surface Of the earth, and thu
sustain the opinion &C Pliny that the ~
ger is a western and main tributary q
the NiIe.-Yieks5urg Wing.
CURE FOR HYDROPgOBIA.-