The Arkansas banner., 1844-12-11
MEMORIAL.
tII1H HUIlIAL To the Congress- of Me Unitpd

MEMORIAL
 10 the Congress of he Umfed S,o,.,
 General Assembly, qf arfqnsas.' ,.,s'''
 Your memorialists respectfully ,,.. unto your honorable bodies, that ibo ,'' ,s sas and Mississippi rivers are sub;o..l ,;,. ' riodical oyeraows, between tba lsyt ss,l 9 points on said rivers: 'Vloal
 The Arkansas river, from Pin. Rha ferson county, State of Arkansas D,s,s ns.'. its south side, to its mouth. And a1aI 5s E sissippi river, from the high lands ut \ Madrid, in the State of Missouri, toe.l siana line, on the Arkansas side. TI, T tance on the Arkansas river, subieet .~ flow, is about one hundred miles. .51 distance on the Mississippi. bptw.sa s.s points, about two hundred and fl,, 4 These overaows inundale the greater ,a.] of the lands lying along said riyer. g v the points aforesaid.
 Your memorialists represent. tbat subject to overflow, on the south sias .il Arkansas river, between said points, Ina, safely estimated at about 100000 arr, that in addition to that amonpt If I,,i jeet to inundation, lying along said Tva water running over the south bank If river, between said points, and lakiDea s| west direction to the Red river, sWepn a distance of country some two Inn miles in length, and varying in width 1 lands subject to overflow, from the Ml sippi river, on the Arkansas side, may s timated, between the points aforesad.shl three millions of acres.
 Your memorialists would further rem, unto your honorable bodies, the fiq| facts and considerations, in relation h ! lands subject to inundation as abop cribed.
 There are no better producing land, on face of the earth, than the great bodYdl] lands would be, were they reclaimelaa1 tected from the ruinous floods thatnoTa over them, and render them unfit fort ton. They are well timbered, and taa over, or rather made up, of deep, rtl that will render them fruitful in the h5 degree, and exhaustless under any pfota cultivation.
 That owing to the fact that theseh subject to frequent inundations from rivers, but few of them have been purs| from the government of the United Ss and are likely to remain unsold and Hldd in the hands of the government, until shall be reclaimed and protected from 1 dation.
 That the sale of these lands was na still more hopeless by the unusually \ whelming floods that passed over them ring the last spring; driving off the sa sweeping away their improvement spreading desolation and ruin oyer heT \ face of said country subject to oyeda aforesaid. That many of the setlen the scope of said floods, who had aa purchased said lands, have abandona ill despair-that many others will doa less they are protected, and that iheFh that rich and beautiful country will sI wholly, as 1t IS now mainly, a usesa saleable, and uncultivated waste
 Your memorialists further represlf your honorable bodies, that though tRqI settlers on these lands suffer muchh ha i floods, both from their immediate H effects and the sickness resulting othd adjacent country from them, yet thel ment of the United States is much hsF1 est sufferer, in consequence of the u1ss condition in which they keep said hla
 Your memorialists further repress- the whole of said lands may be pernn' reclaimed, and securely protected fron1 overhows, by throwing up levees aoa| the banks of said rivers. To this conc they have arrived by actual examlnato'1 from the opinions of intelligent personS have thoroughly examined the wholea]
 Your memorialists are of opinion. levee might be thrown up, from Pine nj the mouth of the Arkansas river, soan] distance of about one hundred mAss before stated, at cost of Sl,00O np most; that this levee would rescue n'I1 E undation the large amount oi lanp ' along said river, above estimated, anu N over, the vast quantity of country over '5 the waters flow, in their course to uh river, as described above-and that n ton thereto, said levee, when cOuln would be of incalculable value asa road.
 Your memorialists further are olq that the lands overGowed by the h's river, as above described, may DO ss1 i@ and forever protected from future lne lgd by throwing up levee along 'ne ,saal IA side of said river, between the P'l. P,.Jol] said, distance of about three n''lla' n at a cost not exceeding $l,6O0 Fs F,;; That the great bottom through s.s s.,,s national road from Memphis, lena, sl Little Rock, Arkansas, passes anu s..ys the great thoroughfare into Alla Arsa,s Texas from the South, and Weslela fed by the overllowing of the hlssl ssalsis CT, and this alI-important roao sa 'a bse1 most impossible and useless d'lf'Ds CT portion of the year diB3
 That said levee along the pam T,hal sissippi river would wholly cu' .ooadfri o from said bottom render saio ius ~, ofi@I good and do away the neeess'' .si sit tl appropriation to bridge causewan{ {ins b
 That the greatest cost ol < li.eT sco G0O. s| said levees will not exceed S0oO
 all probability considerably iess, snre,ets
 Your memorialists further rsp' w cod though the making of said icse', W mon greatly beneficial to the setter. aholl