Baltimore commercial journal, and Lyford's price-current. [volume] (Baltimore, Md) 1840-1849, 1849-06-23
NEW ORLEANS.
The OvcrHow-A Glance at the City.
New ORLEANS, Nav 30, lS4!

1t is in latitude % deg. 81 min. north longitude 80
deg. s min. west; by the river 3Ol miles below
| Natchez, 1920 miles below st. Louis, 1910 below
Cairo, at the mouth of the Ohio, 2004 below
Pittsburg; and 1884 southwest from Washington
| CITY.
CARRoLToN, a short distance below the great
crcvasse is six miles from the city Ii is of the
most beautiful situations for village that can be
found in the south 1t is laid out in gardens, and
the air is pertmed with the rich odos from the
magnolia aud the orange. 1t is inundated and
the alligator and the serpent find there a resting
place.
The plantation above it is known on the old map
| as Amaud's that too is under water.
| THE BATTLE GROUND,-fomerv known as g the
plains of Chalmette '-is six miles below the city.
To our readers this is well known to have taken its
name from the fact of the great battle being fought
there on the Sth of January, lSlj
English Itnn, II miles below the city, derives
its name from little incident which occurred there
in 16J9-the meeting of two vcsscls-Onc command
ed by Captain Bard, who inquired of the commander
of the other the best place to establish colony.
| The reply was, g go further Vest" Thinking he
had penetrated far enough, he turned about and hence
| the name of the g English Turn" The immense
quantity of water which has flowed through the
crevassc has inundated the whole of the OF the
cy and from the latest accounts it has reached
Carondcet street which runs parallel with the Mis-
sissppi four squares only from it, and only two from
the great business part of the city The peculiar
situation of New Orleans lying it does in great
bend of the river, surrounded, it were, by water
i'll its vast swamps, whose every weed is satu-
rated with the filthy oals of the city, and is the re-
servoir of its trbutarics-thc home of the alligator
and the serpent. This swamp is the connecting
link as it were, with Lake Ponchartrain which is
IS miles wide, thus presenting to the eye most
alarming picture, and one which if not relieved may
ultimately render New Orleans totally unable to
guard against Obviate hereafter, the consequent
ccs Even when the crevasse is stopped the detcri-
Grafton in the price of property-the uncertainty of
| fed IL
| least twenty wears, thus pal pabe neglect on the
part of the municipalities has led to an evil which
all must condemn, for all must feel its effects.
Scientific men long since called public attention to
these C turns and bends in the Mississippi river,
and the very one fatal was pointed out to the
authorities and planters twenty-five years ago. 1t
was at that period they suggested the formation OF
dykes, with the addition OF stone parapets at each
extreme, thus guarding against the constant wearing
away of the embankment this side, as it had, and
has been for years. on the other side 1t must also
be taken into consideration, and it is hoped the
authorities will profit from past experience, that
ever since the year 100, these crevasses, even
along the natural entertainments, have occurred, not
owing altogether to the force of the water in its
natural channel but from its wild and impetuous
| character otherwise. Sweeping forcibly from point
| to point, curving round-its bends carrying along
with it forest trees bearing down entertainments,
| lashng the shores with its fury, and carrying ruin
and dcsolation in its These are the dangers
to he apprehendcd and the history Of the river bears
on its treacherous bosom the groans and the lamcn-
| tations OF thousands!
| eeIhe bosom of the river is covered with prodi-
gio,rs boils or swclls, that rise with whirng
| motion and a convex surface, two or three rods III
diameter and no inconsidcrabe noise, whirlmg
boat perccptibly from its track. In its course acci
dental circumstances shift the impetus of its current
and propcl it upon the point of an island, bend or
sand bar. In these instances it tears up the island,
removes the sand bars, and sweeps away the TENDER
aluval soil of the bends, with all their trees, and
deposits the spoils i'll another place. At the season
of high waters nothing is familiar to the cars
of the people the river, than the deep crash oi
laud-sp, in which larger smaller masses oi the
soil on the banks, with all the trees are plunged INTO
the stream. Such is its character from the Mis-
souri, to the Balizc wild furious whirmg rivcr,-
never navigatcd safely, except with great cautions
A glance at the map will shcw the peculiar posi-
ton in which the City of New Orleans is placed
On one side, an almost unmanagcable strcam-on
the other "A swamp-beyund vast and expansive
lake, nearly twenty miles in breadth. Thus, the
salvation of a city of 100000 souls, is dependant on
a LEvEE. This view presents to the mind rciec-
lions which, whether retrospective or otherwise,
must necessarily attach btamc il not severe CEN
sure, to those who having the knowledge, the pow
er and the means, have, up to this time slumbcrcd
on and only awakened to find their negligence the
ruin of thousands of their fellow creatures. For a
moment let look at the worst side OF the picture
suppose for argument sake that the heaviest move
ment of the water (and the deepest channel is al
"haf circle" around this bend, and prccipae itself
through this crevasse, what power on earth could
then stop tor stem the mighty river in its chang
ing course' The swamp would open its filthy arms,
and give it welcome-the waters OF Lake Pom
chartrain would mngle with them, and thus united,
,rhere is the City? Lake st. Catharine, Lake
Borgne, nay, the Gulf ITSELF chucklng in the pros
pect of accession would stretch forth its waters and
embrace the whole! And thus would all that Por-
ton of our country, the garden of the South, the
beauty of the world, be-what we have every rea-
son to believe it three hundred years agoa east
sheet of scater. This is fearful if not an alarming
picture, and one which the negligence OF man is
iikcly if it has not already produced
We annex the following extract from Flint's
Geography and History of the Western States, as it
touches upon some of the material points in rea-
ton to the bends of the river and will be found in
teresng:
g One of the most striking peculiarities of this
river and of all its lower tributaries, has not often
been a theme of observation in describing it. 1t is
the uniformity of its meanders called in the phrase
of the country, its 'Epoints and bends" In many
instances these curves described with preci-
J sion with which they would have been marked of
by the sweep of compass. The river sweeps
round perhaps the half circle, and is precpitated
from the point in current diagonaly across ITS own
channel, TO another curve of the same regularity
upon the opposite shore. In the bend is the deepest
channel the heaviest movement of waters, and hat
is called the thread of the current Between this
thread and the shore, there are generally counter
currents, eddies; and in the crumbmg and tender
auvial SOIL the River is generally making inroads
upon its banks the bend side. Opposite the bend
there is always a sand bar, matched in the convexy
of its conformation, to the concavity OF the bend
Here it is that the appearance of the young cotton
wood groves have their most striking aspect. The
trees rise from the Shore showing first the vigorous
sapngs of the present year, and then those OF date
of two and three years; and trees rising in regular
graduation to the most ancient and lofty point oil the
forest These curves are so regular on this, and al
the rivers of the lower country, that the boatmer