Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1850-07-13
From the Picayune.]
Prevention of InundatiOu.

- lAiohA lin lCay uHc.J
4 Prevention of InuMdatiOn.
: Upon this question of most vital importanc,
d to the State, W. invite the attention of the pub
lie to the following views of Professor For
shey, taken from DeBow's Commercial Review
aof May last.
j THE LEvEE sYsTEM OF LOUISIANA.
Il Professor Forshey, in the Concordia Tntelli
agencer, has maintained the following, from lon.
experience and study on the subject
!. For about fifty years the levee system
may be said to have been in full operation il
the vicinity of New Orleans, and for some fft,
miles below to one hundred miles above.
2. The water does not rise higher at present
J. than before levees were known. Pronf: Some
registers have been kept by nature, such as the
! alluvlal deposits at Burthe's, at Soniat's. and
) at alternate points from the Buras settlement.
a tltty miles below the city, up to Lake Provi-
#dence, showing at present a surface level as
ahIgh and even higher than the water of 1928
aor 1S49. The river must have risen high
81 enough to have deposited those points, and
Shence must have risen higher in those DAYS
= than since leyees were introduced.
q Again: some registers have been kept by
observers, which, for thirty years, give us a fair
test. From the year 1877, when there were
few levees about Concordia, to 1S47, when the
a~leyees were extended almost continuously from
fifteen miles above the mouth of Red River, to
a distance Of two hundred miles up, there was
ga register of fluctuations, rise and fall, kept att
Vidalia, by Gov. Sargent first, and continued
by Mr.. Samuel Davis up to 1910, and by N.Y.
self thence to le47.
.rTha mo,, h;rb u,o{or of TO-, v,,,, ,, IL
1927, before levees were used, was fifteen inches|
higher than for the next ten years, up to 1s47,
while levees were being extended; and the
mean of those ten years give US a higher mark
than the last nineteen, upto 1S47, by IL inches.
Therefore, we conclude from this fact what
we should have inferred from Mythology, thatI
the effect of combining the waters in the chan
mel is not to raise, but to depress the level.
We should infer from the theory that the|
effect of leyees would be to increase abrasion,
and hence to enlarge the capacity of the chan
mel. Hence the caving away of banks.
Query-But what is the remedy? !
Ans1oer-Make better levees-Wider, higher,
stronger, further back from the river; place.
their management in the hands of salaried Off
GERS, who give high bonds for the faithful dis
|charge of their duty, who have charge of dis
|tricts indicated by the topography of the coun-
TRY. Give them plenary powers; place funds at
their disposal, that they may act promptly when
the planter is delinquent.
Secondly, place the public road on the sum-
init OF the leyee, and let all the work done on
both heretofore, be limited to the one. Thus
we shall have security.
These are the opinions of a highly scientific
mind, based upon a long course of observation.
Many persons are disposed to abandon the
system. OF levees, upon an entire misapprehen-
sion of the fact. 1.-THE people of Holland have
been able to stop the raging waves and high
tides of a northern sea, by the means of ~levees,|
certainly the people of Louisiana can, by the
same means, restrain the comparatively quiet
waters Of the Mississippi.
1t. is estimated by Professor Riddle, who has
great attention and a high degree Of
scientific attainment to the subject, that at high
water the surplus water in the Mississippi
to 10000 cubic feet per second
Now, it the capacity Of the, channel of the ri
yer be so increased as to discharge, per second,
this 10000 cubic feet, there will be no dam
ger from overflow. If the levees were raised.
$50 as safely to admit an increased elevation of
water of about two feet and a half, the capaci-I
|ty of the channel Of the river would be so in
creased as to discharge this surplus 100000
|cubic feet. The result is susceptible of math-1
|ematical demonstration In making the calcu-|
lation the increased velocity of the whole Dol
|dy of water in the channel must not be lost
(sight of.
If the levees were raised, say three feet high
Ter, strengthened and set farther back from the
river, where there was danger of their tumb-|
ling in, the State would be entirely exempt
from the danger of %inundation. In@favor OF
this suggested improvement we would present.
the following considerations.
1. 1t is the only practicable system Of inn
'provement, because it is the only one which,
will unite a sufficiently large amount of pri-]
waite interests to cooperate with the %ettorts|
made under State authority.
2. It is the anIy one which will not ruin one
portion Of the State for the benefit Of another.
3. 1t presents greater benefits than any sys-|
ITEM. In the first place, by it all the swamps|
lands which now belong to the State would be
reclaimed. They are Of immense value and
would more than tenfold repay the expense OF
constructing the contemplated levee. In the
next place, by thus combining the waters the
of the river would be widened and
|deepened. The bars at the mouth OF the river
would be washed out, and the navigation toI
New Orleans would be so improved that the
largest ships and vessels of war could easily
approach the city. While, on the other hand,
making large lateral outlets, as recommended
by some persons, would inevitably result in
rendering the water on the bar, at the mouth Of
the river, SO shallow as to endanger the nayiga-|
ton ofsthe river. These suggestions are cor
by the views ofDr. Kittridge, a gentle
man Of great practical experience upon the
subject, as expressed in his letter published in|
the Pcayune of the I'd inst. s.
A FLYING MAcHnE.-The following curious
advertisement lately appeared in the London
Times:
Rescue of Sir John Frankln.--To the richI