Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1852-04-10
:Ihe Inundation of Lower Louisiana.
IFrom the Picayune.l

| WHICH iiao just peeA puD!tsiieu Oy OTuer OF Ion
gress, is document Of extraordinary interes
to the people of Louisiana. 1t makes publ,
document of nearly one hundred octave pages
containing copious mathematical calculations
1t Is, in these respects, too long and too alb.
struse for the columns of a daily newspaper. II
ought to be circulated largely, and studied at.
tentively by all citizens of the State, for it exh
bits, in aclear and impressive manner, the peril>
| to which this State is exposed from causes
| steadily and incensiby increasing, and which
without wise and timely precautions, may des-
troy and depopulate Lower Louisiana. What
these dangers are and how they may be arres-
ted, Mr.. Ellet described at great length and
with elaborate minuteness. The value Of his
suggestions and the means for accomplishing
them, ought to occupy the attention of every
man who feels an interest in the welfare or the
existence Of the State. .. .-
The problem he undertakes to demonstrate
is that the annual floods are increasing in height
and volume, and are destined to increase in an
accelerated ratio; and that, unless counteracted
by extensive and early defences, they will con.
vert greater part of this State into swamp,
incapable of cultivation, and unfit for residence.
The question is not of protection against the
high waters of ordinary or extraordinary years
Ill Lle pIcsc'L State VI lHe CSe, uub against llit
permanent increase of the volumes which are
to be turned down upon US by the increase of
levees above us, the reclaiming of sWamps, and
closing of all lateral outlets, and the confne-
ment to the channels of the river of the vast
mass of waters which are now dispersed over
hundreds of thousands of square miles. The
Importance of these lateral drains is forcibly
elucidated by Capt Ellet, in two facts: First,
that h,t, 4bar
received from the Ohio, the Arkansas, the
White, the s. Francis and the Red Rivers, and
other considerable streams, the Mississippi.
when in flood, actually conveys less water into
the Gulf of Mexico, by its channel, than it car
ries past Cape Girardeau, twelve hundred miles
above; and, taking only the discharges far above
US, that the discharge below the mouth of the
Ohio, in time of food, is actually much greater
in the same unit Of time than the discharge be-
low the mouth of the Red River. This waste
water mandates q tract of nearly 10000 square
miles to various depths, from few inches to o
great many feet. computation is made of
the effect of a drainage or embankment, which
would reduce the depth of this overflow an
average of only twelve inches, and throw the
increase discharge through the channel of the
river. Mr. Ellet makes the increased volume
raise the surface below Red River nearly four
feet for a period ofsixty days, which is assumed
as the ascertained duration Of high water If
the water were entirely excluded from the
swamps, the surface Of the river would be
raised at the same place by the same formula
during the high tide--full fifteen feet above the
present high water marks. These are apprexi-
nations from assumed data as to the area inun-
l,%o +1,ol 90 a., L,.A
are formed on the best information attainable.
The extension of the levee system, and the
stimulus given to it by the grants to the States
of the swamp lands within their limits on con-
dition of reclamation and drainage, is surely
and now speedily bringing about results of
which these calculations show the inevitable
effects upon the low country. The exact ac-
curacy of the computations is Of not much
nor need we examine the causes which
in the opinion of some will diminish the amount
of evil produced. The leading fact is plain,
that the artificial means now in operation, and
which will be extended with increased rapidity,
since the General Government has placed
vast fund at the disposal Of the States to ex-
tend them, are closing up the natural bayous
and outlets, and raising embankmeHts along
both banks of the river up to the very head OF
the delta, by which the quantity of water in
the channels OF the river is TO be vastly aug
mented, and to be sent down in an immensely
volume towards the Gulf, or on the
cotton and sugar fields of Louisiana. vast
system Of drainage, with view of excluding
all overfows, is going on in all the States above
us where these lands lie. Missouri commence
ed Immediately after the Congressional grant
of the swamp lands and has already made an
absolute appropriation of $4,000, to begin
the reclamation at the head of the delta The
Legislature of Arkansas has also passed an act,
with such inducements to the proprietors of
lands, as to secure the speedy leveling of the
whole front of that State on the Mississippi
river, and along both banks of the Arkansas.
The Legislature of MISSISSIPPI, previous to the
passage Of the swamp bill, had authorized the
counties to lay taxes within their boundaries
for the construction of levees to shut out the
water of the Mississippi from the Yazoo
swamps, and thus has raised a continuous
front ON the Mississippi of thirty miles, and
the lower counties are making similar exertions.
The swamp land grants will combine these into
a grand scheme for banking out the Mississippi
from the whole line of the State. The State
of Louisiana has also passed an act for the aP-
of her swamp lands, without hay-
ing decided upon the system of reclamation
The intelligent men to whom that duty will be
committed will look carefully, no doubt, into
the reasonings Of this report, and consider well
the effect Of the improvements above US, and
the necessities of local defence, in the employ
ment of the means placed in their hands
Without proceeding with minute details, it may
be said simply that the Mississippi water is
destined ultimately to be excluded from that
vast area of the delta, extending from Cape
Girardeau to Red River, as it has already been
excluded from nearly the whole area below,
from Red River to the Gulf
On the plains aid the praries of the head re.
gions of the Missouri and the Mississippi, and
their mighty tributaries, the population is clear