Baton-Rouge gazette. [volume] (Baton-Rouge, La.) 1819-1856, 1852-03-13
The Bayou Manchac.

altogether cI tlie opihioii lliat the opening
Of that bayou would not only be injurious
to large nu,nter Of plantefs, but thai
j, navigation by means Of /. weud lie ea
tremely lisztrdous, If not itnpracticah'e--
| | might here close this report, but
nm aware ron siderable commercial inpor.
abroad, to the opening the Manchac,~ ~and
the subject should be considered IN refer.
enee to that pointl
II the Bayou wcro opened, even al
high water, 1t could not be llavigated even
by small fats and keel boats, without
great difficulty, On account Of It's size,
force Of current and numerous short
bends Would stich navigation be worth
any thing like n compensation fcr the
evils it would inaict? @ a
| II the Bayou were opened, as mi inevi-
table consequence, large portion Of the
parishes Of Ascension mud Baton 1souge
would be ovefaown. Several hundred
thousand acres of land, much Of itIlig,Iy
improved. would have 10 be abarsdoued.
The losses would have to be counted by
millions Of dollars. Suppose his could
be prevented by levying tho Banks Of The
Bayou, still the expense would he very
great. Leyees would have to be built of
miles in length, from twelve to fifteen
feet in height, to sustain the back water
from the Anite, ss well as that coming
from the Mississippi. But, even With
this, tue country conId not to be protected.
There is all important peculiarly ofthe
Mancliac which is not found Oh our other
natural outlets, that demands our special
attention. The other otttlets have no III
let's flowing into them, and If we can by
| levees carry off the water derived from the
Mississippi, all Is well. The Manchac,
on the contrary. has several large inlets,
and Ia this Respect, If no other, 1t has
some claim TO the name of river.
II the banks Of the Bayou were le e1eed,
the water would he backed up Crocodile,
| Fountaine and Wards Creek, and over.
| flow the country almost as efectually as
| If it had no le.tes at all. If tliese were
CLOSED with dikes. the water usually dis
charged by them would have no outlet,
and would sprend over the whole adjacent
country. They are inlcls Of the Bayou
| and it must bear the servtude Of their
drainage. It is therefore inc vitable If the
dixie is removed at the head Of the Bayou.
that the adjacent country must be aband-
oned. This could only be prevented by
an extensive system Of locking, to which
Il all In
The low water navigation could not be
effected, even without regard 10 safety,
except by enormous expenditures.
The rise in the Mississippi. as has been
seen, is about thifty-two feet, aud this
must come uptwenty feet before il reach-
es the present bottom Of the Bayou. The
fall from the river to the point where the
Bayou has, from the back water OF the
Amite and The lakes and its iulets, stIfici-
eni depth for navigation is at leaststwenty
eight feet, and the distance is some
twelve miles. 4es ,.a s
To afford then ingress, at low water IL
the Mississippi, the bed Of the Bayou
mist be depressed at its lsead twenty-five
feet, and this must be carried gradually
decreasing back for twelve miles, and to
protect the country locks constructed al
the river to bear the immense column OF
thirty-seven feet water. Such locks
could not be expected TO stand in our ol-
luvial soil. The bottom Of the Manclac
is now, and this is not the dry weather
season, entirely dry few yards from the
mouth of The Crocodile, near ten miles
back from the river. The works neces.
sary to effect low water navigation in the
lin the Manchac, would not cost less than
three hundred thousand dollars.
An imperfect and dangerous navigation
Of the Bayou, coula be effected during the
high water season, without danger to the
country, but il would be by q system of
|lcckage, probably, even more expensive
than that for low water, If we expect the
dredging by placing d lock at the head
Of the Bayou ID its present condition, aud
locating others at proper distances to
overcome the fall Of thirty feet in twelve
miles. This wonld Of course be attended
with great expense and difficulties, and
even then could only be used when the
water Of the Mississippi would be within
seven feet Of the hietl water level This
period would be % short and uncertain.
that no reliance could be placed upon it.
n addition 10 All this. there is i reason
which has been but little considered.
which Will forever prevent d navigation
of nuch commercial inheritance thronoh
the Manchac. however great o,,r ex,,enud.
"a. 4 4.
might be on the Baycu itself. :sgas !.
4 There is not sufficient draft Of water in
the connection between Lake Efaurepas