Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1856-12-13
Singular Theory of the Mississippi
River.

| River.
The MiSsis~; ;pll river is the greatest
stream in the world Its tnta! length is
1 600 miles On looking over vol
nme recently issued, entitled 'LIovd'>
Steamboat and Railroad Dire ctorv. We
iiul the lo."wisG instructive article on
! ,hr waste Of tie waters of the Mississippi
p. 1t says:
No experience will enable a person to
altIyi,a,r, with any degree of certainty,
the elevation of the flood in any given
wear. In some seasons the waters do
not rise above their channels: in others.
the entire lower valley Of the Mississippi
is submerged. Emba, Enlent> called
lev-rs have been raised from five to ten
feet blot,. on hutt, SIDES Of the stream.
Intending many uiies above and below
New Orleans. By this means the river
IS restrained within its proper limits, ex-
crp, at the greatest trrshrt,. when the
waters Sometimes break over everything.
cal-in, ureat destruction to property and
s,oe,:,nes loss o. !lt.. The average
l,Di,Et If tie flood f,nm the Delta to the
iuuc,o, q! the Nj souri, is above sixteen
feet. At the moulil II! tie latter rlver Is
twenty fl feet. Below the entrance "t
he Duin river the rise is often tifty-flse
:. II.
A. Nuchrx il seldom exceeds thirty
',.,.t: arpi at New Orleans about twelve
feet; y hat goes with the water: 1t l.
known tina: he difference between hlsh
and low water mark. As hlgh up as
White river, is about thirty six teet. and
H.. current 4, h gh water mark runs
near seven nI'i,> per h"nr. and opposite
t. NV Orleans the difference between
I,irh and low water mark is OIL Y twelve
feet. and the current little over three
,o,i,,,, to TIE hour. The width and depth
Il e. river h..ing the same, from winch
We c;.ru .:e that nearly SIX times as
much water passes sIe III nth OF Nh'te
nv+r as Ivy New Orleans. What goes
with the excess: The only >"iu'"
ever offered. is that ii escapes, by the ba
ynns Plauu,lnire, L.t,,urtIe and Der
vile, bat when we calcuat. the width
depth and aren't OF the>,, bayous. tie,
fall vastly short Of atford.n- a sufficient
escape,,rnt. The true explanation can
we think, he given.
,, At low water, throughout the whole
extent, We see land structure exposed
underlying the bank. Or that the a'iu
vial structure on which the plantation:
are. is a structure Of deposit, made by
the river above its low water mark
which. op'r'sjta to the mouth OF " "h1t'
river. is thirty feet thick. As YOU &c
>cend, the rives diinin!sEes in volume a
the difference between high and low
water mark Iin,inisl.es and nearly cor
rerponIs to it, and wherever the bottom
is exposed it shows throughout 'h'
whole extent that the bottom is par
coarse sand ;.ex'libi,ing at many place:
the ocean shin9le, through' the superl'n
posed alIuviaI structure mixed with NM
sand. The water perco!;t,es with suc'
facility and rapidity that the water III
well dug at considerable distance fro"
the river bank rises and falls with r's'
and fall of the river, not varying an mel
and through the coarse sand and sh'ng'e
of the bottom, it passes as rapid.
through a common sieve.
By the accurate surveys OF severa
scientific engineers, it is ascer;aned ths
the fall of the Mississippi rive: IS tou
inches to the mile. The distance tror
Natchrz 80 New Orleans of three hur
d1.d miles will give twelve hundre
inches, or one hundred feet. The dept
Of the river is less than fifty feet at h's
water mark. The river drbouches INT
the ocean from p'omontory made D
itself. The surface of the ocean, b
measurement. below the bottom OF th
river, above New Orleans, correspond
with the low water mark below Ne
Orleans, therefore the NJ ssissippi rlv'
is pouring through its own bottom I'M