Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-02-17

ceiTlng, and the old UniteS States the head
| formerly.
Inc hetIel, surveying steamer, is lying up
| In winter quarters.
The Perry, brig, is lying up in 0Ordinary. -
Singular Theory Of the Mississippi River.
The Mississippi river is the greatest stream
| In the world Its total length is 4. 600 miles
On looking over L!Oyd's Steamboat and Rail.
| road Directory We find the following instTpc.
tive article on the waste Of the waters OF the
Mississippi. 1t says:
No experience will enable a person to an.
| ticlpate, with any degree of certainty, the
elevation of the food in any given wear In
soIne seasons, the waters do not rise above
lhelr Channels; In others, the entire lower
valley OF the Mississippi is submerged En-
bankments, called levees, have been rsised
| from ten to fifteen feet high on both side, Of
the stream, extending many miles above and
below New Orleans. By this means the river
at the greatest freshets, when the waters some
times break over everything, causing great
destruction to property, and sometimes loss of
NE The average height Of the food from
the Delta to the junction of the Missouri il
above sixteen feet. At the mouth Of the lat
ter river it is twenty-five feet. Below the
entrance Of the Ohio river the rise is often
6fty-fye feet At hatcher, it seldom exceeds
thirty feet; and az New Orleans about twelve
| feet. What goes with the water? 1t is known
that the difference between high and low wa.
ter mark, as high up as White river, is about
thirty SIX feet and the current at high water
marx runs near seven miles per hour, and op-
poslte ID New Orleans the difference between
nigh and low water mark is only twelve feet.
ana the current little over three miles 70 the
| Lour. The width and depth Of the river being
the same, from which we calculate that nearIY
SIX times as much water passes by the mouth
CT w hlte river as by New Orleans What
goes with the excess? The only solution ever
onered' Is that 1t escapes by the bayous Pla-
quemine, Lafo1rche, and Iberville, but when
We calculate the width, depth, and current of
these bayous, they fall vastly short Of afford
Ing sufficient eScapement. The true ersls
nation can, We think, be given.
At low water, throughout the whole extent.
we see a land structure exposed, underlying
the bank, or that the alluvial structure on
which the plantations are, is a structure of
deposit made by the river above its low water
mark, which, opposite 10 the mouth Of White
river, is thirty feet thick As Won descend.
the river diminisheS in volume as the differ
ence between high and low water mark dimin-
lshes and nearly corresponds TO it, and where
ever the bottom is exposed il shows through
out The whole extent that the bottom is pure
coarse SallG exhibiting at many places the
ocsan ShIRgIe, through tao superim posed al
luVlai structure mixed with fine sand Tho
water peTcoiates with such facility and randi
lty that the water in a well dug at a eonsid-
cradle distance from the river bank rises and
falls with the rise and fall cf the river. NOT
varying an inch, and through the coarse sand
and shingles of the bottom, It passes as rapid
ly as through a common sieve
by the accurate surveys Of several scientific
engineers, II is ascertained that the fall of the
Mississippi river is four inches to the mile
The distance from Natchez 10 New Orleans Of
three hundred miles will give twelve hundred
inches, or one hundred feet The depth OF
the river il less than Fifty feet ct high water
mark The river debouches into the ocean
from promontOry made by itself The sur
face OF The ocean, by measurement, below the
bottom OF the river, above New Orleans cor.
responds with the low water mark below New
Orleans therefore the Mississippi river is
pouring through its own bottom into the ocean,
the super-imPUsed weight giving lateral pres
sure 10 hurry the s1oterranean current II
the reader has ever stood upon a Mississippi
sand-bar in a hard rain, or seen water poured
from O bucket on the sand-bar, he has seen
that neither can DC done in sufficient quantity
to produce any current or accumulation on the
surface. The river is, therefore, from the
time it comes below the limestone stratas of
Missouri and Kentucky, wasting itself through
its own bottom.
If the Mississippi river had to pursue its
course like the Ohio, over rocky strata, walled
in by rock and impervious clay banks, the
high water mark at New Orleans would reach
one hundred feet above its present limits; but
running over coarse sand, walled in by de-
posit made Of sand, ancient deIuyial detritus
and vegetable mound, no more water reaches
the ocean than the excess over the amount
that peTmoates the surrounding structure and
passes oil in the process of percoletion OF
transportation in a subterranean descent to the
ocean. The river, without any other restraint
from rock or clay in the bottom or bank, is
left free to the government of no other law
than the law Of hydrostatics. The washing or
wasting of the banks cannot be prevented,
though the caving or sliding Of large portions
at one time may be easily guarded against.
F1IHu VALE. the founder of Yale College at