Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1857-06-27
From the Franklin Journal.
Internal Improvements.
Eeroe across Bayou Plaquemine.

has been before the Legislature to close Bayou
Plaauemine by a leyee across it near Mlssls~
sippi river.
As a work of drainage and for re~claiming
land from inundati0n, there is not another
work in the State which can be compared in
value to this, that is, there is not another which
can reclaim as much land with so little ex-
pense. Ten thousand dollars will make a les
wee across the bayou sufficiently strong to pre-
vent the water from flowing through it; or if
the plan proposed to the last Legislature
should be adopted, two thousand five hundred
dollars would be sufficient to pay the expense.
Bv referring to the maps in the State land
Office, it will be found that the State noU oUnS
in the parishes of Point Coupee, st. Landry,
West Baton Rouge, I~bervilIe, Assumption, and
st. Martin, over six hundred thousand acres Of
land which cannot be reclaimed while Bayou
P]laquemine is open, and individuals own as
much more. This great quantity when re-
claimed from overflow is Of the very best quail
ty for the production of our great staple, SUI
Gar; all being well timbered for wood, &c.
This land cannot be cultivated until Plaques
mine is closed, or until each plantation is surs
rounded acih a Ieree, and supplied with ex-
pensiye draining machinery. The value of the
land owned by the State, estimated at the
minium price of 81 25 per acre, is but a small
item in estimating the benefits to be derived
from This important work, although it would
bring into the State Golfers $75O,000.
I will particularly refer TO its probable eff
fects in the parish of st. Martin, in which there
was in 1925, 25,500 in cultivation while the
whole area Of the parish is near 6500 900 acres;
Of which there is 100000 acres owned by the
State and individuals, subject to overflow from
the water coming through Piaquemine. Of
this quantity the State own two hundred and
fifty thousand acres. The parish is entirely
agricultural, and the value of the products OF
and property in the parish, will always be in
proportion to the number of acres in c%uitira-
ton. With $500 acres in cultivation, the
value of taxable property in the parish was IN
1855, S5,440, 700, or about S2l3,35>l00 for
each acre in cultivation. BY !eveeing the Ba>
you Plaquemine, We would reclaim 100000
acres of which in a few years onesfourth or
10 600 acres would be in cultivation, which
are now wild and waste lands only ~res0rted to
by the solitary hunter and the irespasser-
Whenever this should be the case it would add
to the wealth of the parish and State tgenty
one million three hundred and thlftg fire thou~
sand dollars, which if taxed at the present rate
would Weld $4,000 per aEnum to the State.
/ ne fdluS Vi He SipP Vi 4OCC - NC3oNN
acres was $73O,000, or tventY-eight dollars and
si.rtv three ceuts per acre. Even at this low
rate the value of the crops in the parish Of st.
Martin would be increased S2863,000 per
annutn. In all the parishes in which lands
would be benefited, the increase in the value of
crops would be in a few years at least Sll,-
100000 per annum; and would increase the
revenues of the State at the present rate Of
taxation. $250,O0O a year!
Enormous as these results appear, they are
the result of very low estimates, as they are
derived from the average product of the laud
in cultivation in the parish of ST. Martin for
1856, when the great bulk of thelaud which
was TILED was prairie, which will not produce
in value much more than one~haIf that the
swamps lands will when reclaimed from over
flow; but | prefer to estimate too low rather
than too high.
There is but too objections which can be
urged against the measure, one of which Is,
that it may increase the danger Of overflow 10
those living on the Mississippi below Plaque
mine. That | have fully answered in previous
numbers, having shown that 10 such effect
need be unprecedented; the other is, that it may
| stop a stream valuable for navigation.
In answer to this, while | admit the im~
p~ortance of good water communication to every
part of the State, and that we should we'll
consider before we destroy a water course
valuable for navigation. Is Plaquemine really
valuable for this purpose? would answer
that it is not; but that it entails a heavy eX~
pense upon the State to keep it open, RATS Of
drift wood annually closing the bayous below
it, which requires the constant attendance
throughout the working season Of one OF the
States steamboats, with twenty men, to re-
move the RATS of drift wood which is sucked
into Bayou Plaquemine. In its present condl-
ton it is not open for navigation more than
three months in each year, averaging one year
with another.
All objections on the score Of intercepting
navigation could be obviated by deepening the
bayou and building locks across it, thus turn
ing a worthless bayou into q valuable canal,
which would answer every purpose for re-
claiming the overioWed land, and instead Of
dangerous and uncertain navigation for three
months ina year, it would give US good, cef~
tain, and safe navigation for the whole time
The cost Of this work would not be over $780,
900, which is less than the increased revenue
for one year would be from the reclaimed
lands, and by Withdrawing the lands from sale,
which would be improved in value by the work
until after the, completion of the levee, and
then restore them to market by offering them
for sale at auction to the highest bidder, the
increased price they would bring would be
more than ten times as much as would be re-
CURED to reclaim them. Deepen the bayou
and build the locks so as TO give uninterrupted
navigation. The details Of this | will defer to
a future time.
Respectfully.