Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1858-06-25
BY M'cLANAHAN, TRoUsDALE s DILL.
ri4r nIssIssIppI oyERrLoWs.


: 10 higher than 1t has been since 1928, and pro
baby much higher than it was then. Indeed
1t is questionable whether there lives q mai
! that has ever seen Il higher. There was |
breach in the leVee opposite AshpOrt tw'
weeks since On the night Of the iith inst.
the dixie across Mil Bayou was cut fhii
enbankment alone was made at cost ol
|, 5000 or 8, ,OO0 On the morning OF the 14tl
inst, there was breach In the leves Just Be
low e. w. ROrlett's store, and before the nexi
Gay about thirty farms were inundated, with
n crops destroyed, and without dry ground fOr
n man or beast About the same time there were
3 other breaches that did much damage, both in
Plum Point and Social Bend. osceola Is en-
tirely Inundated.
q The second year after the French settled at
New Orleans, there was an overflow from the
Mississippi river, which caused more human
suffering than destruction of property. The
! special history OF the Mississippi bottom ever
since can be briefly written, viz: Gazing banks,
destroyed crops, drowning stock and human
suffering. The river is a stream peculiar to
itself The Father Of Waters, even before the
white man saw 1t, acknowledged no channel,
BOr Recognized no bounds, save the hills on the
East and on the West. 1t does not overflow
its banks every year, but sometimes, for ssve-
raj successive seasons, remains hid beneath its
low banks, as though to invite and entrap more
Of the unsuspieious on whom to spread her
wrssht Ia 1875 thsIss8As Riyh1 h1sfff ff-s and q -
there were soldiers at the mouth of the Ohio,
and the Impression a few years afterwards
was, that the Mississippi overhowed three or
four years eOnsecutively, and subsequently did
not overflow for az long time. In 1928, '32,
'S6, 40 and IA, there were overfows. 1t
seems that these were the only overfows Of
importance between '2s and '44. In '2s the
overflow came In the winter. In IA 1t was at
it's highest, and on stand on the 9th of July.
In March, '4e, there was very high overflow
-on the 2Sth it was at its highest. In $50
there were three oveThows-on the 10th May
it was at its highest. In '5I there was late
overflow. In '54 there was an overflow. In
'55, SO and '57 the Mississippi bottom pre-
sented charming appearance, and rich woods
invited to the eye of the man accustomed to
cultivsting, exhausted hill sides. On the 25th
Of March OF the present year the overflow
commenced, and it is hoped it will pass of in
time 10 give planters an opportunity to raise
a crop Of turnips.
Since the first settlement on the Mississippi
river BY the white race, the protection Of the
bottom from iBundatien has occupied the
thoughts and energies Of the settlers. That
small sections can be made measurably secure
by diking against the river, experience has long
since shown. But whether there can ever be
made anything like a general reclamation is
still involved in doubt. Scientific men still
differ as to what should be done. Practical !
men differ, and it is still left for experimental
men to do the work. Whsther reclamation |
can be made by erecting dikes sufficiently high, |
aHd Of sufficient substance on both banks OF
the river, Of sufficient distance from the |
river, to be rendered secure from csving shores,
Or whether it can be done By partial dikes, and |
opening bitches and canals, has long been
question. The river, when at its highest, runs
through its own channel and overhows a bot
'on Of thirty miles in width, at depth of three
'eet, spesking in round numbers II this over
low Of thirty miles was confined TO a channel
If two miles, it would require a leves on each
'ide Of the river, fOrty-fve feet above the pres
mt high water mark. There would be many
Disadvantages attending such system of re-
;lanation, and among them are its expensive
less, insecurity after the completion Of the
york, and the impOssibility of disposing Of the
,ain water that falls and lies on the bottom,
Ind Of the Transportation water that will escape
through the lsvees and arise to the ground. To
hese might be added the inpOssibility Of con-
iipPi i7Vn oi6er rivers, and the great jeopardy
lndsr which the whole bottom would be placed
Turing the time of high water. It appears
reasonable that an entire reclamation should
Tot be attempted; but the object should be to
eclaim the greatest amount OF land, and 10
1--WE that the greatest security. Probably the
most feasible plan for so doing is to leave open
III the natural drains and bayOus, and, when
t is necessary, open bitches or canals from the
liver to the lakes and the lower grounds, and
Jack into the river Such system would not
.equire the front lsVees to be so high, and by
svying along the bayous and csasls, the water
would be carried to the lowest lands and the
axes without covering the highest lands, pass
ing back to the river with a slow current
through the natural and artificial drains. The |
river thus passing through these circuitous
channels would give time for the water to pass
to the gulf without inundating the highest
lands on the lower coast.
The height and Dimensions Of levees should |
vary with the location ami character Of soil Of
which they are built. As general thing the
surface Of the bottom is black loan soil, and
underneath sand. By digging ditch four feet
deep, and throwing the earth from the river,
and afterwards obtain the earth next to the
river, and build the leyee on the ditch, many
roots and holes will be cut and the earth best
mixed to prevent the water from undermining
or percolating the levse. The best levse for
resisting water, at the least cost, should be six
or seven feet base to every foot in height, with
six inches surface on top to every foot high
not fat but rounding, and always to be three
feet above the water to be resisted. There
should never be ditch in the rear of the levee
nearer than twenty or thirty feet, but bitches
running al right angles from the levee to convey
of the ssgpGgs water, as it is commonly
termed.
Letter on the Overland Mail Route.