The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1858-04-28

|
within their channels. They reject outlet
or vents as means Of guarding agains
the danger Of overflow. They 60 for dam
ming UP every bayou, slough or sluice tina
can be found, and expect to reclaim every
acre Of alluvial land in the Mississippi vale,
and its various tributaries. The Plaquemin'
is to be closed, and we suppose after while
the Lafourche and Atchafalaya will be CLOSED
also. The Manchac, has long ceased, to
pass off its share Of the waters of the Missis
sippi into Lake Ponchartrain. The advo
Gates Of levees to the exclusion Of ever,
other means of safety are, when the danger
comes, strange to say, terror stricken and
tremblingIy realize the fact that, whenever
great Hoods unite aud swell the ample tide
Of the Mississippi, !evees afford no security
against the accumulated masses of water
that become too abundant to be confined
within the channel. Enough It would seem
was seen in 1850 to show the fut,lity of pla-
cling our security upon levees. Enough is
seen now surely to convince every one, that
levees alone will not suffice; and that pro-
vision should be made at once, by some ju-
dicious and we'll advised plan, for discharg-
ing into the gulf through every practicable
outlet, natural and artificial, the greatest
possible amount of water. Such plan car
ried into execution would greatly relieve our
immediate section Of country, and We hold
it to be, the only hope for the coast country.
As certainly as it is not done, the desolation
arising from crevasses, will occur at every
period of high foods. The people of the
coast districts have been compelled constantly
to increase the height Of their levees, as the
evees higher up the river have been extern
ded !; and this onerous work will continue,
unless the difficulty is removed, by dischar
ging the surplus waters into the gulf through
natural and artificial outlets above them.
Far be it from US to oppose the construc-
ton Of levees. But we 90 object to relying
npon them exclusively. As cobwebs entan-
gle and confne small insects, but are unable
to hold the big flies that break through so
levees restrain ordinary floods, but are impo-
tent against tie greater ones.
The doctrine, that the channels OF rivers
are deepened and the flow of their waters
accelerated, by combining them within their
channels by entertainments. ic altogether fall
lacious. Streams BY natural laS maintain
an uniform average depth, under all circum-
stances with or without levee5. Confne by
by levses their surplus waters that are thrown
out Of their channels at high floods, and the
process Of filling up their bottoms by deposit
commences The flow of water is always AS
the weight Of its volume and its Descent
These must always be analogous, as the av-
erage depth Of the stream must always be
the same.
As in the formation of social compacts and
the institution Of laws, men surrender por-
ton of their natural liberty to secure the re-
mainder, SO in the use of lands subject to
inundation, it strikes US it would be good
policy, to abandon portion of such lands to
serve AS reservoirs or artificial channels in
order, safely to cultivate the remainder The
crave all and lose al! plan is an unwise one.
In our efforts to reclaim all the swamp lands,
by closing up every outlet great or small, we
assuredly ilnperil the whole swamp country
for as long as the Mississippi continues to
Toll its waters to the Gulf Of Mexico, so long
will it continue, during extraordinary fresh
cts to demolish levees and submerge its low
lands. 4 great problem in Hydraulics
arises from necessity, in regard to the upper
districts Of the Mississippi. Below the
ranges Of uplands on either side, immense
portions Of water may be thrown off to the
gulf, by increasing the capacity of the natu-
raj outlets and by forming artificial ones.-
This process, would undoubtedly secure the
country below the mouth of Red river, and
would materially aid the country to some
extent above. But it would have but little
influence about the region of Natchez and
above. To secure the region of country
above that point, all the way to the mouth
of the Ohio, the levec system must be aided
by some scheme vet TO be devised land this
is the probIem) of tapping the Mississippi at
various points, and conducting portions of
its waters through its delta, by collateral
channels. Hy dividing the force of this
mighty stream, we might more successfully
resist its power, than by valnly con,endng
AGAINST its concentrated strength, which We
do by opposing its overpowering weight by
levees alone.