The independent press. (Abbeville C.H., S.C.) 1853-1860, 1859-09-16
WONDERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI.


The difference Of level between high and
low water mark at Cairo is fifty feet. TIE
width and depth Of the river from Cairo ami
Memphis to New Orleans is not materially
! increased, yet immense additions are made
to the quantity Of water in the channel by
large streams from both the eastern and
western sides of the Mississippi. The ques-
ton naturally arises, what becomes of :his
vast added volume Of waters 1t certainly
never reaches New Orleans, and as certainly
| does mol evaporale: of course it is not con
fined 10 the channel Of the river, for it would
! rise far above the entire region south Of U.s.
II well is sunk anywhere in the Arkan-
sas bottom, water is found as soon as the
water level OF the Mississippi is reached
When the Mississippi goes down the water
sinks accordingl " in the well. The owner
Of saw mill, some twenty miles from the
! Mississippi, in Arkansas, dug we'll to sup
ply the boiler Of his engine, during the late
flood. When the wafer receded, his we'll
| went down till his hose would no longer
reach the water, and fuallv his we'll MAS
dry. Hedug ditch 10 an adjacent lake to
let wafer into his well: the lake was drained
and the well WAS dry again, having literally
drank ten acres of~%ater in less than Il week.
The inference is that the whole valley Of
tue Mississippi. from its hanks to its high
lands on the other side, rests on a porous
substratum which ab>orhs the redunlan,
waters, and thus prevents the d-gree of ac
rm,i,uIation which would long since have
swep, New Orleans into the Gulf hut f;,5r
! this provision of nature, to which alone her
safety is attributable.
In fact, it the aIuvinl bottoms Of the Mis-
sissippi were like the shores of the Ohio.
| the vast plain from Cairo to New Orleans
would to-day he part aud parcel Of the GuI
Of Mrxico, and the whole valley fresh wa.
ter arm of the sen. Were tho geological
character Of the valley different, the coli
s1ruction Of levees, con6ning the water of the
Mississippi 10 i.s CHANNEL, would cause the
rise i'll the river to become SO great al. ths
South that there could not be sufficient leveSS
built. The curreat would be s,rongessa1d
accumulation Of water greater as the Tleye@
are extended north Of US.
|, Such results were reasonably c7ough aH.
! licipated; but the water, ins,ea'l Of breaEs
ing the levees, per- ,mea:es the porous soil,
and the overflow is really beneath the sur.
face Of the swamps. Such, it seems to us,
nre the wise provisions of natural laws for
the safety and ultimate reclamation Of the
rich country south Of us. We believe that
the fSsee system will he successful, and that
the object IF its adoption will be attained.
tho porousnes. oi the material used in max.
! ing them, has caused most, if not all the
crevasses. Men may deem it n superhuhian
task to wall in the Mississippi from Cairo to
| New Orleans, but our levces are the work
Of pigmies when contrasted with the dykes
Of Holland. The food tide Of the Missis.
sippi is but ripple on the surface of glas:
sy pool compared with the ocean hiIluws
that dash against the artificial shores of Hol-
land. The country to be reclaimed by our
levees-al Of which will not for fifty years
cost the people as much as those Of the
Dutch when originally built-would make
one hundred such kingdoms as that over
which Bonaparte one welded tho sceptre.
Memphis Aualanche.