The Hillsborough recorder. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1820-1879, 1859-04-13


water-leye Of the Mississippi is reached.
When the Mississippi goes down, the water
sinks accordingly in the we'll. The owner
Of a saw mill some twenty miles from the
Mississippi, in Arkansas, dug we'll to sup
ply the boilers OF his engine during the late
Hood. When the waters receded his wcll
went down. till his hose would no longer
reach the water, and, finally, his well was
dry. lie dug ditch to an adjacent lake to
let water into his we'll /; the lake was drained
aud the well was dry again--havng literally
drank ten acres of water in less than a week.
The inference is that the whole valley Of the
Mississippi, from its banks to the highlands
on either side, rests upon porous substra-
tum, which abSorbs the redundant waters,
and thus prevents that degree Of accumula-
ation which would long since have swept
New Orleans into the Gulf but for this pro-
vision Of nature, to which alone her safety is
attributable.
In fact, If the alluyial bottoms Of the Mis-
sssippi we're like the shores Of the Ohio, the
vast plain from Cairo to New Orleans would
to-day be part and parcel of the Gulf of
Mexico. and this whole valley a vast fresh
water arm of the sea. We're the geological
character Of the valley different, the con-
struetion Of levees confning the waters Of
4 the Mississippi 10 its channel, would cause
the rise in the river to become so great at
/ the South, that there no sufficient leyee
could be built. The current would be strong
er and the accumulation of water greater, as
the leyees are extended North of US.
| The result was reasonably enough antici-
pated, but the water instead Of breaking the
leyees, permeates the porous soil, and the
orfltioW is really beneath the surface of the
swamps. Such, il seems to US, are the wise
provisions OF natural laws for the safety and
ultimate reclamation Of the rich country
South of US.
We believe that the levee system will be
successful, and that the object Of its adop-
tion will be attained. The porosity Of the
material used in making them has caused
most ii not all of the crevasses. Men may
deem II a superhuman task to wall in the
Mississippi from Cairo to New Orleans, but
our levees are the work Of pigmies when
contrasted with the dykes Of Holland. The
food tide Of the Mississippi is but ripple
on the surface Of CLASSY pool, compared
with the ocean billows which dash against
the artificial shores of Holland. The coun-
try to be reclaimed by our leyees, all Of
which will not for fifty years cost the peo-
pie rs much as those Of the Dutch when
originally built, would make one hundred
fe Sf once %sdea Ra Rae sssrs Sys yhi4h m:Sap Rga
tunes which befell those subjected to the
disasters resulting from the overflow of last
year should not cause the abandonment Of
the only means OF security for life and prop-
erty which can be adopted aud, in after
years, when the system is perfected, men
will not say that he was dreamer who wrote
The following paragraph, clipped from the
prophetic New Years Address of the Bull
etin. IL viii be remembered that this Ad-
dress" is supposed TO have been written in
: the year Of our Lord 1900.
/" The wilds Of Arkansas, which half
/ century ago was uninhabited save by wild
beasts, and as wild race OF men, now TEEN
with crowded, busy population, and one
hundred millions Of people live and grow
rich on the shores Of the Mississippi. From
its banks, the dense forests which crowned
, them from its source to the Gulf, have been
removed. The rich soil, highly cultivated
and exposed to the rays Of a genial sun,
absnrb every raindrop, and the streams
! which came down from the distant hills,
passing through interminable cultivated fields
have half filled with alIuvium the channel Of
the Father of Floods. The fearful oycrilaws
which once devastated the country. have
Inug since been forgotten. God and Nature,
winch adapt all things to human wants aud
industry have relieved the valley OF the
; Mississippi Of those occasional desolations
, which swept over il fifty years ago."
sBch is truthful picture Of the future Of
Arkansas and the lnnlands Of the Mississip.
. r; and, 10 our opinion. VIC have a Prophet
Is we'll as Poet among Us.