Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1859-06-04
WONDERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI

The difference Of level between high and low
water mark at Cairo is fifty feet 1; at New Or
leans the difference is but twelve feet. The
width and depth of the river from Cairo and
Memphis to New Orleans is not materially in
creased, 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 question natural
ly arises, what becomes of this vast added vol
ume of waterP 1t certainly never reaches New
Orleans, and as certainly does not evaporate ;
and, Of course, it is not confined to the channel
of the river, for it would rise far above the en-
tire region south of us.
If we'll is sunk anywhere in the Arkansas
bottom, water is found as soon as the water
level of the Mississippi is reached. When the
Mississippi goes down, the water sinks accord
ingly in the well. The owner of saw-mll,
some twenty miles from the Mississippi, in
Arkansas dug well to supply the boilers of
his engine, during the late food. When the
waters receded, his well went down till his hose
would no longer reach the water, and, finally,
his well was dry. He dug ditch to an ada
cent lake to let water into his well the lake
was drained, and the well was dry again-hav-
ing literally drank ten acres of water in less
than week. The inference is, that the whole
valley of the Mississippi, from its banks to the
highlands on either side rests OH a porous sub
stratum which absorbs the redundant waters,
and thus prevents that degree of accumulation
which would long since have swept New Or
leans into the Gulf but for this provision Of
nature, to which alone her safety is attributa-
Bile.
In fact, if the alluvial bottoms of the Missis-
sippi were like the shores Of the Ohio, the vast
plain from Cairo to New Orleans would to-day
L.. 4 e IL M NJ
this whole valley vast fresh water arm of the
sea. Were the geological character of the val
ley different, the construction of levees, confn-
ing the water of the Mississippi to its channel,
would cause the rise in the river to become so
great at the South, that there no sufficient le
wee could be built The current would be
stronger and the accumulation of water greater
as the levees are extended north of US.
Such results were reasonably enough antici-
pated; but the water instead of breaking the
levees, permeates the porous soil, and the over
flow is really below the surface of the swamps.
Such, it seems to us, are the wise provisions Of
natural laws for the safety and ultimate recla-
nation of the rich country south of us.
We believe the levee system will be success
full. and that the object of its adoption will be
attained. The porosity of the material used in
making them, has caused most If not all of the
crevasses. Men may deem 1t superhuman
task to wall in the Mississippi from Cairo to
New Orleans, but our leyees are the work of
pgmies when contrasted with the dykes of Hol-
land. The foodtide of the Mississippi is but a
ripple on the surface of CLASSY pool, compared
with the ocean biliowsthat dash against the ar
ti6cial shores of Holland. The country to be
reclaimed by our levees-all 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 once welded the sceptre.-
Memphis Aralanche.