Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1859-05-07
EFFECTS OF CkEvAssEs.--TEe facts

EFFECTS OF CREvAssEs.--TEe facts
recorded in regard to the Mississippi
river the present season suggest infer
epces that should not be overlooked. If
it serve to attract attention to the sub
iect of over1ows and incite investiga-
ton Of the laws governing III occasional
foods, the repetition of what has been
published day after day, in the shape of
river news, will prove useful es the basis
Of practical ideas 10 reference to future
protection. The prominent fact, which
cannot fsi! to incite Inquiry, is that at no
point from Cairo to Memphis has the
river this season attained all elevation
equal to the height Of water recorded in
1868, while from Princeton to this
point, the water ranges from nineteen
and a half to four inches above the flood
marks Of that year. At Princeton, Lake
Providence and intermediate points, the
water is above the known marks of the
last flood. Yet the Arkansas has con-
tributed less than in 1858 to the volume
| of water which swelIs the Mississippi,
and comparatively no crevasses are re-
| corded until we reach the outlets into
the great Yazoo valley. Below the first
of these outlets the remarkable flood OF
this season really commences.
At Vicksburg, the elevation is 193
inches above the highest point reached
in 1858. At Natchez, the height is sew
eral inches above that recorded in the
great food Of 1923. Twenty-Five miles
below that city, a large section of river
lands are now under water, that have
escaped all inundation since that memo
rable year. At the mouth Of the Red,
at Baton Ronge, and even here in New
Orleans. the water is above the highest
record of 1858. Yet, as we leave Prince
ton, we come into the region Of Gre
vases. Just below Vicksburg, the
White crevasse is above halt a mile in
width. Indeed. between Princeton and
Natchez, the food has wrought great
destruction-the river being at some
points not far from fifty miles in*width.
Now, il thedrawing off Of water in
immense quantities does, as is claimed,
lower the surface of the river either
above or below the point Of outlet, why
is it that, from Cairo down to Memphis
where the river has carried nearly all its
water, the river has MOI attained at any
point tie height Of 1858. by az and !
Ealf inches, while in tile regionzof un-
p%recedented crevasses and along the
whole line Of the river below, it has risen
many inches above any lately recorded
flood?
1t does not answer the question to say
that a greater quantity Of water has been
poured into the Mississippi below Prince
ton, this year, than in 1858. Such is
not the fact. Arkansas has not been
dangerously high during this season.
The Red River has contributed but very
little to our present flood. The Yazoo
has not risen above the height recorded
last year. Still we have unprecedented
disaster in the upper river parishes OF
Louisiana, and along the whole river
line of Mississippi, while in the extreme
lower valley we find the elevation Of the
river dangerous and unrxa"pled.
The rivr+ This year has poured over
the banks 1T the lower part Of Algier$,
where no l-vee has ever been built, AMI
none ever hcfore. been needed.
The facts this year recorded If the bar
of the Mississippi also are Suggestive
While the water at a low stage Of tue
river spread over the large surface be.
tween and near the passes, the bar BE-
came impossible, but as soon as it rose
above 50 AS to give the mass of the riv'
Ell water a greater velocity, %twenty-one
feet could be obtained on the passes
and Pass a 'Outre, where navigation had
been the most difficult, ~butswhere the
current is the most rapid, became the
easiest rass for entrance or egress.
Is it not plain that as the waters o
this river are diffused, the velocity Of thu
, current is changed, deposits commence
and the plane Of the river surface ii
raised? Does it not follow that con
fning the river within its own bed, 10
creasing the quantity ofmatter, increases
the velocity and keeps down the plane
of the rivers surface?-Pscaywne
The New Orleans papers are full o
, statements made by scientific men, max
j .-.a Co. Ao@Io1c,n sl->