Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-05-26
most harmless aspect, can contemplate without
Il Shudder
Wonders of the Mississippi.

The difference of level between high and low
water mark Cairo is fifty feet The width
and depth of the river from Cairo and Memp-
his to New Orleans is not materially increased
vet immense additions are made to the ouanti.
ty of water in the channel by large streams
from both the eastern and western sides of the
Mississippi The question naturally arises,
what becomes Of this vast added volume of
water? Itcertainly 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 entire re.
glon south of US.
If we'll is sunk anyw where in tho 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 we'll The owner of saw mill,
some twenty miles from the Mississippi, in
Arkansas, dug a well to supply the boilers of
his engine, during the late food. When the
waters receded, his we'll went down till his hose
would no longer reach the water, and finally,
his well was dry He dug ditch to an ad-
jacent lake to let water into his well the lake
Was drained, and the we'll was dry again, having
literally drank ten acres Of water in less than
a week. The inference is, that the whole val
ley of the Mississippi from its banks to the high
lands on either side, rests on porous substra-
tum which abSorbs the redundant waters and
thus prevents that degree of accumulation
which would long since have swept New Orleans
into the Gulf but for this provision OF nature.
to which alone her safety is attributable.
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
be part and parcel of the Gulf of Mexico, and
this whole valley vast fresh water arm of the
sea. Were the geological character of the
valley different, the construction oflevees, con-
ining the water Of the Mississippi to its chan
mel, would cause the rise in the river to become
so graet at the South that there not sufficient
Ievees could be built The current would be
stronger and 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 beneath 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 that the levee system will be success
ful, and that the object Of its adoption will be
attained. The porcsty of the material used
in making them has caused most if not all Of
crevasses. Men may deem it 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 foodtide of the Mississippi is
but ripple on the surface of CLASSY pool,
compared with the ocean pillows that dash
against the artificial 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
buit-would make one hundred such kingdoms
as that over which Bonaparte once welded the
sceptre Memphis Araalnche.