The independent. (Harrisonburg, La.) 1853-18??, 1859-04-27

III, La, WEDNESDAY,, AP
New Orleans: and these artificial embank
ments confined to the lower portion of the
State # Louisiana have been the means o
protecting the front lands Of this portion o
the q yer parishes and Of reclaiming vas
amount Of back lands even during the food
stages Of the river, but the levees on thi,
portion have not within a few years pas
offered the same. protection that they for
nerlI did. The question now presents itsel
why 10 they not = We conceive the answe,
is simply that the levee system instead o.
being confined to the lower portion of the
rifer Is now extended with the exception oi
fhe mouth Of Red river to the mouth Of the
Arkansas on the West bank, and almost
continuously on the Eastern bank to point
still higher, with the exception Of the mouth
Of the Yazoo: hence the water that the river
formerly discharged into the immense
swamps on either side, intersected by innu-
merable lakes, b.yous and iagoons, answer
ing the purpose Of sol many safety valves to
the Mississippi during its food stages, and
retaining water sufficient for vast internal
sea is confined to the bed of the river, and
is forced onward. TO the Balize in its furious
career. The -inereAsed quantity Of water
confined to the bed Of the river during its
food stage, is then the cause of its overflow
Jog its levees. ;.
In stopping all the bayous leading from
the river to the swamps the reader can we'll.
imagine the consequent effect on the curren:
Of the Mississippi. When be takes into
consideration the fact that the Mississippi
sSamp from the mouth of The Arkansas to
the mouth of Red river will average about
twenty five miles in width and on the oppo-
site side Of the river from Vicksburg to the
mouth Of the Yazoo pass a still greater
width and which until very few years past
would average depth of Eve feet water at
a very moderate calculation, and that too
during two or three and not uncommonly for
six months Of the year, this sea Of water con-
fined to the banks Of the river that will not
average mile in width, must necessarily
give It several more feet of.water.
=
Whilst the lsvee system is heaping up
Ossa upon Pelion, as 70 have attempted to
illustrate and whilst the evil effects Of the
system are annually increasing, more espe-
cially on the lover plane Of the river, We
may expect that the Father Of Waters, driven
from his favoiite resting places in the seclu-
ded swamps Of the upper plane d the river,
and aLut ont from his favorits retreats of
Providence, sc. Joseph and Concordia, and
indeed from that vast chain .of lakes that
skirt skirt his borders from the Ohio almost
to the Balize, where he was won't to res. his
weary limbs after the Hsrculean task Of
tearing up forests by the roots and the earth
fself upon which they had their foundations,
sill summoa his numerous children around
him (his seventeen hundred children) and
make 4 furious assault on the Lillipu-
hon levees, spreading desolation broadcast
throughout the land"
We have now given the great potential
causes Of the Sauve and Bonnet Care crevas-
ies in times gone by, viz: the extension Of
the Levee System. For II those who at
tibuted those crevasses to the Raccourci
cutoff had have taken q more statesman
ike view Of the Mississippi river, they would
have ssen vast many other crevasses in
the levees for hundreds of miles above where
thers were no cut-offs, sud It was inst q
wiseto attribute those crevasses to that out
Of, d to attribute the occurrence Of the yell
low fever in New Orleans to N eclipse q.
the moon that may have occurred At the
.>-~ v~.:ru4 ~ AsenA 4xx4 49,
Now I put this question, II the Racc0urci'
cutoff caused the Bonnet Care aud 6uave
crevasses. which occurred subsequently,
What caused the Bell and Labranche cre-
vases during the past summer If another
cutoff had been made below Red river that
would have been made the scape-goat on
whose unfortunate head the sins of the river
mirht have been carried into the wilder
ness, But there has besnsuo cutoff made.
and "a behold oSsvasses moi only occurring
on the sugar coast, but By far more formi-,
dable breaches in the isveee between Mem
phis and Natches. The fact 10 aa We pre-
d;cfed ia our communication to De Bows
Review ia 1850. that unless the levee sys-'
tenn Was counteracted By some other meas-
ures chat crevasses muat necessarily occur.
Thers are many leveea 4 present on the
Mississippi between Matches and Memphis
that are iosrteen feet high with one hundred
feet haze, and diaoy'of them will .be raised
during tha present SESSION two Or three feet
higher both ia Mississippi. Arkansas and
Lcuisisna: now let me ask hew will the
yast foods that may b thrown down On the
lower plaps Of ths iisef be carried Of harm
iessly how isths sugar eoast TO b protsc-
tedi
ousl4ta have been spoken 81, bnt i has
been proven br past experience thst outlets
a.Weil IS srsvassss, BY reducing the power
oi ttIs current, have : tendency and do cause
! dlline 10 of the river. The Bodnst Care
and ssnve crevasses both causpd the bed Of
The river to al up below them. Il the La
fourShe and Piaqueminssare enlsrged there
8 danger Of directing the. river from New
Orleans n 40 distant day, and Of flooding
the whole South western portion Of the State,
ior the strata Of clay at the mouth Of the
Lafotrchs and Plaquemine y represented e