The Grand Haven news. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1858-18??, 1859-06-22
WONDERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

The difference of level between high
and low water mark at Cairo is fifty feet
at New Orleans the difference is but twelve
feet. The width and depth of the river
from Cairo and Memphis to New Orleans
is not materially increased, yet immense
additions are made to the quantity Of wa
ter 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 water2 IL certainly never
reaches New Orleans, and rs certainly does
not eyaporate; and, of course, it is not
confined to the channel Of the river, for
it would rise far above the entire region
south of us.
If a well is sunk anywhere in the Ar
kansas bottom, water is found as soon as
the water level of the Mississippi is reach
ed. When the Mississippi goes down,
the water sinks accordingly in the well.
The owner of a saw mill, some twenty
miles from the Mississippi, in Arkansas,
dug a well to supply the boilers of his en-
gine, during the late flood. When the
waters receded, his well went down till
his hose no longer reached the water, and
finally, his well was dry. He dug a ditch
to an adjacent lake to let the water into
his well; the lake was drained, and the
well was dry again--having literally
drank ten acres of water in less than n
week. The inference is that the whole
valley of the Mississippi from its banks to
the highlands on either side rests on a
porous substratum which absorbs the re-
dundant waters, and thus prevents the ac-
cumulation which would long since have
swept New Orleans into the Cult but for
this provision Of nature, to which alone
her safety is attributable.
In fact, if the alluvial bottoms of the
Mississippi 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 fresh water arm Of the sea-
Were the geological character of the val
ley different, tho construction of levees
confning the water of the Mississippi TO
its channel, would cause the rise in the
river 10 become so great at the South,
that there no sufficient levee 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
anticipated, but the water instead of
breaking the lcvees, permcatcsithe porous
soil, and the overflow 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
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 il superhuman task 10
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 Miss
issippi is but ripple on the surface of a
CLASSY pool, compared with the ocean bill
lows that dash against the artificial shores
of Holland. The country to be reclaim
ed 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 king
doms as that over which Bonaparte yield
ed the sceptre. Memphis Avalanche.