The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-01-25

the channel much Of the sednnentary matter
that would otherwise have been distributed
over the adjacent. lands while these lands,
no longer exposed to oveIflows Of tho river,
and no longer receiving yearly deposits from
). it's waters, have now become stationary in their
elevation.
This effort to protect the cultivated lands
from floods by the erection Of levees, though
productive Of some Temporary benefit has 0
tendency in the end to occasion greater mis-
chief The progressive elevation Of the bed
Of the river, caused by its inordinate breadth,
its numerous sinuosities, islands &c, renders
an increase necessary in the height Of the
levees, so that n crevasse in them during one
Of the spring foods is more destructive now
than formerly because it discharges greater
fall, and consequently greater velocity. Be-
sides, the increase Of population throughout
the great West along the various tributaries
Of the Mississippi, the clearing, cultivating,
and draining of the lands, facilitate the passage
OF the water and sedimentary matter or de-
! tritus, from the surface Of the fields into the
creeks and rivers which supply the Mississippi
while the main channel in the lower valley,
having its bed filled with Instructions, and
having less fall than its tributaries, cannot dis
charge the detritus as fast as it accumulates,
ually become more dangerous.
Along the valley of the lower Mississippi,
| adjacent to the river, are extensive sYamPs,
lagoons and low, fiat lands, which as long as
the river is left in its present unimproved con-
dition, serve highly useful purpose. They
act as reservoirs or basins to receive the sur
plus waters Of the river in time of food, and
return them again to the main channel when
the food begins to subside BY means Of
them the floods are prevented from rising as
high as they otherwise would, the duration OF
low water is diminished the stage Of water in
the river is more generally equalized and the
change from one extreme to the other rem
dered less sudden and violent Besides vast
quantities Of sedimentary matter brought
| down by the floods pass into these repositories
and are there deposited, which otherwise in
the present condition Of the river, would only
add more rapidly to the elevation of the bot
tom of its bed. As long as the Mississippi is
left unimproved, a double purpose is subserved.
BY permitting the surplus waters free access
to the swamps and lagoons, they act as regu-
| Iators to the river by checking the rapidity
and diminishing the height of its floods while
| the deposits left in them by these floods are
gradually filling them up, and will finally ele-
vate them so as to render them available for
agriculture.
The great lakes at the North, which are the
repositories of the drainage Of an immense ter
ritory, afford the best example Of the adVan-
tages of such reservoirs in securing country
from the destructive ravages Of high floods
Those extensive 6asinS receive the vast accu-
mutations Of water resulting from the heavy
rains and melting SHOWS Of spring, and retain
them until they are gradually discharged
through the St Lawrence But for them, the
valley of that river would yearly be swept by
destructive foods These lakes also serve to
retain the detritus which is brought down by
the tributaries. and thus secure the river from
all injurious deposits.
1t is true. the swamps and low fiat -bottomed
lands of louisiana, filed and covered for a con-
siderable part of the year by the surplus wa
tcrs Of the Mississippi, are not only useless
for any agricultural purpose, but exert an un-
favorable influence upon the health Of the adj
iacent country. Protected from overflow by
the river, they might be subjected to the labor
of the planter, and made profitable for the
investment of his capital. But the conse-
quences that would certainly follow, without
improving the course of the river, should be
considered
If the surplus water that now flows from
the Mississippi in time of n flood into these
swamps and lagOons, be confined within the
main channel of the river or rather between
the longitudinal levees, the spring floods must
necessarily rise to greater height. This will
render necessary an increased elevation Of the
leyees wherever they exist.
From the increased pressure Of the water
and exposure, these levees will be more sub
ject to crevasses than before while from the
greater height of the levees, the effects Of tho
xx-iil ba 40 kha I'D
iacent lands. The experience Of the last few
years has sufficiently proved that rs the leveea
become more elevated, the crevasses are none
the less frequent and more distinctive
Every thing that tends to increase the volume
and elevation Of the water in the main channel,
so long as it is left unimproved, must render
them still more so.
The bed Of the Mississippi river IS rising,
while the level of the valley, where it is pro-
tected by the lcvees, is stationary and has
ceased TO keep pace with it. However slow
that rise may be, it is certain that the time
must come, il the present system is continued,
when the bottom of the bed OF the river will
be considerably higher. Amy rejecting man
WILL therefore, see that the levee system, not
withstanding the vast expenditure Of labor and
money necessary to keep it up, and the heavy
yearly losses cntailed upon the neighboring
landed proprietors by innundations, will ulti-
mately reach point beyond which its further
continuance, il practicable at all, can only be
maintained at an enormous cost while no care
or precaution can prevent the yearly oyerfiows
and constant devastation.
As system, therefore, the levees arc deiec-
tive for several reasons. In the first place,
they contribute nothing to the improvement
ofthe river-neithcr making its channel deeper
nor its course straighter, and leaving its navi-
gable condition certainly no better than they
FUND it. In the second place, by affording
temporary protection to the planter, they
throw him into dream of fancied security
that prevents him from directing his attention
and energy to some more efficient method Of
improving the river and obtaining permanent
security for himself In the third place, by
affording a mere temporary expedient to meet
impending evil, they can only postpone dan
ger which is inevitable, and the coming Of
which will only lie the more ruinous the longer
it is delayed.
Louis hebert, State Engineer Of louisiana,
in his report to the Legislature Of that State,
dated, Baton Rouge, January 1st 1856, says:
an conclusion, let us learn not to interfere
with the Mississippi river. We cannot con-
troll it. Our presumptuous efforts against it
only bring down upon as chastisement."
cannot agree with this gentleman in the
opinion which the above language seems TO i'm
ply The condition of the Mississippi is ad-
mitted on all hands to be defective, because
the advantages which it offers to commerce
are far below what the immense volume Of
water that rolls down its channel ought, and,
under skilIful and judicious direction, might
be made, to possess. The alluvial soil through
which it flows affords the finest facilities for
accomplishing any change in the channel nee
essary for securing a proper direction and
breadth, while the mighty volume of water
discharged places in the hands Of a slilful and
experienced engineer power as effective and
as easily controlled for good as for evil The
people Of New Orleans, both merchants and
real-estate owners, are deeply interestedin the
improvement of the river, as are also the Ian
ded -propIietors along its banks; and all
would be benefited by making the waters of
the Mississippi river to flow as fast, and IS di-
rectly as possible, through regular bed Of .
breadth properly adapted to its discharge
The cross-sation Of the stream would then
be less, and its own action would secure for
itself reduction of the level of its surface.