New Orleans daily crescent., 1862-05-03
Wonders Of the HTississ, ,,y,,

The difference Of level between high and low
water water marx at Cairo is fifty feet. The width and
11psa q the river from Cairo and Memphis to New
o1eans is not materially increased, yet immense
aaalsIoas are made to the quantity of water in the
cnannel by large streams from both the eastern
natuay ssss abs q the Mississippi The
volume of water? It certainly never reaches New
Orleans, and as certainly does not eyaporate. OF
course it s not confined to the channel OF the river
for It would rise far above the entire region sonth
of Us.
If well is sunk anywhere in the Arkansas bot
tom, water is found as soon as the water level of
the MISSISSIPPI is reached. When the Mississippi
goes down the water sinks accordingly in the we'll
The owner Of a sawmiil, some twenty miles from
the Mississippi, in Arkansas, dug we'll to supply
tas o boiler ne Of his engine, during the late food
his hose would no longer reach the water and
finally bis well was dry. He dug a ditch to an ad-
jacent lake to let water into his well the lake was
drained, and his well was dry again, having lite
rally drank ten acres of water in less thank week.
The inference is that the whole valley of the Mis-
sisspp from its banks to its highlands the other
side, rests on porous substratum which absorbs
the redundant waters, and thus prevents the de-
gree of accumulation which would long since have
swept New Orleans into the Gulf, but for this pro-
vision of nature to which alone her safety is at
Ulbutable.
In fact if the alluvia bottoms o. the Mssi ssippi
we're IKE 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 the whole
geological character of the valley different, the
construction of levees, confning the water of the
Mississippi to its channel, would cause the rise in
the river to become 50 great at the South that
there could not be sufficient levees built. The car
rent would be stronger and accumulation Of water
| greater as the levees are extended north Of US.
Such results were reasonably enough antc!-
pated; but the water, instead of breaking the
| levees. permeates the porous soil, and the over
| flow ia really beneath the surface of the swamps
Such, it seems to US, are the wise provisions of
natural laws for the safety and ultimate recIama-
ton of the rich country south of US. We believe
that the evee system will be successful, and that
| the object of its adoption wi be attsiaed. The
porousness of the material used n makiug them
has caused most, if not all, the creva~se.. Men
| may deem it snperhuman task TO wall in the
| Mississippi from Cairo TO New trlean- nus our
| levees are the work of pigmes when conIrast'd
with the dykes of Holland. The 1oodtide Of the
Mississippi is but ripple the surface Of a
CLASSY pool compared with the ocean biIlowz thar
dash against the artificial shores of Holland. The
country to be reclaimed by our levees-a OF
which will not for fifty years cost the people as
much as those of the Datch when originally built
| would make one hundred such kingdoms as that
over which Bonaparte once welded the spectre.
L Muupi A,.1a