Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-02-20
A Tremendous ProbabIIIrr.

The correspondent Of the Missouri Re.
publican, with General Grants army. gives
the following information as TO one of the
proposed cut-Offs by which the way is to be
opened to the Gulf:
But by far the most important opera
ton Of the three is the proposed canal
which it is intended to cut from Lake
Providence into the bayou Tensas or bsvou
Macon, thence up the Tensas or Bauf riv-
ers, into the 0uachita and Red rivers
leaving Vicksburg to the eastward fifty
miles. That this is quite feasible we have
the testimony Of old river-men. The Ten
sas and Boeuf are at times navigsble for
small boats as far up as the Shreveport
Railroad crossings. If suHiciency of the
Mississippi could be diverted into Lake
Providence, the channel would be naviga-
bic for the whole length of the Tensas.-
The strip Of excavation is less than three
miles in width, and General Macarthur is
already at work upon it at that place with
brigade.
The difficulty in this case will not be
to get enough water into the channel but
10 prevent getting too much. If old Father
Mississippi but rises an inch 100 high, or
if General Macarthur and Colonel BisseIl
but dig out few shovelsful too much, he
may not only escape Vieksburg, but ruin
the whole Of Louisiana. u
The welLknoWn properties of the
Lower Mississippi 10 cut and spread, 1
need not explain, further than to say that,
in high water, there are innumerable
bayous, branches, eutoffs, and even rivers,
which run from and into the nearest
stream in curious alienation. The New
Orleans people noticed that thirty years
ago, the Mississippi was eating into the
shores at the mouth Of Red River. SO as to
be in danger Of making over into the At
chafalsya, river which is fed from the
Red River and empties into the Gulf of
Mexico at the bay Of that name. This
would have diverted the valuable river
away from the city and left it by the side
of an Insignificant bayou. In order to pre-
vent this catastrophe, they cut through
neck Of land, few miles below the mouth
Of Red River, and, the channel washing
through, made what is called the Racourci
cutoff. This had the desired effect, and
New Orleans has grown somewhat in the
interim.
any considerable portion of the Mississippi
into the Tennessee and Red river2 There
would be the most imminent danger Of the
torrent of water rushing right into the
Atchsfalsya with such force as to perma-
nently change the bed Of the Mississippi
to that channel.
This would be in effect to leave Vicks-
burg far inland, but it would also leave
New Orleans, too. We should have an in
dependent passage to the ocean, but we
should have destroyed the prosperity of
New Orleans and the coast The city would
then become prey to the Confederate army,
and the great artery of commerce be trans
ferred hundred miles further west.
"Tbis danger has not probably been fore
seen by the engineers, but should receive
their earnest attention. So slender are
the threads upon which mighty destinies
hang, that in the calculations of this en-
gineer or that hang all the fortunes and
misfortunes of people. Thousands of
millions Of dollars are at stake"