Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1866-04-26
THE LEvEEs or TTTE ,sIssIssIPPI.


From the New Orleans Picayune.l
The Ievees on the Mississippi river
measure about 80 miles, OF 1850, 0Jl
yards, and one single yard Of levee Civ
ing way viii bring abogt the inundatiOn
Of whole section Of country, and de-
strOy property TO the amount Of millions
of dollars.
The very best levees are liable to break
1 at times from crevasses entirely beyond
/ human control, and which are, in a
Z great measure, owing to the sandy ma
! terial we are compelled TO use in building
I them. For Instance, the H9gEaman
I levee, near Lake Providence, which gave
way in 1855, was considered to be one of
I the best levees ever built.
! Levees have been known to break
/ from the effect Of rat and crawfish holes.
} from tie effects of wind of rain, Of
/ waves, etc.
Sometimes the cause Of the break lies
within the levee itself, anu cannot be
/ suspected until after the levce has given
away. Some eight or ten days after the
upper crevaSse had occurred the levee
gave away about five acres below, and q
new crevasse took place. Upon eXami
nation it was found out that the levee
was nothing bat a mere shell, the suil-
stance Of which had leaked out through
q hole about three inches in diameter
near its base on the river side. The in
termittenU action of the waves, injecting
water through the hole aud sucking il
away as soon as it was saturated with
the sand forming the substance Of the
levee, had carried Off the entire inside
and left a mere shell or crust.
Another cause Of crevasses is land
slides. These are owing to the fact
that our soil is formed entirely of
deDOsits Of alluvial sand, which, hav-
ing no adhesive or cohesive properties,
is rubbed of and carried away by the
friction of the current Of the Mississippi
against it.. In this way the banks Of the
river are undermined by slow but sure
degrees, until the upper structure, hav-
ing no more foundation to stand upon,
slides into the river, and, Of course, car
ries away the levee built on it.
Another peculi2riJy very noticeable,
and at the same time very perpleXiug, in
caving banks and laudslides, is that,
changing their locality all the time, they
shift from one place 10 another, and may
endanger next year the very place that
was considered the most secure the sea- !
son previous.
In 1874 landslide took place close by
threatened the very structure itself; but I
the next season the river commenced (
making at the same spot, and 1t has, by I
this time, restored more than it had taken /
away then.
These land slides take place without 7
any signs indicating their approaching /
appearance. For instance, some twenty [
years ago, Mr.. Andry, a well known citi- |
zen Of this place, was passing on horse /
back on the levee, when all at once a /
land slide took place, and carried away 1
levee, horse and rider, and they have [
never been seen or heard of since.
The changes III front Of New Orleans (
are such that the former shape Of the 4
crescent, 90 which our city is indebted /
for its surname, Is daily disappearing, I
and many Of us can remember that I
western fatbosts used 20 make fast TO T.
tree then growing a few feet nom the .
spot where the south corner OF the custom /.
house now stands. The river is now ,
about 500 feet distant from that sp9t.l
Our city has already sold, and viii sell I
before long, some fifteen or eighteen /
whole squares of ground thus formed by |
the continued shifting of the river east [
ward. As q counterpart, Algiers Is losing 1
every year about rs much ground as New /
Orleans is making.
That feature OF the Mississippi rest0r- I
ING on one side what it takes on the I
other, is fully demonstrated by the fol- I
lowing example: Some 20 years ago, |
Mr. NalcOur Aime's dwelling house, par
ish Of 81. James, was right on the river. I
Almost opposite, on the other side, stood /
the residence Of Mr.. George Nather, |
built about one mile from the bank To- !
day MI Nalcour Aime's house stands I
one mile from the bank and ar Nath-
er's has been engulfed by the river.
These changes assume, sometimes, /
proportions really astonishing, rs in the 1
following case. In the early times of !
this country, NatcheZ, the camping
ground Of the Indian tribe of that name,
stood at the distance of 800 measured /
miles from New Orleans. since then the I
Raccourci cutoff, the Shreye cutoff /
and others have shortened that distance
more than co miles. Siil the river has .
so very nearly re-cStab.ishei its own
regimen, that the distance between the 1
two cities, which by The laws of agith- /
metic ought % be 300 less 60 OF 249 I
miles, is yet, this very day, 80 meas /
ured miles.