Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-12-06

n the western slope of the Alleghanles
o and the eastern dip of the rolling landi
: and prairies of illinois, Indiana, and
# Ohio, occur long before the food Of the
e Arkansas, that has its cause in the melt
S ing SHOWS of the Sierrs Madres Of New
). Mexico and Colorado Territories. The
g Illinois river, that drains the central and
r northern prairies of the State, is seldom
T at its full flow when the melting SHOWS
D of the extreme northwest and the Hud-
e son Bay region bring down the greater
e aud later drainage from the upper lake
f country, in the clear water channel of
? the upper Mississippi. But the still
mightier tide that rolls down the foods
from the Yellowstone and the upper
sources Of the Missouri, having their
! cause in thawing, at still later season,
of the eternal SHOWS of the highest
mountains of the Cordilleras of Russian
America, has its prominent independence
of all others. as it has its higher sublim-
Iity and power from the vastness of its
drainage, and the magnitude of il noun
tain sources, in ever-increasinfS SHOWS
deposited from the vapor of the great
Pacific Ocean, borne on by the prevail
Eng winds from that oceans coast, and
hconstantly percipitated on the snow-oap
ped tops of mountains where man has
not yet trodden. None of these great
rivers in their lower and broad valleys,
dash down their floods with any of the
fury of mountain torrents, suddenly
swollen by heavy rains or melting SHOWS
but they roil them thousands and more
of miles through broad valleys of gradual
and slight slope, after spending their
destructive torrent force in higher alti-
tudes and narrow mountain beds, until
they meet and mingIe in the still broader
valley of the Mississippi bottom. Here
they become tranquilized as they mix
and mingle together, and swell on In
greater majesty but less rapid currents
through the lower basin as if hesitat.
ing to lose their individuality in the seas
that drink them up In this basin,
whose delta-lands are Of uniform level,
they may be subjugated to the control of
man, and spread out by artificial means,
having lost the destructive power of
I lUIIEulo anu uVOuo PACNlpANdtSA AAOHl
mountain slopes and high lands.
The rise of the food-waters of the
Mississippi below the mouth of the
Arkansas is always by slow degrees,
seldom, l believe, to exceed four inches
in any twenty-four hours. Artificial |
banks and dikes confne these waters IN |
their main channel from the mouth of
this river to the Gulf These dikes are
constructed with height intended to
prevent any overflow by the highest
floods 1t is from the mouth Of this |
river that l propose to operate my plan,
and from preceding premises my illus
trations will now be made more clear.
The aprons Of my waste-weirs should be
constructed at medium water-lines. The
increased volume of water at highest |
food can be estimated, and the extent of
morass, swamp, marsh, lagoons, lakes
and bottom surface, it is intended to
spread over, can also be calculated. The
average days of floods of each year can
also be ascertained. The amount of the
delta making material in every thousand
cubic feet of food water can also be
gathered and accurately measured.
When these four now unknown quanti-
ties, that enter into tlk problem of the
plan. are ascertained, the number and
extent Of the necessary waste-weirs may
be sufficiently approKimated for all prac
teal purposes, and the problem will be
resolved.
To proceed with nv demonstration
Suppose the waste-weirs are in proper
number, and at proper distances con-
Quoted along the entire length of dixie
from the confluence of the Arkansas
with the Mississippi, to the mouth Of
this slast-named river, and the waters
gradually rise ia food as they reach the
top of the aprons highest up the stream,
they How oyer the riyeted aprons by
slow degrees, and seek slowly the lowest
levels-the swamps, marshes, morasses,
lagoons and lakes of basin of vast ex-
tent, and of almost unbroken level, and
in these they spread themselves out and
deposit the material of the making
soil, producing in the fruition of its fer
tilizing nature, the best qualities of cot
ton and sugar of the world. From the
first apron in the series, over which the
waters in the beginning of food COM
mence to waste by trickling over the
plank revetments, so inclined as 20
create little or no current as the waters
increase, to the last Of the series, the
same wasting operation goes on, carry
ing of the great volume of the food,
and spending its accommodating force and
volume By slowly wasting them as they
grow. and would otherwise gain resist
less strength Thus they lose the de-
structive power of confined torrents and
floods, as the waters spread out over the
vast level surface Of this delta-making
soil, raising by slow but perpetual in
crease the elevation of these bottoms,
while the water evaporates and is lost.
Perhaps it is a clearer annunciation
of this problem. and better illustrates
the plan, to call the system of waste
weirs artificial riUers, having the capa-
city to carry off and waste a volume of
water equal, or approximating in
equality, with the surplus of food-water
over the medium flow of the main chan
mel below the mouth of the Arkansas
This as substantially my plan. The un-
dertaking is one of great proportions,
and its accomplishment would be Of
value that cannot be over-estimated. To
reclaim the great wastes of the Missis-
sippi basin, to eliminate the creative
causes of the epidemics, fevers, and pes
tilenees of the long, broiling, epidemical |
heat of summer there, to convert these
wastes into the richest lands of this con-
tinent, and at the same time to improve |
the navigation of the embouchures into
the Gulf, are not impossibilities. Moth |
ing short of impossibilities, in their
strongest sense, is too great for the ener-
gies of the government, and the skill,
ingenuity and practical science of Amer
ican engineers and enterprise to accom-
plish. 1t should, in my Judgment, be
undertaken. Time and the elements of
u