Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-10-01
The LEvEE.
Its Present conditiOn---The River
Reaching for its Old Channel.

The condition Of the levee from the
mouth of Wolf river 10 Jefferson street is,
to say the least, alarming. 1t has fallen
in TO so great an extent as to excite fears
that ere long nothing will remain of what
is known as the batture. The Mississippi,
'sweeping down from the bend in front OF
Mound City, strikes the levee a little be-
low the mouth Of Wolf, and eddying its
way as far as the foot of Jefferson street,
gradually leaves the bank for the Arkan-
sas shore and the head of Presidents Is
land. The force of the current is 80 great
that already all that was once the best
part of our public landing has been swept
away, carrying with it all traces of the Ii
tus cotton shed, once so notable landmark
for pilots. The river now runs within one
hundred yards of the old -four mill, and
Is fast undermining the coal yards that a
few short months since were a hundred or
more feet from the bank. The Missouri
Hotel is only q few feet removed from the
water, h bank opposite to it being in
rapid process of crumbling away by rea-
son of a sewer which, emptying into the
river at that point, has leaked 10 such an
extent as to produce effects similar TO
that which characterizes the action of the
great Father of Waters. As far down as
the sunken wharfboat, and the wharf
boat of the st. Louis Packet Company,
the bank is scanned and cracked, and has
fallen in, and a great pile of paving stones
attests how much Memphis has already
lost of expenditure and labor by the ire
sistable workings of the great river.
One result of this caving in of the
levee is that already packets are making
landings as far down as Union street, and
many influential persons are talking of
having the bluff cut down to Beal street,
and the levee paved and lighted as at the
foot of Court and Union streets. 1t is
well known and understood that the nat
ural tendency of the trade and growth of
the city is southwark, but this may be accel-
Grated, and is likely TO be by the action of
the river, which, sweeping away what
used to be the best part of the levee, will
compel the improvement we have men,
toned, and very much to the injury, not
alone of the batture property, but of all
the property in the Northern part of the
city. The stores on Front and Main
streets will become valueless, and, as in
the case of Union street, which has so sud-
denly sprung 70 b status of one of our
best business streets, new streets with
handsome blocks will give more and more
character TO South Memphis, until
the Waldran Block and beyond is
reached, and Shelby street becomes a
thriving ~thoroughfare. The property own
ers OF North Memphis ought to be on the
qni UiUe in this matter, and should take
immediate steps to counteract these ten
denotes, and urge upon the Board of Al
dermen immediate work in order to pre-
vent the total loss of the levee in front of
the batture. Every man who owns prop
erty north of Court Square Is intereStedin
this movement Ofthe current ofthe Missis-
sippi, and every one OF them should unite
in a petition TO the board of Mayor and
Aldermen to commence work with a view
to save the levee and the batture, and so
save to the Northern part of the city its
commerce and business. We throw out
this suggestion for what it is worth, and
call attention TO the alarming strides of
the Father of Waters and h inroads he is
making upon our landing.