Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-09-06
THE LEVEE.
las ConditiOn-What hay and ought 10
b Done TO Save H.

8S
The people of Memphis are so absorbed
In their private, that they have no time,
or do not choose to give any time, to pub
lie affairs, and 1t is only when aroused by
the press to q sense of overwhelming loss
in some direction, involving ultimate in
dividual loss. that they can be brought to
think, TO reflect and take acton touching
tina which as much concerns them as the
procuring their daily bread. A case in
point is the rapid decay OF our levee. Since
1865 IL has washed or "caved In" from q
point q little north of Winchester street,
near the mouth of Wolf river, to a few
yards south of Jefferson street, fully 1900
feet in length, varying in depth from zoo
to $50 feet. OF this very great loss to the
city and TO individuals the APPEAL has
from time to time spoken, in the hope
that some steps would have been
taken TO prevent its continuance.
Not 80. Nothing has been done.
However, now that We are threat
ened with a total loss of the leYee. River
men especially are becoming alarmed,
merchants begin to express their fesrs
and we may hope the people Will begin TO
move. The attempt TO mske q levee be-
tween Union and Besle street, that would
in whole or part make up for what the
Father of Waters has so ruthlessly gon-
bled, has proven abortive. As fast as 1t Is
graded 1T ssinks-it is s huge hole,
like the pocket of Jim Fisk, or that of a
New York Alderman, the more
you put into it the more rapidly
its capacity TO hold increases. 1t
has for its substrstum quicksands
and springs and only by an outlay greater
than is necessary to re-establish by cribs
and breakHster the whole of the old
wharf in the northern part Of the city,
can this one block ever be made servicea-
bic for the purposes Of commerce. That
being out of the question, public stten-
ton is directed to the work that must
shortly be commenced unless We would
/ lose the river commerce, which has al
ways proven the most remunerative to
US. From Union street south, half
way between Court and Jefferson is all the
I room that can be found for steamboats,
this winter, and part Of that Is occupied
by the St. Louis Compsny's whsrfbost.
| Taking last years. business at the
levee as q basis this is not more
than quarter sufficient to satisfy
the demands that will be made.
Six or eight boats of ordinary tonnage
will need It all. We counted, one day
last fall, twenty-three boats at our land
ing. Bu5 then they occupied the whole
of it from below Union up to Jetter-
son. Take six from twenty-three
snd It will be seen at ono that there
is but q poor sho wing for our river COM
4 uLE4D0 EAAo NOoAN AAAl ~
lone to remedy this ~dep.orable state Of
affairs. Since we cannot go south of Union
we must go back to the north; We must
fill in, we must sink cribs and erect
breakWaters. We must recover our lost
ground. We must save what is left to
us, and, If possible, get back what has
been lost. We must make up our minds
that we need now, and shall more press
ingly in the future, need all the
levee room from the mouth of Wolf
to Union street, hat 1t should as soon as
possible be permanently secured against
the action of the Mississippi, be graded,
and paved to low water mark, beyond
which stone should be sunk for many hum
dred feet toward Jefferson, SO IS TO give
the water q determined direction IN q
channel farther of shore. To do this
money is necessary, and to do it well, the
highest engineering ability. Blu the ex-
penditure, at its highest, will be trihing,
| compared with what has already been
lost. It is impossible to state
the value to the city OF the land
already carried away by the river, but
some estimate may be formed of that
when we tell our readers that nearly as
much wharf room has been carried away
as remains, and that it was all necessary
TO q commerce that has been increasing
| every day since the war. Last year there
were more than 100 steamboat arrivals at
this port, this year it is safe to predict
there viii be more than 1000 if we can only
make provision for them adequate to their
needs. To do this we must have levee
room, to do It we'll snd properly we
must secure for them all the levea,
graded, paved and well lighted from
Union up to Market street. We must
make provision, not only for u steam
boats, but for our coal boats, provision
and hay boats and the "hsts" that are still
a feature of Mississippi river traffic. II
delayed another two or three years, the
river will be able to re-estsblish its old
channels, and what may now be done for
$3.50, eco will then cost Sl,0OO. 600. IA
stitch in time saves nine"