Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-05-05
The Great CreYasse.

The State of Louisiana and the cou1 try
adjacent to the Mississippi play so i'm
portant part. with their special produc-
tons, in the commerce of the country,
that the degree Of attention which, through
natural human sympathies, would be at
| tracted by the late disaster, is increased
| and more widely disseminated. 1t also
| becomes interesting to look into the his
| tory as we'll IS physical! conditions CT the
locality visited by SO severe a calamity. II
is now twenty-five yeats since New Orleans
| was eXtempUrIZFd into Venice by the
| flood and creyasse of 1849 About ten
| years later, the last serious disaster from
this cause occurred. The levees Of tho
| lower Mississippi extend for a distance Of
| one hundred aod twenty miles above New
Orleans, and forty three miles below it.
| They are extensive embankments fifteen
feet wide and six feet high. The net
results of the Louisiana flood may be thus
| stated. Several crevasses in all occurred,
of which all but the great break at Bonnet
Cane have been closed. This break at
tanned a width of LOO feet, and at one
time the amount of water pouring through
it equalled by measurement one fifth Of
the entire volume of the Mississippi river.
An extensive tract of country lying between
the crevasse and Lake Pontchartraiu has
been overlooked, and a vast amount of
damage has been doue-amOanting, &C
cording to all accounts, into the millions,
though We are yet without data from which
to state the proXlmate sum. Lake
Pontchartrain commented to rise ard
backed up into the Carondelet canal,
threatening TO food the city. The river,
however, had at this time begun falling,
and the peril was a7erted. The food has
also wrought important changes in the
river banks in many places between New
Orleans and Cairo. Among other things
Fort Pillow has disappeared. OF the ex-
tensive earthWorks erected at Randolph it
is said that not a vestige now remains.
The Board of Trade of New Orleans has
been alive to the danger which impended
through neglect of the levees. Under the
old regime they were main tanned by the
planters. By the new Louisiana law the
work is entrusted to a company. It's eff
cheney is indicated by the fact that it was
twelve hours before the crevasse was known
in New Orleans, and forty-eight before any
attempt was made to check it. The New
York Tribune says Of the action which has
been taken by the reconstruction govern
ments of Louisiana, that s. each has look !
ed upon the levees as a gold mine, to be |
worktd for individual profit at the public |
expense. The individual profit is report |
ed to be great" The two conventions of |
1869, at Memphis and New Orleans, made |
this question the main subject of Their at |
tention. Petitions were adopted praying
Congress to at least assist the States in the |
costly work of putting the levees in repair. |
For the want of a few thousand dollars |
wisely applied at the right time. d loss al |
ready reported as amounting to millions
has been inflicted upon the unfortunate
State of Louisiana. By her petition to Con-
gress she has realized in bitter sense the
scriptaral precedent of asking fish and
receiving a (Ku-Klux) serpent. Had the
people been left to manage their own af-
fairs, doubtless all would have been taken
care of as formerly.
Some of the effects of the food may be
realized from the fact that even before it /
had accomplished the tenth part of the
devastations, we find the New Orleans
papers earnestly calling upon the citizens
fox relief in aid Of the drowned district,-I