The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-05-14
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False Ideas With Regard 70 ths Lsves System.

<siss Ideas With Regard 70 the Isvos System.
Capt. A. A. Humphries and Lieut.. II. L.
Abbot (Report upon tho Physics and Hy-
draulics of the Mississippi river; upon the
protection of the alluvial region against
overflow, and upon the deepening of the
Washington, 1867, page 1861 says:
Tho area Of the alluvial land under cultiva-
| than 100000 acres, which, At 500 per acre,
10Y no means an extravagant estimste) gives
xiO0, OOO0 900 for the value of the plantations in
6nat section, making total value of $3.50 co.,
OOO for the land that will be rendered perpetu-
ally ely c1ltivable by the expenditure Of $l7,-
And this great achievement is to be &c
complished simply by erecting levees upon
the margin OF the serpenting banks OF
very shifting and fuctuatipg river, having
in 1858, at high water mark, between banks,
from the Ohio river down to the Arkansas
river, maximum width of 1870 feet, and
minimum width of 224O feet; from the
Arkansas river to Red river, maximum
OF 1850 feet, and bends extending laterally
about ten miles.
Our thesis is, that without proper regu-
latiOn of the Mississippi river it ia utterly
impossible to make the levees permanent,
and consequently to render the alluvial
land " perpetually cnltivable."
1t is certainly absurd to assert that the
low lands of the Mississippi river can be
rendered perpetually cultivable simply by
fevees, regardless of the consequences of
the general elevation of the bed of the
Mississippi by the detritus brought down
from the higher regions by the river and
its tributaries, or of the elevation c0nse-
quent on the reflex effect of the elongation
OF the bed of the river, by the deposits at
Its mouth, which e1ogation is estimated in
the report at 700 feet per annum. The re-
suit is that the floods of the Mississippi
continually increase in intensity, and the
levees necessarily become insufficient for
the protection of the low lands against in
undatiOn.
The Mississippi river being in its natural
state, the adjacent swamps and low lands
were filed aud covered with water in time
OF flood they formed receptacles for the
accumulation of great quantity of water,
and secured the lower portion of the river
from the destructive rayages of high floods.
These basins retained the waters until they
were gradually discharged through the
river, leaving in them a large portion of
the detritus, thus lessening the deposits in
the Mississippi.
the floods being shut off, by enclosing the
river between levees, the effect must neces-
sariiy be q raising of the surface of the
water, and, in time of flood, to an alarming
extent in the Obstructed meanderiug river
below.
~ 10 uisO itnpOTtauU 10 COuslueF tne OTul-
nary causes of the INCONSISTENCY of the river,
such as the sinuasitiee of it's course, the
variations of it's width and depth, and the
irregularities of its slope. In order to cor
rect the evils resulting from these causes, it
would be necessary, first, to remove the
prominent siuosities which throw the cur
rent successfully from one bank to the
other; I'd, to regulate the slope; Sd, to
establish pepper cross section in proper
ton to the volume of water of the greatest
floods; 4th, to adjust the direction of the
discharge of the tributaries into the main
river; 5th, to centralize the current SO that
the greatest depth and velocity may be in
the middle of the bed; and, 9th, to con-
struct in the bed of the river such artificial
works as may be necessary to maintain the
uniformity OF the section and slope, and to
prevent abrasion and scOurage, which de-
stroy the regularity of the regimen.
Any system OF improvement that will
efecfudlly regulate and contine the river by
means of !evees, must be based upon these
principles. But the advocates of the levee
them, and have restricted themselves to
the mere construction of levees upon the
margin of the meandering silver as the sole
protection and universal panacea against
floods. They have failed to apply Them
selves to the task of giving to the bed be-
tween the levees q particular form and
direction; in one word, they have neglected
the foundation of their work, and unavOid-
ably 1t must come to ultimate destruction.
The regulation of the Mississippi would
cost far less than the levees, which system,
as heretofore in operation on its banks, is
radically defective, and will never render
the alluvial lands below the mouth of Red
River perpetually cultivable."
ALBERT STEIN