New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-12
The Crevusse.

The st. Louis hepu6icdn takes this view
of the Bonnet Care crevasse and its eff
fects:
The Bonnet Care crevasse is not stopped,
nor is it likely to be for the present, if ever.
The effect which this disaster will have up-
on the commerce of a. country at large
may be calculated with Some degree of ac-
curacy by the few statistics we are able to
Gull from our Louisiana exchanges. Last
year the product of that portion of the par
isles of Jefferson and St. Charles, living on
the east bank of the river and now sub
merged, was 1875 hOgsheads of sugar,
In, 723 gallons OF molasses. 55I6 barrels of
rice, and 10000 barrels of corn. The pro-
duct of st. John the Baptist parish,
part of which is also under water, was
30l4 hogsheads of sugar, l26,06l gallons of
mOlasses, 1877 barrels of rice, and $4,000
barrels of corn. Fully One-half of this crop,
and probably more is gone. 1t is entirely
sale 70 estimate that the yield of the
present season will be actually diminished
by at least 5000 hogsheads of sugar
and 250,000 gallons of Understanding no
account of the rice which can, to a suf-
ticient extent, be supplied from the other
Southern States; nor of the corn, of which
the North will have a surplus to meet all
demands. There is no section of the Union
which can make good this deficit of sugar
and mOlasses; it is irreparable. But these
figures only approximate to the immediate
dapger, saying nothing of the prospective
If, with the subsistence of the swollen
stream it becomes possible to contine the
turbulent flood once more within its banks,
there are numerous buildings to be recon
structed wholly or in part, immense quanti-
ties of machinery aud implements of every
description to be replaced-in short, the
plantations must be furnished anew. This
is on the supposition that the ground is
worth the outlay, which is exceedingly
doubtful. :
Taking the most favorable view of the
case-that the huge gap will soon be closed,
and the fertile acres restored to their former
condition as rapidly as possible-and it
must be long time before the parishes of
Jefferson, st. Charles and st. John the
Baptist can furnish the sugar and molasses
they once did. 1t is no eXaggeration to say
that the losses involved in the Bonnet
Care crevasse will be felt in every house
hold in the country, because the articles
whose production is thus impeded, if not
destroyed utterly, are among the necessaries
of life. and can be procured nowhere else
as easily and cheaply as from the South.
AS we remarked in former article. five
hundred corn and wheat fields in the Middle
and Northern States might be swept out of
existence without causing a 1.-THE of the
real loss which the submersion of these
comparatively few plantations has entailed
Therefore, it is not the South alone,
but the whole nation which is directly
and deeply interested in the prevention of
such mishaps as this-for, let it ever be
borne in mind, that in spite of all that is
said and written about the balance of po-
litical power, the valley of the lower Mis-
sissippi is, commercially speaking, the goose
which lays the golden egg. 1t Is time this
important truth was impressed upon the
federal government and brought appropri-
ate action. 1t is especially theHutv of the
Senators and Representatives who have
been chosen to guard the interest of the
people who dwell within the boundaries of
the magnificent domain which owes its
greatness and its wealth to this grand river
and its tributaries, to demand and insist
upon proper recognition of its superla-
tive claims. 1t is not enough for Congress
to dole out stinted appropriations for the
construction of dykes here and there, and
the removal of sand bars and snags-we
want and must have the same generous
policy, the same liberal expenditure, that is
bestowed elsewhere. The Mississippi is the
artery of the continent, and it should be
considered and treated as such from source
to mouth. Hitherto it seems to have been
thought that the region beyond Memphis
either needed no attention from the general
government, or was entitled to none. Bon
net Care has dissipated this idea, by reveal
ing more wildly than ever before the immi-
nent danger which threatens the richest
section of the republic. Let at least modi-
cum of the money which for the past half
has been spent along the Atlantic
and Northern lakes now be de-
voted to the invention and elaboration of
system of drainage which shall render fat
ure crevasses an impOssibility.