New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-07-16
UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOE SYS-
TEN OF LEVEE RECLAMATION.

UNITED STATES COMMISSION FOB sYs
fEMO LEVEE RECLAMATION.
We have been informed that mixed
CO mmission of engineers, civil and militia.
| ~, is to convene at Newport, Rhode
Island, on the twentieth Of July, for the
pur pose of organization whose duty it
shall be to devise and ''report system for
the reclamation of tie alluyia lands of the
Mississippi river"
| Of all the missions ever submitted to an
Anne rican board this is the grandest IN its
| purview. It contemplates the actual mas
terry and freedom from inundation OF thirty
or forty thousand square miles OF the rich
est alIuvial bottoms; and without full infor-
matt OF of the capacities and fitness of the
N embers appointed upon this board, we
would call attention, to some OF the pre-
requisites for service upon it. Perhaps
the fact that some members Of the board
are. on duties from which they can not now
be relieved will account for the meeting
SO far from where the duties will have to
be performed.
Among the qualifications should be a
personal familiarity with levees and levee
building as we'll as with the entire area
to be treated. The language OF the act
| is specific in this respect.
This kind of knowledge can not be read
from books nor acquired in brief period.
Pc ss.bly the appointees meet this de-
nal nd. Those who do not could only be
consulting members of the board.
For example: The great work Of Hum
phreys and Abbott has treated the physics
Of the river and the physical geography
Of the alluvion, especially in its lower
half, pretty thoroughly, and has shown
that levees, vastly greater than any We
have ever had, might control the waters
and carry them off safely to the guilt. The
upper half, say above the mouth of the
Arkansas, has not been fully treated, and
will require elaborate surveys of the basin
of the Arkansas, the White and the St.
Fra ncis rivers to devise any system of
works therefor.
Now, both below and above Arkansas,
the reservoir question is not at all solved.
The basin capacity is unmeasured, and, if
meas ured, its dip south and its rate Of
discharg when flooded are unknown and
must be gagged with care and Judgment
and elaborate precision. S-ch work can not
be rapidly done, nor can it be ordered in
cha mbers. Some members of the board,
say one from civil and one from military
life, mus. perform at least thorough recor:
noissances, both when empty and in flood,
to give the necessary orders. The same
may be said of the Yazoo basin, in Mis-
sissippi.
How much water will each bear and
how shall we regulate the time, place and
am cunt Of water to be discharged upon
it are questions Of the highest moment.
Can they be answered from data already
on hand? Some acquaintance With the
literature of this subject compels US to
to answer in the negative. Surveys of
basin and channel widths, depths and
cure MT velocities throughout the periods
of low and high water are absolutely re-
CURED. or the system contemplated must
be defective
A new system of levee building is Ger
tain to be adopted, somewhat in accord
ance with the lights of modern science.
The mere rope OF sand will have to be
super seeded if we would not waste the
treasure Of the United States as that of
the States has been wasted in all past time.
To present proper substitute will not
readily be done by men who have never
experienced the troubles of the old system.
Experience in all the forms and dimensions
of the past can only be the result of years
devoted specially to the subject, and can
not be found in books or verbal instruc-
tions.
We could indicate a number of engin-
GERS whose lives have been chiefly spent
in this line. There may DE others, but we
find none of these on the board. We're it
not invidious, we would catalogue them,
with their several terms of service in river
and levee labors.
We make no pretensions toward instruct
ing the board, or complaints Of the ap-
pointmsnts, but we do say THAT our inter-
est in the matter is so momentous, that We
shall look with intense anxiety for their
reports; and, meantime, will recur fire.
quently to the subject urging our views
and those of intelligent engineers and