New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-23
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

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The attention Of Congress has been
turned upon the necessity Of protecting
the lands and feeding the people of the
Mississippi alluvion, by the terrible loss
Of property and life occasioned by the late
| inundation.
The Department of the Interior has
been for years past impressing the i'm
portance of retaining and protecting
these lands by the national administra-
ton. IT
The acts of 1849 and 1850 granted in
fee simple to the States of Arkansas and
Louisiana ''all the swamp lands therein
subject to overflow" This grant was,
however, not subject to any conditions of
constructing levees for the reclamation or
protection of these lands. In conse-
quence the government has coded them
without having secured the great objects
Of sale, settlement and public health which
were the considerations of the grant. It
may, however, follow that having been
compelled by public suffering to construct
these levees the government will not only
have given these swamp lands away, but
paid for rendering them valuable to the
doners. Under these acts the Department
of the Interior reported that the States
had received titles to about sixty million
acres.
The imperfect condition of the levees
and the increased motive for promoting
the production of cotton and sugar,
caused the department to take up the
subject Immediately upon the close of the
war, and seeing no prospect that the cot
ton and sugar States of the Mississippi
will be able, from the proceeds of the
lands granted, to complete their protec-
ton, has impressed upon every succeed !
ing session of Congress the propriety of |
a national appropriation and supervision |
for the construction Of such works. The
report Of the Land Bureau in 1867, says:
The engineers report as the surest protec-
ton to the inundated districts the compile
ton OF the Mississippi levee system, now
imperfectly constructed. T /
AS the result Of the most elaborate call
culations Of the Typographical bureau, the
and bureau reports that it would cost
81, GOO, 600 to perfect this important levee
system, but that the lands thereby rem
Tered permanently arabic would be worth
$500, 600, 900. The alluvial lands of the
over Mississippi are computed at
N area Of five and half million
'cres. Fully aware of the failure
# the States to comply with the object of
his donation, and deeming this object of
paramount Importance, the Department
# the Interior reports in 1869, that the
Of the Mississippi levees sis a
york that would seem to demand on
ccount of its magnitude and i'm por-
ance, the helping hand Of the country in
IS national capacity-a work to be speed
y and effectually done to endure for all
lme." This succinct history relieves the
ecessity Of an argument to prove that
'hich has been admitted by the depart
lent charged with the sale, protection and
evelopment Of the national domain. This
apartment advises the government to
ndertake the redemption and protection
the inundated and malarial lands lying
the Mississippi river and adapted to
le production Of sugar and cotton. Will
not be best then to let the federal gov
:nment prescribe the mode in which this
ational work shall beexecuted? > Should 9
ot the Department Of the Interior desig-l 4
'te and prescribe the DISTRICTS proper T.,
reclamation and projections Would ikT .
It be better that tile War Department 4
all cause its engineers to locate and
nduct the construction of the works c