New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-05-10
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THE MISSISSIPPI LEyEEs.

THE MISSISSIPPI LEyEES.
speech Of Hon. Frank MOrey, Of Louis
lana, in the House of Representatives
April II, 1874.
The House having under consideration
the hill House resolution No. 2988) to pro
vide tor the appointment of q commission
OF engineers to investigate and report {
permanent plan for the reclamation of the
slluvial basin Of the Mississippi river sub
ject to inundatiOn-
Mr.. Morey said:
Mr.. Speaker: have no apology to offel
the House for thrusting on its attention
this resolution at this moment. The daily
recital by the press Of the scenes of deluge
destruction, and desOlation that are rapidly
transpiring through the whole Lower Mis-
sissippi Valley plead more earnestly and
eloqueAtly than any words of mine can fol
the impoverished and stricken people Of
that region Of our common country.
THE DELTA OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
We are accustomed, Mr.. Speaker, to con
template delta analogous to that which
gives rise to the name The alluvial lands
lying below river dividing out toward the
sea in Egypt, gave the name in the long
ago, when the Greeks conquered the Pha
raohs and sat down upon the Nile. From
twenty miles, that river divides and empties
by two branches, embracing an area that
has resemblance to a Greek letter delta,
an equilateral triangle. How vast the diff
ference! Look upon this map. The defni-
ton has gradually grown until we now an.
ply the name "delta" to all the continuous
alluviOn of river embraced between it's
first extravasated floods that may never re.
turn down to the border of the sea. In
stead, then, of a few hundred square miles
OF q delta from Rosetta to the Mediterra.
mean, we have this enormous expanse of
country of about sixty miles in average
breadth and about six hundred miles in
length. We have an area of about 81, COZ
square miles for the delta of the Mississippi
river. Contemplate it's expanse upon the
map OF North America, sweeping the fronts
Of seven great States of the American
Union, embracing nearly as large an area
as either OF the seven, and, capable of sus-
tanning larger population than the up.
lands OF any three of tnem, grand and fer
tile as they are.
In the language of writer whose life has
been devoted to it's study and reclamation:
Sweeping across eight and a half de-
grees OF latitude, 1t extends from the semi
tropical lands of the orange and the lemon,
bhe cotton and the cane, to the middle of
the cereal and farming region of the tenn
perate zone, and to the border of the ice
Hoes, that in rigorous winters engorge and
choke the navigation of the great river.
ut is everywhere threaded and thwarted
by interlOcking channels of rivers and
bayOus and navigable channels, placing
every cultivable acre within ready reach Of
steamboat navigation. In this particular
it has no rival or parallel known to civil
lied man."
Its fertility is exhaustless and all-pervad
ing. The timbers and vines that grow
upon 1t have an exuberance that render it
In the wild condition nearly impenetrable,
and vet single seasons labor Of the enter
prlsing forester has replaced the wild pro-
auctions by crops that were nearly as exu-
berant. The cypress and the oak rise upon
credible to those who have not explored it.
,hus furnlshingit with wealth of timber
If the highest value that is nearly exhaust
ess. Its crops whenever rescued from
he waters, do SO readily respond to the
land of cultivation that the drift of popula-
ion toward it had, prior to the late unfor-
innate war, lined nearly all its streams with
inhabitants where the chances of escape
rom overlooking were regarded as good
Turing three years out of fOuc. And vet
his realm Of fertility is subject to yearly
from the very waters that have
reated 1.-THE floods Of the Mississippi
liver.
The whole delta ia an enormous basin,
With every acre of it's bottom lying deep
Yellow the level of the rivers extreme
loOds. From Cape Girardeau, in Missouri,
o the border of the Cult of Mexico, it
night be regarded, in the greatest flood
easOns, as one vast delta sea.
history OF THE CONFLICT OF LEvEEs WITH
FLOODS.
And yet the boldness of the man of
he South-listen to the story of his
ublime undertaking-resolved to conquer
his mediterranean, and restrain its waters
within the channel of the great river. and
,uide them down to the gulf without in
aiding the great basin.
You will join me in rendering him ample
lonors for the grandest of human enter
rises when show you that up to the year
Sol he had reduced the average level of
he twelve foot inundation by about four
eet all over the basin, by running his feeble
arthen barriers along the border of the |
liver, the rim of the delta sea, and had |
lned all its interior channels with hardy |
md most adventurous population. His |
evees were two thousand miles in length |
hey had grown-he could scarcely tell you |
Why or how-through $50 years of struggle, |
+ alternate success and inundation. No |
ne, for century, ever dreamed of exter-
linating the foe. Like the removal of the |
american savage from the continent, it was |
work always progressing, but never de-
Jared complete. sr contemplated as a
hole. But at last the moment came, and |
he resolution was taken to reserve and re-
lain the whole delta. The man still lives,
nd is within the sound of my voice, hale
nd vigorous, with the hope of seeing it's
who first wrote the proposal, in
$40. to manacle the river with chains of |
wees as long as the delta, and to reserve |
le entire allnvior for the uses of men.
And all this labor, these millions OF |
easure. and these five generations of men |
ave been consumed in the struggle with
It the aid of the strong arm of the gov
nment. Front proprietors first built their
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