Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-06-20

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/ Ia our favor, as We ought, and to become
/ independent of them, commercially and
I financially, we must carefully encourage
and protect the production of the great
! staples OF the worlds commerce and
manufacture in the rich delta Of the Mis-
/ sissippl. All that is required for the
amplest development Of It's vast and al
/ most bOundless resources is secure pro-
I lection from the devastating floods.
They carry ruin aud desolation and
| death where they 60. The million of
planters and labOrers there must be pro-
| tected from their rsvages, or must fore
| ever retire before them.
I GREAT RESULTS ACHIEVED BY LEvEEs.
Can this vast region be thoroughly
l protected? In the past levees have been
/ almost exclusively relied on. Cut-offs
and outlets have been sometimes sug-
! gested, and have been ably advocated by
Cowdon and other writers of eminence
and distinction, but have not received
much favor, while thousands OF miles Of
1 leyees have been hopefully snd confid-
incly constructed. They have some
times failed to answer ali the expecta-
tions of their builders, especially when
unwisely located, but have done i'm
mense good, and have certainly accom-
plished great results. They have re-
claimed millions Of acres of the richest
lands in the world, aud have added i'm
mensely 10 their value. In 1850 the farm
lands and plantations Of the great delta
which from Cairo TO the Gulf is nearly
six hundred miles long, and thirty TO
one hundred and twenty wide-were
computed to be worth, for agricultural
purposes alone, without levees, about
IHlE M ana 4
Levees had increased the agricultural
value Of the lands Of the delta more than
$3.50, OJO. 900. OF course this does not in
clude its numerous cities, towns and viii
lages, nor even the houses and other
buildings on the farms and plantasionG.
Ii was the mere naked value of the soil
for the plow and the hoe.
EXTENT AND SIZE OF LEvEEs.
Al that time there were in the delta
over two Thousand miles Of levees, with
an average hight of eight to ten feet,
and breadth at base of fifty to seventy
feet. The width at top was usually equal
to their hight. A few of the levees
were OF immense size. That of the
YazOo Pass, about one hundred miles
below Memphis, was cut by the Federal
forces during the war at 8 point where
tance of twelve hundred feet il was on
an average twenty-eight feet high, and
in places nearly three hundred feet
broad at its base. This was a very ex-
eeptional case, however.
COST OF THE LEvEEs IN THE PAST
TIE FLOODS.
The national government has done
nothing as yet for the protection OF the
delta from the floods, except merely to
make surveys, etc, and to donate the
swamp lands to the States. Individual
planters, towns, parishes, cities, coun-
ties aud States, the direct sufferers,
have thus far borne the heavy burdens
Of building the levees, and have ex-
pended immense sums upon them.
Louisiana, before the war OF secession,
had expended more than S24, 900, 600,
Mississippi more than Sl4, ,000, 900, Mis-
souri, over 81 GAG, GOO, and Arkansas
more than $1,000, 900; in all about
S4l GOO GOO. Since the war Louisiana
has spent about Sl3, 900, 900, and Missis-
sippi some 81 600 coo, making thus far
nearly $50. 600 900 since 1880 or 1910,
spent on levees. 1t is beyond the pow
er Of impoverished and desolated States
TO go further in this direction unaided.
Toe work has grown beyond their re-
sources.
THE PROBLEM OF THE FUTURE.
To-day, when hundreds of thousands
Of people are houseless and homeless
their all, excepting their land, swept
away by the devOuriDg flood; their cat
tie, their horses, and working animals
drowned or starved; hunger and fam
iue staring them in the face; the lives Of
all of them only saved by the retiOns
sent them by benefcent government,
and the supplies and funds contributed
by the generous and charitable citizens
OF other sections of our common coun-
try-the qu stiOn arises with thrilling
interest, what can be done TO save and
protect this vast region? What hidden
resources OF engineering skill can be
evoked? What reliable and eOmpre-
hensive pla1s can be sought and adopt
ed, that in future shall rescue ii from
floods and desolation?
This is a mighty problem that chal-
lenges the most earnest attention of the
patriot and the statesman. 1t de-
mands anxious but deliberate thought,
profound study, and, after all that, vig-
OrOus action. 1t cannot be ignored. 1t
cannot longer be trifled with or evaded.
It must and will have some solution.
The question is, shall the vast delta,
with all its enormous gifts of nature,
with all its magnificent capabilities, be
for countless ages to come the home Of
man or the home Of the alligator?
Shall il be the happy abode of our peo-
pie in the far-coming future, or shall it
be abandoned to malaria and missma,
to waste and solitude and gloom? Shall
this immense region be a living foun-
tain of wealth to our country, the
glowing Eden of production on the
vsstesL scale OF the great staples OF the
world commerce, or shall it lie there
wallowing in the OOze and floods for
centuries, the eye-sOTe Of the nation, the
gloomy sepulcher of its hopes, its
nOnoT, and its statesmanship.
DIFFICU AMOUNT OF
WATER.
The difficulties to be overcome are
coafessedly very great, but by no means
insurmountable. / will briefly mention
a few Of them. The first is the inn
mense amount of the water. Ninety
tfillicns cubic feet Of rain-water fall, on
an average, each year in the vast valley
Of the Mississippi. This is equal TO
lake seven hundred and twenty miles
long, one hundred miles wide and fifty
feet deep. Three-fourtns Of this i'm
mense quantity is absorbed by the |
earth, or disposed Of by evaporation,
etc so that nineteen aud half tril-
lions Is the average amount carried to
the gulf by the river. The quantity va
ries greatly, however. Sometimes, in
iow-water year il Is only eleven trillions,
while i'm one Of very high floods it has
risen 10 twenty-seven tTillions cubic
feet The vast quantity OF this rushing
inland sea in itself constitutes most
formidable obstacle. Its discharge is
larger than an of the noted rivers Of
EHope combined, and is equaled by
only two on the globe, being little
more than two thirds that OF the La
Plata, and only something more than
quarter that OF the Amazon.a
The enormous volume Of water that
comes rushing down the river with tre-
nendous force in time Of floods can
never be realized by one who has not
seen it.
The UdridJlify in the volume OF water
from season 10 season and from. year TO
year, is a great difficulty, for were the
amount always the same IL would be
vastly easier to cRlculute for and pro-
vide the forces necessary TO conhne 1t
within the bed OF the river.
CURVES AND PECULIARITIEs OF THE
MISSISSIPPI.
The winding course OF the river and
tie soft and yielding nature OF its banks
constitute another great difficulty. II
luN al Il