The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1874-08-14
EEyYING TIE MISSISSIPPI.

SICILY ISLAND, La, June 30, 1874.
ESlito, OutzcAitts Telegraph:
AS the public mind is much engaged
ut the present time in contemplating
the means by which tho floods of the
Mississippi may be controlled, 1 have
concluded to present my views in
regard to that most vital subject. In
doing SO shall only enlarge on IL COM
munication from me published in the
very able Review of j. ID. b. De Bow,
deceased. The article referred to may be
found in the February number of 1850,
being article No. 2, and entitled the
Levee System of Louisiana. My views
are expressed in that article in very
brief form. Living at the present time
where I did at that date on the Western
margin of the flooded river, twenty
miles west of Natchez, on Sicily Island,
and having had from that date to this,
twenty-four years of further observation
aud reflection, now propose to reaf-
firm my remarks made in 1850. ex-
pect to demonstrate from the history
and physical characteristics of our
world renowned river, that levees
can not be permanently located on the
Mississippi for the purpose of controlling
his floods. I do not question the pro-
priety of levees as local means of pro-
lection at certain points for special prr-
poses, but expect to demonstrate that
they are entirely futile when they are
used as general system of protection.
Iexpect to demonstrate that cut offs and
outlets on both sides of the river from
| the mouth of Red River to the RaliZe,
are the only natural and rational means
Of preventing the overflow between
those points.
The valley Of the Mississippi contains
an area of 9s2 600 square miles, being
the largest of any river on earth except
tho Amazon. The upper, and by far
the greater portion OF the Mississippi
valley, and, indeed, the whole OF the
valley that surrounds the great Cana,
dian Lakes, receive their supplies Of
rain from vapor, evaporated from the
Pacific Ocean. South of the Equator
in the Tropic of Capricorn, and waited
by the South West winds across the
Sierra Madra, this is made most mani
fest by the lucid reasoning and clea,
demonstration of that Prince Of Philos
) ophcrs, Lieut.. NJ. T.. N1aury, l.. l.. d..
deceased, in his physical geography O
the sea, and illustrated on map No.
| ~ RI III rNhn NiSSIS
sippi is four thousand six hundred
miles in length from the Balise to thu
head of the Yellow Stone River, thu
longest branch of the muddy and turbu
lent Missouri, and the width of thu
Mississippi valley from the head water
of the Nellew Stone river to the heat
waters of the Allegheny river, il
Western New York, may be put dow
, at three thousand miles in round mum
, bers, The Mississippi has seventeen
hundred navigable tributaries, ant
thirty-four thousand miles of CONNER
cial coast, its width varies very mucl
in some localities, where it is intersperset
+ with islands it is two or three mile
@ wide, at other points 1t is Il little owe
half mile, for example mt Ellis's cliffs
d fifteen miles below Natchez, it Is onl.
, eight hundred yards w1deJ Its deptl
varies as much as Its width the differ
= ence between high and low waite
+ mark, also varies very much in differ
, ent sections Of the River, for while i
varies forty feet Mt Nicksburg ant
Natchez, it varies only twelve feet a
p New Orleans.
9 These remarks In regard to the widtl
= Of the river, apply to it when at IL mod
? crate stage, confined between its Gavin
banks. The quantity of Water dis
charged into the Gulf Of Mexico is on
;. hundred and seven cubic miles annual
Z ~, and the amount Of deposit carriet
1 into the Gulf during the same perlo
is estimated ut mile square by twent
: feet deep. Tho Mississippi has advance
# it's Delta into the Gulf Of Mexico tw
/, miles in tho last century. When tn