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

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CUT-OFFs.
In cases where the river he's for ages,
perhaps, cut away the bank on one side,
making bend Of twenty or thirty miles
shaped like an enormous horseshoe
sometimes in great flood 1t cuts across
and makes 8 new channel, through
which 1t tears its way aud rushes down,
a mad torrent, with fearful speed and
violent turmoil. Such "cut-ofis." as
they are called, for time lower the
wster above them, as II now has 10 run
only mile perhaps, or less, where 1t
used to run twenty five; but they make
an awful destruction of the bank on one
side or the other, both below and above,
and ingulf whole plantations, until final
ly they create other bends. Even the
clearing out Of the channel of the river by
removing snags and other distractions
may change the current and cause
valuable plantations to be washed away.
There are petitions before the house now
for compensation for great losses to pro-
ducers.
TOWNS DESERTED BIZ THE RIVER.
AS the river tears away the land on
one side it builds up elsewhere. PIanta-
tions sometimes advance their fronts for
miles, and towns that once were on the
rivers banks find it receding from them
until they are left far inland high and
dry. Providence and Saint Joseph are
examples. They are now left far from
their own landings. Natchitoches was
once on the banks of Red river. Now
the stream is three or four miles away
from it at the nearest point on the north,
and eight or nine on the east. The same
thing has happened to cities in the old
world. The Vistula, the Po, and the
Rhine have deserted cities, once located
on their banks and the seats of a
fiourishing iyer commerce. st. Louis
was once threatened with such disas-
ter, but the vigilance and energy and
public spirit of her citizens by proper
action at great expense averted the inn
minent danger.
LEvEES ALONE WILL hot ANSWER.
Mr.. Speaker, Ihave now stated frank
ly, and as clearly and strongly as l am
able in the brief time at my command,
the difficulties in the way of the
thorough protection of the delta from
overflow. The great importance of the
subject l trust will excuse my having
taken more of the time of the house
than otherwise would be proper. The
question perhaps is new to most mem
bers not living in the valley Of the lower
Mississippi, and it is one on which we
will all wish to vote intelligently. |
have shown the vast benefit conferred
by Ievees, and the obstacles and dangers
which ever confront them. Levees
alone, think it is evident, will never
fully solve the problem of the floods of
the Mississippi. They go very far to-
ward its solution, bat something more is
required. What more is needed is a
great question, and one which the ablest
engineers of the age should be called
upon to investigate thoroughly, and an
sWer clearly and without mistakeif pos
sible. But perhaps L may be permitted,
with great diffidence, to offer few sug.
gestions. Cannot some portion of the
highest waters in time of floods, the
portion which overflows and ravages the
delta, be Withdrawn from the river for
time and retained elsewhere safe and
harmless?
THEY RAISE THE WATERS HIGHER.
This question has never been fully and
fairly grappled with. 1t astOunds men
of mere routine, but it is worthy of re-
spectful consideration and of the most
profound and searching investigation.
1t should be remembered that cOnfiDing
the waters of the Mississippi within and
near its banks between levees necessari-
ly raises those waters in time of floods
in some places several feet higher than
they otherwise would rise. So true is
this that Humphreys and Abbot in their
famous report say that in the great flood
OF 1858 the waters at Memphis would
have risen six and a half feet higher
than they did, if the river banks had
been properly leveed opposite there and
above. That is easily understood. The
river at Memphis is forty miles wide to-
day. If all its waters there W re shut
in to the width OF g mile it is plain that
though they would rush onward faster
toward the Gulf than now, the river
would rise higher there than itdoes even
in this time Of disastrous floods. But in
the time of the very highest floods, if
the river did not rise as high as it does
by from three to five feet in the worst
parts, and from two to three feet in the
lower delta, there would be no destruc-
tive floods, no Overfiows worth naming.
This is admitted by all able engineers
familiar with the subject. In such cases
the levees, if properly located and con-
strueted, would be able to protect the
lands behind them. When the Missis-
sippi is already very high heavy rise
in a single one of its great tributaries
will cause a desolating flood. For in
stance, il at such a time Red river, or
the Arkansas, the Ohio, or the Missouri
suddenly rise very high, a fearful over
flow of the whole delta region below its
mouth is certain to result.
MORSE TANNING RED RIVER FLOODS.
Now, able engineers say that the
floods Of Red river, for instance, can all
be retained by making reservoirs of the
lakes near it, and drawing of the very
high surplus waters into them until all
danger for the lower river is past.
Colonel O.. w. Morse, very eminent
civil engineer, who, though a son of
New England, has spent nearly forty
years i'm professional labors and studies
in the Red river region, and the great
lower delta of the Mississippi, and there
fore knows its topography and its Pc
cuiarities very thoroughly, has given
this subject much careful study, and has
gone into elaborate calculations which
demonstrate that the plan referred to is
easily practicable. He shows that the
amount of extra water delivered by Red
river during thirty days in a time of
flood, if running at the rate of five miles
an hour, is only about eighty-two bill
lion cubic feet, and that by leveeing on
one side only some halfdozen lakes
within convenient distance from the
river, they would be capable of receiv-
ing and retaining the whole of that
amount until long after the season of
floods was past. This alone faithfully
carried out would often protect the lower
delta from floods.
RESERVOIRS AND NAVIGATION.
But he shows more than this. Be it
remembered that these lakes are sur
rounded by hills upon all sides except
the one open to the river, so that one
side of them only would require to be
levied. This makes the work of con-
verting them into great reservoirs very
simple and easy. Colonel Morse shows
that the water contained in them, after
each food, could be let into the river
again in time of low water, and for
eight months of the year, if for so long
a period the river should be too low for
navigation, could add three feet to the
depth Of the water in the channel,
thereby insuring at least ave and half
or six feet of water for navigation dur
ing the entire year, where now steam
boats have to lie up in the dry season OF
summer and fall. AS the extra supply
would be required only for five or six
months at the utmost, there would be a
certainty of at least six feet in the chan
mel of the river the year round. The
same result could be attained on many
other tributaries, and partially at least
on the Arkansas by utilizing its lakes