Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-08-10
EpitOme Of Previous Floods, from I7Is
to 1s5s-lnterestIng Historic Mem.
Oranda-The First Levess.
What the French Did In Louisiana
The Federal Government, Found
the LeTee System and En-
eOaraged Ii.
Review Of SUgg estiOns for Retrieving
the Low Country from these Peri.
Odlc foundations OF the Fa.
ther OF Waters.

/
The great rains which have fallen g,
generally over the whole country within
the past fortnight have, up to the pres.
eht moment, done more damage in the
valley OF the Ohio and its tributsries
than elsewhere. But II we should inn.
agine for an instant that there will he no
other losses we should be binding our-
selves to a very alarming state ot
things. 1t is true that so far the flood
ing has been confined to the Ohio belt.
but there ls sufficient evidence that other
streams are gOTged to their utmost ca
paclty 10 make US tremble for the bot
tom lands OF the great Mississippi val
ley The Mississippi, north of Cairo,
Where the Ohio joins it, has already risen
10 a point close upon the dan
| ger line, and far south Of the Ohio
the Ouachita and the Arkansas are
Coth IN Hood. Whenever the freshet of
| the ONO pOurs its accumulated forces
| INTO the already swollen Mississippi.
mere Will be great danger OF a general
hood along the whole line, from the va
zoo TO the Balize. 1t must be mder-
stood that by fsr the greater portion of
these riparian lands are below the level
OF flood water. In the report of Hum
phreys and Abbott, written before the
war, 1t is computed that from Cape Gil
rardeau, at the southern extremity OF
Mlssouri, to the Red river landing, there
are no less than nineteen thousand four
hundred and eighty square miles of
Ianu subject to overflow. This area
comprises the bottoms OF the st.
francis and the YaZOo. From the Red
river landing to the Balizs there are up.
ward OF one million acres in the same
condltlon. These lands comprise one
thlrd OF the cotton region of the south,
ana the greater portion Of the sugar
lands. There have been every year par
tisI nOods, but since the flood OF 1858
there has not been aDy inundation
which could with striet Justice be called
general. Last year the overflow in the
1aZoo and st. Francis bottoms was
slight. Lower down, however, in the
Texas region lying northwest of the Red
river landing, between what is called
the Old river, which runs into the
Mlsslsslppi, and the Atchafalaya, there
was considerable suffering owing to the
noods' There was not any freshet Of |
great consequence to produce this result. |
which VAS undoubtedly caused in |
great measure by the defective condi. |
ton OF the levees. They were so rid |
died, 80 leaky,E0 worthless, in short, that |
the waters OF the Mississippi when high
poured through numerous small crevss.
ses, and covering the whole country.
found their way slowly to the AtchS-
falaYa, which drained them off in time.
SO with the Tensas. 1t received the
waters Of the Mississippi, and, being
swollen with the discharge
OF the bayou which feeds il, then high
with local rains, was incompetent to
10 its duty, and the adjacent lands were
Hooded. All these matters were local
and partial. In the great food Of 1858,
which tooE place in the summer, there
was coincidence of freshet in the Ohio,
The upper Mississippi, the Missouri, the
cumberland and the Tennessee. The
OF water which poured through
crevasse into the st. Francis bottom |
)n that occasion exceeded two hundred
md hfty thousand cubic feet per second, !
md the lends remained flooded until late
n the fail. 1t is true that generally a
,Tand inundatiOn is the result of spring
reshets, but this is not an invariable ruIe'
As fAf, also, a. he planters OF the rina-
ian lands on the lower Mississlppi
re concerned, q concurrent flood Of the
and the Arkansas is as much
alcuisted 20 do them damage as a gen.
raj concurrence Of freshets. In the very
ali dispatches to the New York Times .!
rom the regions of danger, we find that
he Ohio ls dangerously high, and that
ne Arkansas IS rising one foot per hour,
Oftunateiy there has been no rise in the .
llssOur1, and the exact point is whether
ne mis- slsslppi, which has risen cOnsid-
rably north OF Cairo, will be SO swollen Z Z
1uth OF its junction with the Ohio as to ;
ender the levees useless when it meets .
ne tlOod-waters Of the Arkansas. The :
t. Francis and the Yazoo bot
'msr one on the west and the other on =
le east bank Of the big river, are =
9TH north of the Arkansas mouth.
Ut below 1t is the TensRs bottom and ali Z.
le rich riparian lands from the Red T
yer to the BaliZe. That this trouble Il
lould be added to the difficulties of the y y
uthern rs-difficulties against ',
hlch they were 40 bravely struggling a.
i'll be q source of sorrow to our entire u
alton. Nor can we quite close our ewes II II
the fact that it will also be q source of u u
nsidersble national loss; for the cot - -
n interests are most deeply affected by "
as one may judge from the fact that VI "
e staple rose oue-half cent pound "
'on the lntlmation of the probability ~
disaster, though it has since fallen to ~
nominal price, q, q,
EPITOME OF PREVIOUS FLOODS. ii
1t may be interesting to our readers it
glance over brief epitome ofall that Sc
. been recorded of floods in the Mis- nt
sippi. The early records are net OF
ry full, and were taken from be
French chronicles for the most III
rt, by Humphreys and Abbott. 1t tlC
II be seen by comparison OF the diff al
ent events that the inundations came gu
netimes in one month aud sometimes 10
another, and that they have occurred ou
tn irregular regularity. In this con- IN
ction it may be interesting to give a Tel
ef summary OF the great floods OF the De
ssissippi: m
food Of l7lS,-An extraordinary rise di'
The Mississippi this year. Bienville nc
1 selected a site for the city, but the NJ
Ony not having means to build dykes Da
evees, the idea was for the moment thi
ndOned.-FfGncOis XdUier Martin. cal
'toOd Of l735 In this year the waters cal
-e so nigh that many levees were nv
ken and much damage was done. str
" Orleans itself was inundated. The Ia
ID continued from the latter part of tor
,ember to the latter part Of June. TO
len the river fell il reached lower bal
lt there ever before noted, the range VII
New Orleans being fifteen feet Ca str'
re. for
IOOd OF l7TO A Oreat flood aooorl pro