The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1875-08-20

across the neck, half or three-quarters I
of mile, YOU could sit down and rest
couple of hours while your steamer was
coming around the long elbow, at the
speed of ten miles as hour, to take you
on board again. When the river is ris>
ing fast, some scou ndrel whose plsntaS
ton is back In the country, and therefors
of inferior value, has only to watch his
chance, cut q little gutter across the
narrow neck of land some dark night,
and turn the waite into it, aud Ia Won
derfully short time q mira Gle has hap
pened to wit, the whole Mississippi has
taken possession of that little ditch, and
placed the eOuntrynsn's s plantation on
its bank (qusdrupling its value) and that
other party's formerly valuable planta-
ton finds itself away out yondeP on a
big Izlaud the old water course around
il viii soon shoal up, boats cannot apS
prOach within ten miles of it, and down
goes its value 70 fourth Of its former
goes it's value to g fonrth OF its for Fmer
worth. Wathcers are kept on these
narrow necks at needful times, and if
man happens to be caught cutting a ditch
across them, the chances are ali against
his ever having another cFpOtunity &c cut
ditch.
"Pray observe some Of the effects of
this ditching business. Once there was
| neck opposite Port Hudson, Ls., which
was only half q mile across, ia its Rar-
roWess place. You could walk across it
in fifteen minutes but If you made the
journey around the cape on raft, you
travelled thiFty-fye to accomplish the
same thing. In 1922 the river darted
through that neck, deserted its old bed,
and thus shortened itself thirtY>hye miles
In the same way it shortened itself
| twenty-five miles at Black Hawk point
/ in 1899. Below Red River Landing,
| Raceourei cutoff was made thirty or
| forty years ago, l think, This shortened
the river twenty-eight miles. In our day
If you travel by river from the southeP.
most of these three cUe~Offs 60 the north>
ernmost, you 60 only seventy miles. To
do the same thing hundred and twenty
six years ago, one had 20 60 hundred
and fiftyNeight miles la shortening of
| eighty,eight miles In that tFifing dis
| tanee. At some forgotten time IN the
past cut offs were made above Vidalia-
La; at Island 90 at Island "a, and at
Hale's Point These shortened the river
in the aggregate, seVenty-sevsn miles.
'Since nay own day oa the Mississippi
I am informed that eut-ofs have been
made at Hurricane Island, Island 100 +,
at Napoleon, Ark ssat Walnut Bend, and
at Council Bend. These shortened the
river, in the aggregate Sky seven miles.
In my own time a cut>OR was made at
American bend, which shortened the
river ten miles or more.
Therefore, the Mississippi between
Cairo and n New Orleans was l,215 miles
long I76 years ago. 1t was lIS0 after
| h., II ,f . I 0A0 oFk kar
the American Bend cutaof (some
sixteen or seventeen years agpl. It has
lost sixty~seEen miles since. COnse
quently It's length is only nine hundred
and seventy-three miles at present
NOW, if l wanted to be one of those
ponderOus scientific people; and let en- 70
prove what had occurred in the remote
past, or what will occur in the far future
by what has occurred in late years, what
an opportunity is here Geology never
had such a chance, nor such exact
data to argue frUm Nor development
of species, either. Glacial epoohs are
great things, but they are vagUe-yagne.
Please observe:
"In the space of one hundred and sew
enty six years the Lower Mississippi
has shortened itself two hundred and
forty~two miles. That is an average of
trife over ons mile and third per
year. Therefore, any calm person, who
is not blind or IdIotic, can see that in
the Old Oolitic SiluFian Period, just a
million years ago next November, the
Lower Mississippi was upS ards of one
, million three hundred thousand miles
long, and stuck out over the Gulf Vi sxicc
like fishing rod And by the same to.
: ken any person can see that seven hun
} dred and fortY>two years from now the
, Lower Mississippi will be only a mile
and three,quarters long, and Cairo and
New Orleans will have joined their
streets together, and be plOdding com
foFtably along under a single mayor and
, mutual board of aldermen. T here is
something fascinating about science.
One gets such wholesome returns of con-
} lecture out of such trihing investment
of fact"