The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-01-14
THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
Humphreys and Abboft's Estimate Of
the Value OF Lands ReeIaimRbIe in
Arkansas, Mississippi and Leutst.

Humphreys and Abbott's Estimate OF
the Value OF Lands RecIaimRbIe in
Arkansas, Mississippi and Leutst'
ana.
From the New Orleans Picayune.l
IL is safe to assume that every citizen OF
the Mississippi Valley south of Cape Gil
rarieau. and, indeed, Of the whole South
west, Is closely interested in the question
soon TO come before Congress relative TO
the Matchmaking of the Mississippi levees.
The conviction that this work must be
taken in charge by the Government or
finally abandoned has become universal,
and the report Of the commission to Con-
gress, and the action-to be taken thereon,
are now live and absorbing topics.
Although the Board of Engineers have
not yet made known the nature of their
| forthcoming paper, or the specific charac-
ter of the accommodations they cOntem-
| plate making, much may be inferred from
the previous expressions of the more emf.
nent members of that body. and of the
| leading engineer officers of the Govern
ment. General III. l.. ABBOTT, for instance,
who, in conjunction with General A. III.
/ Humphreys, compiled that great work on
/ the " Physics and Hydraulics of the Mis-
sissippi River" has a communication now
| before the House, which communication
appeared simultaneously with the $ Morey
Bell" for constructing the Mississippi
/ leYees: and as General Abbott is one of
the commission appointed to recommend
plan by which the General Government
! may take charge of the levees, an extract
from his letter of February l6, 1868, will
prove interesting, not only as regards It's
intrinsic qualities, but also as foreshad-
owing of his course in the matter now
pending. In the communication referred
M General Abbott wrote TINS.
1.-THE cost of the Mississippi levees, as
indicated in the foregoing table, would not
be trifling, but it should be remembered
that the figures are based upon present in
flated prices. The project can hardly be
considered as beyond the limits of judi
cious investment when it is remembered
that the amount actually expended upon
the Erie Canal exceeds $33 000, goo, and
this, too, mostly paid in gold. A sight
idea of the profits which may be anticipa-
ted, as compared with the necessary out
lay, can be formed from the following
facts: The total area of the bottom lands
is about B, 900 square miles, of which
mere narrow strip along the main stream
and its principal tributaries and bayOus
has been heretofore given to cultivation.
Protected against the river and properly
drained, this would render available at
least 2,J00, 600 acres of sugar land, or more
than double the amount heretofore plant
ed, about z 900, 600 acres of the best cotton
land in the world, capable of yielding a
bale to the acre; and not less than l ,000, 600
acres of corn land of unsurpassed and mex
haustible fertility. An expenditure of
about three dollars to the acre (present
prices) of land actually made cultivatable
by the levees would thus be sufficient to
reclaim them from overflow. Surprising
the cotton lands alone to be under cultiva-
ton, a tax of one cent a pound for one
crop would nearly pay the cost Of the
levees for the entire valley"
And with reference to the area and value
of the land which will be reclaimed by a
permanent and effective levee system
such as is contemplated by the Govern
ment-we find in the work Of Humphreys
and Abbott, page 42l, the following:
4" 1t may be well to exhibit, in eonnec-
ton with this approximate estimate of the
cost of leveeing the alluvial region, the
extent and probable value of the advan-
tages of levee system to lands which, thus
protected from overflow. will be rendered
available for cultivation. The area of
those lands from Cape Girardeau to Red
River is 49, 450 square miles 1t may be
assumed that one half of this area will be
rendered cultivable, and as its value per
acre may be set down at 500, the total will
amount to $l60, 100000. The area of al
luvial land under cultivation below the
mouth of Red Rivers not less than ,000,-
600 acres, which, at 500 per acre 10y
no means an eXtravagant estimate), gives
| 500, 100000 for the value of the planta-
tons in that section, making total of
! S260, 000, 900 for the land that will be rem
dered perpetually cultivatable by the eX-
/ r,onditura of SlT 000 mn -
/ There is another aspect under which
| this part of the subject may be presented.
The number of acres thus protected is T.
| 100000. Each acre of alluvial land will
| produce one bale of cotton, worth on the
! average S45. We thus have for the value
of the annual product of the alluvial
lands, S3l5, 100000. The loss on the
Tensas bottom, from the flood of 1850,
furnishes an instance of the injuries re-
sulting from inundation. 1t was estimated
that the loss thus occasioned exceeded So
600 600.
Thus it will be seen that, with two such
powerful friends at dguarters-General
Humphreys is the present Chief of the En-
gineer Bureau-there is every prospect OF
prompt favorable action by Congress in
our behalf. OF the urgency of the case
and the magnitude of the benefit to be de-
rived there can be no sort OF doubt.