The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-04-20
THE FLOODS.
One OF the Causcs--A Remedy Proposed.
shreveport Tmes.1

shreveport Times.l
April 10, 1876
| Editor Shreveport Times-You will
pardon an old man, a native OF Louis
lana, for offering few remarks on the
Mississippi levee system, rs practiced
in Louisiana for the past forty years.
| The levees have cost the people in
| forty years one million Of dollars an
nuaily, say forty millions Of dollars -
| besides the labor gratuitously done by
each planter along the coast to protect
his own property, which would amount
to like sum.
In addition to this, Congress has
made several large appropriations to
secure the river from inundatlon. The
same process OF taxation, labor and Con-
gressional appropriations may be kept
up for fifty years more, and still the
beautiful valley of the Lower Missis-
sippj will be annually subject to over
flow, until it will finally be abandoned
as an agricultural country. 1t only re-
quires a little common sense, mixed
with energy, to overcome the difficulty,
and thereby secure, or restore this
American Eden to its original beauty
and fertility.
I will not mention the many large.
yes, very long and wide rivers, that flow
out from the Allegheny and Rocky
Mountains, which go to make this great
finland sea-" refer you to the map.
and you are astounded that, after all
these long, large rivers are concentrated
into one channel, it is proposed to pen
it up by mud walls, in space one mile
wide. 1t has not succeeded with forty
years of labor and treasure, and never
will.
Then, let us see the cause, and apply
the remedy to prevent the overflow in
the lower Mississippi.
When / was a boy the levees from
Bayou Sara to New Orleans did not eX-
coed three to five feet high. Then the
crops were better secured than they are
now, with levees from eight to twelve
feet high. What has produced this
change? We will point it out, and hope
that the government will remove the
cause when the effects will cease and
large appropriations will not be re-
uuired to secure the crops on this beau
tiful country.
1t is known to most of the old inhabi-
tants, that in 1912, when Gen. Jackson
was commanding the United States
forces at New Orleans, the British fleet
Law some distance below the city, and,
after minute survey he found that the
fleet could move0through Lake Pont-
chartrain, thence through Manchac
to the Mississippi river, and thus
move against his rear where he
was unprotected. To provide against
such an event, the General issued an
order summoning planters, far and near,
to repair to the head Of Manchac and
fill it I'D. This order was obeyed. All
the teams. farm hands and resources
were effectually used, and the work SO
we'll done that now there grows dense
forest of trees and branches where In
1912 there flowed river from quarter
to half mile wide. This large outlet
annually carried off large body OF
water from the Mississippi through
Lake Pontchartrain to the sea, just as
Atchafalaya does now. A few years after
the war Of 1912 the citizens OF Mobile
(and, l believe, the Legislature Of Ala
bama) petitioned the Legislature of
Louisiana for joint appropriation to
reopen Manchac so that Mobile boats
might reach the then flatboat trade at
Baton Rouge, rather than getting
her supplies through second hands at
New Orleans. The commercial interest
of New Orleans opposed the measure.
and it failed. A second effort on the
part Of Mobile was made with like re-
suits. This finally lead to building the
Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and now con-
nected by rail direct to New Orleans,
she is Indifferent on the subject of the
lake navigation.
Still the lower Mississippi coast suf-
fers from the former indiscretion of the
Legislature in refusing to open this nat
urai channel to deplete the flood. 1t
has been said by some that to open
Manchac would inundate the back part
Of the city. Not SO. Let us take ten
feet of water from the Mississippi river,
one mile wide, and spread it out over
Lake Pontchartrain, thirty miles wide,
and the lake is raised only four inches.
The only encroachments OF water from
the lake on the city is caused from
strong east winds from So to - nours.
east winds.
Thus we find that Gen. Jackson closed