The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1876-03-11
A TALK WITH EADS.


1 a Il Il
| He Proposes to Relieve the Whole M1ssissippi
YatIey from Oves7sosr.
The editor of the Cairo Bulletin writes
to his paper as follows: Captain Eads,
the jetty man, was on the cars. was
introduced to him. Then he proceeded
to talk "river" in such plain way that
became learned ON the subject without
my consent, and before we arrived at
Washington was converted to the be-
lief that Cairo, and indeed all the coun-
try below on the Mississippi, might be in
effect lifted above high-water mark
that, without the construction of levee,
the whole of the Mississippi valley might
be redeemed from overflow and the
channel supplied with an average depth
of twenty feet of water from the passes to
Cairo, and fifteen feet from Cairo to St.
Louis. IF understand the captain, he
claims that there are two theories of Mis-
sissippi river improvement-one based
upon the philosophy of Humphrey and
Abbott's great work: :" The Physics and
Hydraulics of the Mississippi river"
and the other on common sense and
science.
The Humphrey theory is that the real
bedofthe Mississippi river upon which rest
the shifting sand-bars and. mud banks
made by local causes, is a structure of
hard, blue clay, quite unlike the present
deposits of the river, and which resists
the action of. the strong current almost
libe marble; that therefore the bed of
the river cannot yield, and if the veloc-l
ity Of the river current be increased cav
ing of the banks that, consequently the
closing up Of outlets by levees or other
wise has q tendency to raise the food line,
and that the making of outlets has ten
dency to lower the food-line. But, from
the outlet system, according to the Hum
phreyites, no assistance in reclaiming
the alluvial region from overflow can
judiciously be anticipated" Though
correct in theory, no advantageous sites
for artificial outletsexist. Thus we find
the Humphreyites claiming that the cur
rent cannot scour our marble-hard blue
clay of the river-bed, and that the sur
plus water cannot be carried OF by out
lets. Their conclusion is, therefore, that
to redeem the Mississippi from overflow
high levees must be built from the
mouth of the Ohio to the passes. The
estimated cost of this work will be $46,-
600, 600; and after it is done the expense
Of keeping it in repair will amount
annually to very considerable sum-
The Eads theory is that the river flows
in bed composed of its deposits, with
dimenions regulated according to its
needs that this bed is deepened as the
volume of water in it is increased and
elevated, or filed up as the volume is de-
creased; therefore by reducing the high
water channel of the river to an approx
innate uniformity of width, thus throw
ing down its slope to the gulf greater
volume of water with swifter current,
the shoals which interrupt its naviga-
ton might be removed, uniformity being
given to its slope and current, the cav
ing of its banks be almost prevented and
its high-water line be reduced in such
degree that levees would not be needed
This result the Eadites claim, backing
their assertions by argument that, in
my opinion, cannot be controverted,
may be obtained by a judicious system
of cut-ofs and dykes. "In this way"
said Captain Eads, with great emphasis,
"the 8ood-slope can be safely and perma-
nently lowered above each cutoff, the |
entire alluvial basin from Vicksburg to |
Cairo be lifted, as it were, above all |
overflow, and levees in that part Of the !
river rendered useless. The foed-line at |
Cairo is dfty-one or fifty-two feet above
the low-water line. It can be reduced at |
no great expense, to forty feet, and thus |
leave Cairo and all the rich country |
around it on high ground. There can be |
no question of this fact, and it would be
well for those most deeply interested in
the matter to ponder upon my confident |
assertion, before rejecting it, for the in
creased value that would be given to the |
territory that would be thus secured to |
the uses Of man can scarcely be esti-
mated ~ t=f'