Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-05-13

They have lived through the war,
during which they had no atten-
ton whatever, with stretches of a
hundred miles unbroken, protect
ing the finest country in the world,
and yet there are miles where there |
has scarcely been a spade of earth |
placed upon them since they were
built fifteen years ago. Yet all
this while they have been used as
public highway for almost the en-
tire distance, travel beating them
down and wearing them away, until
to-day they are generally, so far as
my personal acquaintance goes,
scarcely above the high water line,
and in many places below it. In
many places the caving of the bank
has brought the river to the 1eyees
and they are exposed to the action
of the waves or have been entirely
caved into the river. These have
always been troubles that have
never been provided against, but
which a iudicious and scientific To-
cation Of the leyee would avoid,
and has usually been the direct
cause of the crevasses formed on
| the riyer-and in one case at least
this spring, in the region of coun-
try under investigation, this is
true-and doubtless so in others.
] Now, sir, while these levees are
such failure, we find them giving
protection to the greater portion Of
this magnificent valley every year,
and oftener than otherwise pro-
tecting the whole of it, a region Of
country stretching across three de-
grees of latitude, with an average
of fifty miles IN width, which, be-
| fore their construction, with such q
river as we have had this spring,
would have been a waste Of water
| from Memphis to Vieksbwg, and
| from the river to the Mississippi
hills, without sufficient dry ground
within its borders to have comfort
ably herded the wild beasts that in
habit it. This was true of 1874
and 1850, as 1 know personally,
when there was not a mile of public
levee for 400 miles below Memphis,
without going back to other and
higher floods. Does this prove
nothing? The fact that they have
stood any one year and given pro-
lection to this country while the
river approximated high water from
Cairo to Memphis, thus proving
that the usual amount Of water is,
in fact, passing along their front,
demonstrates the praeticability OF
leyees. They have stood this test,
not one year but many. If your
theory were true, had the leyee been
forty feet high the water would
have passed over them. To review;
The fact is that
BEFORE WE HAD LEvEEs
the whole valley from Cairo to the
gulf overAowed, and the river rose
, as high as at any time since.
: The fact is that during the floods
Of 1858 and 1859 the river rose
| relatively higher in those regions
; where crevasses occurred to the
f greatest extent, without regard to
the tributaries Of the river,
/, Tho fact is that at the great Bell
2 oreyasse, opposite New Orleans, the
water line varied twelve inches, and
) came to a stand six inches higher
} than when the crevaSse occurred,
: while at Baton Rouge above the
water line had scarcely changed,
and investigation proved that the
7 lateral current had so effectively
destroyed the forward current of The
river that a dam was formed in The
ohannel by the sand deposited.
+ THE FACT is,
e that along the line Of leyeeS ii
: Bolivar county, Miss, in 1876
1 where the leyees are broker
! tho river is eighteen inche
4 higher than either above or belo,
Q where they are in tact. The fac
r is that a mathematical calculation
# proves that the destruction of tn
IS forward active current of the chan
t mel by this lateral current of
10 crevasse is not compensated for b.
e the outflow through the crevasse
i And this is the reason why tn
o river can be leyeed, because witt
d levees on each side there will thel
= ha M latnral currpnt in baVOuS AM