The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-12-09
THE POETRY OF HYDRAULICS.
Professor Fontaines Lecture on the Inn
prDyements of the Mississippi River.

Professor F0ntaine's Lecture on the Inn
proyen,ents of the Mississippi River.
In his lecture Of Tuesday evening last, Prof
Fontsine began by laying down the broad propo'
sitjon thst, since The ownership and control OF
all navigable streams and lakes within the limits
of the United States were vested in the Federal
government, their improvement was q national
and not State or municipal WORK. Even If the
CITY and State were in o condition to undertake
the work Of hydraulic engineering he proposed
for the protection OF New Orleans, the consent
of Congress would have to be obtained. This
| would be necessary even in the application of
the system Of drainage proposed n his first lee
turs, siaoe the right of property in the Bayou
st.. John ia clearly vested in the United States,
whose consent must be obtained before IL could
be drained and filed up.
The Professor then went on to describe the
geological formations Of the regions through
which the Mississippi flows, the "glacial drift"
| to which alone the long -lesfed pitch pine 10 in
digenous the "bluf formation," a recent deposit
everything the glacial drift, and the delta lands OF
Louisiana. These last were formed by . local
delupe or the DRAMA 20 OF one OF those poss-ga-
csl seas, such as existed upon all the continents
| and we're drained in . subsequent epoch, in times
| not very remote from our present era. The par
| ticular fresh water sea whose drainage formed
these deposits existed between the r ,cky
| mountain and the Appalachian chains, and the
| Ozark and Cumberland, which formed the south
ern shore Of this Medil erranean sea- whose
northern limits, penetrated by the Mckenzie and
other Arctic rivers, have not been explored. II
was certainly drained by the Mississippi river,
| which, after tumbling for ages over great water
fall above Cairo, whose marks are seen upon the
lofty cliffs on both banks cut its way up towards
the upper part OF the rim OF this great sac. Lake
Maurepas and Pontcharirain and Bayou Man
chac are but the shrunken remains Il the most
eastern and northern mou b Of the many mouth
Of this vast river when it flowed IN the zenith of
tts grandeur and entered the gulf the Sibiue
Of them as wide as Vermiion or Bara'aria bays,
and the whole volume Of fresh but angry water,
loo miles wide and 600 feet deep, rushing from
Cairo to the sea, presented the appalling spectacle
| of river whose gigantic size aud strength the
magnificent Amazon, in the p RODS OF it's grand
this vast stream withered away with the drain
age and filing up Of the vast sea from which 1t
flowed until it is as we find 1t now. In 1914 Bayou
Msnchac, however, was still open and used to
carry off large quantity OF water through the
lakes to the gulf but 1t was the sole represents
, | tive of its ancient northeastern outlet. When
Gen. Jackson came to New Orleans In 1914 to de.
fend it against the British. he found the man
chao large and deep stream. 1t had already
been sounded by the British, whose purpose il
sppi. and thu, cut off this city from its base o.
supplies. Jackson OWNING this, blocked up the
Manchac with trees, so as to render 1t impassable
and by SO doing he rendered fruitless the nava
victory OF the British on the lake, but he also
! almost obliterated It from the map.
The Professor attributed to the closing OF this
outlet the Bonnet Care crevssse, and TO that
fortuitous break he again attributed the saliva
ton Of Ne1 Orleans from the spring foods Of
1874, He recommended the opening Of both