The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-12-18

| through the barrier Of the Ozark Mountains
ian event to which the calculations OF geOlo-
| gistS assign an antiquity OF shout 400 years.
and drained away the vast fresh water sea
| which was then It's source and It's feeder, tho
character OF the Mississippi became com
pletey changed. From clear and limpid
stream having an inconsiderable rise and fall
and carving to the sea SO insignificant q
quantity of sediment that 10 bar could be
formed at it's mouth. it was converted into q
turbid dalta-fOrming river. affected hy great
floods, and pushing along its bed 80 large a
quantity of earthly matter tEtat its deposits
have, according to the computations Of IyelI
within the relatively short space of 400 years
projected forward the coast line for a distance
IF more than 100 miles and formed nearly
5000 square miles Of land where formerly
stood the waters Of the sea
IT is with this river-an agency Mt once ere
alive and destructive. power which is at the
same time a friend and an enemy. q blessing
and a curse that we have now to deal. IN
approaching the questions which grow out Of
the phenomena hy which the Mississippi Is
characterized and before attempting the
solution of these questions. i! may be well to
give n brief statement Of the results arrived
mt by the Typographical engineers who have
studied the hydrography Of the river, who
have computed its forces and calculated Its
dynamical laws. As | have already said the
surplus waters Of ,2i4.0G0 square miles Of
territory are drained into the Mississippi.
From the mouth of the Missouri to the Gulf
there Is n fall at high water Of 416 feet. The
average width Of the river between its banks
from Cairo to Memphis Is $40 feet, from
Gaines Landing 10 Red River Landing, $50
feet; from Baton Rouge to Donaldsonvllc,
5000 feet; from Carrollton to the head of the
Passes, 2i70 feet The depth :at high water,
taking the food of 1858 as q standard,
Is 90 feet at Columbus 119 feet rear Randolph,
S3 feet at Memphis s8 feet below the mouth
Of the Arkansas W feet at Lake Providence.
100 feet seven miles above Vicksburg, III feet
at New Carthage, 11S feet at NAtchez, t2G feet
ut Red River Landing, 1913 feet ut Baton
Rouge, 1913 feet just below Plaquemine, 1870
feet below Bonnet Care Church, ~ feet be-
low the Bonnet Carre crevasso, 1873 feet sew
enteen miles above New Orleans, 1877 feet at
Carrollt II, and 15l feet at Fort st. Philip.
The range between high and low water is: at
Natchez 81 feet; at Red River. Landing, ~ 3
feet; Mt Baton Rouge, 81 feel; at Donald
sonvlle, "a feet; ut Carrollton, l4,4 feet; at
Fort st. Philip, As feet; ut TIL, head Of the
Passes, 23 feet; and Mt the Gulf, zero. It ap-
pears q quote from Humphreys and Abbott:
]. That the law which governs tho mean
annual rise and fall of the Mississippi varies
but little from the Ohio to the Gulf
III. That the rains which accompany the
three great changes in season, ~ wit, winter.
spring and summer, throughout the larger
part of the Mississippi basin produce three
rises in the river augmented
in the spring by melting snow.
I'LL That above the mouth of The Arkansas
the rise occasiOned by the rains and melting
snow which attend the setting IN Of the south
west winds ut the transition from winter to
spring in the northern and eastern part of
the great valley usually attain& its highest
point in the latter part of March. The river
then subsidies until the arrival commonly in
juno Of the Rocky Mountain rise sweIed
by the early summer rains Of the Lower Mis-
souri, and by those of the eastern portion of
the Mississippi basin. 1t then falls rapidly
until the latter part of October, when the low
est point Is attained After remaining at a
stand for two or three weeks, It again rises,
and more rapidly than at any other season,
until checked by freezing and the diminution
OF rain precipitation in the basins of the
upper rivers in January and February.
", Below Red river the same general os
citations occur. but somewhat, later in the
season, the only modification being that the
tributaries Of the Ohio contribute their CORE
spending floods somewhat later, and thus
the stand of the river for Il longer
period
V. The river is above its midstage for seven
from the latter part Of December to
the latter part Of July, and below 1t for the
rest OF the year.
twill thus he seen that the season Of high wa
ter for all the alluvlal regions embraces those
months when planting operations are under
taken, and when the crops are growing, and
that IT lasts until past midsummer; that is
to say, precisely those months In which tho
greatest injury may be inflicted by inunda-
ton and overflow on the agricultural industry
of that part of the country.
In times of food, which are imulfnent every
year and which In fact have occurred in two
~ three successive seasons twice during the
last fifteen years. the whole Of the aluvial
region Is liable to inundation. Against these
Hoods the existing leyeeS are scarcely even an
approximate security. Even when they were
In their best condition and had attained tn cir
greatest development. that is to say IL the
year 1861. they were entirely Inadequate for
the protection Of the vast alluvial basins of
Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisi-
ma II may be assumed with the utmost |
confidence that no local laws, no local efforts, !
will ever be found adequate to the solution Of
his momentous problem. Any system to be
Effective must be general. and tile contingent
'ios OF uncombined human action, the con
tIctinp interests Of different localities and
ho contradictory opinions OF different ind- |
,iduals and communities present almost in
Obstacles to the adoption and
Of any general system except
through the agency and control Of a single
,owcr like that Of the Federal government.
As an illustration Of the tremendous nature
II the catastrophes which may ut any time
pvprwhelm the alluval region O: the MisSis
,ippi | shall refer briefly, Mr.. president, 30
HE flood Of 1874. In that year ther" were
thirty creNaSSrS on breaks in the Louisiana
eyocs alone, and these occurred at intervals
along the whole ulStnnc" from me Arkansas
line To Pointe-a-la- Ilach" about fifty miles
below New Orleans. The number, in fact,
was much greater, because in some cases two
n four and in one case as misny az eleven
breaks occurred ~ separate but neighboring
points, and aftyward combined into one.
Now. sir p crevasse in the lavecs of the
river is something If which the
unaided by observation, can
scarcely form any accurate conception. At
first it may be hut slender thi"ad If water
percolating through u craytsh hole. or q
slight abrasion in the upper surface caused
by the waves set in motion hy passing
steamer or by n sudden storm, but III a few
hours the seemingly innocent rill is swollen
10 rcsistlcss torrent the great wall Of earth
has given way before the tremendous pres
sure of tho mighty river, ard tn" waters rush
through the opening with a force which soon
excavates it to a depth of thirty or forty feet.
with a roar which rivals the voice of Niagara
and with velocity which is great enough to
draw an incautious steamer into the boiling
vortex.
The effect is rot simply that Of an overflow.
which may suhside in n day or two. Tho
level of the river, at its flood is bove that of
the surrounding country; and consequently,
Ia, 70 10