The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-08-13
NORTHEASTERN LOUISIANA.

| \ matter of such Importance as the
reclamation of the vast tracts of now
unutilized lands in Northeastern Lou
| isiana justifies the constant recurrence
| to that subject which the Democrat in
dulges. Nowhere in the South or in
the known world is there to be found
/, soil so fertile, q climate SO genial,
! nature so lavish. In this vast tract
now annually devastated by the riuun-
dation OF the Mississippi; there are
many hundreds of thousands Of acres
| capable of sustaining population more
dense than that of France or England,
yet which is to-day abandoned and
desolatc as any barren waste in the
heart OF Asia. After leaving the inn
mediate river front, You travel straight
westward, from any point along the
river between the Arkansas line and
the mouth of Red river, through many
miles Of forlorn and lonesome territory,
made all the more fOrlorn by the in
numcrable evidences Of former habita-
tion and by the known splendor of the
region under other and happier condi-
tions. Here is district unequaled in
productiveness, upon which nature has
squandered her best and brightest
gifts, and to reclaim which to useful
ness and beauty only mans energy is
requisite. Never did circumstances
combine to offer more princely re-
ward to enterprise and industry. The
lowlands of East Carroll, Madison,
Richland, Ouachita, Tensas, Concordia
and Catahoula parishes stand unrivaled
as an agricultural district. They form
the very cream of the great American
cotton belt. Once securely protected
and then delivered over to intelligent
and comprehensive cultivation, they
would constitute the most powerful ele-
ment of wealth and progress. 1t is, in
deed, impossible to compute the con-
tribution to the national wealth which
these parishes, under proper circum-
stances, are capable Of rendering.
The more we consider this subject
the more vivid and urgent becomes our
conviction that it is foolish, if not Grim
inal, to delay the solution of the tre-
mendous problem. The Democrat has
already given the outline of cheap,
practicable and effectual method of ac-
complishing the desired end. 1t is
well known that the floods which inun-
date the bottoms of the Tensas, the
Macon and JOS Bayou-the richest
belt of land in the world--enter our
State through crevasses in the south
eastern corner of Arkansas. They
enter there, through breaks which the
people of Arkansas refuse consistently
to close, aud whilst they inHict only
the most intinitesimal injury upon
Arkansas, they devastate and destroy
the fairest and broadest district in all
Louisiana. We cannot compel Arkan
sas to keep up her lcvecs the govern
ment seems unwilling to interfere
then what remains except for Louis
lana to save herself?
The way to do this is plain, and per-
fectly within our reach. The trough
which carries these vast volumes of
destroying floods into Louisiana lies
between tho hills west of Bayou Macon
and 1he Mississippi river. At the Ar
kansas line the distance is only two
miles. What is easier, then, than to
build a dyke across these two miles
and thus protect Louisiana? A lock
i'll Bayou Macon could be constructed
so as to keep that stream supplied with
all the water required for navigation,
and yet defend us against the deadly
inundation, and then the torrents de-
scending upon US through Arkansas
might flow back into Arkansas, or
find their way into the Mississippi as
best they could. 1t may be claimed
that this arrangement would int1ict
injury upon Arkansas, yet we think
the claim cannot be fairly made.
Louisiana has at least AS much right
to protect herself as Arkansas has to
ruin us by her neglect. If Arkansas
objects to being ovcrfowed, let Arkan-
sas adopt the obviously proper expedi-
ent of building her own levccs. She
can suffer no injury by any act Of ours
SO long as she protects herself as we
propose to do. 1t would be hard, in
deed, if Arkansas, refusing to lift
hand in her own defense, should yet
be able to prevent Louisiana from re-
sorting to the only means Of self-pre-
starvation possible under the circum-
stances.
The levee we propose has already
been surveyed and subjected to esti-
mates by those distinguished engineers,
Majors Harrod and Richardson, and it
is known that the entire work can be
completed at a total cost not exceeding
$l25, 1000. For the eighth of a million
of dollars, therefore, we can reclaim to
tho uses of industry and civilization
more than twenty million dollars
worth of land! Think of it--and yet
we sit idly by; waiting for the indefi-
nitely-delayed, signing for the unat-
tainable! Surely this comparatively
! >r l.;