The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-06-12
THE OLD MISSISSIPPI ONCE THE
OUTLET OF a GREAT ROCK
WALLED SEA.
Shall the Great Valley Remain Howl
ing Wilderness, or be Transformed
into an Astounding Garden of
Beauty and Wealth.
m INTERFERING PAPER FULL OF
SCIENCE AND PRACTICE.


YAzoo CITY, June s, 1880
To the Editor of the Comet
l cannot give you as elaborate
, description of our plans for controllin;
= the current of the Mississippi, or an,
| other navigable stream ON the globe
! as | could wish. But through you,
wish to address the whole PRESS o
our Southern and Nothern climes-
more especially the representatives o
the Mississippi valley - and l hope
that you will excuse me for addressing
my remarks to them, instead of per.
sonally to you, as ! will feel grateful
to all papers friendly to the enterprise
and to all readers who may take a
sufficient interestin those plans to re-
publish and criticise them.
will make my synopsis as brief as
possible. Shall leave out all geometric
figures, and let it bristle with no
skeletonized pages of algebraic signs,
but will use the plainest language
possible.
1t will be impossible to elucidate
my views, clearly, without maps and
drawings. These l send you with
this, and if you cannot publish them,
you can tack them up in your office
for all who may take sufficient inter-
est in them to look at. L shall begin
my subject by giving you Il short,
geological history of this great valley,
founded, by careful examination and
close observation of it, its entire
length, from st. Louis to the Gulf of
Mexico. And l will demonstrate to
you that | only intend to assist nature
in the grand work she is constantly
showing us how to perform. And if
we but follow her lessons and aid her |
properly, we can control this mighty |
river, and makeit the most useful of
all the servants on this continent, and |
make our rich alluvial shores the abode
of countless millions. We can bring
into cultivation all the waste places,
and make our Sunny South the hap
piest and wealthiest on the globe.
But to my subject. The valley of
the Mississippi - geologically speak
ing--is Of very recent formation it is
a mass of alluvia, OF batture, sweep
ings from the hills and plains that bor-
der its shores, and the present stream,
that rolls lis immense floods through
it to the Gulf, bears but faint resem-
Olance to that grand river, which but
4 few centuries ago, had its bed hun I
lreds of feet beneath the present Mis-
'issippi. The ancient Mississippi was I
IN outlet to great inland sea or ocean
hat was held in bounds by wall of c
Iolid rock, stretching across its south Q
,rn shores, from the Cumberland o
on the east, to the Ozark C
md Rocky mountains, on the west. e
And from this southern shore, this vast o
axe, sea or ocean rolled its waves far
way into the frozen regions Of the Il
lorth. Its waters covered Missouri,
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, a
Iichigan, the most of the British
including all the great 81
lkes now shown upon our maps Of u
hose regions. The old Mississippi M
as the outlet to this great sea on the ~
1uth, and a grand cataract poured al
yer the frail southern barrier, COM al
Osed of the spur or chain of noun u
Iins connecting the Ozark and Cum c'
arland. And the roar of this sea of D'
aters, as they rushed over this great re
am, on its way to the Gulf, outrival- I'll
| the thunders of thousand Mag al
as. sc
By some mighty convulsion, this til
eat dam was swept away, and this pr
eat sea rushed in headlong fury to- ag
ards the equator, carrying ruin and tlo
in its path. The fora and eN
una of the entire valley was buried dl'
thousand feet beneath its waters. Its aS
ORES, ut the time of this mighty llN
luge, were as demsely populated as Nj
ut of China or Japan,'as the count eN
IS acres of human bones entombcd hy
Oh our highlands prove. ire
And when this vast ocean of waters am
d spent their force, and wasted their rel
wer far out upon the bosom of the SUI
llf of Mexico and the Atlantic, and ear
, Mississippi had shrunk 10 its pres +
size, this valley was Il fearful riv
lit to contemplate vast waste of me
)ris-a chaotic mass of logs, brush, the
ID, mud, stone, and the bones of all DO:
It had ever breathed or moved upon lev
shores; and the present Mississippi one
ow but pigmy clothed in the giant sun
b of it, illustriOus ancestor-had to riv,
ep and wind its way through the erO,
ncnse debris that interposCd be- sire
zen it and the Gulf of Mexico. And cur
Y, each year il seeks some new day
nnel, and constantly shifts IFS beds, fee,
hat it is the most dangerous of all ben
rivers 10 navigate. Yet each year Sin
vs. Us why. and in what manner, viii
for what causes it changes its sto,
mel. And must we not profit by oen
1t it teaches? Must we, the engi- tina
Rs, bc idle while all the rest of the For
I'd advances? I answer no. Twill
believe the time has come for ac- fore
J, and our entire country must he sery