The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-06-12

iH'Ni iSSIe'' lhc Vluc Vi IllllllSfatlO
j., IS pouring in upon our continent at tn
rate of one per second, and must w
let it pass far to the north of us, Will
the richest lands on Gods green eartl
lie hidden, unknown, Il howling viii
derness, tangled wild. the abode O
!, wild beasts and reptiles, when it laws il
our hands to makeit one Of the riches
on the globe, the abode of more than
thirty millions of happy human be
: ings?
We live in the nineteenth century
century replete with wonderful in
ventions for the benefit of man. You
waste lands can be reclaimed; the
vast areas of bog and fen, that is only
the abode now of wild beasts and rep.
tiles, can, with but small outlay OF
money, be made the garden spot OF
the world, and only the engineers,
with your assistance can do it. We
can reclaim these vast wastes by con.
trolling the current of this mighty
river, and preventing its overlooking
its shores and making it subservient to
= our will. And | believe that our
+ country demands it at our hands, and
the sooner we control it make it, our
servant instead of our master, the in
cubus, the bane, that rests upon our
lovely, valley will be forever removed,
and it will bloom and blossom like a
rose i'll some fairy cline. And come
before you representing that branch
of science known as hydraulic engi-
neering-a science that has not kept
pace with this age of progress, but has
Jagged far behind in the onward march
of the centuries Of improvements-and
| submit and lay before you my plans
for reclaiming the great Mississippi
valley, and all the waste places made
by the currents of rivers under the
sun. My father has been half life
time perfecting them, and / now pro-
pose to be tie engineer who shall utiI- |
ize and put them in practice. Remem-
Der, L come before you Il native of the |
Lone Star State, and an adopted son Of
Mississippi, yet | hope you will think
none the less Of me because | am not
representative of some foreign potcn-
tate or power, but II native, to the
manner born. do not ask your aid,
like Il homeless, battered mendicant,
but as one who feels that his cause is
right; and | promise reward 50 great
that this generation can scarce COM
prehend the magnitude of it.
promise to seat the wealth and power
of this vast Republic in the midst of
this valley, and / wish my adopted
State to have the honor Of being the
of him whose plans shall work
such wonderful results. And these
plans have been approved by such
men as my father and Matthew f.
Maury, than whom no greater scien- |
lists ever lived. Men whose names
will echo down the corridors of time t
when the bronze and granite tombs of :
Kings and emperors shall have been /
Wept into dust by the tramp Of the 4
iistant centuries. And backed by fl
hem, ! proudly ask your aid without t
blush, and what they have approved Il
now submit to you, knowing that l Il
annot fail. c,
The only means by which we can c.
ontrol the Mississippi and prevent all q
verfows, is to jetty the main channel IL
fthe river with converging brush, and "
rib work to give it fixedness, and deep a
n it by erosion, and to reopen every 81
utlet at the flood tide, although do fe
OF think they give us any permanent gi
elief-they are dangerous-to levee 70
nd utilize them for commerce and 81
griculture. The Egyptians did this. I'll
he Nile was once an unbridled and 81
lifting stream, hurting its mighty az
lrrent from the falls of Syene to the co
editerranean sea, flowed through I'll
vamps, natural bayous and lakes, sa
III ONClHoNCu Illtlll All, until -hCllC5
I'd other wise monarchs bridled and jes
its waters with jetties, Gl
nails, acqucducts and levied lakes, wi
'th natural and artificial, one lake or pl;
servoir alone-Lake Moeres-being Dir
irty miles long and six miles wide, tic
built in the mode and manner de- ne
ribed by HerodOtus. And they used ag
EN- for three purposes lst. The sea
evention of overflOws. I'd. Drain ha
e and irrigation. 3D.. For naviga- til;
n. And must we not profit by the ha
lmples set us by men who lived and ha
ii more than three thousand years the
D, and yet their monuments still on
e for our instruction and guidance, cat
mes, nor any monarch that has or anC
II will live, can equal natures great cur
draulic engineers, the beavers, and pre-
IN them we have drawn our plans, are
| they-when once in position will poy
lain until the trump OF doom shall bcf,
nmon to their eternal homes all Of bef,
this human inhabitants. tur
,ach year the taxpayers of all the wit
sr counties that border this inn par
nse valley, are called upon to pour the
ir gold into the Golfers of the Levee cou
,rd. And for what? To build new plet
PES, to take the place of the old NJ
5 built the year before, now | la
k beneath the waves of the great forl
r thrown thence by the powerful con
ling under current OF that mighty of
am. Against this mighty under as ,
rent no guard is put, but day after now
and year after year we have been ! as
ling him without receiving any HoI
eft. or profiting by experience. mig
ply because no engineer attempted
h common sense to find Out how to
this constant caving, and cOuse-
{ waste Of money. And ! think "
the time has come for US to think. Pre-,
the money spent in leveeing, l ton