The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1881-01-05
The Mississippi River Problem.
Baltimore Sun.

The difficulties which engineering
science has to encounter in graphing with
the problem Of the best means to improve
the navigation OF the Mississippi and the
tributaries from the source to the mouth,
are commensurate with the magnitude of
that mighty volume Of water. The rivers
of Europe are but riyulets alongside this
! stream, which crosses twenty degrees Of
! latitude and twenty-tour degrees Of longi-
/ tude, falling two miles in length of 5000
miles, draining 100000 square miles OF
territory dlscharging annually a volume of
water equal to l45 cubic miles, and carry
ing in suspension one part Of sohd matter
in every 1900 parts Of its entire volume
/ The annual total Of this suspended matter
empGcd into the guilt would make q prism
one mile square at the base and 2Gj feet
high. The delta Of this great river extends
nearly up 20 its confluence with the Ohio
at Cairo. All below that Is low land and
/ liable to floods at high water. Long be-
fore the country was settled by the white
man those great floods were dreaded. and
there Is positive existence that the extinct
race of muund-builders sought to control
| them by means Of levees. Since the Unit
ed State have had jurisdiction over both
/ banks of the great river great deal of en-
gincering skill has been brofght
! to bear on the river prob
lem, and q vast amount of money
has been spent in cutting bars removing
"snags" and ''sawyers,n strengthening chan
nels and building levees. None of the
leyees were strong enough, however, to es.
cape occasional ''clovasses' and the wide
| spread destruction which ensued The
lefty system, applied with so much skill by
Captain Ea 20 the South Pass, has secur.
ed to the river a deep and safe channel at
its mouth, at cost Of little over $1,000
O00 and now the Mississippi River COM
mission, created by congress in June, 1879,
proposes science for the improvement Of
the navigation Of the river and the security
offs banks along its entire length Their
work has been pretty well mapped out the
entire distance from Cairo to the mouth of
the river, length Of 100 miles. To
clear out the shoal places in this length of
channel, the river which created them must
be made to do service in removing them.
The commission have been seeking for
means to harness the leviathan, and compel
the mighty current to clear away channel
tor itself To do this it is proposed to mar
row the low-water channel to maximum
width of 5000 feet, by combined system
of lcvees and OF brush barriers and ietties.
By this means the space between the new
and old low.water banks will be gradually
raised and the contracted channel, quick
ened in flow of current will be secured out to
greater depth. This would tend to give
the current greater uniformity both of
depth and velocity, and enable floods to
pass off with greater speed. Levees are
needed to promote this work as well as to
protect the adjacent low-ying lands. "Cut-
offs are to be eschewed; it is not deemed
advisable to straighten the channel to any
great extent, and it is recommended that
caving shores should be secured by mat.
trasscs of brush and riprap works, of stone,
The commissions work will necessarily
be costly, Over $i,O00,000 is
asked to start the Improvements
which can not be completed at less cost
than $4,000 per mile, or S25000,0O0 for
the part Of the river between Cairo and the
passes. If the Improvements can be sub
stantialy and permanently made at any
such figures they will be procured very
cheapy. The area of rich bottom lands to
be reclaimed under good lcvee system
amounts to $4,000 square miles, worth
$20,000o00 at the low price of $40 m
acre, The annual products of the reclaim.
able alluvial lands, aate.bellum rates it
is estimated, would be not less than $780,
100000.