Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-11-11

Committee appointed to investigate and re-
port 10 the next Congress upoA the various
plans proposed for the Improvement of the
Mississippi river, we publish for their and
the public's information the very able and
exhaustive letter of Mr.. Charles P. Hunt
ingtou, of Mi sissippi, president Of the Mem
phis and New Orleans Railroad and Leyee
Company, TO Gen. Gilmore, OF the River
Commission, wherein Mr.. Huntington shows
the great advantages of a well-constructed
levee 10 Maintained by a railroad company, as
a means Of deepening the channel, improv-
ing the navigation, and relieving the country
from overflow. We invite the attention OF
the Congressional Committee especially 10
the letter.
Mr. HuntingtOn's Letter 10 Gen. GIL.
more.
GREENvILLE, October 2, 1882
Gen; Q. A. Gilmore, U: :. A, President of the
Mississippi River Commission:
SIR-Pernit me 10 call your attention to
the necessity-in improving the navigation
of the Mississippi river which borders the
Yazoo delta-of such levee or outer lefty
with a railroad constructed and operated
thereon, as is proposed by the Memphis and
New Orleans Railroad and Levee Company,
in the bills referred 10 your commission for
a report by the Committee on the Improve
ment of the Mississippi River and its Tribu-
the United States Senate, and by the Pacific
Railroad Committee of the House Of Repre-
sentatives. In proposing this measure to
Congress, the Railroad and Levee Company
asked its favorable consideration, chiefly on
the ground that il is necessary 10 prevent
the river overlooking into the Yazoo delta,
| which must be arrested before the channel OF
the Mississippi river along the front of this
delta can be either adequately or perma-
| nently improved. The two things which con-
troll the navigability of the Mississippi
by reason of their Swallowing or deepening
its channel, are the dispersion or concentra-
ton of its waters. The river bed is raised
| by dispersion of its waters, which slackens
| the current in the channel, causing the water
to drop the sediment heretofore held IN sus-
pension. The means of causing this disper-
sion gre provided by nature in the four
great basins, the Atchafalsya, Teusas and
st. Francis basin ON the west, and the
Yazoo basin on the east side of the river,
which lie below its level. Any continuous
outflow from the channel, such as is pro-
duced by the river falling into these basins,
causes the gravel, sand and coarse sediment
to settle, which form bars lust below the
point OF outflow. These bars check the cur
rent even after the overflow has ceased, and
cause continuous deposition of sediment
across the channel on the upper line of the
bar. The bar thus grows up the river, gath
erIDg sediment on its surface as well SIS aloue
its upper edge, resulting in the constant eff
fort OF the river TO flank 1t. The numerous
lateral channels of the Atchafalays, such as
Cane river, Coushatta chute, Tones and
Pierre bayou, were made in this manner
by the effort of that stream to
flank the RATS, which damned its
channel. fSee report of Suffer, Hsrrod and
Mitchell, addressed to you, September IA,
1851. These dams were made of RATS caused
by the accumulation of floating imber, the
river maintaining its original channel I'M
derneath the raft, by deepening its bed,
making 1t unnecessary TO flank the dam, ex-
cept with its surplus waters, which were
carried OF by these small lateral channels.
But the dams in the Mississippi are built of
earth, compelling the river to go round them,
by seeking new channel for all It's waters
ms IS the work OF years, as the river sell
dom tanks a dam in front, but usually in
the Fear, by making a cutoff. This is brought
about by the dam slowing the current, re-
sulting in deposit of sediment, raising
the river for miles above the original dam.
he dam thus grows up stream, letting off
Just enough water TO prevent its being
hanked, thus pushing the river into the form
oil bend, In the upper end of which the
waters are piled, until they seek new chan
mel across the narrow loop of the bend,
Hawking the river bed SO raised by making
the effect OF single dam, the effect of an
accumulation Of them has been TO push the
iyer In this allu nal valley into four grand
bends, which constitute the rim and the
boundary OF the four great basins, at the
upper end OF which the waters are piled until
the surplus water in time OF flood seeks a
new channel, by making a cutoff through
me 81. Francis, Yazoo, Tensas and Atchafa-
laya basins which thus become the reser-
fF4R Of A. Al =.
clpal outflow from the river is thus made ct
the upper end OF these basins, so the great
est bars and shoals in the river are at the
head OF the Atchafalaya, Tensas, Yazoo and
81. Francis bssins. In this manner the
channel OF the Mississippi, especially at the
head OF these basins, where the outflow is
the greatest, has been filled with mud dams
otte hundred fest in hight or more, and
many miles long, causingthe river to spread,
producing caving banks, cut-ofs, and in some
places dividing the river into several chan
nels. As these shoals rise and extend, the
current is slackened above them and the de-
post OF sediment steadily goes on raising
the river bed; hence the liability 10 overflow
is increased with each recurrent flood. As
the entire river bed is thus being raised and
Its slope steepened, the river shadows and
spreads, so that the channel at the head of
the valley is as wide as at the foot,
4.
And the water is piled up in time of
flood at Cairo, fifty feet above low water
mark. As We have endeavo to show that
the bars which now dam the river were built
IN the channel by the dispersion of It's waters,
and Gomez quent slowing OF the current, re-
sulting in deposit OF sediment and raising of
the river bed, they can be removed only by
rever-ing the process which built them-by
concentrating the waters, and making them
taE 70 II nj hn Ian Of lo,1
down, and carry ii on 10 the sea. Before at
tempting this, the first great object TO be OBJ
tanned, disregarding mere patches of over
dow, is to prevent the building of any more
bars In the channel by shutting the river
out OF the great basins, over which at high
water 1t now spreads, and combining it 10 the
space between such basins on the one side
and the hills which wall in the valley on
he other, as shown by the ACCOMPANYING
map. Where the bars IN the channel are
isolated aud far apart, this could be accom-
plished by single line of levee along the
river front, which would answer the double
purpose oil levee and jetiy-of leVee in pre-
venting any continuous outflow from the
channel, so as TO remove the bars and make
the river scour Quit bed. Where these bars,
which have been years in building, and are
miles in length, stand TO dam and shallow
the current for long reaches in the river,
IL lUlDOSSlDit 10 remove Iuen DIV
throwing the waters of a single flood upo1
them, sill attempts to confue the river very
closely by levees Immediately on lis banks
are a mere waste of money, so far as chan
mel improvement is concerned. Until these |
are removed, the river in time |
of food must have more room than the chan
mel between its banks affords. If it fail to |
sweep them away, it will spread and 60 |
round them. But as the river fall is mostly |
at these dams, their removal |
would lower its food, and bring the river into |
enc channel, when the levee system coul be |
com pleted, so as to confine it as closely as |
might be desired, when it could be made to |
scour out its bed to any requisite depth. |
Like all chronic troubles, they demand pa
tient, far-resching treatment. Fitful or lem |
porsry remedies only fail and increase,
instead of lesseniug the disorder. A |
single overflow or break in levee would |
not only replace the dirt that had been re- |
moved from a bar, but it would build new |
bars, which might shift or divide the river,
so that it would cease 10 flow in the channel |
that had been improved. Any attempt TO
improve The channel OF the Mississippi river,
however simple or however elaborate.
prior TO stopping overfows, is to
doctor the symptom and not the
disease. Levees, therefore, must be built to
prevent overflow, in order to make channel
Improvement possible. And they must be
so contracted as to exclude the possibility