The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-03-11
The Improvement of the Missis.
sippi River-CaDt. Eads, Views.

Correspondence of The Times Democrat.
WASHINGTON, March by in
vitation of the Committee on the
Mississippi Levees, Capt. Eads ad-
dressed them to-day. Although he
is not in full health, the committee
appeared to be deeply interested in
his remarks. After calling atten-
tion to certain facts and scientific
principles necessary to bear in
mind, in order to thoroughly COM
prehend the question To be discuss
ed, Capt. Eads illustrated these by
diagram and reference to the
passes at the mouth Of the Missis-
sippi'river P PASSING on be took up the
special subject Of discussion to day,
which was the problem of the Red
Atchafalaya and Mississippi rivers.
"The danger at the mouth of Red
river is" said Capt Eads, "that
unless some steps are taken to pre-
vent it, The whole volume of the
Mississippi will go out through the
Atchafalaya. When the raft was
iOihONCu iioiI Guo H0dO VI Tue IdileT
river, the water began to enlarge
it's bed. and the rate of this enlarge
ment is perfectly frightfuI and cal
culated to arouse the serious appre-
tensions of the people living be
| low" Capt. Eads read at length
from the special report on the At
chafalaya and Red rivers, made by
Majors Suter and Harrod and Prof.
Mitchell, of the River Commission,
who call special attention to the
changes in the upper Atchafalaya,
under the influence of increased
volume, as the most marked in
stance of the adjustment Of the bed
Of an alluvial stream to it's dis
charge. The recorded increase of
tn } cross-section at the head, be-
tween 1851 and 1870, is from 24,40O
to 52, 100 feet. The increase OF dis,
charge, between 1873 and 1879, was
from 120, 900 to 10000 cubic feet
per second 1t is estimated that
the discharge of the Atchafalaya
has trebled within As years. Maj.
Suter and his associates say: eve
believe that there is reason to ap
prehend continued and rapid ems
largement Of the Atchafalaya, even
to the extent of it's becoming the
main river, thus jeopardizing the
commerce. of the entire valley and
the permanence Of its port and OUT
let. This diversion of so large a
part of the Mississippi discharge
would tend to impair the naviga-
tion below and through the jetties. -
Commenting on these statements
/ Capt. Eads remarked that the ma
tural consequence of the increased
volume was that the slope of the
current Of the Atchafalaya had been
lowered, and the natural tendency
is to draw more and more from the
Mississippi until the entire volume
of the Mississippi will be carried
into the Atchafalaya. Already one
sixth of the volume of the Missis-
sippi goes into the A,chafalay a.
Capt. Eads read with much en-
phasis the following paragraph
from the last report of the Com
mission: mo decrease of food
height in the Mississippi, from
which the volume has been abstract
ed ia observable, as the result OF the
increased outlet in the guage re-
cords at iSatchez, Red river and
Baton Rouge, although it practi-
cally amounts to the division of a
tributary with about one-sixth OF
the food discharge of the Missis
sippi, but such a decrease of food
elevation has been observed on the
Atchafalaya to which the volume
| wasted from the Mississippi had
been added
"What stronger proof than this, y
said Capt. Eads, "can there be oi
the failure of the outlet theoryi