Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-29
MPKOYEM ERTk.

Mr.. Edward Atkinson, whose knowledge
of the needs of the Southern country is I'M
surpassed, and Whose practical recommends
tions for its welfare have SO frequently COM
manded attention, has, in the columns of the
New York Herald, called attention 10 the
subject of the leyee and other improvements
OF the Mississippi river, and his remarks and
suggestions cannot fail to have a good in
huence upon intelligent minds at the North.
He explains how the resources of the rich
valley of the Mississippi were crippled by
the war, and the consequent disorganization
of its labor system. These Instructions to
effort, added to rates of interest of from
eighteen to thirty per cent. made it impossi-
BILE for people who had to obtain advances
before they could plant their crops to re-
store and keep up the levee system. They
were unable even to sustain the laborers,
many of whom were in consequence
of that inability, not from political
influences, compelled to seek homes
elsewhere, an exodus that excited much dis
cussion. A fair beginning, Notwithstanding,
was made toward recovery, but the disas-
trous floods of the present spring have
brought check it will take years to over
come. But little attention shows that the con-
troll Of the Mississippi river is beyond the
power of the States. The general government
alone is competent to undertake it. The
river must be treated as unit; its control
cannot be comprised under divided sys-
TEN Of administration, nor are the States
interested competent to combine to accom-
plish the necessary operations. The Missis-
sippi River Commission is composed of men
among the most able and qualified for their
duties of any in the country, and their YER
dict in the case should be accepted as con-
elusive. 1t would be presumption in spy
single man, however skillful, to contest the
judgment of such board. 1t is now pro-
posed that Congress shall make a beginning
in the great work. Mr.. Atkinson has been at
much pains TO obtain information respecting
the elements of the problem TO be solved, and
the following is a summary of the impressions
he has obtained respecting this work of
national Importance: Below New Orleans
the river has pushed far into the gulf two
nearly parallel moles of earth, between
which it winds its way. From New Orleans
to Cairo similar moles generally exist; be-
yond them lie swamps ON either side, the
dry strips constitute the bottom lands where
sugar, cotton and corn are grown. AS is the
case below New Orleans to the gulf, the land
is highest near the rivers brink. In floods
the water cuts across the windings of the
moles and makes direct course to the sea,
filling the swamps and Overlooking the bot
toms, covering the lands for miles on each
side. At the time when trees and under
growth covered these raised banks the
tangled thickets retained the river sediment
undermined banks we're protected by fallen
trees and the frieze-works of masses of up
rooted brush. The river, thus confined,
either deepened its channel or resisted
the tendency TO fill up. When the
banks became cleared, these defenses
against overflow being gone, floods
became more frequent. When the leyees
were built it was cheapest to raise them where
the banks were highest and the land they oc-
cupied could be best spared. The wear OF
the current, and waves caused by steamboats,,
undermined the levees and were the chief
causes of their destruction. Had the early
levees been faced with revetments at the
banks there would now be river navigable
at low water, not subject to rises above the
reach of ordinary dIkes. In the river bends
depths and shoals alternate, and where the
width between the banks is great, bars are
formed, and the channel shifts, permanent
channel in such shoaly places can be secured
only by reducing the extra width. How best
and cheapest to accomplish this is what the
River Commission has been aiming at In It's
surveys. Their plan is to reduce wide spaces
of river surface by supplying the place OF
the former fallen trees and under
growth with masses of brush weven
into mattresses. These are piled up low at
first, then as they become filled with the
sediment of the river that is entangied
among them, they are made higher and
slopes are formed behind them upon which
willows grow, whose roots matted in the soil
aid to resist erasion. Bubble stone is de-
posted 30 as TO retain the mattresses in their
places, and in some cases stone paving is re-