Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-04-07
THE ATCHAFALAYA'S
Lesson rs TO the outlet System-If
Something In Net Done Ia May
BecOme the
Outlet of the mississippf 10 the Ruin Of
New Orleans-yery Valuable and
Timely Suggestions.
New Orleans Picayune.


Among the lessons which may be Learned
from the present greatest of all louisiana
overfows there is none more important TO GU
future we'll being than those bearing on
either Tor or against-the plan or system o
river improvement devised by the United
States River Commission, after exhaustiv,
study and investigation. To this inquiry
have come engineers of the highest reput,
in the land, trained for national work at th,
great school of the nation. 1t is impossibl,
to suppose that greater engineering skill cal
be found in civil life, or that, if found, i
would unhesitatingly reverse the verdic
which rests on so much study of the hydro
graphy of the Mississippi delta, between
Cairo and the jetties. The present food, be
cause of its extraordinary magnitude, is ad
mirably suited for study and every phase O
it is jealously watched.
THE FLOOD
coming down the Atchafalaya is indeed ter
rife at present. The great sea which wa
spread out over Arkansas and Mississippi
thirty to fifty miles wide and twelve lee
deep in some places, is now rolling over tn,
sugar region of Louisiana-not merely
dead sea, like that which the Morgan train,
ran through in 1874, but a rapid current
which threatens the stability of the embank
ment, of the road, of the Berwick bridge, o.
whatever can be driven off by the impact Of
water. This river is fifteen or twenty miles
wide this side of Morgan City, and is rising
and becoming broader every hour. The
sugar plantations may yet have TO go under
as far east as to the levee of the Mississippi
and westward the waters are rushing from
Grand Lake into the Teche, through Courta-
bleau, and over all that region. The water
in Pointe Coupee is eight feet above the
railroad embankment, ard all that food il
coming. A large portion Of Iberville, AS.
sumption, st. Mary and T,rrebopne, and
great sections of other parishes, are flooded
already. We wish TO point out that this is
an excellent illustration Of the outlet theory.
OUTLETS
above the mouth of the Rcd river could not
be OF much service to the country below, un-
less an inner channel for a nsw river be cut
through the hills of Calcasieu at an meal
culable cost; for all waters diverted above
must Converge again and pass through the
neck of the delta indicated by the con-
Huence OF the Tensas, Belf, Ouachita, Little
ard X d rivers with the Mississippi, and the
immediate divergence of the Atchsfalsya
The Atchafalsyz Is evidently the firrt prac-
ticable outlet, and even skiliful engineering,
working en- the oasset thSory, couisI not do :.
great deal to improve natures work in that
direction. The waters of the Red and its
northern sfi1uents could be forced more com
q,
ample channel, and the effiuence from the
Mississippi increased by. enlarging the head
OF the outlet; but what good would all this
do7 If
THE ATCHAFALAYA
has no capacity to carry the water which il
now receives, the outlet theory working on
its head would only pour greater floods down
upon the devoted country below. As an out
let it must be confessed that it is superb.
prah oh l.. e.. LII
| 200 feet, and its depth at twenty to sixty
feet. Not even Captain Cowden would have
The assurance to undertake TO dredge il deeper,
though he might make it a mile wide if he
had money enough. Any more outlets into
this basin below its head could but let in
more wat.r on top of food. In fact, the
cIevssses are doing it now. The way TO stop
lhese floods is to stop them at the sources.
II the water could not get in the Atchafa-
aya, Grand Lake would not be to-day three
let higher than the Teche. II Chinese
wall we're built across the head of the Atcha-
alaya and the creyasses on the right bank
below closed, 80 much of
LoUIsIANA's PROMISING COTTON CROP
would not Re out of sight nor her sugar
planters in such fear. If science is worth
Iuything it should be utilized Majors
,uter, Harrod and Mitchell, who were APP
pointed by the River Commission to make
peclai surveys and examinations of the
Red and Atchsfalays, believe that their is
-eason TO apprehena the continuedand rapid
Enlargement of the Atchafalaya, even to The
xtent of its becoming the main river, thus
eopardizing the Commerce of the entire
alley and the permanence of its port and
utlet. They say that the diversion of any
arge portion of the Misissippi's discharge
'ould tend to impair the navigation below
nd through the jetties while the establish
lent of favorable or even possible condi-
ons of navigable outlet through the Atcha-
,laya and its shallow bay, would be uncer-
lin in result and time. To cut of the Red
nd Atchafalaya would not interrupt navi-
able communication with the Mississippi, |
hich would be brought through locks in |
laquemine.
Cincinnati, April 7.-St. Xaviers Catholic |
lurch is in hsmes, and the entire fire de- |
artment was called out at :25 am. to night. |