The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1882-03-22
CAIRO AND SOME OF ITS Diff
CULTIES.

| To the Editor:
If you consider the within communica.
ton worthy of attention and would be of
sufficient interest to the citizens generally
you will please publish. WnSt / have to
say are mostly facts gained from exper-
ience-having lived 10 Cairo since the sum-
mer of 1851, when was sent here by the
I.C. r. r. Co., as their engineer.
When first came Cairo was surrounded
by lcvce commencing at the Old Fort,
and running along the Ohio to about where
the I. G. r. r. Cos. round house is now To-
Gated, then it followed the ridge, near where
Mr.. Reeds residence now is on 10Th street.
and then on to the Mississippi near to the old
burying ground; thence down the Missis-
sippi 70 the point, containing about tao
same area as our present sipe water south
of 18th street. They were 10 comparison
to our present levees, mole hills, and were
from four to eight feet wide with tho Or
binary slope of one and half feet to one
foot and were two and one fourth feet
lower than our present levee on the Ohio.
There wac very little clearing done on the
present site Of the city, not to exceed 90 to-
80 acres, the remainder WAS very heavy
timber. Those levees had been built
years before came and had Withheld oil
floods precious to that time, there was
neither outlet or inlet through these levees,
80 that all waters coming within, remained
there until It evaporated or sunk into the
ground. Sipe water was not known then
or thought of. Now, what are the principal
causes Of our present sipe water-not all
sipc, but will say about one half rain.
1t is not because our levees are
smaller than the old ones, for they exceed
them in width as six is to one. The first
cause was the clearing of the heavy tim
Der for the present site of the city, leaving
the stumps and roots to decay below the
surface-and they are not yet all gone;
the stump holes may have disappeared,
the root holes are out Of sight, but yet re.
main as they were. Another cause, and
very important one, is the leak at the 10th
street sewer. believe thsta joint Of the
pipe near the wall has become disiointed,
or that the water has made channel along
side of the pipe; am rather inclined to
the latter, knowing the difficulties we had
in putting in that heavy pipe through q
small tunnel under the levee. For the
proof of this bad leak my attention was
called to the muddy water coming from the
Tenth street pump. house. There are also
great number Of holes VERY few knowing
where they are located), that have been
bored through the levees, and the pipes
that were in them have rusted away.
Every drive.well is source of water, aud
there are nearly one hundred of them.
Every cellar and every foundation that is
dug below the surface is an addition.
There are quite anumber Of old abandoned
cisterns, that is another. Every privy-
vault, more especially if they follow out
the late ordinance Of the city, making them
from eight to ten feet deep, then lined
with brick. put In dry with joints wide IS
possible. lcontend, too, although it looks
email that every post hole dug contributes
its share; and last, bat not by any means
the least, are the crawfsh. There are mil
lions Of them inside our town; boys arc
catching them by the hundred on
Eighteenth street where the water 10
running over the street. If you are not
acquainted with their mode Of operating I
will try to show you how destructive and
dangerous they are to US. The crawdsh
will bore till he reaches water, no matter
what depth; there he remains, following
the water as II may rise or fall, never re-
naming in deep water. contend that
when our low blocks are drying up, they
follow the water, leaving the holes open
a. the water rises they either come back
through the same holes or make others,
comparatively making the ground porous
o. q sieve. I contend they were tho cause
of the sins IN the New Miseisaippi leyee
I find have omitted one other seriou'
cause which should not have been toler
atod; that is cutting deep bitches ON eacl
side Of tho new location Of tho 9. & St. L
Il. r. Go. Tho bitches are cut through
quick sand from three to seven icet deep.
Taken altogether think there are plenty
Of good reasons for our extreme depths Of
water, some can be avoided but Others can
not and will have to be fought. have