St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-04-01
The Mississippi.

The MISSISSIPPI.
VIEWS OF A VETERAN NAVIGATOR ON
ITS IMPROVEMENT.
Editor VicksburS Herald:
Please allow me, through the columns
of your paper, to address a few words
to the planters of the Mississippi Val
These people have been my trusted
friends and patrons for more than hall
a century-through all the years OF
peace, war and pestilence; and in pros
perity and adversely alike they nave
ever manifested a feeling OF FRIEND,
ship, hospitality and earnest good VIII
toward me, the remembrance OF which
I shall ever cherish with the kindliest
emotions, and with a pleasurable pride
that. during my life time, l have at
least been esteemed a worthy object OF
so royal d peoples regard.
With me friendship is no superficial
sentiment, expressed IN meanlngless
words from the lips of the man who
knows little else of you than your
name. But it is an honest impulse, re-
shifting from personal prediction, an
interest suggested by the kindllest mo-
tives, and a feeling inspired by the
most copgenial and intimate assocla-
ton. This impulse, my friends I'D the
Valley know, has ever been the tenor
of my conduct in respect to them ana
their varied interests, and In this spirit
do now address them.
To them permit me to say My
friends, your fate is indeed hard one.
In your convention your members OF
congress declared to you in unmlstaka-
BILE language that they could neither
vote for nor entertain any resolution OF
suggestion as to the improvement OF
the Mississippi river, calculated to ben
eft Won. unless the same should meet
the approval of the Mississippi River
Convention.
Neither could such resolution or sug--
gestion be submitted to the action OF
Congress unless approved by. the Mis-
sissippi River Commission; then again.
your representatives i'll congress, re-"
DAYS since, had the assurance to for-
ward deliberate Instructions to the
Mississippi legislature positively com
handing them to refuse peremptorlly
to vote for any and all schemes looking
to the adoption of the outlet system.
Now, why not let the jetty system
stand upon its own intrinsic merits IL
it has any, and at the same time, give
to the "Cowdon plan" a fair and I'M,
partial hearing before the public In all
it's bearings upon improved navigation,
and the methods to be adopted In It's
application thereto? But then the
members of the River Commission be-
fore Congressional Committee the
other day, informed you and the coun-
try at large, that an outlet through
Lake Borgne would work untold dlsas-
ter to the country situated along It's
banks, as it would create general
overflow in that region.
Now will Major Harrod please exhi-
bit to the thinking and observing PEG
pie of the valley the map showing the
particular section that would be sub.
merged in the successful completion OF
the outlet indicated As for myself,
can see nothing to be affected by 1t save
Lake Borgne itself, which is only an
arm of the Gulf of Mexico. With
Capt. Eads and his hifalutin and rul-
nous applications of science" rests
the responsibility of choking up the
mouth of the Father of Waters.
His mattresses, piles, rocks, and other
instructions have succeeded most etfec-
tually, in closing up the natural outlet
of the Mississippi, so that now the only
remedy suggested by the plain unvar-
nished dictates of common sense for
the escape Of this great body OF water,
without detriment to the country
around it, is to give it free exit through
Lake Borgne, thus relieving the Valley
and improving navigation accordingly.
Unless this is done it will be forced
to seek some other outlet, and the re-
IA l. ifc
banks and, rushing blind over the land,
reach, while the ruined population Will
be compelled to flee to the hills for that
protection which the policy of credu-
ience has robbed them of at home.
just now the Atchafalaya is the only
outlet the Mississippi has to assist its
miserably sluggish mouth, and even
this one is too small for the necessary
requirements of it's discharging pro-
cess. | do not hesitate to say that the
present trouble from high water below
and above and everywhere, should be
laid at the door Of the Seven Wise men
that call themselves the Mississippi
River Commission, and their grand
high priest, Mr.. Eads.
The miserable little funnel which
these gentlemen claim to be 600 feet
wide and 26 feet deep, is not as large as
the kanawha river when it is full, and
yet, muzzled as it is, it is expected to
carry off the waters OF one of the |
widest and biggest and grandest rivers
in the world.
just now there can be no relief from
the packets. The greatest suffering is
back in the region where the steam
boats cannot reach. The desolation |
by me on the lower coast
coming up last trip beggars descrip
ton. I have seen whole droves of cat
tie huddled together on portions OF
ievees so insignificant that one would |
expect to see them swept away with |