The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-12-23
General WrIght's Testimony.

ea@A "tAHht Atctln0hys
! General Wright, Chief of Engi
neers' in testifying before the com
mlttee as to the improvements Of
ths Mississippi river, was asked by
Dir, Ellis if he thought the work
would cost s45O,OOO,O0O, the ami
given to railroads in land grants
the land being valued at 90 an
acre.
Gen. Wright replied that the
work would cost nothing like that
amount.
There was one answer to aques
tion by Mr.. Robinson which may
have some effect ON the amount
OF the next appropriation. Mr.
Robinson asked him whether in
his judgment it would not be bet,
ter to suspend operations until the
praeticabTlity of the work was de,
termined. -
Gen. Wright replied that he al
ways thought that it was better to
complete one reach first, say Plum
Point reach, and if the work there
proved successful to at once com
mence work at several points sim
ultaneously. The commission
however, he SAID, last fall began
work at a number of places, be,
cause they were forced to do Sc
by the large amount appropriated
The tenor of the questions put by
Mr.. Burrows and Mr.. Robinson
was to show that levees were not
necessary to the improveing of the
navigation of the river, particularly
below the mouth of Red river, and
also that the present plan of i'm
proving the river would cost an
amount that would startle the
country. MI. WE af't
On being asked as to the practi.
cability of combining the rlver with.
IN a bed of $500 feet width from
Cairo down, Gen. Wright stated il
was practicable from the stand
point of engineering. 1t was a
matter of expense. He could not
give an estimate of the expense,
The work had not extended far
enough to make this possible. He
thought that by the time the ap.
preparation shall be expended the
experiment would be carried far
enough to make it possible to esti.
mate the cost and growth of such
work. In reply to questions by
Mr.. Robinson, of Massachusetts,,
he gave it as his opinion that the
changes of the river bed might be
prevented; that so far as naviga.
ton is concerned the work of con.
fining the river is only needed in
the low water stage. He had new.
er considered any project for con-
tining the river within banks $500
feet apartat high water. He would
consider it an enormous work in.
volving a very large and unneces-
sary outlay of money. He declined
to attempt an estimate as to levees,
and believed the bottom of the
river would be favorably affected
by the levee system and so would
be improved for low water naviga'
tion. Below the mouth of Red
river there was never any trouble
to navigation in high or low water
He thought it an unfair question
to ask him what the possible use
of levees could be to navigation
below that point. He thought
however, that it would decrease
the deposit by increasing the cur
rent, though there hadnever been
any trouble below that point from
such deposit; the river there is
from 30 to 100 feet deep. He
thought the completion of the con
templated works would not clearly
demonstrate the fact that the 9th
er points on the river would not
have to be protected. If at Plum
Point, and points experimental
with, the plan worked successfully,
1t would show the feasibility of ex
pending money for some works al
other points. The last apprepria'
tion made was larger than neces
sary to make the tests at the points
where they had been contempla'
ted.
In the course of conversation
Mr.. Carlisle said that he had no
objection to appropriating any rea'
sonable amount for the improve
ment Of the Mississippi, but he
wanted to be certain the plan Of
the River Commission was the
correct plan. This, he thought
was what every true friend of the
river wanted to be certain about
If siO,OOO,OOO or sl5,ooO,OOO were
put into works on the river which
proved a failure, it would be i'm
possible to get appropriations fol-
the river, even if it were demon