The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1882-04-22

acceptance or rejection of the
work. In the winter of 1873, be-
fore the old Roaring Water levee
in front cayed of, was aware of
the insufficient hight of this levee
and had it enlarged, making it con-
higher than the old
levees. | knew the Importance of
this levee and gave it particular
attention, and after / got through
with it, it was pronounced by all
the finest levee in the district, and
the expression was, eff that did
not hold, there was no use in try
ing to levee the head of Lake Boil
var" The old levee ON the front
eaved off and the water came
against this levee for the first time
in the spring of 1880; and during
that high water a large slough oc
Cured where it crosses Roaring
Water or the old head of Lake
Bolivar. Being present at the
time, looking after the places in
greatest peril, by timely action |
succeeded in averting the great
impending danger. Although the
water was very high, lacking only
a few inches of being as high as
that of 1876, this levee stood full 8
feet or more above the water.
Now, G. G. says, "while the old
Roaring Water levee was on an
average of two feet above the high
est water, we stood on the G. and
b. levee lifting sand bags and pill
ing earth from one foot to q and
3 feet to keep it up even with the
flood line.n BY this statement it
would appear that the G. and b.
levee was from 3 to 9 feet lower
than the old Roaring Water levee,
which he and every one else in
that section knows could not have
been the case, unless the founda-
ton had given way and the levee
had sunken. / do not believe that
any amount Of travel could have
worn the levee to that extent.
think myself, from the description
G. q. gives of the breaking of this
levee, that with anything like prop
er management it could have easily
been saved. The cross section
notes of this levee, taken for ite
enlargement, shows its greatest
hight to have been n feet and its
base about 40 feet; levee surely
worth the work of "twenty men
for two hours" at any price. G.
G. in his praise of the Roaring
Water levee has perhaps forgotten
that it, too, sloughed very badly
on the 22d of February, 1871, the
same day that the main levee
across the head of Lake Bolivar
broke. This shows further the in
security of the soil. Il happened
to witness this slough, though moi
connected with the levees at the
time.)
The Wade break-well, that, too
was near the head Of Lake Boil
var. Its hight was about II feet
In saying so mach in contro
versy about the levees at the head
of Lake Bolivar, i am led to q fur
ther discussion of the matter, and
am induced to express some of my
views and opinions regarding the
condition of affairs in Bolivar
Bend. and offer some arguments in
favor of a plan, not new or forgot
ten, viz: The practicability and
Importance of building the levee
around the east bank of Lake Boil
var instead of again attempting tc
hold a levee across the head o.
the Lake. The line of levee in thi;
bend averages perhaps the largest
in the district, yet whenever the
time comes for levees to break this
one has invariably given way a
one or more points. The reasons
are the unftness of the soil at thu
head of the Lake and the undu,
hight of the flood line. The cause
of the latter | attribute to severa
reasons; first, being near thu
mouth of the Arkansas river; sec
ond, receiving the additional watel
across Indian Point, and lastly
the shape of the levee and bend o
Catfish Point preventing the free
flow of water out of the bend. i
is well known that the Mississippi
Valley is a plain sloping towards
the south, and all drainage tend
in that direction, and that any OBJ
struction to the flow in that direc
ton has a tendancy to dam th'
water and cause it to rise above
Such is the case with the levee ol
Catfish Point; it runs i'll westeI
ly direction some distance am
then turns and runs almost north
following the bend. An inspection