Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1882-02-11
TIE MISSISSIPPI.
Captain Cowdon Before the House Com.
rr mittee On LeVees. alr- o.

Gently addressed the House Committee on
Levees and Improvements OF the Mississippi
River He said, in substance, that the main
question was to prevent the overflow OF low
lands and to so deepen the channel of the
Mississippi River as TO render 1t capable OF
performing the high mission with which It
was charged-that it should serve asthe high
way on which should be transported the pro-
vision to feed the nations of the world-until
the Valley OF the Mississippi attained that po'
sition to which it was destined as the guar
dian of civilization and the arbiter, through
its great resources, of the progress OF hui
mainly.
He first considered the comparative merits
in n general sense, of the various plans sug'
gested, rs likely TO accomplish this important
result, The plans of the Mississippi River
Commission, lie said, would require an ex'
penditure OF Sl000C0,0O0, as estimated by the
] friends nf tlio M aaarre end advocated by the
| Commission. He had no hostility TO exhibit,
nor did he feel any against this Commission
or its proposed measure. On the contrary
there was much that had his warm approval
from the high character of the ends sought to
be obtained, and therefore he felt no antag.
onism against it, and instead felt that those
united in an effort to attain a common pur.
pose should labor together in the highest
| spirit of harmony.
| He did not hesitate, however, to say that he
believed, and he had devoted years of earnest
labor while acquiring this belief, that a sim.
pier plan than that of the Mississippi River
Compassion might be pursued by resorting
to the outlet system, and this latter, instead
of requiring many years TO complete and cost.
ing Sl00,0O0,0O0, could be perfected in very
short time and at an expense not to exceed
| in all three fouTths of Sl,0O0,0O0. a-
Before any action was taken, the first es
| sental was that the statesmen to whom was
| contded the determination of this important
| question should have clearly before them the
full history of the Father of Waters Once this
| great river was an arm oil the sea, when IL eX-
tended to the present mouth OF the Ohio Riv-
/ er. That this was the case is proven by the
| discoveries, hundreds of feet beneath the SUR
! face of the soil, of forest trees which grew in
those ancient days He spoke of piece OF
cyprus taken from the representative of one
| of that species of trees Which had been found
$50 feet below the surface of the earth. From
New Orleans to Cairo, he said You could find
the stumps OF trees standing in the order in
which they grew from high to low water
mark, as the bricks are arranged one above
the other in building made by hands.
The Mississippi River has a fall from the
City of Cairo to the Gulf OF Mexico of 1876 feet,
between Cairo and Memphis a fall of ITO feet
|
and the mouth of the Arkansas 1852 feet Vicks
burg is 100 and Natchez 65 feet. The mouth Of
the Red River 81 feet, Baton Rouge (the CAPT
tai OF Louisiana) IS feet Plaquemines so feet,
Donaldsonyille 20 feet New Orleans II feet,
and Lake Borgne Is feet. At the head of the
passage the rise and fall is ABOUT "a feet. We
have thus n fall in l,l20 miles, which is the
distance from Cairo to the Gulf, OF 800 leet.
The levee system prescribed by the Board OF
Engineers oil 1876 requires levees TO be raised
at Cairo to the height of three feet, Mt Men,
phis and Helena seven feet, at Island NO. II
ten feet, at Lake Providence eleven feet. mt
Vicksburg and NatcheZ six feet, at the mouth
of Red River seven feet, at Baton Rouge, Pla.
quemines and DQnaldsonville fve feet, at
New Orleans four and hall feet. This work IL
proposed to be done at cost OF $50O0O,OOO
1he River Commission proposes to close the
outlets, and If they do they will re- establish
Il the leYee system recommended IN 1879.
The amount asked for by the friends OF the
outlet system is $50 900 for preliminary sur.
vey and test, and. on a successful showing
within brief and limited time, further APP.
preparation of $500 900 to complete the work
In 1858 the levee system was perfected, and
in that year Gen. Humphrey reports: 1--WE
had another overflow, which lasted 1879 days
the longest period on record, and by iive
cross sectional surveys across the valley, tho
overflow averaged Il feet deep and Ak miles
wide, from Cairo to near tide wafer"
IT is conceded that our levee system in that
year is the best we have ever had, and yet
the levee system finds friends and advo
: Gates among our scientific engineers. N
There is Il practical illustration OF the value
of the outlet system In the fact that, while the
outlets of the Mississippi have kept the river
in its banks, the river has deepened its owl
bed from three to four fl OF from GIeenville tC
the mouth of Red River, distance OF 3O'
uIies.
Gen Humphreys report in 1850 and 1851
gives the number of creVasSoS as eight eacl
year This was when there was no genera
leyee system. What would be the effect Will
seven feet more piled on top OF them, as Il
now proposed?
! In 1858 there were 40 crevasses, aggregatlns
n width or IS miles. In 1853 there were 80 from
, the mouth of the st. Francis River to Bonnet
, Care. The report OF the Board of Engineer:
in 1878 says that the crevasses in ls74 were toe
numerous to mention but that their tota
width in Arkansas and Missouri was 100 miles
In the same year in Mississippi and Louisiana
there were As breaks in the levees, and the
report says that If the levees had not broker
the water would have gone over the top o
them, and, also, that the leveeS were unde
: grade from Cairo to New Orleans, averaging
from TO I feet. In 1885, the water at tue high
: est period OF that yehr at Memphis lacked bu
/ feet and inches of high. water mark; at thu
. mouth of White Riverit lacked foot and si1
: inches; at Nicksburg feet and inches; II
the month of Red River it lacked feet ana
4 inches; at New Orleans 1t lacked 6 feet II
1877 it lacked feet and inches ut Memphis
; At the mouth of the White River 2 feet and
inches, at Vicksburg IL feet inches, and n
9 \ New Orleans feet and inches.
"Now let me ask what caused this loweTfn!
L of the flood lines in the lower river, q
e shown unless drawn off through the outlet
= OF the Atchafalaya, Morganza and Bonnie
Il Care? At Memphis in 1881 1t lacked foo
: and inches of being to high water mark a
the mouth of the White River 1t lacked foo
and inches; at ViclSsburg 10 feet; at Natche
: feet; ut the mouth of Red River feet and /
: inches: at Donaidsonville feet; ut New Or
~ leans feet. This shows the effect of dammin
} the rivers mouth. When they commence
the work at the South Pass they contracts
4 the lower end of the pass, which caused 1t =
!, ! shoal, then in order to force more water dow
that pass dams were placed across the nea
OF the Southwest Pass, which depth was nc
4 duced from twenty feet to twelve fee
: and the Pass r0utre, which was reduce
from fourteen feet to seven feet. This backe
e the water to New Orleans to within two fee
a of the high. water mark, which was four fec
y more than the year before, and previous I
& the building of the dams.
\ "We leave the river ten miles below Ne
: Orleans with fall of about fourteen feet i
= going to the lake, a distance of five miles. TIL
It lake is ABOUT forty five miles long, and has a
s area of some 800 square miles, and has Gel
tlal depth of ten or twelve feet, and is pal
IS of the Gulf OF Mexico. To make this ontl'
Is we propose first to build two levees about
, mile apart, one above and one below the ou
j. let, running back from the bank of the rive
e to the bank of the lake, 10 prevent the ovel
W flow of planla tions, above and below, in I'll
:, rear. Then we have to clear OFF the tmbC
u and do some eXcavating. This can be donei
!, about sixty days, and If the appropriate
a can be MADE in time, we can make the outl,
this spring. so rs TO test it thoroughly an
l. satisfy the whole country and Congress-"
1t Capt Cowdon next gave his attention TO II
n passes ut the mouth of the Mississippi, d,
: scFibing them, and the history OF this regto
|. with is alluvial accretons.
e He then considered at length the question
"a growing out of the peculiar condition of Re
Z River, Old River and the Atchafalaya, and NJ
nah I'm nf ont q n ha n
from spanish Lake, which will probably m
cost over So, 600, below the Grand Cut off the
y put up a lOw-water dam in Red River. an
is that will hold the water of Red River aud kee