Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-07-10
WASHINGTON LETTER.
A VISIT TO THE BATTLE FIELD OF
SEVEN PINES.
y 'ewei From wars's Grim visaged Front
o'a Time Politicians-A philoso-
pher and the Mississippi
Problem.

Irobieui.
SpSsselai correspondence OF the Gazette.
Mashington, ID. c., July 6.-I wa:
Iiuing. some DAYS ago, over the battle
heiu OF seven Pines, when encount-
eIeu gray haired negro and was ask.
my MN to identify the spot on which
my quondam schoolfelIow, Gen. Bob
natton fell. He has learned something
pl tne topography and history of tie
ohItieneld and was cunning and
good natured. A flask and few pen
mes made him generous and loqua-
cious. He designated spots OH which
he found most bullets and now and
tnen bones and skulls of the slain.
lie offered me a well-preserved skull
ior twenty-five cents, and then exhib-
tied a watch seal such as old planters
OF the lowlands used to wear, before
wars demonism "smote them hip and
thigh" The stone setting was rich
ly tinted topaz, much the color and
sheen of Madame Cliquot. [ bought
it. black and stained as
it was, and despite the
story that the bones. of him
wore the trinket were broken, and his
skull crushed. as if mighty weight
had driven him into the very earth.
Evidently the seal had been stolen
from some old Niiginian of the val
ley desolated by Sheridan, and the
robber had here been punished, with
the stolen goods upon his person, by q
bolt from heaven. Can't some
fair daughter of Texas weave
into verse the story told by
this pretty sparkling stone,
in whose liquid depths one may read
Of tears and in its brilliant lights aud
shades the hopes and fears that beset
honest patriotism. / have walking
stick once owned and even polished
by Henry Clay. Twill nave this pref
~ stone Inserted in the gold head that
adorns the polished piece OF ash, and
then have both inurned and deposited
inaccessibly in Washington's monu-
ment. VIII it not add sanctity to the
mighty pile?
A CONGRESSMAN INTERVIEWED.
/ encountered Mr.. Van Horn. the
Kansas City. He has been contem-
plating the flooded districts about ST.
Louis and talked, much to my aston
ishment, much in this wise:
If the outflow of the Mississippi
into the Gulf of Mexico were greater
than the "intiown from its tributaries
and water shedn there could he no
overflow. sCrevassesn lower the river
at the point of exit but the water
going out returns to the main channel
as the river falls an "outletn into the
gulf, or into a lateral stream entering
the gulf, gives permanent relief 1t
accclerates the main rivers current
and deepens its channel and perfects
its navigability. Levees cannot he
made to contain the turbid iloodtide of
the Mississippi. II is often forty to
fifty miles wide with an average depth
Of ten feet. This simple fact demon
strates the inutility of
side of the river forces the water into
the lowlands on the other and if the
eastern wall he upiifted on both sides,
both levees must be high enough and
strong enough 10 contain the sen forty
mileSand ten feet deep. Levees two
miles apart from Cairo TO the etties
must be constructed of a height APP
proNlnafing 200 feet. The rivers cur
rent nom Cairo to Eicksburg is twice
stronger and more rapid than from
Nieksburg TO the gulf. The descent
roin Cairo to Vicksburg is two-thirds
gteater per mile than below the latter
point, IN nther words, there ia great
depression in the valley near ViclSshurg
force their way out of the valley proper
OF the Mississippi and enter that of the
Atchaialaya. Nature thus tells us
now 10 relieve the valley. There must
he one or more outlets or disastrous
overilows viii be of perpetual recur-
renee. LII the one proposed To be made
INTO Lake Borgne, which will shorten
the Hood flow of the river 10 miles
ana give its surface at New Orleans the
Gulf level-Lake. Borgne being OF the
level of the sea--fails to take of enough
water TO confine the stream 10 rs
banks along its whole course from
Cairo to New Orleans. Red river may
be detected from the Mississippi
INTO the Atchatalaya. Ii this
diversion of water do not accomplish
the end aimed at the Arkansas must
he made to enter Red river. These
natural bayous already levied in future |
years, Will be opened and used as ca
nails to connect the main river with lis
diverted lateral tributaries. These
will be used for purposes of commerce
and irrigation, and the productlveness
OF the valley, from Cairo to the Gulf, !
MIL be matchless as was that of the
Nile. Egyptians of old, wiser than we
onitt no mud walls. They con,
structed canals and outlets. The
ME mad or was given seven months
debauehing into the Mediterranean
ana another was dug even To the Rel |
sea. Egyptians Were only the more
enriched 10y the mightiest floods thai
descended from the mountain ranues
OF Central Africa. The higher the ,'lse
G the Nile the broader the area az |
Egypt, irrigated by pumps and covered |
Win ailuvium that made Egvpt The
Wullu grainary, supporting popula-
IONS dense enough to maintain cd1ut-
iess inuititudcs that reared the might
~ niohulhents To wealth and power
ever uphited by human toll.
PHILOSOPHY OF 4uEsE pe,,pos,r,o.>...
Ievees, when pioneers o,,a,. - siuNs
ana plantations in tho ina.I .',ii,is
Were an ovious local necessity !, ,", US
natural that each pioneer s,;c,ii was
tect these walls and when farms, pro
lhe opposite side saw how the Hoods
We're forced upon them, they too, con-
stfucted mud walls. The river rose
higher OF course and up went the
steadily extended levees. Counties
inlerVened TO assist the farmers and
tneir states, The federal government J
absolutely gave Arkansas, Mississjnn
ana Louisiana and Missouri > 00n nna :
acres 10 be sold and the proceeds In.
vested In these important earthern
Walls. But the more perfect the levea
system the higher rose the henlmed.in
Mississippi and the more disastrons
ana ruinous were crevasses and over.
flows. V'Si'
There Is not wealth or power enouch
~ me government or M the disnosnj