The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-03-14
mo Mississippi RIVER

scult tor the mind to coaceive its magni-
tudo. /, appears from recent speech OF
the Sion. RANDALL l.. GIBSON, ofLouisiana,
M indeed from the testimony Of General
a1ER himself, rs printed in the Con-
~vessiondl Record, that the latter gentle
man, distinguished engineer, when I'M
der examination by the recent investiga-
ting committee Of the House OF Reprcsen-
tatives, declared, on behalf OF the Missis-
s,ppi River Commissioned Engineers, that
tbe crest Of the nood, which was perfectly
well defined and sharp and well marked,
no az to be traced from gauge to gauge
without difficulty when within the banks
of the river, was Just ten days in passing
from Cairo to New Orleans; but that when
the next rise took place, producingan over
6ow. the crest OF the food was so retarded
that 1t was over one hundred days travelling
the same distance
We had not seen nor heard OF this tes-
timony when we wrote the several articles
which have heretofore appeared In The
Dispatch on this interesting subject, but
we knew that the system Of outlets pro-
posed by Captain COwDON was no scheme
for improving tho navigation OF tie Missis-
sippi river, nor one for controlling the
hoods which sometimes overflow It's banks,
but was I'm effect mere artificial imitation
of the stste Of things which obtained III
The lower Mississippi Valley when the
land was pade which now constitutes the
r n ha
waters in those ancient times spread all
over that territory, and, becoming sluggish
in its movements in proportion a. II III
creased its width or divided its volume,
deposited millions Of cubic yards Of silt
which would have been carried further INTO
the Gull IL tberivor had been confined within
such limits as Captain EADs and the Missis-
sippi River commission OF Engineers pro-
nose shall hereafter bind its floods and say
10 it's waters, .'Thus far shalt thou go and
no farther, and here shall thy proud
waves be stayed"
The whole theory OF the proper manner
OF improving the navigation of the Alissis-
sippi, and incidentally, or II you prefer the
word designedly, controlling Its periodical
foods, is involved in these few words Of
General SUFFERS testimony. Mr.. GIBSON
said In his speech that nothing could show
more plainly how much the velocity is in
creased and the securing force of the cur
rent by holding the river within its chan
mel and how much ii is retarded by over
flows, and how deposits or sand-bars, the
great obstacles TO navigation, are produced
by such overhows. lin a word, General
SUTER and the rest OF the members OF the
Mississippi River commission OF Engineers
show TO a demonstration TINT Captain |
EADs's scheme for managing the Mississippi |
Is the only one which deserves conSidcra-
tIon, the one fact above cited being conclu-
sive proof that the system Of outlets is 4
worse than worthless one.
We quote from Mr.. GlBsoN's speech rs
follows:
"Sccond. i 60 bach now thirty years, TO
the observations made 10y Humphreys and
Abbott, 10 whom have already referred.
They found on the 10Th Of March, 1851,
that when the river was 1i.0 feet above
low water Ii discharged 1.I49,S0S cubic
feet per second, and that its mean velocity
was GIG cubic feet per second. On At-
gust 20, 1851, when the river was 81 feet 1
only above low water, the discharge was ,
only j72.3S3 cubic feet per second. and IFS I
velocity vas only 3.3S cubic feet per
second; that il. difference of only G.S
feet caused a discharge Of the river at Car
Toliton 10 double. The river here at the |
lowest Stage was ll5 feet deep; hence
there was an increase OF only one seven
tenth part 81 its total depth 10 produce
this astonishing di1errhcc in the dis
charge The velocity was AT the same
meincreascd 81 per cent. These tables are
accurate; they have never been disputed.
And they show that when the river rose
only G.S Of foot at Carrollton il would
have required an outlet as large as the Ms
slssippi itself tn have reduced il GS OF a
foot that Is, that an increase OF G.S feet,
when confined within its banks, made it
equal in its discharging capacities TO two
Mississippi rivers at its mean lOw-watcr
stage. Hence it follows that i'm order TO
reduce the river even g feet by an outlet
II would be necessary to make the outlet
equal to the Mississippi river itself at its
ordinary stage. Such an outlet or creyaSse
would in less than fortnight put an ave-
rage depth OF 3 feet over an area greater
than the STATE o. New jersey.
"But the point | desire 10 establish by
these two illustrations, taken from two
commissions which were authorized by the
Government To examine the phenomena
OF the river, IL this They concur, though
made thirty years apart, to show how the
capacity OF the river 10 discharge the floods ,
Is increased by combining them within the
channel. II these two Important facts are
borne IN mind, it appears TO me that no
one can dispute the correctness of the
theory OF cOntraction-that is, of con- ,
1ning tue river in It's flood stages
to a particular channel. in order that
the great energy which it then possesses .
may he applied 10 the task of conveying
the dttrituS and dfbrS with which it is
charged To the sea. How otherwise is the
vast burden to te borney by what force
III such energy may not be utilized, il is
very evident that heavy deposits must take
place. and that so far from the local treat
ment at the reaches being successful, the
shoals will be merely transferred from one
point TO another, and the conditions aggra-
yated."
Think what a river II Is which is so long
that il requires hundred days to deliver
70 the Gulf the waters entrusted to it near
Its sources. We are even now reading
every day OF floods in the lower Missis-
sippi caused 10y the waters which weeks
ago were committing such havoc in the
Ohio-river valley.
The levees are not exactly on the banks
oil the river, but are constructed a short
distance back from the ordinary banks, so
that they may not be destroyed by the mere c
falling In Of the banks. '
How much money should Congress ap- C
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