The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1883-01-03
current of the river, which proved

changing current of the river, which proved
so destructive to the old levee several
years ogo, and which is the chief cause
of trouble all along the rivers banks.
The theory which the Col has
put to practice in this work is
one which he has entertained for
many years, and which, wherever he
carried 1t cut in former years, proved sue
cessful in controlling the action of the
river. Stone reve.ment of the bank,
stone dykes and reed mattresses are what
be has employed in carrying out his theory;
and by a iudicious use of these he has
changed the current Of the river time and
again, throwing it away from the shore
which it was rapidly devouring, and, most
important of all, causing it to repair the
damage it had itself done, 10y dcposlting
its sediment in large quantities where it
had formerly cut away great masses
every moment Col Taylor is probably
the inventor Of the reed mattresses as a
means Of preventing abrasion. Away back
as far as 1857 he had several Of them
placed at points in the Mississippi, river
where the current was cutting away the
shore, and they had the desired
effect and remain there To this
day, doing their work as
we'll as ever; and these were probably the
first mattresses ever used in river improve
ment in this county. At other poins mat
tresses alone were not sufficient, for the
cutting was being done by a deep under
current against perpendicular bank,
which had to be. managed in some other
way, At these points he employed dykes
and sunk barges Of rock. AT one point he
sunk two barges and steamboat hull,
each on top of the other, and all went out
of sight almost out of reach The
dykes extending at an irregular angle into
the river and, being built above the point
intended to be protected, would throw the
current away from the shore; the sunkew
rock would make foundation Tor mattress.
es, or for a stone reVetment; and dykes
running parallel with the shore and some
distance away from it, would compel the
deposit of silt in the deep places between
them aud the store and cause them to be en-
tirely filled up This lsanimpertect discrip-
ton of the manner in which the Col. has
succeeded in managing the treacherous cur
rent of the river, but it will probably
serve to give the reader some idea of it.
That the plan has proved successful, even
to the realization Of the highest hopes Of
Col. Taylor, is not open to dispute and is
proof positive that the Coils idea of river
improvement is the correct one.
But what interests us most right now is
the great amount Of work done recently
in accordance with this plan, and which,
being fms ed, encIoscs the Mississippi side
of the city practically with a wall Of stone,
against which the meanest river in the
world, perhaps, will exert its destructive
powers in vain. For six weeks during
October and November a large force of
men was kept almost constantly employed
under the immediate direction Of Mr.. VIM.
McHale, repairing old dykes aud old rev.
etments and laying foundations for and
building new ones. Barge-load after barge
load of rock was brought down the Ohio
river and lowed around TO the Mississippi
side of the city, and there put in place
Each rock was carefully laid upon the
other and little by little stone wall was
built from the water to the top of the
levee, completely hiding the crumbling
bank from view and certainly protecting
it from any possible washing by the river
This work begins where the government
work stopped, some distance above the
Cross levee, and extends for distance OF
three quarters of amile down stream, to q
point where the current of the river leaves
this side and shoots over to Mis-
souri,. This revetment is in some
places thirty or forty feet high and is low
or as the bank is lower, Besides this eight
or ten dykes have been built at points and
in different positions, 50 as to serve, either
to change the current, or to create deposits,
or both. About three thousand yards OF
rock was used IN this work aud no doubt,
many thousand dollars were expended. AT