The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1883-06-16
OUTLETN


LoGisiana on his PLAN Of relieving
the floods Of the Mississippi river
by the outlet system. His plan is
plausible to N who has not stud
led the question, and who has no
experience in such subjects.
Some years ago he printed aud
sent to the papers a map giving an
idea of what he proposed to do, to
mako his plan Il success. g
He had one outlet GU the East
side of the Mississippi by which he
could lave inundated that part of
the State between Baton Rouge
and Lake Pontchartraiu. He had
another. N or :wo above Vicks
Ourgh, the effrcr uf Which was very
plainly witnessed last year from
the Arkansas river down through
the Ouachita and Atchafalaya Ba
sins; another was to he out of Red
river at Bayou Cotille, 20 miles
above Alexandria into the Calca,
sleu that would have turned the
Calcasieu Prairies into AL ocean
and cleaned out the last of the jay
kawkers, which was the only sensi
BILE feature in the entire programme
Now he is advocating only the
Lake Borgne outlet, contending
that that one opening would relieve
the river as high mp IS Memphis or
perhaps Cairo. It would, effect
one place az much as the other.
The people Who reside on lower
Lafourche have some experience in
outlets and are qualified to express
an opinion on the results they pro
duce. The knowledge they possess
has been gained by the wisdom of
experience. The facts are there be
tore their eyes. 1t requires no
science nor silver tougued theorists
to point out the effect OF outlets.
They have seen them, they know
what outlets are; down deep iu
their memories of last crops and in
undated houses and yards the out
let system is engraved with points
Of steel.
+. For 40 years they have witnessed
their stream filling ny with deposit
after deposit, not abore the outlets
but bebW them until the mouth of
the Bayou is now practically 40
miles from the Gulf into which it
is supposed to empty.
And as this filling up Of the bed
of the Bayou, caused by the slack
ing of the current, below the an
nual crevasses or outlets, continues
to move slowly but certainly up
the stream, the levees above these
outlets are required to be raised
annually, and Notwithstanding the
many outlets below, the Bayou
above rises higher and higher ev
cry year.
These outlets simply but surely
remove the mouth or natural out
let of the Lafourche, farther and
farther from the Gulf and instead
of afording relief to the people
Gb0re the section of the stream in
which they occur, their condition
becomes more and more critical
with every high water.
One section of the Bayou, for a
a distance of 10 or 20 miles, that
has been favored with Cowden's
outlet system, has been entirely aban
dOned, and where there were miles
of potatoes, melons, and oranges
grown annually, the Alligator and
the bull frog sing their melodious
sonncts, whilst the garfish tatten
upon the submerged soil that once
fed aud nourished 400 or 500 peo-
pie.
Let an outlet he made into Lake
Borgne, in less than ten years the
river below. will fill with deposit |
until all the relief afforded by the
outlet will have been lost bv the