The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1884-10-25
DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL OF WASHINGTON COUNTY.


Certain sections of line of levees fronting and
protecting the district are of immense proportions
That at Lake Bolivar which protects, especially, the
has been the most costly as well as the most diff
cult of construction not only in this district but in
the Mississippi Valley. In length of sixteen hun
dred feet is contained about two hundred thousand
cubic yards of earth; chiefly upon willow mattress
The maximum height is twenty-five feet. with slopes
of to l, base 800 feet. This massive work was
completed in 1882 at cost including subsequent
repairs and additions, of 100000, and has success
fully stood the high waters of the two succeeding
years.
Hushpuckana, at the head of the Huspuckana
Bayou, or west fork of Sunfower, is also an unusu
ally large work. 1t was completed in 1870 and for
portion of its line is over 40 feet high, with base
of $50 feet The main portion of this evee has not
been broken since it was built in 1870.
The protection of the territory comprised in the
mississippi Levee District has been most materi
ally impeded and the solution of the levee problem
greatly perplexed, by the unwse course pursued by
the other Delta counties These after an illdirected
feeble, and abortiye attempt in 1S71 relapsed into
absolute inaction. Thus the fronts of DeSoto Tu.
Mica and Coahoma, left with great gaps in their
levees, increasing from year to year. until almost the
entire line Of levees has become obliterated. This
has necessitated the extension of the levees of the
mississippi, or No. 2, Levee DISTRICT into Coahoma
county, including Hushpuckana levee, for the pro.
lection of the northern portion of Bolivar county.
But the inflow through the counties north of Bolivar
has annually overfowed lands of Bolivar Washing.
ton and Sharkey, east Of Bogue Phaah and Deer
Creek. This has prevented the clearing and perma-
nent settlement of large territory of as fine land as
there is in the Delta
But at last the energies of the upper and back
Delta counties being directed into vigorous and
proper action. The great railroad corporation that
has built its road through the entire length of the
Yazoo Delta has agreed to rebuild the entire line of
levees Of DeSoto, Tunca and Coahoma counties
taking pay in the bonds of those and the other
counties comprising the Yazoo Mississippi Levce
District, Incorporated by the Legislature of 1884.
The work Of rebuilding these levcss has been subet
to the largest and most reliable evee contractors OF
the Valley. With the levees of the upper Delta put
up, and maintained as they are sure to be by the
combined railroad and planting interests the cuti
vable area of Washington county will be increased
onehalf.
In the future of levee construction and main
tainance the plan Of operations of the Commission
created for the improvement of tho navigation of the
Mississippi River, will be an important factor. In
this plan, as II has been studied and shaped the
evee adjunct of navigation improvement has gained
and grown in consideration and consequence. Ant
at it's last session, this River Commission resolved
that the closing from overflow of the Yazoo ant
Tensas basins, was an indispensable requisite. Their,
is every prospect that of the liberal appropriation
asked for from the next Congress, S7OOO,OOO, from
Cairo to the Gulf, the Commission will devote
large portion to levee construction.
This is but q meagre outline of an institution
which enters into the very life of Washington
county and the Delta In evidence of the vain,
placed upon this system by the citizens Of tn,
county, we refer to the tabuated statements herein
exhibiting the cost of its maintainance These Hg
ures prove likewise the wonderful capacities of thu
Levee District in sustaining burthens under which
other sections would have sunk. And yet there i
less Of doubt among our citizens than ever before
as to their money and their toll having been well
pended. AS proof of their wisdom, a comparison o
conditions and productions is challenged with an.
section of the Delta where the rule that "oyerfow
are cheaper than leveesn has been adopted.
GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF THE YAzoo DELTA
The portion of the alluvial plain of the Missis
sppi River lying within our State, and popularl
known as the "Yazoo Basin, or Bottom forms
lozenge shaped body of 1900 square miles, betwee
the eastward sweep of the bluff and correspondent
western course of the river. AT the head of tn
ozenge lies the city of Memphis, and the souther
point terminates at the high ridge the "Walnu
Hills1 which abuts on the river at vcksburg.
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
Along the upper half of the southwestern lin
of this lozenge, lies Washington county, extendin
eastward from the Mississippi River to the Yazoo
Q the greater part, however, bordering upon tn
former river. 1t is entirely included within the ALT
2 vial region. and is watered and drained by the Bi
s Sunfower River, Bogue Phaliah, Lake Washngto
Bayou, Black, or Steele's Bayou and Deer Creel
eIof1 aoJ ;,.to