The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1885-11-14
RsDcrt Of the River Commission.

Washington, Nov. 1.-The re
port of the Mississippi River Gem
mission, covering its operations
from Oct, l, 1884, to the end of
the fiscal year, June so, is made
public. The works at various
points are fully described in gen.
eral terms in the report proper,
and the detailed reports of the Of
deers in charge of the work are
submitted. This is preceded by a
recapitu'ation,of previous reports
of the Commission: :.
''The total cost of works of bank
reyetment and channel eonstruc
ton actually executed by the Com
mission between Cairo and Ylcks.
burg from the time it assumed
charge to June 80, 1856, has been
as follows:
Works for protecting the
banks" .....................S s., 100000
Works for contracting the
This statement includes the first
cost OF the plant, less its present
value, and the cost of Its mainten.
ance to June 80, 1885. 1t also in
cludes the cost of ali work done
on Plum Point aud Lake Provi-
dence reaches; also the cost of the
special work put in for the pro.
lection of Memphis and Vicksburg
harbors, all of which was bank re-
vetment. The works of.bank pro-
lection, or bank revetlnent, have
heretofore cost a little less than
the works for channel contraction,
instead about four and half times
as much, which was the original
and unanimous estimate OF the
Commission.
A very considerable portion Of
the sum expended for bank revet'
ment was designed to give protec'
tion to certain sites and harbors-
Memphis and Vicksourg. These
harbors were given in charge ol
the Commission at a later period
and they required special and
prompt treatment. II Delta Point
had not been held by revetlng its
banks with mattresses at cousid
cradle cost, the city of Vicksburs
would long before now, have beer
practically an inland town entirel,
off from the river. AT Memphis
great values were also put in jeop
ardy by a rapidly caving bank
which threatened to carry of
portion of the city. Bank revet
ment. as Offering the only possible
means farresting the danger, wal
successfully applied in this case
although a portion of the worl
first nut down was carried away
the loss OF work put In by til,
Commission on both sides of th,
river amounting to II 23 per cent
OF it's cost. H
1t has been claimed, SAYS tn
/ commission, that the cavlng o
banks should be arrested by work
, of channel contraction at the wild
places above. Much warrante,
stress seems to have been laid o
a hypothetical discussion intro
duced into the first report of tn
commission. where 1t Is state
theoretically that uniform dept
+ Joined to uniform width implie
uniform velocity, and this mean
!; that there will be no violent Q
cross currents and no great O
sudden fluctuations in the si
transport power of the curren
but it is not here asserted in ths
report, nor is it believed by tn
, commission that uniform deptl
or any very near approach to i
is practically obtainable upon th
: Mississippi or upon any large ST
5 bearing stream flowing throug
) an alluvial bed, and having a di
t ference of forty five to fifty fec
: between its high and low waite
stages. In its low stage the OF
structed portions of the river pr
sent a series of shallow crossingl
or where the width is excessiv,
and where there is frequently onl
about six feet depth of water, a
ternating with concave bend
whore there are depths of eight
feet aud in some cases ninety
ninety.tive feet and upward. Th
scour induced by works of in
provement at the wide place
will doubtless depend on the widt
. across the levees, to fifteen G
twenty feet, leaving the depth |
the bends substantially unchan,
ed, so that the full measure of al
proach to a uniform depth attail
ed by these results consists
this: That where there formerl
n existed as between the depos
and shallow bars differenc
: ranging from seventy to ninct
feet depth, there now exists fu
ia 4har in, ,pruua,nnut op Ill ffaronoa .