The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-04-20

the more Objectionable as a source
of water supply for great city. I'm
pure, offensive mater which other
streams would deposit and cover with
gradual accumulations of earth this
great stream continues to stir up and
roll around. A dead animal in the
Mississippi is thus gradually WORE into
atoms and thoroughly distributed,
many OF its poisonous elements as.
Stimulating with the water and held in
solution by it only to be eliminated
when 1t reaches the salt sea or is
spread over the country by overflow
to fertilize the land and finally to psss
into vegetation. Hence the Mississip-
pi not only retains solids in solution,
like all other rivers, even when clear,
but by its turbulent, boiling peculiari-
ty it retains in suspension great guam
titles of foreign impurities which
other running streams lose by precipi-
tation. Here is the reason why the
great river carries in it such large
proportion Of hurtful substances--ani-
man and vegetable, organic and inor-
ganic-and this is the reason why in
telligent medical gentlemen consider
it dangerous vehicle of disease, as is
the case with all impure water. With
out being authorized to speak for these
gentlemen, it may MT be amiss to say
this is probably the reason, and very
sound reason, tao, why Dre. Mitchell
and Thornton consider the Mississippi
water more dangerous than Wolf river
water in time of cholera epidemic or
other pestilential visitation, for such
was their emphatic opinion as ex-
pressed before the committee. Your
correspondent "Reformer" also states
that Wolf river for many miles up
from its mouth abounds in stsgnsnt
pools and small lakes. Such is not the
information the committee has &C.
quired from intelligent sources and
from recent careful investigation.
For many miles from its source
down it is a bold stream, pase-
ing through a billy, broken coun-
try. Then it courses through a por-
ton OF Fayetts county exec 2iionslly
free from marsby districts and stag,
nsnt poole. But what is the Mississippi
on this score? Does it not abound in
swamps, aud marshes, and stagnant
waters and sluggish foul bayous for
miles and hundreds of miles? For
nearly or quite 1000 miles it passes
through just such country, with only
occasional bluffs. The soil is a rich
loan, easily washed, and its current is
constantly wearing it away aud wash
ing up debris which has been buried
for centuries, decsyed vegetation and
animal remains, the prolific source Of
disease. 1t is the drsin of great ter
ritory, occupied by 100000 to To-.
100000 people above us, with many
gre at cities and countless towns and
villages. The sewage all finds its out
let to the Mi sissippi. And as the
years advance and population in.
creases this feature will be aggravated.
Does such stream present advan.
tages for driI king water over stream
that rises in springs among the hills
and is fed by them perennially? With
Wolf river below Raleigh this article
has nothing 10 do. The com mittes
deem that point unwo.thy of con-
sideIation, and have never even re-
motel entertained The idea OF a supply
from that part of the river. 1t is just
this water taken from Wolf river near
its mouth, within reach of back-water
from the Mississippi and the bayou,
and receiving washings from slsugh-
ter-houses, and other Objectionable
works, that our people have been
using for years past, and which has
given Wolf river water such bad
name. But the people OF Memphis
will understand that this water is
nowise comparable with the water
taken from Wolf above Raleigh at the
point contemplated by the COM
nittee. It is this fact that
should be fully and clearly impressed
on them, so that the prejudice, wbi, b
has been so thoroughly grounded in
their minds by the use OF Wolf water
from present point OF intake, may not
influence them agar st the ample suu-
ply of pure water to be obtained
higher up.
Aside from the quality Of the water,
the project for taking supply from
the Mississippi above the city has
been thougbttully considered and
earnestly discussed, in Difference to
the well-known views of many of our
citizens. The unreliabiity of the
river, its changing banks and shifting
currents, its resistless and destructive
power, all these presented insur-
mountabls obstacles to the committee.
Engine ering problems were involved
which have never yet been solved.
Even thorough preliminary exam
ination by competent engineers would
require a large expenditure of time
and money, and would only be ex-
perimental at best. With unlimited
resources it might do to make the
trial. But, circumscribed financially,
with the public urgently demanding
better water, it seemed unwise 10 enter
upon experiments with the Mississippi
pi, when an easier and better solution
was within reach