Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-10
THE RESTLESS RIVER
THREATENING DESTRUCTION TO VALu-
ABLE NEW ORLEANS PROPERTY.

The Changes In the Channel Followed By
Caving of Banks-Large Bodies of Land
slipping OR Into the MIssIssIppi-Many
Spots Affected.
NEW ORLEANS, August 9.-The lands
along the lower Mississippi are threatened
with the worst caving ever known, and the
next two months will probably make i'm
portant changes in the channel. The
caving depends upon the height the
river reaches during food season
and as it was higher this spring than ever
before, the amount of caving is likely to be
greater. It is caused by the current cutting
under the banks, and this cutting does not
show its effects until the river begins to
fall. After the high water of 1884, a large area
of land in front of the town of Plaquemine
fell into the river, and a number of houses
had to be abandoned there. Although
the river has just really begun to fall,
this caving has begun earlier and is worse
than ever before. It promises to carry
away many hundred acres of land.
On this city's front there have already
of Second street a large body of land
cracked, slipped off into the Mississippi,
and disappeared. Piecey continued to dis
appear from day to day until crack reached
the Illinois Central Railroad and compelled
the company to move.
On the other side of the river. in Algiers,
of the Fifteenth ward, piece of land near
the ferry landing caved off few days ago,
carrying with it the repair and carpenter
shops, ferryboats. and the pavement and
sidewalk on Front street. This promises to
be a somewhat serious affair, as soundings
indicate that the river is eating its way
through the point so as to form an under
ground passage or tunnel.
Several years ago there was an ugly cav
ing in this locality, when ship yard, with
several vessels and large amount of mater
ial, sank out Of sight. The present tunnell-
ing process threatens both the ferry landing
and the new depot of the New Orleans, Fort
jackson and Grand Isle Railroad, which
was to be completed about 100 feet from the
caving bank. Piles will be driven in here
and breakwater constructed.
A third caving took place at the foot Of
Hospital and Barracks streets, endangering
the garbage wharf. The condition of affairs
Mississippi river for 500 or 800 miles from its
mouth. The encroaching river threatens the
destruction of the venerable Church of St.
Francis, the first parish church in Pointe
Coupee, and probably the oldest church in
the Mississippi Valley. This church was
erected in 1927. being then a long distance
back from the river. 1t has always been
the favorite church in the parish, and it
contains the birth, marriage, and death
records:of Pointe Coupee for nearly century
and three-quarters. In order to save the
building, it is proposed to take it to pieces
and use the material in erecting new
church at q safe distance from the Missis-
sippi.
But while the river is cutting away land
above it is adding to it below. Its water,
laden with sand and mud, pouring over the
levees or through crevasses, have filled up
low and swampy places. and will bring into
cultivation lands formerly deemed too low
for that purpose. The restless Mississippi
is always tearing down and building up,