Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-05-04

the trees were now visible. At Nlcksburg
they told me surprising thing.
This il a far more serious food than
last wear" said the citizens, hut not so
serious bv good deal rs SIX years ago.
That was a famous HOOD
Floods on the Mississippi are merely
comparative. being regular the people
there are accustomed 20 them. a nOOdless
year would excite wonder.
Above Arkansas City IL the great Raleigh
crcvasse, which from break OF 100 feet
wide has reached 1000 feet. Hundreds 81
laborers were busy piling up sacks IN the
middle of the river, a 1 imagined. They
made no more impression on the creyasse
than IA pebble dropped in Lake Michigan.
At Arkansas City | saw nothing but
wooden blOck-houses. 1t was more like
an Indian camp than white mans CITY,
and the buildings were rather on tho
model of cowboy huts than dwellings Tor
civilized men and women.
It's useless to build expensive houses
here" said one of the residents by way OF
explanation. because they might be swept
away in few months time"
Hearing this / could not wonder at the
carelessness regarding the levees.
At Baton Rouge the nearest part OF the
shore was flooded. The locationis higher,
and therefore not so dangerous as that Il
passed. On reaching New Orleans we
found the water very high. On the eastern
side of the city there is nothing but
wooden houses, like those | found at West
Memphis, which were entirely under
water, the roofs alone being visible. But
West Memphis is a " flood town." and pre-
pares for the annual deluge. New Orleans,
for a large and really fine city. is compare
lively defenceless. The floods unsettle
I I I 4. IrHEa
in the river breeds semi-panic.
II would be idle to pretend to give as the
result of personal observation on such q
trip any estimate of the damage inflicted
by these foods. 1t is beyond calculation.
Nothing that | can write can convey an
adequate picture of the extent of that vast
inland sea formed by the river when 1t
| overleaps its bounds, and, filling up
the valleys, hides levees, towns, and
villages in a common inundatlon. Yet
| one thing is painfully apparent.
| These floods are benefit to the con-
| tractors and to certain class of people
who don't live there and have no property
| at stake, but who make money by them.
| They accept the annual overflow as a
regular source Of revenue, Just as the
newspapers Of the South watch for it as q
piece of news that may De depended
upon. sooner or later in the season. And
| this raises the inquiry why these annual
deluges should not be turned from being q
cause of misery, devastation, and suffer-
| ing, into means of enriching and blessing
| the great section of nearly ten thousand
| square miles, which is more or less inlu-
riously affected by them.
THE REMEDY.
The Mississippi is not the only big river
in the world. There are the Nile (Which is
doing every year just what the Mississippi
dOes), the Danube, the Rhine, and the
Elbe. The Rhine. from Cologne TO Rotter-
| dam, IS IN overflow annually az certain sea-
sons, but IT'S waters spread to bless and not
TO destroy the country. Instead of giving
escape to the water as they do with the
Rhine. the South closes up the Mis-
sissippi by means of levees. and gives il no
room to extend. A big river like the Mis-
slssippi, growing by rains and for other
reasons, inevitably becomes so strong at
times that no system Of leyees can conflne
II. On the Rhine there is along each side
a system OIL canals and locks for relieving
the channel OF the superhuous water.
Ihese are used to irrigate the surrounding
country. ana the more the Rhine grows the
/ the country.
Reservoirs should be constructed along
the Mississippi Iron and stone leyees
should be built at the dangerous points
where the present leyees are annually
threatened and where the water rises higher
than the ground. Sacks OF earth and sand
are merely makeshifts that are useless 10
withstand current such as that when
sweeps through the lower valley every sea-
| son.
With the Rhope The animation il similar