The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1892-08-27

! passes 10 i0e ROftncaSb OF Tue NOUN
lof South Paes, crossing Garden Island
Bag. fhe fall from Cairo TO The i've
fntbon curve is about six inches 10 the
mile Tromsthe FIVE faihoni curve out
ward the fall is so to 100 feet and mp
ward psr mile. The river built 10 the
edge ofihe old continent +; man must
step IN and finish the work upon the
| lines laid down by nature.
The distance from Head of Passes to
The proper deep-water mouth is about
ten miles. The present slope through
| the delta is about seven times the
slope from Head of Passes to Bayou
Sara. To coniine the river to one
deep narrow mouth on the line of least
resistance will abolish the delta, make
the Slope uniform from The mouth 10
point in the vicinity of Natchez, aud
reduce the river heights throughout
the alluvial region, the corrected
height at Natchez being about the
present height at Bayou Sara and the
right beginning being made, the good
work will go on up the river until the
entire river from Natchez to Cairo will
be so far sunk below the surface of
the country that levees will be unneces-
sary in that section. Ii is simple
proposition that since the country
slopes six inches per mile, and the
river, in its lower reach, can discharge
its maximum volume with slope OF
1 IL inches per mile, therefore reck-
| oning upstream, the elevation of the
land will gain relatively to high-water
mark at the rate of IL inches per
mile and in 100 miles the banks will
have gained 81 1-2 feet in elevation,
aud in given number of miles reck-
oned from the intersection of the plane
of original slope of. the country with
gulf-leyel, the banks will have become
high enough to safely retain the food
wave.
srhe section of low slope of the Mis-
sissippi now begins in the vicinity OF
Bayou Sara, 269 miles by the river
from the five-fathom curve at the pro-
posed new mouth land the head gained
by the reduction of slope which will
follow the adjustment of the delta by
discharging the river through single
narrow mouth on the line of least re-
sistance, will extend the section ofl0w
slope to the vicinity of Natchez, 100
miles further upstream, and that
without strengthening the channel at
all between Natchez and Carrollton.
The flood height at Natchez under the
improved conditions will not much ex-
coed 46 feet; and since the country
whereabouts averages 60 to 65 feet in
elevation, the natural banks will be Is
to 20 feet above high-water, and leyees
will be unnecessary.
Above Natchez the slope of the
river is necessarily greater, the
average between Natchez aud Cairo
being 4,42S inches per mile at high
water. and actual difference between
high-water marks being 1888 feet.
The airline distance between the two
places being 400 miles and the dis
lance by the river 700 miles and the
crooked and irregular channel necessi-
tating slopes in some places of over
seven inches, exceeding the slope of
the land, it is obvious that the river
must be Strengthened in order to keep
lit in its channel without the aid of
eyees. The worst bends occur be-
tween Natchez and Memphis, and all
the strengthening can be done between
those two points, although L should adj
vocate cutting off New Madrid bend.
Fifty miles can be advantageously
taken from the rivers length, maxim g
the total length from Cairo 1920
miles.
The net result at Cairo would be to
lower high water mark from 321 liz
to about 285 feet above tide. To
lower the river to this extent will free
from inundanon nearly 10000 square
miles of land and drain and bring
under cultivation over 22,060.000 acres
of land now swamp. an area greater
than the entire farm acreage of New
England. The money value to be
gained is about The value of the entire
State of Ohio. The sanitary result
will be beyond computation in money
units.
Correlated with the work of channel
improvement in the lower Mississippi
and coordinate in Importance is the
development of reservoir-capacity
upon the tributaries, both by making
permanent reservoirs at convenient
sites, and developing the channel-re-
servoir system and navigation at the
same tine by building movable dams.
I I