The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-05
OUR BIG PROBLEM.

son after season goes by without the
slightest change for the better, or the
least appearance Of increased protec-
ton for the lives and property Of the
people of the low lands and the delta.
constitute powerful argument against
the reason and efficacy Of existing
methods of river improvement. We
have been going on now for a genera
ton or so, spending many millions of
money every year for the alleged pur-
pose of controlling the Mississippi river
and preventing these overfiows, and so
far there is no apparent benefit. For
all that we can see every dollar Of the
vast amount that has been put out
upon river Improvement might as we'll
have been thrown into the muddy cur
rent of the Father Of Waters itself.
The old idea was to build levees. Fol-
lowing the example of China, where the
people have built these great bikes for
centuries, until they have elevated the
whole volume Of the river and the very
bed Of it above the level of the sur
rounding country, with the result Of
making each successive flood very dis
astrous to life and property, the lower
/ Mississippi people constructed dixie
after dixie, with the idea that these
were their only safeguards, and, when
they We're flooded out, replied only that
the levees were not broad enough and
| high enough.
Then came the Mississippi river com
mission with a very scientific scheme.
Its plan of rip-rapping the banks, Of
narrowing the channel, Of building
wing dams, and so forcing the stream
to scour out a deep channel for itself
/ to the sea, was beautiful thing on
paper. 1t answers very we'll for the
upper regions of the river and is all
right as applied to smaller streams
with a larger gradient. But year after
year Of flood and crevasse and the
drowning out Of thousands Of farms
told the story Of it's impotence to con-
quer this problem. SO we go back
again to the levee system, and the
money on levees, and the states Of the
lower river tax themselves poor to
build their bikes high and thick and
strong, and then the spring floods come
down and the banks give way and
millions Of dollars Of property are
wiped out, as usual.
These events, continuing through
decades and promising to continue
through centuries, ought to suggest, it
seems to US, to those interested the in
adequacy of the methods which have
thus far been applied. Possibly, the
problem itself is too big for human So
luton. 1t is open to grave question
! whether the agents Of man and the
! strength of man are adequate to the
/ control Of a natural force as mighty as
! the Mississippi river With the gigan-
! tic current of water that it sends down
| in the flood season, passing between
caving banks of soft mud with moth
irg better than a quicksand for the
! foundation of such works as may be
| put in; and with channel that is like
! ly to shift it's location several miles
within twenty -four hours, the ablest
| engineering talent may well faIter be-
fore the task presented to it. IF, how
ever, there is any logic in experience
it surely tells us that the method Of
! combining this uncomfortable volume of
! water in a fixed channel whether by
| trying to make it bore down toward the
| center of the earth or by holding it
within towering earthen walls, is a
/ failure.
The same experience seems to indi-
| cate the natural way Of dealing with
! our great problem. Is there a small
+ stream in this country utilized for
| commercial purposes where anybody
! dreams Of combining, at all seasons Of
the year, the immense force exerted by
/ hydraulic pressure? Does not every
little mill owner who builds a dam pro-
vide a sluice way? Would he think Of
trying to bottle up all the water that
ever could come down? Does he not
gauge the height that marks the safety
| line and then provide exits for a sur
| plus? 1t looks to us so perfectly clear
| that, if there is to be any successful
dealing with the problem of the lower
Mississippi of which we are by no
means assured, it must be along these
! lines, that the wonder is it has receiv-
! ed so little recognition.
The outlet theory has, indeed. had
ardent advocates. But the outlet the
DRY, as put forth by Capt. Cowden and
his supporters, was advanced, not as
an auxiliary to, but as a substitute for,
| the work Of the Mississippi river COM
mission. Now, it is clear that an outlet
is as harmful to commerce during the
! season of low water as it may be help
full in high water. The reasonable idea
is a combination of the two. No one
can doubt that, if there were along the
| line of the lower Mississippi several
| immense sluice-ways opening into the
main stream, but so controlled by gates
and if these We're all now open, so as to
relieve the pressure and divert part
of the mighty volume to branch out
lets, the pressure upon the levees would
be lessened and the country saved
from overflow. To keep all the water
that there is in the Mississippi at