The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-04-28
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
A Most Fruitful Source Both of Pros
perity and Desoiatlon.
NeW York Times.

~
NeW York Times.
Those who live along the banks o,
in the extensive valley of the Missis'
sippi River are in constant dread Of
its capricious waters. The mighty
river has no peer among the streams
of the world. Through its channe
flows a volume of water drained from
half a continent, and even its tribu'
taries are larger than the greatest
rivers of most other countries. Its
principal claim to distinction among
its rivals is, however, its INCONSISTENCY
and the wanton destructiveness of its
floods. It seems always ready tc
burst through the bounds within
which its waters have confined them.
selves and to sweep away the homes
and lives Of those attracted to its
shores by the astounding fertility Of
it's broad valleys.
The fellahin Of Egypt know almost
to the hour when the Nile will rise
above its banks, and have been pre-
pared for its yearly visitation for forty
centuries, but the Mississippi knows
no law.
The present food in the Yazoo
Delta has again, by the fearful suffer.
ing it has entailed and by the destruc,
ton of property, directed attention to
the terrible and constant menace Of
that uncomfortable stream. 1t has
been seer that the levees are all that
stand between the people and the fatal
waters. Man has for a hundred years
been aiding the river in deepening its
trough and piling higher its enclosing
banks. The levee is merely an artiG-
cial addition to the natural shore,
''raised," as the French word indi.
Gates, upon the low and insufficient
bank, over which the river would
otherwise flow at high water.
Up to 1860 the PLANTERS in Louis.
lana and Mississippi had expended
s24, 600, 900, besides the unestimated
labor of thousands of slaves, in build
ing and maintaining these levees.
During the war and in the still darker
years of poverty and distress that
followed war the levees were left un-
cared for, and many of them were
gradually washed away and thousands
Of plantations were abandoned before
the invading water. At the present
time the annual expense Of maintain
ing such levees as are now in tolera-
Bile condition amounts to $1,000, 900.
A single food may sweep away all
these works, denude the valley for
hundreds Of miles and overwhelm hu-
man habitation, growing crops and
even whole towns.
The danger that always threatens
the Mississippi Valley car hardly be
appreciated by any one who has not
visited that section of the country.
It must be remembered that the river
is not only the father Of waters, but
that it is also the father and creator
of the land. The great lakes Of our
northern border, and probably the
still greater lake, long since evapora-
ted, Agassiz, in Manitoba, once pour
ed their waters through the Missis-
sippi Valley. Below St. Louis the
land is the creature of this mighty
stream. It's onrushing waters have
for centuries unnumbered been form
ing that great alluvial tract, pushing
further and further into the sea an
ever-broadening tongue Of land. AS
the river ploughed it's way through its
own detritus, it not only dug out a
channel, but it forced up IN each side
a bank Of sand and mud. Of course
this bank rises above the normal
stream, and is higher than the valley
on either side of the river. When,
however, the trough of the stream is
flooded by increased volumes of water
from the Ohio, Missouri and the Ar
kansas, these normal banks and the
levees built upon them are overhowed,
or broken down, and the water rushes
through great "crevasses' OR breaches
in the bank, and mandates the coun-
try.
The situation of the entire valley
may be understood by q few minutes
of observation along the levees Of
New Orleons. When a stranger in
that city approaches the river for the
first time he is astonished tofnd that,
after walking up a slight ascent, he
has merely got up even with the level
of the stream. AS a matter of fact,
1.-The level of the river is higher thar
that of a great portion Of the city.
New Orleans now stands where
there was formerly an extensive marsh
stretching from the edge of the river
to the shores of Lake Pontchartrain
Gnd southerly to the shores of the
Gulf. The only spot now within the
city that rose above the waters Of
this marsh was selected by Sieur Bien-
viller in 1719, as the site for the
French settlement. 1t is still known
as the French Quarter, or the "Vieux
Care" Gradually embankments or
'levees" were extended along the
river, shutting out the water and
slowly retaining the marsh for the
expansion Of the city, which has be-
come the metropolis Of the great val
ley. New Orleans, however, while
lying lower than the river, is in less
danger than would be supposed, even
in the event of serious crevasses open
ing, since it has it's own %levees, and SO
long as they are maintained the water
from the river would rapidly flow into
the lower level of the lake. When
Gen. Butler was in possession Of New
Orleans in 1862 and 1863 he used the
river for cleaning the streets. He
found the city in a very filthy condi-
ton, and, cutting the levees in certain
places, he turned the water through
the streets, flushing the open surface
sewers, and sweeping the accumulated
dirt and refuse into Lake Pontchar-
train.
What is now known as the delta of
the Mississippi embraces about $4,000
square miles. 1t is a perfect network
of lakes, streams and bayous, and as
nearly all these bodies of water are