Arizona silver belt., 1897-04-22
THE MISSISSIPPI FLOOD
 PROBLEM.

flood waters. Spring freshets are of periodical occurrence in the Mississippi valley. The first of which there Is au- thentic record occurred in l7S5, which was so destructive as to form an era in the epoch of the times, and the year was denominated, 'L'annee des grands esux"--the year of ths great waters. Other memorable floods occurred in lSll Uhe year of the New Madrid earthquake, the most violent seismic distur bance in America since its first settlement,) 1926, lS44, and many since that time. That of 1S44 was the most disastrous that had occurred and of which the senior editor retains clear recollection. The river at St. Louis attained its maximum height that year late in June and water covered the entire American bottom on the Illinois side, and boats piled between St. Louis and the Illinois bluffs, some eight miles inland.
 A writer in recent number of the St. Louis Globe Democrat refers to the primitive method of building mounds as places of refuge in times of high water ip the Mississippi valley, but it is doubtful if he is correct in ascribing the mounds found along the Mississippi to the aboriginees. For in one in- stance, We know that the Indians bad nothing to do with the building of a mound which exists today in the Amer ican bottom in St. Clair county. Ills, which is known as Monks mound, and was constructed by the Cistercian monks of the order of La Trappe, who were among the earliest settlers of that district. The Trappists are an inter- esting order of the priesthood, noted for their austerity of life, living lives of self denial but refraining almost en- most entirely from oral expression in their daily intercourse with one another.
 Beginning at the period when these mounds were constructed it is easy to trace the successive steps taken by the inhabitants of the Mississippi valley for their security and the protection of their lands by which was evolved the present levee system. Entertainments to keep back the water were first erected by individuals, and as their value gained recognition, communities, townships, counties or parishes suc- cessively took up the work, which con- tinued to grow and assumed such pro- portions and entailed so great expense that the several states bordering the Lower Mississippi were compelled to levy taxes for the maintenance and ex- tension of the levees, until the burden finally became too heavy for the states even, and the federal government was forced to render assistance, and for many years congress has regularly made appropriations, and millions of dollars have been expended by both federal and state governments for the protection of the vast interests now in- volved, for the growth in population and wealth of that region has been very great, and the lands formerly sub ject to overflow are among the most productive in the United States.
 The crisis has been reached in this stupendous project in the present un- parallellcd flood. The levees have proved unequal to control the mighty current; barriers have been swept away and destruction rides unchecked upon the crest of the pittiless flood. The Louisiana levees have at last suc- cumbed and large area of the best lands in that state will be devastated. With this addition to the flooded dis tricts the area affected will aggregate at least 10,000,O0O acres, valued at $75, 1000, 900, and the value of the inn provements, livestock, crops on hand, and of this years crops, which will be almost total failure, will swell the figures to s100. .000, 900, perhaps more The population of the flooded districts is almost half a million, two-thirds of them negroes. and almost half of the total number have been rendered des- titute. Furthermore, the flood this year is two months in advance of the time that the spring freshets are ex- pected, and consequently 1t may not sbate altogether until July.
 There is one thing certain, and that is that the levee system is failure, but the question of how best to control the overflow of the Mississippi river is yet au unsolved problem. Perhaps the most feasible plan suggested is to pro- vide other channels for the escape of the surplus waters hy opening the bayous and constructing system of canals and reservoirs to carry the water away from the main channel, and per- haps utilize the flood waters laden with silt to irrigate and fertilize the low lands. Some such method as this will have to be adopted sooner or later, and