Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1897-07-30
THE RIVER COMMISSION.
The Annual Report Made Public
Win the Usual Exceptions
The Late Flood Demon.
Strafed the success OF
the Leyee system.

the report of the River Commits
sion:
"The levee work for the year is
reviewed by the commission. The
flood, the high water and the Gre
vases are treated on extensively
in the report. Discharge observa-
tons taken at Carrollton show
that q larger quantity of water
passed down during the food of
1897, and for a longer time than
during any previous food of which
there is authentic record. There
were approximately 1877 miles of
levees on the two banks of the
Mississippi river between Cairo
and the head of the passes. The
recent food caused breaks in these
aggregating in length only 81
miles, which is about .63 of 1 per
cent of the whole length of the
line. These crevasses,' say the
commission, were all due inher-
emily to low grades, weak profiles
or old, imperfect or incomplete
construction. None of the levees
built by the United States were
broken. The total area of the
overfowed land was about 10, 667
square miles. A large part of this
is not yet under the protection of
the levee system, being regions at
the lower ends of the great basins
subject to overflow by back water,
and would have been submerged
had the crevasses not occurred.
That so small a percentage of
these long lines of levees was de-
stroyed is due to the fact that
during recent years they have
been raised in many places to
higher grades than formerly, and
given stronger profiles; and that
authorities interested in them, to-
gether with the citizens of each
threatened locality, acted With
great promptness in applying tenn
porary expedients for preventing
their destruction
"The report says the flood of
1897 has been a fruitful source of
information to the commission
and all those interested in the hy-
dranlics of the Mississippi river.
1t has furnished much useful data
that were needed in the solution
of the problems involved in the
proper control of the high waters
and the protection of the valuable
agricultural lands. 1t has pointed
out the weak places in the present
levee system, and the defects in
their methods of construction.
Better and more systematic plans
of food levels can not be estab-
lished than have heretofore been
possible. The grade lines of levees
can be established with some as
surance that they will not have to
be raised within a few years, and
the profits can be determined for
different localities, with an equal
degree of confidence.
"The district officers are now
collecting information bearing on
these points, and when this comes
to hand the commission will be
better prepared than formerly to
submit an estimate for the con-
Fstruction of a levee system that
will give promise of a satisfactory
control of all future foods. From
the information now at hand, 1t is
believed that this estimate will
not vary in any great degree in ag-
create yardage from that given in
the report of the committee on
levees to be found in the last an
nual report of the commission.
The amount there given as neces-
sary to complete the system now
adopted was 122, 5000 cubic
yards. This, at the estimate of
Is cents per yard, would cost
i$1S, 900, 900.
"The commission Gays: The
important fact that the flood wa
tiers of the Mississippi river may
be permanently controlled by
system of levees that can be
constructed within a limit of ex-
pense warranted by the advantages
to be gained, seems to have been
fairly demonstrated by the flood
of 1897"