The Florence tribune., 1897-09-04
MISSISSIPPI LEVEES.
People Along the River Want
 Them Done Away With
Methods suggcsted for the Protec- ton of Fsrms and Towns in Flood Times-Opinions of
 the Sufferers.

lrIp along the m1SSlSSlppi AAfNA Cairo to Vicksburg from steamboat, men, planters, residents of river cities river prophets and the oldest and young est inhabitants of the diAtricts which are in or contiguous to the flooded dis triets. Probably the only class of peos pie who do not concur in this assertion are the government engineers and meIn bers of the leyee boards iii the different states Even they admit that the leTee system has proved failure this year, so far as giving protection to the lands behind them is concerned, and the only defense they can offer is that the high water of 1897 is without precedent, so that no calculations based on conditions of previous years could be taken into ac- count in coping with the floods. To this argument the disgruntled populace re- ply: What has brought about the un- precedented high water but the exten- sion of leyee system to keep the water pent up in narrow channel, contrary to the intent of nature?" Year after year the broad bottom lands into which theriver had found access have been shut off from the Mississippi; perlodically it has broken from the restraint put upon it and entered the forbidden lands.
 A system of outlets has been tried, but found wanting, and now the people along the river declare that the same is true of the big levee system. These peo- pie are not skilled in the science of en- gineering, but they appear to compose majority of the better class of citizens. and base their conclusions on their ob- servations in years of previous over flows. They are the class who place notches on the corners of houses and in tree trunks to mark the extreme height of the water, andlwho are familiar with every crook and bend in the river, it's tributaries and lakes and bayous.
 And what do they offer as a substi- tute for the great entertainments which a liberal government has helped to create? They have many things to offer, but few subscribe b any suhsti- tute for the levees. On. the contrary, they say that they welcome the. over flow with it's resultant rich deposit of silt on their impoverished land. The horrors of the creyasse, the resistless current which uproots trees and sweeps houses from their foundations are not characteristics of on overflow. but are Inc creatures ot the levees, produced only when the big entertainments fail to hold the river in it's course, and, having increased its pent-up fury, finally allow it to wreak death and devastat ton with the force which the levees alone ere ated; Let the periodical overfows come" s" they say, land we will welcome their calm approach end permit them to enter our fields and plantations unre- strained" a.,@
 Then they point to the great mounds which prehistoric race have erected on both sides of the river commonly called Indian mounds" and declare that this was method a former race had of meeting the waters. Many of these mounds have been taken posses sion of by the planters, and where they do not exist the planters have already begun their erection. On these houses and barns are built, cattle pens are erected, and they serve as most effective havens during the time of overflow.
 Another method. which is already em- ployed, even behind some of the largest and strongest levees, in which the peo. pie have no confidence as a result of years of experience, is that of building small private leEees about the few acres included in their orchards, gardens and plots of ground surrounding their homes and those of the hundreds of em. i ploves on every great plantation.
 Some of the people who are opposet to the continuation of,the Ievee system are advocates of the strengthening O the river" theory. This class declare, 1 that the money now being expended : bg the government in levees could b. ! applied to much better advantage il strengthening out the crooks and bend
 which the cratic Mississippi takes, ant | materially decreasing the distance be 1 tween Cairo and New Orleans, deepen l ing the channel and allowing a free
 access to the gulf. But here the on | ponents of the levees lose the support O
 their adherents, the .steamboatmen
 who say that such a stream woult
 have so swift current as to rende
 navigation practically impossible.
 1 Much of the dissatisfaction which ex
 ists among the people where the leyee
 are not under the control of the gov
 ernment is due to their belief that tn
 state boards are. honeycombed with COT
 ruption, and that the funds appropri
 ated by the states serve as a grab-ba.
 for those intrusted with their distribu
 tion in the form of high official salaries
 expensive clerical forces, exorbitant eS
 pense accounts and open connivanc
 with the contractors who work and bi
 under their direction and approva
 Hardly town of any size can be visite
 between Cairo and Vicksburg wher
 such accusations are not made openly
 and citizens who have the weight C
 business success. or high official stand
 ing are eager to father statement
 derogatory to the probity and goo
 faith of the local levee boards. For tn
 water fighters" who work night an
 day along the river front in the actu.