The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-04-28
banks in seasons of flood, and fertiliz-
ing the rich valley: but a vast auan-

llS Vic 1lOi falioy puo 'ooo iuoh
tity Of the suit is carried on to the
Gulf and deposited where the force of
the river is checked by impact with
the waters of the sea. Every day, it
is calculated, $50, OOO, 900 cubic feet
of earth is thus laid down on the bot
tom of the Gulf, and aids in thrusting
the delta further and further from the
shore line. The great bulk of this
daily tribute to the sea may be appre-
ciated better from the statement that
it is sufficient to cover a square mile
with 81 feet of earth.
The Yazoo delta, as it is generally
and properly called, which is the
scene of the recent disastrous floods,
is a long tongue of a~lluvial land lying
along the east bank of the Mississippi
and between that stream and the
Yazoo River. It is an extremely fer
tile region, and produces a greater
yield of cotton than any equal area in
the world. The land is fat, and is
either flush with or a little below the
level of the two streams. The Yazoo
is really an ofshoot or bayou Of the
Mississippi, and is subject to all the
vagaries of its parent river, with
which it is connected at mouth and
source.
When the Mississippi rises the up
per part of the Yazoo begins to food
first, and when the volume Of surplus
water from the great river reaches the
Yazoo mouth its current is forced
back for nearly a hundred miles, flood
ing the valley with it's own and Dor
rowed waters. The entire delta is
overfowed, houses are swept away and
crops are destroyed. Frequently, in
sudden floods, when the dwellers in
the valley are not warned of the
threatened danger, the loss of life is
deplorable, but unusually the rise of
the water is gradual and it's advance is
known for some days, and the people
either flee to higher ground or escape
in boats and on RATS when the food
comes.
One cause of the floods in these low
sections of country is the constant
formation of what are known as
''rafts," or blocks in the rivers. The
Red River and the Atchafalaya are
famous for their RATS. The first
named is so sluggish a stream that it
makes no pretense of keeping it's own
channel, but disembogues into the
Mississippi at any place, shifting from
one to another at its own caprice. At
one time it probably flowed directly
into the Gulf. The Indians have a
tradition to this effect. The Atcha-
falaya is equally slow. The current
in each is not swift or strong enough
to carry down the mass of logs, trees
and debris that is being continually
washed into the channel.
A large number Of these logs accu-
mulate and begin forming a "raft."
Very soon the obstruction is dense
enough to catch bushes: leaves and
mud. Then vegetation commences to
grow, and binds the whole into a veri-
table floating garden, which rises and
falls with the stream. In this way a
dam is formed across the channel and
the water is backed over the banks
and ovcrAows the valleys.
A raft of this kind began forming in
the Atchafalaya in ITS. By 1916 it
was ten miles long and had a living
forest on it containing trees sixty feet
high. The State Government of
Louisiana finally removed it in 1885,
at very great expense. The great
raft in the Red River was even more
extensive than this one, and was a
constant menace to life and property
for years.
The present food has not been, APP
parently, as destructive as the earlier
overaows. In 1874 the waters devas-
tated thirty parishes (counties) in
Louisiana, and destroyed $40, 100000
of property. In 1885 the loss by the
food was 81, 1000, 900, and in 1890 it
was s11, O00, 900.