Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1897-05-21
HOLLAND DIKES.
From the New Orleans ricayune.l


outlets AMI dikes is from the pen
of Mr.. Ed Eisenhauer, a prOmi-
nent business man of this city,
and Il former member of the New
Orleans Levee Board. His infor-
nation concerning the Holland |
method of levees has been gained
by study and personal observation.
This article was printed in the
Picayune of July IS, 1893, but it
is so appropriate at this time
when the subject of protection
from the floods is being so gener-
ally discussed that it is repub-
lished. Following is Mr.. Eisen-
hauer's interesting paper:
"Much CONTROVERSY has lately
again sprung up as to the efficien-
cy of Ievees to protect our low
lands against the annually recurr-
ing floods of the river, with the
usual results, viz: The engineers
unanimously in favor of1evees and
the people divided, with perhaps a
majority in favor of levees and a
minority in favor of outlets.
GAIL must admit that outlets
are impossible above Red River,
and the advisability of outlets be-
low that river depends entirely
upon the capability of the levees
TO withstand all possible floods.
If the levees can be built strong
enough to confne all such floods
to the river there would be no
necessity for outlets and nobody
would want them. Since some years
ago our levees have been raised
and strengthened along the whole
| line with the result that, although
the food height of the river was
nearly up to last years extraordi-
nary flood, we had only one Gre
vase Tin East CaEroll), and even
this, it is claimed, was due to a
defective foundation of the levee.
"This is certainly very encOur-
aging and the advocates Of an all
levee system have reason to claim
! this as decided victory for their
! cause.
SIN view. of the general inter
est taken Just now in our levees,
few remarks may not be amiss
yjsbout the famous Holland levee
T system from one who has had an
opportunity to see it. The begin
ming of the present levee system
in Holland dates some 500 years
back and the present perfection i:
n the result of 500 years labor
study and disasters, discourage
ments, hopes and the spending o.
: vast sums of money. We nov
t have the advantage of their Ions
r experience, which accounts fol. thu
satisfactory result attained her
Z in the last few yeays. Our engi
e neers are all level-headed men wh'
i know a good thing when they SCI
II it.
: elm the beginning, and for ;
long time thereafter, not only tn
e people of Holland, but also thei
u engineers, were divided in regar'
l. to outlets, as is shown by their oil
4 records, and good deal of expert
menting was done in this direc
ton. Traces of such outlets ar
!, even now visible in the neighbor
d hood of the lower Rhine. Careful
T observations, however, convince
them soon that they are onl
L harmful and that every Quite
d caused the river to shoal throug
\. the slackening of the current, an
consequent deposition of silt. Th
engineers then closed these out
lets, and the result was an almos
Immediate deepening of the char
mel of the river. There is only OF
Il. outlet now still open in the neigl
IT. borhood of.the city of Bots lie Du'
~ and even this will soon be CLOSED
Pc Formerly the Rhine lad innun
OF cradle arms near the sea, which
~ for the same reason, were gradua
=. lv closed, until now it is reduce
!, practically to two branches, Il
~ Wasi and the Lell, of which Il
~ former is much the larger, al
=, discharges about two-thirds of Il
IN total volume. A third branc'
or the Yssel, carries little water, al
al is of small Importance. The
no former, and now closed, branch
still exist in the shape of lake
canals and low. swampy depre
sions. Some have been uitiliz'
or for drainage of navigation canal
N. or both combined, in which latt
ell case they are still connected Wi
all the river through locks. All I'll
'Iv shows that the tendency has be-
1t steadily towards an all-levee sy
ls> tenn, and all outlet theories ha
lee been utterly repudiated, after ha
r ing given them fair and extensi
trials. No engineer in Hollal
m would now advocate outlets.
"Their levee system is the me
ia' perfect in the world, but In I