Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1897-04-15

New York Advertiser.
Americans who are fond of rejecting
on the "great things" their country
possesses. and who have never visited
the yicinities in which these 'great
things" are located, have little or no
idea how come of these gigantic pos
sessions of America keep goodly por-
tion of the population on the continual
"go'' in oreer TO protect themselves
against these very same examples OF a
nations greatness. One of the great
things" which America can boast of ia
the Mississippi river, which flows, like
mammoth vein, almost across the
breadth of the nation. 1t is just now
causing trouble and disaster along
many miles of its shores, and the coun-
try through which IL flows just before
( entering the Gulf of Mexico is at
present anxiously watching the mighty
ntrsam.
Reports are steadily pouring in of the
riyer's rapid rise and the breaking of
s the leyees south OF Memphis to the
Northern points in Louisiana. and
those whose homes are divided from
the rushing waters only by compare
lively thin wall of earth, in what is
known as the Delta country, are be-
4 coming seriously alarmed for their
safety.
The writer had the opportunity re.
Gently to thoroughly inspect the bayou
country in Southern Louisiana. The
bayous are for the most part shallow
streams. flowing through low country
and kept from Transforming surround
ing lands into swamps by levees similar
to those along the main streams north
ward. Furnishing. in many instances,
the only mods OF transportation through
some parts Of Louisiana, the bayous
are still used by ''packets'' even where
the railroads have encroached on the
territory of the bayou skipper.
1t was On the Regular Bayou La
Fonrche Packet Steamer La Fourche"
that the writer made the trip through
the bayou country last month. Whether
the present rise Of the Mississippi had
been foreshadowed or not, the fact re-.
mains that, according to Capt. Charlet,
one of the oldest of bayou navigators,
unwonted activity was displayed at the
time all along the 'lower coast" levees.
Much of the La Fourche. the Teche
and the Bayou Sara country has been
reclaimed from the most dismal of
swamps by the building of levees but
strong as the levees along the Missis-
sippi proper. AS years went by these
bayou levees were strengthened and,
10 many cases, put back from so to
200 feet in order to permit of freer
navigation Of the streams.
Sincsathe middle of February, now.
ever, levee camps" have sprung up,
seemingly simultaneously, at numerous
+ pointsialong the Mississippi within a
hundrbfb emiles of New Orleans and
along fhee bayous. These camps, with
their white tents, to the stranger are
picturesque affairs, and those who
work in them lead to all intents and
purposes sunny existence.
As the curious, wheeZy, fiat bot
toned, stern wheel boat glides by one
secs what appears to be an army of
men swarming over the levee like ants.
A procession Of mules. each pair drag.
cling after them scuttle, move silently
up one side OF the levee and dnwn the
other, and so feet further away repeat
the performance by popping up over
the top of the levee and moving down
\ almost to the water's edge.
1t is due to this periodical activity
along the Louisiana levees that the
levees in that State are prepared ia
meet further rise of the N ississippi
waters. While the banks along the
State of Mississippi and Arkansas have
been swept away and the water in.
undated the surrounding country OF
miles, the leyees in Louisiana have
still margin of about three feet left
to meet further rise. From 40 to &c
feet at their base and IL to Is feet al
the top these levees could resist the
pra I,u
reaching to their very tops. A break,
be it ever so slight, would, however,
mean the dashing over of miles of thi.
massive earthen fertilization.
For this very reason tho levee builders
are now busily at work strengthening
the banks at points where time ant
traffic have done their work of weaken
ing the leveea. With millions of dollar
worth of plantation property immedi
ately behind them, the Louisiana levee
may be termed the dividing line be
tween prosperity and absolute ruin o
the State. Possibly tho most exiensiv,
and valuable plantations are situated Ii
4 the La Fourche country. From Don
sldsonville tabout 80 miles from Nev
Orleans, by river, anu 30 miles in a di
rect linel, where the Bayou La Fourch
shoots off from the Mississippi, an,
Thibodeaux Us miles from Donaldson
ville), the bayou banks are dotted OF
each side by the largest sugar rlantu
tious in the South. Prominent anon
these are the Bello Alliance and Fir
Hall plantations, where millions O
pounds of sugar are ground ever
season. A flooding of the Bayou L
= Fourche country would mean the de
struction of all the sugar houses, tn
warehouses, grinding mills, machiner
and stock, not to mention the homes {
those whose sole means of sustenanc
lies in the working of these plantation
and satisfactory crops.
I Travelling by bayou packet throug
Southern Louisiana affords one possibl
the best view of the extreme Soutt
The country is dotted with landmarks
and, even though sumo of these may h
of but little interest to tho stranger
the reverence in which they are bel
by the Southerners makes them sympi
thetic to the one to whom they al
pointed out. Near Napoeonville, {,
instance, about AGO feet bacI, OF tn
levee, one Is shown the ancestral homt
stead of Justice White, of the Unite
W. States Supreme Court. II was thei
that Justice Whites grandfather liyec
tho eccentric old man who, from b
childhood to almost the day of b
death, never wore footgear The o.
a home is now in charge of a caretake
Justice White, it is said, has refuse
wv oil pffara fnr tho prnpsrtv tybinh an