The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-01-31
A RIVAL ROBBEk RIVER.


The Mississippi river. for centuries
defiant. majestic and supreme, laugh
inr at imitation and fearless Of her
title. awakcs at the beginning of the
new century to find dangerous rival
at her very door and more than Il rival
IA robbcr.
en- years ago the man could not be
f. ID in Louisiana who believed there
W. any danger to be feared from he
..chafalaya creek, an insignificant
stream that bored it sluggish course
from its course near the mouth OF the
Red river to the Gulf The river was
tributary to nothing, received its sup
ply of water from no certain fountain
head. depended LARGELY upon the big
Overtlows and heavy rains and III the
dry months almost disappeared from
view. Such was the Atchafalaya ten
years ago.
To day this stream, creek no longer
is bigger, deeper and swiftcr than the
Mississippi ever was or ever can be,
for it is daily and hourly stealing
away the waters Of the Red river, in
fringing momcntarily upon the supply
Of the Mississippi and draining from
the Father Of Waters billions and bill
lions of the reddish, muddy fluid,
that has made the sketch Of the
stream famous from Minnesota to the
Gulf
beginning at point on the licd
river about ten miles above the june
tion Of the Red and the Mississippi,
the Atchafalaya found its source in
the break Of an cmbankmcnt of the
Red. X frs, there was no Atchafa
laya. and the waters breaking over the
southern bank of the Red river reach
cd out into the lowlands and formed
an impcnctrablc swamp Of stagnant
and troublesome water Gradually
this water sought an outlet and then
was formed the Atchafalaya creek, u
slow, murky, muddy stream, some
times possessing Il current, and at
other times, when the Red river gave
out little supply, merely an cxpanse of
water without purpose Of meaning or
any Importance.
But the Red river had gradually
been seaping through the banks Of the
south and the swamp has gradually
been getting larger and the demand
for an outlet increasing every day.
The Atchafalaya came to tho rescue.
The creek became great stream, nav
igable to small boats. And the leak
in the Red became greater and more
water rushed over and through the
banks and poured their current into
the Atchafalaya. One Spring the
great Mississippi overaowed for miles
above the junction with the Red. The
river was fifty miles wide and the wa
ters, crowding for quick run to the
Gulf, found their was- into the current
of the Atchafalaya, and then there
was a mighty Aoodtidc that doomed
across the sugar plantation bottoms. 1t
was the making Of a great waterway,
destined in short time, few years,
at least, to be the greatest river in the
world.
GOVERNMENT SEES GREAT DANGER.
The United States government was
not long to sec the great danger that
confronted the Mississippi and the
city Of New Orleans. Experts were
sent to the source of the Atchafalaya
and survey was made. The condi-
ton was found to be very serious and
prompt action was necessary. The
report of the experts showed that the
Red was fast transferring it's wa
tcrs to the Atchafalaya, robbing the
Mississippi and threatening to rob
the city of New Orleans Of its water
way.
When the next visit of the experts
was paid to the source Of the Atcha-
faaya, it was asccrtaincd that the
river had widcncd and dccpcned and
was larger than the Red and almost as
large as the Mississippi. The river
was getting deeper and broader and
the current swiftcr and the Red and the
Mississippi were becoming smaller in
proportion.
The experts went to work, rather
than waiting to make report. Already
a vast appropriation, running far into
the millions, has been made. This
fund was to bc used in checking the
leakage of the Red river. On account
of the new territory which the Atch-
falaya has opened up to the mer-
chant marine of the State. it was not