Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1903-04-17
ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION MISSIS-
SIPPI LEVEE SYSTEM.

glnla, as SeCOUO-titoS
ST. LOUIS EXPOSITION MISSIS-
SIPPI LEVEE SYSTEM.
Washington, D. c., April II.
/ learn from the representatives of the
War and Navy Departments on the gov
ernment board that as yet the plan of
their exhibits at the st. Louis ExpOsi-
ton has not been materially changed
from those shown at Buffalo, and at
other places. In enumerating the fea-
lures to be included in the exhibit of
the War Department mention was made
of the large and somewhat expensive
exhibit of the Mississippi river leyee
system. AS an exposition expert L am
going to presume to make a suggestion
to the War Department about this par
ticular feature of the exhibit. The
present status of the great Father Of
Waters that ploughs his irregular
course through greater part of the ter
ritory included in the Louisiana Pur-
chase, proves the levee system to be
failure. A better system is in success
ful operation in Egypt.
Recently l made a trip up the Nile as
far as the first cataract. For centuries
the Nile had levees. When the Romans
conquered Egypt, anyone who injured
one Of the dykes which held tie mighty
river in check, wGs exiled to an oasis in
the desert for life. Now, you only see
traces of these levees along the shifting
shores of the mighty and mysterious
river. The English have hit upon a
feasible plan to control its overflow by
building an immense dam and reservoir
at Assouan, just above the first cataract
A Virginian, Colonel Alfred Landon
Rives, of Castle Hill, the engineer whose
first notable work was on the Aqueduct
Bridge at Cabin Johns, WAS offered the
superintendency of the great Nile dam
by the British Government. Hedeclined
it. probably on account of failing health,
for he diel few months ago. But the
Nile dam is finished and was inaugurated
last January with imposing ceremonies.
The overflow of the Nile is not unlike
that of our own Mississippi. In the
spring when the SHOWS on the Abyssinian
mountains melt the tributaries of the
Nile, the blue Nile, She SObat and
the Atbara rivers overflow and pour into
the white Nile immense volumes of water.
The reservoir to contain this vast over
flow is now being built. The dam at
Assouan to check it is un fait accompli.
About year ago, walked across 1t.
1t is a pronounced success. Two mil
lion waste acres of land in the
fertile Nile Valley will be reclaimed
by it. The dam cost $40, 600, 600.
The reservoir will cost as much. My
suggestion to the War Department is
that, instead of the old Mississippi levee
exhibit which we all have been looking
at askance for nearly two decades, be
discarded and, the engineer ofhcers on
the Mississippi river commission be in
structed to make new model showing
how and where we might build dam,
a reservoir, and above all, deepen the
channel of the river. | should have
mentioned above that | saw dredge
boats on the Nile deepening the
channel. Egyptians, Romans, Greeks,
French and English experimental in
vain with this mighty eastern Father Of
Waters, the White Nile. No less
person than Napoleon Bonaparte saw at
a glance the advisability of a Nile dam
and reservoir. This statement can be
proved by documents now in the Bibli-
otheque Rationale, Paris. Perhaps II
he had landed at New Orleans as Nj.
Girot and other French and Americans
desired he should do, his overpowering
genius would have seen the necessity OF
a similar plan to hold in check the
resistless force of the great waterway OF
the Louisiana Purchase Territory Who
knows?
The feasibility of the plan can
he determined at st. Louis by the
engineers in the War Department who
have charge of the exhibit. One thing
is certain. A great deal of waste land
would be reclaimed, enough to pay for
the cost of the dam and reservoir. The
cost of the imperfect levee system is i'm
mense. 1t would be most appropriate to
exploit the project at the st. Louis Ex-
position. Just now the question of con-
trolling the Mississippi is of vital i'm
portance. This time next year the sit
uation may be the same-or worse.
From New Orleans to Memphis the over
How is destroying life and property.
The press bureau Of the Louisiana
Purchase Exposition in Washington has
received adyices through Hon. George
f. Murrel, member of the Virginia
House of Delegates, and Superintendent
and Treasurer of the Commission from
Virginia to the Louisiana Purchase Ex-
position, that the State will expend the
appropriation of $4,000 in an exhibit
showing the resources of that common
wealth. Space has been applied for in
the departments of Agriculture, Forestry,
Manufactures, Education and Mines and
Metallurgy.
Reports from st. Louis show that good
progress is being made by the grand
chorus for the dedication exercises to be
held on April 80 next. This chorus
will consist Of 2, 900 trained voices under
the conductorship of Alfred Ernest Of
the Choral Symphony.
~. II