The Forrest City times., 1903-06-05
In Defense OF the Levees.
To The Commercial Appeal:

note, with great interest, and a full
grain of salt, the communications of
r"Mounds, n"Delta" and VIM. b. Cum
berland on the subject of levees, re-
Gently published in The Commercial
Appeal. AS lifelong resident and
property owner OF the st. Francis ba-
sin, ask the indulgence of The Com
mercial Appeal to give space in its
reaching and influential columns
to few statements which | set forth,
and which statements will, no doubt,
be Endorsed by many persons alike
familiar with the situation as it has
passed into history. Without intima-
ton that any one has made an erron-
eeus statement, or that they are not
sincere in their ideas as to the best in
terest regarding the great problem now
before those interested in the great
Mississippi valley, or desire to invite
a newspaper wrangle, l will outline "A
portion of river, railroad and leyee
history.
Taking the valley from Greenville to
Memphis on the east side Of the great
stream and from Arkansas City TO
Cairo on the west side, and the date of
the early EOS as starting point. At
this date we find an effective levee
system on the east side, with no dis
sending voice. Adding another decade
brings the date TO 1880. At this date
a still more effective levee system with
land values advanced in many in
stances 500 per cent over their 1870
value-still 10 dissenting voice against
the system, or the great tax burden to
maintain same. Why all this long,
silent submission to the demands of an
institution which is now being con.
demned? Answer, simple law of
nature, self preservation; competition,
which can now be charged to the levte
system ON the opposite side of the
stream. This, in our mind, explodes
the bubble. Now, We cross the river
ID the west side-lS70-what do VT
lind in the way of protecting the fer
tile valley from Arkansas City to Cairo?
A few odds and ends OF an ante-bellum
leyee, at great intervals. A stretch of
fertile valley land some 800 miles long
by an average OF p miles wide, subject
to annual overflow varying in depths
as much as twenty feet; land values al
loves, possible point; many thousands
of acres being disposed of at force sale
by the state for cents per acre, which
condition with the exception of some
small leyee systems, which were set on
foot during the SOS between Helena
and Arkansas City, prevailed up into
the 90s, when the st. Francis basin
levee district was put on foot. Since
It's inception land values in the basin
have Increased from year to year. till
noS the cent lands of the dark DAYS
OF the time previous to the promised
protection are now eagerly sought at
prices ranging from - to $40 per acre
Mississippi and Louisiana experienced
the same depression and have likewise
rebounded. From what cause? Levees.
How did it happen in the SOS that The
great Mississippi Valley Railroad. tx
tending from Memphis to New Orleans.
through the richest belt of agricultural
and tlmbered lands on the continent,
80 per cent of which is on land once
subject to overflow from the M,ssissip.
pi river, came TO be built? Levee.
Twenty years ago land along the line
OF this railroad was drag on the
market at 30 cents to 81. 80 per acre.
What caused the now almost prohibi-
tive price of land and the annual mar
keting of millions of feet of finest tim
Der Within this once dismal swamp?
The levee came, then the railroad
These same conditions practically ap-
ply to the west side IN Arkansas and
Missouri. The levee system from its
earliest date. is OF ii selfish institution.
built for self protection. aud has now