The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1903-04-08
THE MI. SISSIPII FLOODS.
Far Less Danger Than People Generally
Suppose.


NJ. j. Sanders, president Of the New
Orleans Progressive Union, has is.
sued a protest against the stories sent
out from New Orleans and other
points to the northern papers about
the damage said to be done by the
high water in the Mississippi and tho
great danger of overflow. These
stories, he says, are greatly cxagger-
ated. Whether. his protest can stop
the circulation Of such stories is anoth.
Ell matter.
1t seems utterly impossible for per-
sons ontside Of the lowlands of the
Missiaeippi to understand the stu
alton hero. To persons accustomed to
rivers having great fall instead Of one.of
one-tenth Of an inch to the mile, as is
the case with the Mississippi, the
condition of affairs alongthis river must
seem threatening. AS q matter Of
fact the conditions here do moi great
ly differ from those along the Nile,
where the food is the greatest agri-
cultural event Of the year, fertilizing
and renewing the soil.
If it were possible to allow the Mis-
sissippi to overflow it's banks as the
Nile does, it would prove almost as
good a fertilizer. Unfortunately, the
Mississippi food occurs at a season
when it is desired to plant the crops
and cultivate them. If the high water
ended in March instead Of beginning
then. levees would be abolished, for
the people would insist upon having
the river overflow its banks 80 as to
raise the land and fertilize it.
The Mississippi had only partly
completed its work when the lands
along it's banks wero first settled, and
had not yet filed up many lowlands
and swamps. It's tendency is to do
the work now, but the levees prevent
it and fcToe it u discharge it's billions
Of tens Of fertile soil into the gulf in.
stead.
Even when the river or its tribu.
taries break through the l~evees, it
does more good than harm, unless the
overflow ccurs at O time when the
crops have been planted. Thousands
Of acres have been added to the cult
yable land along Bayou Lafourche by
crevasses in the last ha~lf.century.
When q few years ago an ugly crevasse
occurred in the Myrtle Grove sugar
plantation, in Plaquemines parish, it
figured in the newspapers as q great
loss, but when the water went down it
was found that the river had added
several hundred acres of land to the
plantation, thus paying for all the
damage it had done.
A good instance Of the effect Of Gre
vases was shown in the last days of
the recent session Of Congress. The
matter was brought to the attention Of
Congress by Representative Lessler,
Of New York, who introduced q bill
directing the secreta'y If the treasury
20 sell at public anction or private
sale the $4,000 acres Of land belong
ing to the United States situated on
the Mississippi river and Grand Pass,
about ninety miles below New Orleans,
and known as the Jump"
Sixty-6ve years ago the Jump was a
narrow strip Of land between the Mis-.
sissippi and the gulf, less than a
third Of "a mile wide, extending from
the river to Oyster Bay. AS it aaved
e trip Of forty-odd miles, the fisher
men dragged or jumped their boats
over this narrow strip into tho bay,
and the place became, in consequence,
known as the Jump.
Their dragging Of boats from the
river to the bay gradually wore q road
in tho land. and in 1887. when the
river got very high. the water started
through the Jump with great force
and out o orevasse there. , The mud
and sand Of the Mississippi river
swept through the newly made canal
into Oyster Bay, gradually filing it up
with sediment.
The land, originally only q third OF
q mile vide, is now fifteen miles wide,
oil made by the Mississippi in q gen.
GRAFTON. It is alluvial, rich and pro-