The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-10-13
The Lafourche Lock Must Be Built.

The HIaf0uFch0 L0cK must Do DuAAVs
The Iberville South publishes
lengthy article in editorial form on
the subject Of the closing OF Bayou
Lafourche, setting forth with more Or
less plausibility and accuracy ne
advantages that have Injured TO the
lands and people of the Iafourcne
valley from the erection OF the dam az
Donaldsonville, and the des1rao1llty
of allowing that obstruction to re-
main permanently instead of being re-
placed by a lock. The South cites
.treasons why levee boards should
not build locks" speaks OF quick
sands at the head Of the Lafourche
which may produce a terrible erevasse
hat "Would sweep away Donaldson
Vile and both sides Of Bayou La
fourche'' if the task of xcaVatlng for
the construction of lock is UNDER
taken; declares that the clamor Tor
lock is raised only by few people
interested in the expenditure OF enor-
nous sums ia the prosecution o. tne
work, and that ssnine-tenths OF the
population of the two districts DO not
care whether there is a lock at Dom
aldsonville or not. I"
The inspiration and motive that
prompted this ebullition would not
seem difficult to divine. Plaquemlne
seeks to supplant Donaldsonville as
the terminus of the proposed great
interco astal canal that is to extend
from Brownsville, Texas, to the Mis-
sissippi river, and if the Donaldson
vile dam can be kept intact while the
Plaquemine lock is completed and put
into oper alton, the trick will be neatly
turned. The South has labored long
and earnestly to have the Plaquemine
dam removed and Bayou Plaquemine s
connection with the river restored.
The building Of the Plaquemine lock
has been heralded as a work that
is to confer almost untold benefits
upon the people Of all that section.
There has been no suggestion Or ap-
prehension of treacherous quicksands,
caving banks, disastrous crevasses or
a choked-up bayou at Plaquemine,
and the premonition Of such dire
calamities at Donaldsonville is too
transparent TO merit moments seri-
Gus consider alton.
We beg to remind our Iberville
contemporary and all others con-
cerned that among the reasons why
the Atch afalaya and Lafourche levee
board should and must build lock
at Donaldsonville are: the promise
and pledge to do SO given as con-
dition precedent to obtaining the con-
sent OF the national government for
the closing Of Bayou Lafourche with
q dam; the provisions Of the act Of
congress fixing a time limit within
which the dam should be replaced by
a lock, and requiring the secretary of
war to have in hand approved plans
and specifications for the lock before
according permission for the erection
OF the dam; the joint resolution of the
general assembly Of Louisiana
creator Of the levee boards-instruct-
ing the boards to proceed with the
construction Of the locks, and, finally,
the legal and moral obligation that
rests upon all public officials and all
honest men to perform their specified
duties, carry out their contracts and
keep their words.
There Is no room under the written
or the moral law for the members OF
the Atchafalaya and Lafourche levee
boards to evade the plain duty of
having the dam at Donaldsonville re-
placed as soon as practicable by a
lock that will reopen Bayou Lafourche
to navigable connection with the Mis-
sissippi river, and it is nothing short
OF reflection upon their official and
personal characters to intimate that
they are capable of even contem-
plating such an evasion.