Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-02-11
THE SITUATION
 |S ALARMING LlnWood and Auburn Levea On Cummins Convict Farm Has Been Neglected No Protection.
THE BOARD OF TRADE
Will Urge the Passage of Bill ReQuir- ing State to Act ImmediateIy-Pine Bluifiians Interested-Col. Water. man COnfers with Local Officials.

oAA eAS PoIC oL lilC StdLG officials to repair, strengthen and maintain the lower Linwood and Auburn levee, adjacent to their con- vict farm in Desha county known as the Cummins place, has resulted in appeal being made by the cotton planters, property owners and other interested residents of Desha, Lin coin, Drew and Ashley counties to the Pine Bluff Board of Trade and other business and public spirited organizations to urge the passage of bill, soon to be drawn, requir- ing the state to maintain it's con- vict farm levee front.
 A mass meeting will probably be called this week by the officials of the Pine Bluff Board of Trade for meeting of the wholesale mer- chants, retailers and other business men O. this city and county, so ma terlally interested in the preserva- tion of farm land in Southeast Ar kansas, that some action might be taken immediately to bring about the passage of the needed measure. Colonel Gus Waterman, without a doubt the best posted levee man in the South, called on Secretary J. l.. Caldwell, of the Board of Trade, P. P. Byrd and others this morning to discuss the matter of taking some action without delay.
 Colonel Waterman is president of the Linwood and Auburn Levee District, and has been associated with levee work and river improve ments throughout this section of the state for many years.
 Only last week Colonel Water man visited the lower Linwood and Auburn levee, where twenty-five teams and large crew of men are at work strengthening the lower levee and are making certain cut offs for the protection of surround ; ing property. He has almost daily inspected the lower Auburn and , Linwood levee districts and declares l that the weakest and most dan- gerous spot along the whole levee is the six miles of levee earthworks on the river fronting the Cummins state convict farm. No work has been done on this levee for sever- al years, the original work being done by the tax payers within the Linwood and Auburn Levee Dis trict. Since the purchase of the Cnmmins farm by the state, and for several years previous, no work was done on the levee adjoining the con- yict farm. The levee there is lower than adjoining stations because of the fact that it has been worked on elsewhere and thrown up higher to meet changes in the river, due to the installation of levee systems above and below the Linwood and Auburn levees. Large gaps are plain in the Cummins levee and a rise of the river, which is to be ex- pected at any time. would over flow the finest plantations in South east Arkansas, if the levee should break at the Cummins place.
 The Auburn and Linwood Levee Board has spent $140.000 building, re pairing and maintaining it's levees The board has exhausted it's treasur, and has gone into debt to protect the farm lands in Southeast Arkansas. Al of it's work, which has been so vel accomplished, will go for naught Il the event the state neglects it's owl levee and permits it to "fall victim to the treacherous waters of the Ar ] kansas.
 Nine-tenths of the cotton produces in Southeast Arkansas comes to Pin Bluff. The merchants of this city ge
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