Lower coast gazette., 1909-06-26
Dancer to Our !.evee System.

Ddi1ANl I" N'"' /.
\ movement is now on foot to bring before the 10
,ronosed Waterways Convention that Will De heio ri
~ Nov, Orleans in November and to secure from G.
tho convention a Recommendation that the NILS
,;csinni River Commission shall hereafter devote h
;+s offorts so far as they concern the levees OF the !
Mississippi River, to bank revetment ano no t
LONGER TO the construction OF leVeeS. 10 one uh- G
familiar with bank revetment this would indicate c
ordinarilv the revetment Of the !eVees, but such IS
NOT what is contemplated. By bank revetnent IS !
meant such revetment Of the bank Of the nVer as
shall maintain the existing bank and prevent us
erosion. As our readers all know. many efforts
have been made in New Orleans to preserve the
hanks Of the river in the CID Third District and
also At Ca,roIlton. but without any very positive
success thus far. A good deal Of work has oeeh
done opposite Eicksburg to MAINTAIN the river
bank on the West side and This has been done
there bv riprapping the bank with stone from the
hottom of the river I'd. On the Lower Coast.
where. in the bends that have eroding banks, the
water in the channel has q depth OF at least d
hundred feet, the protection Of such banks from
erosion would require %reVettlng from the bottom
up. All experience shows that this would be SIM
ply impracticable.
An immense amount Of mattressing has already
been done at various points up the river and II
would seem justifable, wherever there are public
harhors such as at New Orleans, that large sums
of money should be spent, in order to MAINTAIN
permanent river banks. Years ago Capt. Eads
said that if he were allowed to stralghten the
river he would out Cairo on a hill. In other words,
! with q series of cut offs and bank revetments and
straight river from Cairo to New Orleans, a differ
ence Of a hundred feet would be experienced IN
, the surface height of the river at Cairo. lhese
are engineering dreams Of the future, but their
q discussion at the present time and their possible
= presentation at the coming Waterways Convention
: may do us serious harm.
J. It required very many years of argument, IN
n vestigation and experimentation for US to convince
f the Mississippi River Commission and Tor the MIS-
e sissippi River Commission to convince congress
g that the leveeing of the Mississippi River was par
is and parcel of the maintenance of this great water
" wav for the good Of the whole people. The reten
IF ton of the water in the upper part OF the vale
le in the existing channel of the river and ITS conse
as ouent rapid flow down upon US IN the lower eno 0
the river has brought to US conditions neVe
r. dreamed of a few decades ago. Humphrey an
Abbott, in 1860, reported fourteen feet above 10y
r water mark as the maximu height OF the rive
IS at New Orleans. Since then we have had NO.5
#. feet in front of New Orleans and were notified b
ne the u. S. Engineers in charge to be ready tor Z
as foot which. happily, however, has not reached |
IT. thus far.
Of The Improvement of the banks of the Mlssl
Nv sippi River as carried on by the state authorize
es bv the Mississippi River Commission and by Co
Ter qress, has resulted in conditions that make 1t II
is possible for the people of Louisiana at their O"
cost to build and maintain their W levees.
~, would be a very serious calamity to US II the su
n ~oestions as to the diversion Of all the nation
funds to bank revetment should obtain favor
fry the coming Waterways Convention. In the upp
is part of our state, where the banks cave into I
in river in large masses, the issue is quite a serlo
or- one and the landowners there would doubtless ma
IN of them prefer to build their W levees viii
IN once built, the bank to be maintained in place
the national government. 1t is said that Ct
gresham Rarsdell is rather favorable to such
6 ;s method of work, but certainly in the great pool
,a+- the lower river, say from the mouth OF the Il
Of River to Port Eads, a distance of 300 niles
sod would spell disaster if such views should obta
70 and national aid in actual levee building be
mic fused to us hereafter.
The people of Louisiana as a whole h;
already stated in the constitution of 1879 {
and again in 1898 their willingness to submit to sew
snn- taxation for the construction, repair and malnt
ance of the public levees of the state, until S
o. time as the general government would take o
II the control of the whole levee system. AS
that whole country from Cairo to Port Eads is inyol
Guild in this problem, a distance of nearly 1900 m
feet by the river, we can readily see how serious
problem is. The valley of the Mississippi is on
o,,rn the most fertile in the world and is capable
,ent, producing crops to support many millions OF
cter pie. To do this, however, the waters Of the r
,ople during their flood periods must be kept Oft the
tivated lands and this can only be done by a C
49, ~ --l otc n @ fhnv r