The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-02-05
LEvEE PROTECTION
For the West Bank of the
ttchafalaya River, An
..ppeal 70 the People OF st.
Landry Parish.
Editor IHERIAN:

| Editor lBERlAN:
see by the newspapers tha;
the people of bpelonsas are ind,g
nant AZ tie action Of the St Mar
tiuvile meeting indorsing the
lclosing If the Courtableau and
/ Icvepiug the west bank of the At.
chafa'aya down 10, oi near Butte
4 ii Rose, thereby completely pro
tccting the whole Of st. Landry
paiIsh and good part Of st.
Martin, Iberia. and, ! might say,
81. Mary. II is the only way by
which tney can be protected from
the Hoods Of the Atchafalaya .hat
does 40 innrh damage Ia all of the
farmers and the people residing
on the east bank of the Teche
rom the Coultableau down.
The Euulahlc,u does not dis
charge any oi It's waters directly
into he AtchafaIaya, but emptics
into lie bayous leading from its
mouth soati into the Ope'Ousas
lakes. and tlcm there down
| thgGugs: Lake catah0ula into the
| lakes " Tie west bank below.
droN hing out thousands of acres
OF cnltivablc lands, and overflow .ng
80 OUG ~ 100 600 acres more which
are subject 10 CvclHpw, clear NJ
to he Avoyrlles line. In view of
all The great advantages OF the
course or policy proposed by the
meeting ut ST Martinvllle | must
say that was astonished at the
action of thcneople of Opelousas,
liyipS 10 punish New Iberia for
auildine q railroa, TO Port Barre
to. as thy charge, steM their trade
a reflection Oh the business adj
lily Of the merchants of Opelousas
and or the homo. Of the farmers
and laborers Of the parisl.J They
may be assured that New Iberians
are not actuated hy any such rur-
pose For many years this section
has been completely in The hands
of one transportation company
and the only object of this people
was to try to get another compel
ing line, as well AZ to get direct
communication 10 northern mark
cts for our produce This lauda
ble ambition artuated The progress.
slye people Of Opelousas to en-
courage the building Of the line
leading feom their far young city
TO the banks Of the Mississippi
river at Baton Rouge.
Some fourteen years ago, recOg
nizipg the desirabi|ity of having a
greater head water for the Teche,
in order to give this stream q
stronger current, thereby prevent
ing its flling so rapidly, and to
improve its navigation, Congress-
man Robt. e. Broussard and my
self conceived the plan Of dredg
ing the Teche and establishing
locks 40 as to open navigation
clear up through the Techc and
Courtableau TO Washington. In
furihcrance Of this purpose gath
cred the statistics Of the COM
merce of three parishes Armed
with thes. facts and figures Mr.
Broussard was the better able to
bring the matter before Congress-,
which be did, and he was succens
full to the end Of getting an apprO-
prlation necessary to detray the
expense Of a government survey.
The survey and estimates of cost
of the proposed works of improve
ment were made under the direc-
tion of Maj Jas. B. Quinn. Ev-
erything seemed to point to the
success of the project, no one
dreaming Of opposition from st.
Landry.
When st. Landry interposed
her opposition, which she dill, |,
on two occasions, appeared before
the Police Jury Of that parish and
laid before them every argument
Of which | was possessed, attempt
ing to show them by tue best maps
that their scheme Of opening the
Courtablean would not prove prac-
tical in its results, and urged
their adoption Of the Teche scheme
as means of securing reliable
navigation FIR the betterment Of
their f.,.piu,prca They heard me-