New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1911-04-08
The ENTERPRISE
AND OBSERVER, CONSOLIDATED
ARGUES FOR ATCHAFALAYA

lands in The world, lying in tn
Atchafalaya basin and the Tensa
Ievee district up to the Arkansa
line. | have shown by statistic
that every acre of land III thes
districts that has been reclalme'
by levees and cuitiyated produce
crops of the value Of $42 per acr
in cotton and rice and $75 pc
acre in sugar cane.
All this produce was shipped t.
your city. and the return ship
ments in the way Of plantation
supplies and machinery hav
amounted to about the same.
| have shown that by the di
vorcing of the Mississippi from
the Red and and Atchafalaya rlv
ers you will protect from over
flow in the Atchafalaya basin owe
100000 acres Of these rich lands
I know this to be positiv'
fact. foR | settled in that basin II
1S49. as did hundreds of others
and opened one of the most prof
liable sugar plantations. as many
others did, about the same time
and we were never troubled by
floods until after the Civil war
Owing to the floods of the Miss
issippi since we have had tt
abandon the cultivation OF 30
900 acres and they are now grow
ing up into wilderness.
When these settlements were
made, the Atchafalaya was small
stream navigable only by igir
draft boats.
Now it is mighty river, severa
hundred yards wide and over 1O'
feet deep, and has overflowed it
basin and is jeopardizing the higl
cultivated lands Of the Teche ant
Terrebonne parishes, and threat
ems to divert the whole channe
of the Mississippi by that shol
! TOuIc ~ tHt gull
In view Of these facts, why is j
that there is such opposition OF
the part Of the Progressive Tn
ion, the various commercial or
CARNATIONS. he mayor, the coun
ell and politicians to this divorce
merit? So far | have heard bp
one reason alleged, and that 1
that it would raise the fioo|
height. and endanger the countr'
or coast below.
Do our outlets lower the floo'
heights and prevent the cOuntr,
from overwlow? l am positlv
they do not. | have been Twins
! in country, that is in the AT
chaAalaya basin, which is fort
miles wide, full of outlets. larg
uivers, lakes and innumerabl
smaller streams, many OF then
larger than the Atchafalaya, from
which they take their source. d.
all the outlets prevent floods o
protect the country from over
flows Every person that know
the country knows that they q
not. Does the great outlet OF tn
Atchafalaya, which embraces no
only the mouth of the Red, bu
also miles of abandoned levee
above the mouth of the Red, lowe
the flood height above the Red
Not one particle. On the con
trary every writer and the peo
pie all claim the floods are high
er than ever known before tn
Civil war. some of them as mucI
as five feet, and they have t
build their levees higher than bt
fore.
In the face Of these facts.
ask what good do these outlets do
Every person knows they preven
reclamation Of millions Of acre
of the richest land in the worl
and their development. | claim
is impossible to evee reclair
these lands if the Mississippi
allowed to pour its floods owe
them.
| There is n reason for this. 1t
that the Mississippi carries mor
mud and deposits with its water
than any other river in the worlt
that it takes a strong current
keep his deposit in motion. an
the least check to the current. b
outlets or other means, causes
to make deposits into its bottom
filling up it's channel and causin
its flood height to be greater tina
before.
This is the case at the mout
| of the Red. by the sounding OF Il
, battleship Mississippi, when 81
went to Natchez last summe
!. when it was found to have file
, up its channel, or bed. from %
I 80 feet from bank to bank.
. 1t is the same in the Atchaf
. laya basin, where Grand rive
> which when first knew it was
mighty river from 40 to 80 fe
deep, now. from numerous outlet
has hardly enough water to flo
! a light draft steamboat; and | ca
show numerous eases where b
yous and lakes have filled up {
| Ptirely. In the face of all the
facts, why is it that the intel
gent business men of New y
leans, the coast and up-countl
towns are opposing one of Il
best measures recommended f
the reclamation of our rich, fe
tile overflowed lands and do not
ing for their reclamation and q
velopment, instead Of by expos
!tions and foreign commerce.
1t was a knowledge of the
facts that induced Major Fad
| .. zorf,uo Tho wafop hv moans