Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1912-04-19
EXPERT OPINION ON FLOODS IN THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY.
By Mai. w. Dunbar Jenkins.


taken from the Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Sunday Times, is from the pen OF form
or Natchez man, who has given the Mis-
sissippi River and its idiosyncrasies much
Thought. and his opinion, here so care
fuIlv expressed. can be accepted as au-
thority on the subject, and is worthy OF
most careful study by our people. -Ed.l
You ask me to point out the cause of
the unprecedented rise in the waters OF
the Mississippi river this spring and it
is very easy matter to explain, to any !
/ one familiar with the workings of this
formidable stream.
The Mississippi river is the main outlet
of a vast area between the Allegheny and
the Rocky mountains. It's numerous trib-
utaries cover an area of $4,000 square
miles and spread out funnel-shape over
twenty-eight States of the Union. The
drainage of all this territory of different
climatic conditions, of various soils, sea-
sons, and typographical features, of div
ers winds and storms and of rainfall and
snow, must flow through narrow chan
mel of 4, 800 feet in width and an average
depth of fifty-tve feet, from Cairo to the
Gulf OF Mexico.
The grand tributaries of the lower Mis-
sissippi are the Ohio, the upper Missis-
sippi, the Missouri, the Arkansas and
White and the Red river of the South.
We may take each one of these grand
tributaries and subdivide it into smaller
basins and still have most formidable
streams.
The. Ohio river, for instance, formed
by the Allegheny and Monongahela riv-
~, the Wabash river, which covers the
whole State of Indiana, the Tennessee,
the cumberland, the Kentucky, the Sci
ota, the Licking and Kanawah, are all
great rivers in themselves and bring past
Vicksburg, for instance, waters from the
States OF New York, Pennsylvania, Mary
c land and West Virginia, draining the
. Western slope of the Allegheny noun
tains as far South as Alabama, and are
fed themselves by rivers and innumer-
tributaries.
1 Take the Missouri river, which rises
in Montana and is formed by the Jeffer-
q son and Madison forks. 1t receives on its
9 flow toward the Southeast, such forn;d-
able streams as the Marias, the Yellow
stone, the Milk, the Cheyenne, the Can.
r non Ball, the White, the Niobrara, the
e Platte, the Kansas and the Usage rivers;
these rivers in their turn, drain the East
ern slopes Of the Rocky mountains, from
British Columbia down to Denver, Colo,
the States Of Wyoming. North and South
Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri
on the West, and the States of NORTH
= and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa anC
u Missouri on the East.
s The upper Mississippi, fed by innu
merable lakes and springs in northern
Minnesota and northern Wisconsin, is ,
a formidable stream before it receives it
: great tributaries in the Minnesota, the
: st. Croix, the Fog, the Chippewa, thu
Des Moines and the Illinois. last, but
. not least, the Arkansas river, rising il
Colorado, fourteen miles north Of Lead
vile, brings down in its muddy channel
r the more treacherous north and soutI
n Canadian rivers, the Cimmaron, tn
4 Wichita, the White and the Black, drain
ing portions of Colorado, New Mexico
y Kansas, Texas, Oklahoms and Arkansas
e Any one of these great tributaries alone
might discharge enough water to Overflow
the lower Mississippi valley to an un
n comfortable depth. A combination Q
sz any two of the great tributaries, such a
n the Ohio and upper Mississippi, or tn
"a Ohio and Arkansas, or the Missouri an
!, upper Mississippi, discharging naturally
= can give us as great food as we shoul
care to see-whiIe combination Of an,
, three would raise the surface above tn
high-water mark. We are, therefore
~ subject to an annual overflow, or grea
IS flood, and II il only an accident or
4 kind Providence that delivers us iron
being drowned OUT each year. Natur
al Has ptofluCu bilat VIC CcCdpC tticoC uc
structive foods frequently.
4 The great area drained extends iron
ne the thirty-fifth to the fiftieth parallels {
latitude and from the seyenty-ninth t
the one hundred and fourteenth meri6
+ ian of longitude with variations Of eli
2 matte conditions.
u The average annual rainfall OF th
!, United States varies greatly according t
the latitude and longitude Of the State
4 In the eastern States or Allegheny slop
&c it is greatest. while in the western Rock
d mountain slope it il, fortunately for N
RI smallest. We are, therefore, at Chatta
nooga, nearest the region OF greatest rain
, fall and consequently received the fresh
a. cts from the Allegheny first. We re
es ceive the freshets from the Rockies niue
re later, owing to the greater distance,
10 the smaller amount of rainfall, 10 tn
n lateness of the season of melting snow
. and to the great absorption Of the waite
II by the peculiar nature Of the soil whic
is characteristic of the western country
There is, however, an intermediate coun
try which lies directly north of the cours
Of the lower Mississippi; and is covere