The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1912-05-11
RIVER HISTORY.
An Account of the Wars
Against Floods OF the Great
Father of Waters.

In lalI a levce was built to pro
trct the city Of New Orleans from
overflow IN 1879 DrPratz says
that "rhe Ievrc extended from
English Bend, twelve miles below,
to thirty miles above, and on both
SIDES Of the river" In l1Ei an
ordinance was ,omulgateh ore.
Iulllng the inhabitants 10 com
plrtc then levces by he lst Of
January. l1ii, under penalty Of
forfeiture ot their lands 10 the
crown" The levce building OF
those days was small affair com,
pared with that now going on.
It's purpose was solely to protect
the narrow strips of high land
{ along lp banks Of the river, as
only these were occupied This
was effected py small levees along
the rlvcr font and cross levees
running back 10 the lower and IN,
inhabited lands As the floods
were allowed to roam at will over
every other part OF the valley il
was easy and Inexpensive to con
struc' lrvees sufficient to accom-
pllsh the very limited results in
| tended
Before many years had elapsed,
however, the richness Of these al
lnvlal lands had attracted quite a
large population. aud the Ievees
were rapidly extended until 10y
S!S nearly the whole basin was
leveed. Between 1861 and 1868,
neglect aud the ravages Of war de
stroycd the greater part Of this
work, but with the return of peace
it was promptly taken mp agalE
and has ever since been prOsecnt
ed with more or less vigor
Until lSS2 every dollar expend
ed ON this work had been rails. d
by taxation Of those dwelling in
the valley.
In 1919 theMississippiRiverCom
mission was created by Congress
and charged with inquirng into
the best methods of improving the
river for navigation purposes. and
for the prevention of OveIilOws,
In 1882 1t allotted Fl, 800, 600 10 be
expended IL closing the crevasses
made in the levres by the great
flood of 1882. This was the first
money ever expended by the Gov
crnment III lcvee building This
act of the Commission greatly ex-
cited the hopes of the people of
the valley and aroused them to ef-
forts which may well he described
AZ stnpendous Since that date
about @21 100000 have been ex-
pended in the construction of lev.
lees. OF this the Government has
provided about $1,000, 900 and
the people of he valley about SO,
600, coo.
| When he flood of 1897 broke
upon US there were about 1900
miles of levpes. None of these
lIpvpps were of the uimentlOns re-
ga,dcd hy The engineers as neces,
sary to withstand such a food as
that of 1882, and a considerable
part Of the 81. Francls front was
| not levetd at all. We had hoped
that such flood as that would
not come, at least until we were
better prepared to cope with it,
but we were disappointed.
The flood Of 1897 exceeded that
Of 1882. Judged by duration and
height combined it has no equal.
On March 10Th il reached the high
est stage at Cairo, which was 81 {
on the gauge The highest gauge
readlngbefore recorded was 81 O2
reached 10y the flood Of 1888 on
February 9th. That flood was
80 short, however, that III no Otbel
respect can it be compared Will
that Of 1897 The magnitude OF
the flood of 1897 can best be ap
preciated from the fact that 1
practically stood for thirty.thre'
DAYS at Cairo at and over ~ fee
on the gauge. .
The leWe system being yer.
! much stronger and more extensive
!. than ever before, the flood eleva
,ion all along the river was great
er than during any prevlou
floods This, of course. was to b.
expected. The Ievees along th'
1 st. Francis basin were so incom
plete that In many places the wa
ter broke through or ran owe
, them. Several crevasses occurred
/ on the Arkansas side above tn
4 mouth of the White river, am
4 four or five along the front OF tn
Yazoo basin. Between the mOut
y of the White river and a poin
J nearly opposite Vicksburg wher
\ the Briggs crevasee occurred
4 There was no break on the ives
< side. One other break, q nearI
, harmless one, occurred in the lei
: sas line, and small one, whic
\ was promptly closed, occurred Ju'
| below Baton Rouge. The tots
! length of levee destroyed was )
miles, being but .63 of l per cen
nf the y hole work