The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1913-07-26
LEVEE IN FRONT Of DAM.
Construction of New Enabankment
Decided Upon as Solution of
seepage Problen-steam Roller
squelches Agitation for Bayou
Lafourehe Locks.

oqQSiShSS A9itdafoH toI SA
Lafourehe Locks.
The semi-annual meeting of the
joint organization of the Lafourche
and Atchafalaya Leyee Boards was
held here Monday in the rooms of
the former organization, with the
following members OF the two bod
les in attendance:
Atchafalaya Board-V. NJ. Lefebvre,
president, West Baton Rouge; Hor
ace Wilkinson, West Baton Rouge;
E. T. Merrick. Jr., Pointe Coupee; B.
Clark Leblanc, Iberville, and Honore
Dugas, Assumption
Ilafourche Board. T. Wigginton,
Lafourche; Robert Martin, Jr, As
sumption; F. B. Lemann, Ascension;
i Cleryille Himel, st. James; A. Cham
paigne, st. John; George Lorio, st.
Charles; Charles Viering, Jefferson;
r. E. Perez, Plaquemines; T. V.
Thaggard, representing the railroads
| Mr.. Himel, who succeeds e. G.
| Swartz, former president of the La
fourche board, received his commits
sion last Sunday, and qualified Mon
day morning by taking the oath of
office before Clerk of Court James
S. Barman, in this city.
Major F. NJ. Kerr, chief state en-
gineer, Assistant Engineers John
Klorer and Joseph Monget, Levee
Inspector Hector Himel, of st.
James, and Secretary w. J. McCune
of the Lafourche board, were also
present.
i President Lefebyre, of the Atcaa.
falaya board, occupied the chair.
: Major Kerr reported that, much I'M
} easiness having been caused by the
copious flow of seepage water
through the Bayou Lafourche dam
during the freshets OF the past few
years, the Board of State Engineers
: had undertaken to stop the leakage
by driving a row of interlocking steel
: sheet piling into the front slope of
the dam across its entire length,
but the remedy proved Intellectual
. and the resultant decrease in the
discharge through the dam was SO
small as to be negligible. The. piles
were 45 feet long, and were driven
IS feet into the ground, the work
: costing $10,697.68. The seepage
1 through the dam was collected into
/ a system OF drains and led into q
S weir emptying into Bayou Lafourche
a On May 10, 1913, with the river
e gauge at Donaldsonville reading 32.f
9 feet, and after completion of the
i sheet piling diaphraghm, the dis
2 charge through this weir measured
$ 397 40 gallons per "a hours. The
: flow carried III per cent of deposit
E aggregating 81 cubic yards dai1y, prac
a tically all OF which came from the
8 dam.
Il Major Kerr read a report from
) Assistant Eng neer John Korer coy
E Eering the work on the dam, and rec
Iommending as the most practica
8 bic solution Of the seepage problem
: the construction of leyee some
5 two or three hundred feet in front
4 of the dam, located on the batture
? which has formed since the closing
2 of Bayou Lafourche, and connecting
/ Wiah the existing leVees on each
5 side of the dam. Two lines have
3 been surveyed for this levee, one
l $50 feet long and the other .1160 feet
t in length, both with a 10-foot crown
. and slopes of three and four to one
} For the shorter 1eYee $4,000 cubic
: yards of earth would be required
and for the longer line $4,000 cubic
yards. An exploration ditch contain
ing four to five thousand cubic
i yards additional would be common
{ to both lines. At 80 cents per cubic
: yard, the short leyee would cost ap.
/ proximately $4,000, and the long lie.
wee S14,100. A concrete revetment
, for the short levee would require an
| outlay of about $4,000, and for the
, long levee, $4,000. At present there
lis in the general engineering fund
of the state to the credit of the
) Atchafalaya board the sum of $24,
; 561.16, and to the credit Of the La
}, fourche board $40, 651.16, out of which
: funds the cost of the proposed levee
J could be met.
After a general discussion of the
) matter, a resolution offered by Mr..
i Wilkinson was adopted, to the eff
feet that the new 1eyee across the
Bayou Lafourehe dam as recommend
GU NY LaS SkdtC bOd1u I'll
4 be constructed under their direc-
ton and plans, and paid for from
funds apportioned to the two levee
boards from the general engineering
fund Of the state. This leaves to
the discretion of the State Board
Of Engineers the location of the
1eVee and all matters appertaining
to its construction. Major Kerr ex-
plained that the basin between the
new levee and the dam would have
to be drained either by siphoning
! the water out or by cutting channel
through the dam for it's passage into
Bayou Lafourche. Mr.. Leblanc, of
lberyille, objected to the latter
plan, and it is not likely to be adj
opted. Ultimately, said Major Kerr,
The government would be asked to
fill in the basin between the levee
and dam by means of a hydraulic
dredge.
In the event locks are constructed
| to replace the dam. they viii! prob