The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1913-01-05
TWELVE MILE BAYOU.
Will Try to Reclaim Over Twenty
Thousand .AcreS-tiOre Than One
Hundred Thousand Acres Involved
State and Federal Engineers Are
Considering Plan.

New Orleans Picayune January 3:
What will mean the absolute recla-
NATION of 10000 acres of northern
| Louisiana swamp lands, lying north
land west of Shreveport, will he de-
!cidrd upon today at a caucus OF the
Chief State Engineer, Major Frank
NJ. Kerr. State Engineer Gervais
Lombard. Captain Jackson and Col.
Lansing II. Beach of the United
States Corps Of Engineers with head
quarters in Dallas The conference
Twill be held in Shreveport, for
which place Major Kerr and Mr..
lombard left last night.
The reclamation of the land
hinges on The action taken regard
| ing The changing of the course OF
Twelve Mile bayou. Ii is proposed to
dam up the present outlet Of the
bayou into Red River and continue
| the course of the bayou through a
low cut. for about six miles, giving
a greater fall to the water, thereby
allowing it to drain a section al
present flooded, but which with the
protection of levees could be made
perfectly dry.
The present situation is due to
peculiar changes made in the course
Of the bayou and Red River by ma
ture. The Red River in the section
pursucs a circuitOus route through
the country, while the BAYOU for
merry had direct southerly course
for several miles, from the place
where it at present enters the river
to point farther down the river,
where it had effected an outlet. The
river. however, cut a deeper circuit
above the outlet of the bayou. thus
cutting into the bayou and making
the tributary's outlet several miles
north of the original place.
The land in That part of the coun-
try is flat and receives practically
all the drain of that portion of
Louisiana. and much of the Texas
and Arkansas waters. With drop
i'll the bed of The river of only 81
of foot per mile the flow of the
water is too great for the bed of the
river, consequently it backs up over
about 10000 acres of land, while in
the wet seasons about 100000 acres
are affected.
i 1t is proposed TO dam the mouth
of Twelve Mile bayou and cut
through a low gap for about eight
miles, extending the mouth or the
outlet Of the bayou into. the river at
more southerly point, giving. al,
additional drop of six feet to the
slope. BY this, with both channels
being able to carry the DRAWINGS
off the sheds which they empty into,
the overflow will be stopped and
the land reclaimed Already. in ex-
pectancy of this move on the part
of the State and the Government,
the Caddo Levee Board has built
levees on either side of the river
through the overlooked district and
is awaiting the right to dam the
mouth of the bayou.
Colonel Beach will decide tomor-
row whether or not to recommend
that the new channel be cut for the
bayou and the old bed be neglected.
It is probable that he will urge the
United States engineers to take
summary action in the matter
The cutting of the new channel
for Twelve Mile bayou will mean a
removal of approximately 100000
cubic yards of earthwork where the
! low cut lies, and where it is pro-
posed to divert the bayou This in
itself will be an enormous project.
This action has been advocated
for some time by north Louisian- /
ians but they have met with serious
opposition from Texans. who at :!
present use Twelve Mile bayou for !
transporting purposes. However, it !.
was recently learned that the pro-
posed, channel would be deep |
enough to allow commerce to con- !
.tinue, and also that it would facili- !
tate it, inasmuch as it would give al
more direct line to Shreveport. the /
marketing place of that center. The I
new cui will bring the mouth of the I
bayou within about three miles Of |
Shre,ep
Before. however. very much t
transportation can be carried Oh on
the bayou in its present condition,
or in the proposed change. locks !
will have to be instituted along the
stream. That the Texans are not ex-
ceedingly favorable to The waterway
transportation is shown in-that they
do not use the waterway very much,
but only enough that they may be
able TO demand water rate from