Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-05-29
An ENelIsHMAWs OPINION As TO CON.
troll OF MISSISSIPPI River.

Washington, May Ii Inc pToDieih
of flood control of the Mississippi river is
no greater than the problem which con-
ironted us when we began the control OF
the Nile floods and harnessed its run
away waters for irrigation purposes,
changing the desert into a paradise. "
Sir William Willcocks, one OF the most
eminent engineers i'm the world, the build
or of the great Assouan dam which backs
the water for more than 200 miles up
the Nile, a wholesome, good natured,
witty Englishman, who is on his first WIS.,
it to the Mississippi river as the guest OF
United States army engineers, thus testi-
fled before the river and harbors commit
tee of the house the other day.
While he waslooking upon the Missis-
sppi valley for the first time, Sir William
said that the problem Of the "Father OF
Waters was an old one to him, as he has
been close reader of the opinions of the
Mississippi river commission for years and
is an old subscriber to several American
engineering journals whose pages have
been full of scientific discussions of how
to control the Mississippi floods.
Conciding with the general accepted
theory that the floods on the Mississippi
can be controlled by series of bikes oil
levees, Sir William gave it as his opinion
that the present dikes are too narrow on
top. Considering the river and the rich
ness of the country you ought to make g
dixie four times as wide. You are making
your bikes eight feet wide; anything I'M
der twenty-five feet, it seems to me
would be rather small. The Babylonian:
made their dikes hundred feet wide a
the top. Then a flood could do practically
no damage, even if the worst came to thu
worst. II you have width OF 100 fee
you can dig into it and you can get ;
means of filling it up. This great mass o
stuff, about level with the water is a grea
asset for the purpose of stopping an!
seepage."
During the course of the hearing, which
was probably one of the most interestin!
the members of the rivers and harbor
committee ever participated in, for the.
were listening to one of the worlds great
est authorities on river control, Sir vii
liam suggested that great monoliths b.
constructed along the banks of the Mis-
sissippi where the greatest breaches Nigh
occur, these monoliths to be made of bricl
or cement and brick to be burnt on tn
ground, thereby saving the cost OF trans
portation. He believed that these immens
monoliths, as big as the house Office build
ing as he described the monoliths on tn
Nile, the Tigris and the Euphrates, woul'
solve the problem of the Mississippi an,
create behind the dikes one of the riches
empires Of the world.
Sir William said during the hearin
that the Assouan dam, which is 6, 400 fee
long, brings to the government 81, 500,
a year in the way of irrigation charges
Land in the vicinity of the dam is wortl
from $3.50 to 1000 per acre, which O
course could not be called cheap. On thi
acre can be raised 500 weight of cottol
worth 500 and then ton of wheat wortl
from S35 to $40, so that in one year thi
acre will produce about $40 worth of cot
ton and wheat. One year they plant cot
ton, the next year they plant corn. SCOT
ton never grows two years in succession
because it is considered fatiguing to TIN
soil.
Speaking of the vast opportunities TO
development that lie in the lands alon
the Mi ssissippi, Sir William used typi
cal Englishism. "You have such crowd
of good land in this country that yo'
have done nothing with. We do not vast
, anything. In our country,i Egypt, IL,
, OOO,O0O people live on 6,6OO, 900 acres O
land, and they pay tag OF 1900, 90
pounds (SS5, 900, OOO) a year and out O
those 100000 acres only 100000 ar
cultivated yet because 1000, 900 are still
salt"