Lower coast gazette., 1914-01-03

COAST GAZE
IRENE surface height of the river was concern
ed. U. S. Engineer Capt. John Mills in build
ing a levee there about the year 1890 was SER
iously embarrassed by the fact that the levee at
point at which he was then building it was Of
such height and weight that the soil under
meath would not support the leyee and the pub
lie road itself rose up by the lateral pressure
some two or three feet. AS the high water
season was then approaching and the waters
began to lie against the levee, the earth for the
completion of the levee was taken from the
land side and the road thus pulled up remained
as a landmark for many years.
U. S. Engineer Capt. Sheriff. is now build
ing another Ievee at Carnaervon and it's proper
tons are so large and the superintendent
weight so great that the adjacent BERN on the
river side of the new levee failed to support the
weight of the levee and the earth was forced up
in the pits made by the great dredge that was,
building the levee. The quicksand theory seems
to be applicable to this and yet it is a very in
frequent condition on the Lower Coast. All Of
the lands that have come under our observation
thus far have under any previous conditions
been able to support thoroughly all the leyees
Of the largest size. This pocket at Carnservon
may be construed to convey the idea that a
great outlet of the river at one time existed at
that place. 1t is true that abreast of the Poy-
dras lane. a mile or more above, Bayou Terre
aux Boeufs was open within historic days and
within the angle between the river bank to the
West and the East bank Of Bayou Terre aux
boeufs lies a great triangle filled with lakes and
only reaching the open gulf fifty miles further
down the river. If we note what has happened
at Cubitt's Gap. through which large steamers
used to sail from New Orleans to Mobile, and
which is now so thoroughly Swallowed up as to
render the sailing of any boat of any size inn
practicable, We can readily conceive that the
great river had one Of its chief outlets at the
upper end of Carnaervon plantation and that as
it silted up at that point the water gradually
built up the Terre aux Boeufs Ridge, but left
behind it these marks of it's earlier history,
which may date back a thousand or more years.
Large earth formations down at the mouth of
the river indicates what the river is now doing
and from that we can readily generalize as to
what the river has done in the past and perhals
We can thus account for the lowness of the land
and the height of the required levees at the
upper end Of Carnaeryon plantation, Plaque
mines parish.
These views, thus expressed, lead us to
wonder whether there is not a point at which
the concentration of the waters of the Missis-
sippi River within the levee's limits may not
finally reach a level against which satisfactory
levees to prevent inundation cannot be con-
structed because of the great weight required.
We may have already reached the limit, or
nearly to the limits OF, the weights that we can
use, especially where these levees are of such
considerable height, but the development of
beds Of quicksand and a new levee sinking into
the ground and, as we understand it, passing
underneath the adjacent BERN toward the river
without breaking through that BERN, but putt
ing up in the middle Of the great excavation
pits, give a lesson in levee building outside OF
our past experiences.
AS it now stands, the line of the levee is be-
ing removed further inland and perhaps oc less
dimensions than first proposed and with the
great dredges there on the spot the work
OF construction is now proceeding rapidly, with
fair prospects of having the work completed be-
fore the high water season reaches Us.
A - 1~~sl~-L - H. C-A-..a 49, Z- s