The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1914-05-16
THE ATCHAFALkYA
BASIN ASSOCIATION
To be Organized in this City
on Saturday, May 23, IA.

To be Organized in this City
on Saturday, May 23, IA.
4
Will Seek 10 be PLACED under
jurisdiction Of the Missis-
sippi River Con mission,
For a long se.iss of years the
AtchafaIayh river has been in
creasrng is cBaDnel and bed,
thereby col sta1 1tly increasing is
carrying capaGly Not so many
years ago b fred River was fore
ed o send its fl ,od waters 10 he
Cuff through the Mississippi Riv
er, while today the Afchafalay a
has grown 10 a capacity making it
capable of taking care of The en-
tire t1pw OF be Red and still leave
room for little of the Mlsslssip
prs water. From an insignificant
stream tie Atchafalala has
grown to stream of great depth
and dangerous force of current.
Engineers have been engaged for
years on The problem of its con-
troll, while some students of river
currents have predicted, unless
controlled, it would in time offer a
shorter passage for the waters of
the Mississippi 10 The sea. At
one time nature seems to have
been disposed to effect its closure.
as might be gathered from an old
priut-
From ne Red River, which
enters he Mississippi just above
its own point of departure, the
Atchafalaya had received so much
drift wood, az formed at last a
stationary raft 10 miles long, 22O
yards broad and Is feet deep
an obstacle 10 navigation which
the state Of Louisiana required
four years 80 remove
Nature, frustrated 10 this
scheme TO close this stream has
been devOting herself of recent
years 70 making it one of fist pro.
portions. AS he carrying capacity
Of the Atchafalaya has increased, !,
80 has the menace of its flood wa
ters threatened vast acres of the
most fertile lands Of the stale
with station. Levess were
built along both banks of the up
per stretches of the river. bur
these have not been as tff.otuaI
as was hoped for them. The orig
inai i0ea was to continue the levee
Of the west bank OD down through
this parish to the ST Mary line
and thea tuin westward 10 high
land. This west bank levee was
designed 10 project the low lands
of ST Landry. st Martins, and
iberia parishes from fl 'Odipg hy
river waters This levep, tngeth.
er with The east ridge of the
Tecbe, extending from The Cour'a
hleau to the ST Mary parish line,
formed a great watershed of more
than quarter million acres,
which would have to have an out
let for its rain waters, either lsto
the Teche below the Keystone
locks or into Grand Lake Itself
AS both the Teche and the lake
have attained a level of IA feet
above normal during Il ,od periods
it renders the ultimate success of
the scheme bit doubtful The
lands to be protected ron from l
10 ten feet above the level of the
Teche when at mean lOw-wafer
level Therefore, any schs NE
which wOnfd have for its purpose
the keeping of the Tecbe we'll
within the range of its lower lev
els, ID its lower section, holds ont
the hope of success of the lev+e
plan to the owners of the $50 900
acres.
Some weeks ago number OF
PROMINENT gentlemen Uf the west
shore Of The Atchafalaya met dt
this point and went to ChareDtoD
with The view of studying, on the
ground, the proposition TO cut u
canal 1000 feet wide and twenty
feet deep fsom the shoEe Of Grand
Lake acs oss the Bayou Trche at
Chatpntoh 10 the Cote blanche
Bay, thinking, thereby, OF prOvld
ing a short cut TO The sea, which
wonld fleet the holding in check
of II nod levels in The Atchafalaya
BASIN. The opinions of a number
Of prominent engineers were invit
ed on this subject. and as usual
these opinions did not agree or
travel in the same channel.
Last Sunday another large mum
Der of prominent and interested
gentlemen met here, accompanied
by Mai F Y Kerr, Chief Of the
State Board of Beginners, and
again went over the grounds ut
Charenton, in the hope of finding
some new light on the subject.
Again there was no uuaDlmIfy OF
Tbo., mara odvneafpS q