The Donaldsonville chief., 1914-04-04
DAM MUST Be REMOVED,
Action to be Taken by War Depart
ment to Restore NavieabIe Com
munication Between Mississippi
River and Bayou Lafourche.

River and Bayou Lafourche.
Secretary R. S. Vickers of the Ba-
you Lafourche Lock Association is in
receipt of the following important let
ter, which explains itself:
Washington, D. c., March 80, 1914.
Mr.. r. S. Vickers, Secretary, Bayou
Lafourche Lock Association, Don
aldsonyille, La.
Sir:-In further reply to your let
ter of the 7th instant, regarding the
lock to be constructed at the head
of Bayou Lafourehe, I now have to
inform you that the act Of congress
authorizing the construction of this
lock, and the maintenance of the
temporary dam, provided that this
work must be done prior to January
1, 1910. The joint levee boards fail
ed to construct the lock within the
specified time, and this department
has refrained from taking action to
have the dam. removed because it
was believed that all interests could
best be served by allowing the dam
to remain until such time as the
navigation interests should make it's
removal Imperative.
The river and harbors act of March
4, 1913, calls for an examination and
survey of Bayou Lafourche, with a
view of its further improvement. AS
a result of this survey the War
Department now believes that the
navigation interests are such that it
can no longer withhold action In re-
gard to the removal of the dam. The
joint levee boards have therefore
been informed that unless congress
sional authority for the construction
of the lock. or the continuance Of
the dam, is obtained at the present
session of congress, action will have
to be instituted with view to the
removal Of the temporary, dam.
Very respectfully,
(Signed) DAN. G. kINGMAN,
Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.
Immediately upon receipt of the
foregoing communication, Mr.. Wick
ers mailed the following letter to up
wards of two thousand representative
citizens of the Atchafalaya and La
fourche levee districts:
Donaldsonville, La, Apr. 4, 1914.
Dear Sir:-l am enclosing you copy
OF a letter just received from the
War Department. From this you
will see We are finally about to- get
action on the lock question. It is
now up to us to prevent congress
from granting a further extension Of
time to the levee boards, which
would simply mean another shelving
of the matter for an indefinite pc
riod. You are therefore urged both
as citizen who has a duty to per-
form and one who has the interests
OF this section at heart, to wire
your congressman not to approve fur
ther delay in commencing the con-
struction of the locks. If the Ievee
boards are in fact unable to do any
thing toward fulfilling their legal
obligation, it then behooves them to
join hands with us in an appeal to
the federal government to come to
the rescue and make the necessary
appropriation at once for commenc-
ing construction.
To prove to you how important
w SSiAh7AAOAt IL ~ EGt CCuSEEGSU dUu
Immediate action on the part of our
people, we propose that if you will
Wire as requested above and advise
us that the cost is more than you
can afford, we will reimburse you
the cost.
Again reminding you Of our past
experience that an extension of
time to the ievee boards means an
Indefinite postponement of the con-
struction of the locks, we urge that
you assist in pressing the advantage
We have gained through hard work,
and wire your congressman imme-
diately upon receipt OF this COM
munleation, protesting against any
further delay. Yours truly,
BAYOU LAFOURCHE LOCK sAssO-
CITATION, r. S. V1CKERS,
Secretary