The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1915-04-28
STSH 81 A S XII =. e TsT I, 3
SPRING Fi. GODS

Il = - - ~ W = Is
SPRING.
Il he Miss
81 Ere
1t has come to pass that the Mis-
4 sissippi river is practically canalized
from Memphis to its mouth, dis
lance Of nearly a Thousand miles.
4 The greatest system Of Ievees In the
world has here been developed with
out much having been said about it.
because OF it the foods Of the great
lstream have been barred from So
600 square miles OF the richest land
lin the nation %
The area thus protected from over
flow is about as large as all New
! England. exclusive of Maine With
Tin this area are the cotton belts OF
4 the Yazoo delta where the crops are
l3such as are known no place else in
Sa1l the south !; the can helds of Lor-
isiana and the truck farms of the
lower Mississippi that offer ideal
homes to the small farmer. Much
of this region today lies at a level
that is lower than the surface Of the
water of the great stream, even at4its
Hover stages. Without levees it
lcou1d not be farmed:
Through all the region from Mem
! phis to the sea it is not necessary TO
/ build levees. At Vicksburg, at
i fNatchez and at Baton Rogue, for in
i the stream and are secure against the
encroachments of the foods. But
! there are 1900 miles Of river bank
i that have required earthworks to
1 keep the mighty stream in place and
4 Throughout that distance greatalevees
have been built. At no other place in
| the world are there as strong levees
Preaching as great distances.
The Development of this system
of en- bankments came about almost
tof itself. When the French first por-
ltaged their supplies across the neck
of land that separates Lake Pom
lchartrain from the Mississippi. they
camped on the site Of what is now
New Orleans. From this point the
lJesuits set out to convert the Indian
and the great river offered them a
highway Atvillage and trading post
/ grew here and the floods came down
and drowned it out. With shovels
! the early settlers built up frail en-
bankment about their trading post
and this was the first levee. Later
the owners of plantations came to
protect their crops with levees. Small
communities banded themselves to-
gether and built entertainments
against the foods. Large organiza-
| lions followed suit. States took up
1.-THE work. Finally the federal gov
eminent joined the other forces SO
engaged and now all interests are
cooperating in building and main
Etaining the stretch of entertainments
land in working the whole into one
co-ordinating system.
At different points leyees of diff
iferent heights are maintained The
maximum height is TWENTY-FIVE feet.
iSuch a leyee would be 500 feet wide
Lat the bottom and ten feet wide at
!, the top To build a mile Of evee like
1 this is no mean task. The average
mississippi levee is, however. about
/ Fifteen feet high and $50 feet across
1 at the bottom 1t is made of soft
earth and to save this from erosion
4 the whole is planted with Bermuda
i grass, which grows readily and
makes sod that is very tough and
durable.
At places these levees are miles
back from the actual stream. Its
advisable to leave otherwise useless
spaces within the levees that they
II may &SHIFe$a S GIEstIhO1IS 1Oll LIS. iAUVA
waters. AT places, also, the leyees
are but mile or two miles apart
land here the great river Is converted
Into one deep. swift-fowing canal
THAT must take care of allfsthe flood
waters from an area that is forty-one
i per cent Of the whole of the United
Estates. There are hundreds of miles
/ Of such stretches where the traveller
on river steamboat may never get
Ea peep over a levee and into the fer
title cane fields unless the stream
happens to be running at the food
i stage. #s
The construction OF levee is
largely a matter of accumulatinE
enough earth to build 1t to given
height and to give its ides the prop
er slope so that they may endure.
i But TIL maintenance of aB1evee is an
Hentirely different problem and one
which causes vastly more worry:
+ This erratic stream has always been
I famed for it's tendency to roam
Saround atswill and not to stick to one
4 bed. Butte be made to flow between
restraining levees It must be tanned.
It is the Willingness of the great
river to be controlled that has caused
4 the hardest&dght. sa#s
1 There are great stretches of river
bank and levee that have been laid
/, IN cobble stones. securely cemented
i together, that the waters may notseat
i into the banks. This is an expensive
i system OF treatment for embark
Ements, and the river engineers sought
II long for some substitute that would
4 be simpler. Finally they developed
a covering for these banks that was
fa sort of ma nified rush ru 6, woven
flor this particular purpose.
tits probably one Of the most spec
I tacular pieces Of weaving In the
i world that produces the mats that
I cover the. banks OF the Mississippi
n river wherever there is danger of the
stream cutting under a levee. When
Ia stretch Of the river Is believed to
be in danger. a crew OF workmen
and many barges are collected. From
two OF these barges are stretched