Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-07-11
This Is the Plan Suggested by the Citizens Commit
 tee of Fifteen,
WOULD REVIVE: THE:
 IMREAU PROJECT
Report of Committees with Sugges- tiuLs Based 0n TnYestigati0ns Will Be Submitted to Mass Neetine to
 Be Called Within Week.

An enthusiastic meeting of the Con- mittee of Fifteen on Flood Control, at the chamber of commerce assembly hall last night, was brought to a close by the decision to prepare for mass meeting of citizens to be held, prob ably within week, report recom- mendlng two things:
 First, that the mass meeting invite and urge interested property owners to renew and carry out their plans for the organization of the Imbeau Drainage district, so planned as to in clude that portion of the city of Pine Bluff that is affected by the flooding of the lakebed section;
 Second, that a complete. survey of such plan of prevention of future over- flows of the lakebed section be made by competent engineers at as early date as possible, the cost to be de- frayed by a fund raised by subscrip- tion, this fund to be returned to the donors in the event the district is formed to carry out the work.
 Many in Attendance.
 There was an exceptionally good at tendance at the meeting, not only of members of the committee, but of members of the city council and prop erty owners. The discussion was thorough, based on the findings, fig ures and recommendations in the re- port of Engineer Miller of Little Rock, which report was printed in full in The Graphic last week. Almost every man at the meeting participated in the discussion, and the matter was threshed out in almost full detail.
 It was brought out that some years ago the property owners of the coun- try along Bayou Bartholomew and Imbeau bayou had planned a big drainage district to protect the coun- try from the overflows with which that country suffers at frequent in- tervals. Preliminary surveys were made, and it was ascertained that the cost of the work was greater than could be borne by the property to be benefited. Then the promoters in- vited the city to come into the dis trict, by contributing $1O,O00 of the cost of the work, this the city refus- ing to do.
 At the meeting last night it was stated by several of the speakers that such an opportunity will never again be offered the city to improve lakebed conditions at such a small expense.
 Cost Will Be Heavy.
 As it appears now it is expected the cost of the work of draining the lakebed through canal into Bayou Bartholomew, and deepening and Strengthening the channel of Bayou Bartholomew, will range from $70,000 to $200000.
 This work will include also the clos ino of Mallory ditch, which connects the lakebed section with the Arkan- sas river here, and through which so much of the water from the river has entered the lakebed at all flood stages of the river. Thus the Hardin canal, or the lakebed channel, will be called upon to carry off only the natural drainage which falls in the basin drained by it.
 The lakebed channel, according to the general plan, is to be cleaned and strengthened, and will reach Bayou Bartholomew about three miles east and four miles south of Pine Bluff. Bayou Bartholomew channel will be deepened, and two big loops are to be cut off, adding considerably to the fall and greatly lessening the length of the bayou. Deepening and straighten- ing the bayou, by adding to the fall, will allow it to carry off more water more rapidly than is now the case, and the addition to the bayou of the water from the lakebed section, it, is expected by engineers, will not in- crease the heighth of the water in the bayou, even at flood stages, more than two or three inches. In fact, there are engineers who believe that the general plan proposed will result in preventing such destructive floods in the Bayou bartholomew section as have been suffered so often in the past.
 Planning Big District. The general plan to be recom- mended to the mass meeting by the Committee of Fifteen is to have the property owners in the bayou country revive their movement for the forma- l tion of the drainage district; to en- large the proposed district, that it may include the city and the lakebed problem; to have complete prelimi- nary survey and accurate estimates; and then to go before the legislature with the request that the necessary | bill be passed, for the formation of the district, that the work may be carried out as planned.
 | Because the proposed district will improve drainage conditions in the city and large section of the county