The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1916-11-03
PLAN FOR SHORTENING MISS.
RIVER TWO HUNDRED MILES.

The levee system on the MISSISSIPPI
ri river from Cairo to the Gulf Of
Mexico was intended to protect the
cultivated lands adjacent to the riv-
er. This system has resulted in
building up the bed Of the river from
year to year by reason of the fact
that all of the tributary streams run
ming into the Mississippi river have
greater velocity, and consequently
sediment brought into the main river,
whose current is slower. is deposited
in the river between Cairo and the
Gulf. This is the main cause of the
flood line going higher each year
with a given rainfall.
Now, the most practical and cheap
est remedy for this is to make q
| shorter outlet to the sea for this vast
! volume of silt-bearing water, and
this outlet is via the Atchafalaya
river, the source of which is near
the emouth Of the Red river where
it cmpties into the Mississippi. The
Atchafalaya river runs straight to the
tidewater of the Gulf, a distance of
about 100 miles, whereas. via the
Mississippi river, the distance from
the mouth Of the Red river to the
Gulf is 800 miles. The mall of the
Mississippi river from the mouti, of
the Red river to the Gulf is about
one-tenth Of a foot per mile; of the
Atchafalaya about t~hree-tenths of a
foot to the mile.
The increase in velocity from the
mouth OF the Red river to the Gulf
via the Aachafalaya would probably |
lower the grade line of high water /
to two-tenths of a foot per mile, |
which would reduce the high-water
line for that point (mouth of Red !
20 feet or more. This re-
duction in high-water mark would
probably extend as far north as Men,
phis, OF even Cairo; thus it can be
seen that the levee as now built from
Memphis to the Gulf would be of
ample height and strength to give
to the adjacent country for
probably a hundred years or more,
Would this Improvement leave
New Orleans an inland city? No.
For the slowing down of the velocity
Of the water in the Mississippi from
the emouth of the Red river to the
Gulf via the old channels would re-
suit in all the sediment being carried
% sea via the A~tchafalaya, leaving
he old channel a clearwater canal.
which could be maintained at ali
lines by a little dredging such as is
necessary now at the j~etties. The
'ailroads entering New Orleans could
hen bridge the Mississippi river there
md would profit in the long run by
,bviating the flooding of their tracks.
The ~jetties at the mouth of the
Mississippi could be dredged to
lepth of 40 to so feet and remain
10, for no sediment would be going
tut that way to fill them up. The
line at New Orleans
would hardly exceed 10 feet above
wv water.
The low-water line at New Or
cans being only / foot above sea
evel, with a depth of SO to 60 feet
f water, it a be seen that not only
7ould New Orleans be secure from
GODS in the future but that the I
,rgest vessels in the world could en- |
it's harbor. {
The Mississippi river, from the jet
les to the mouth of the Red river, ,
'ould be a canal, navigable at all t
mes, with a little dredging, per- I
APPS, between Baton Rouge and the i
river; and all that rich country I
n either side of the river from the S
louth of the Red river to the Gulf !
'ould be absolutely secure from t
oods.--M. +. Jefferdo, in the Mo- f
ember Number of Popular Mechan.- Y
s Magazine.