The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1920-02-17
LEVEES' PROTECTION
INSURES SAFETY TO
10000, 900 ACRES
Early Fears and Prejudice Against Valley Farm Lands Sent
GIiulBering Through Engineering Skill and
Expenditure of $I00yO0OD00.

n Nuss,ssippi county, Arkansas,
across he i've and a little above
Mempbig there are lands for which the
owners have refused $500 an acre.
These, OF course, are exceptions.
But they Indicate future possioihtes'
Land from which the marketaole I'm
proved and undeveloped-cau be oolgnt
now for as low as t25 an acre. That
would have been a profiteers figure
10 years ago when levees were not
Certain" The average price OF delta
now perhaps win range around $l0O
per acre. There are some places where
Il sells for much more and others
where il is a little below.
But compare that with the Gays Wnen
land was turned back to the state for
taxes! The construction Of levees was
In 1850 the population Of the lower
Mississippi valley delta region was
about i5O, 900; in 1910 It was $4,000.
It probably now is far in excess OF a
million and q half.
about Htm So 5000 ,Sco 900. i 1si0 It had
jumped to Sl75, OOo, 900. There is no way
OF telling what it Is n~ow-Snrely,
though il is several hundred millions:
Personal property was worth ~, O0V'-
900 in 1880, but it had gone to $oO,oOO,-
! UItt IN lJlU Anu lH6 TCdlty ~ lAAAA NehSS
and personal wealth that we know now
exists in the delta scarcely had gotten
a good start in 1910. :
In 1880 there were few railroads and
little chance of any more being built.
In 1910 the mileage had exceeded 5000.
In 1880 the one banking institution IN
the whole delta was at HeIena, Ark.
Now there are upward Of 800. Some
of them have deposits running into~the
millions-personal property in cash
only!
The 1910 census showed something
like $500, 900 acres of land in cultivation.
This has been increased enormously In
To- years because Of a most remark
able demand for delta soil for agricul-
tural purposes But it Is safe to say
that there still remains two-thirds Of
the delta country to be developed, 10
Is estimated by the best authorities that
Of the 10000, 900 acres, 1900 ,oO0. can be
made into fine farm lands.
Thus we can see the Importance Of
ievees and what they have meant and
are meaning to the richest territory
tributary to Memphis. +.
1t was no wonder that the dEen Of
vision of this great empire were will
their money to the end that Mississippi
river floods might forever be ended.
Levee Idea Is Old.
There was q history IN the OullQlnB
of levees long before it was eve known
that such a river existed as the Mis-
sissippi, The PhAraohs were building
levees to control the Nile in Egypt as
early as the twelfth dynasty. Four thou
sand years ago-two thousand years
before Christ-the Egyptians were try
Ing to control the Nile to prevent over
flow and to provide additional water
at proper times
The situation Is different along the
Nile. It's waters originate in the trop-
les and flood time comes before the
planting season-in fact floods for crops
are RED ,ired. Control was necessary
to fill needs for water more than for
preventing floods, so great reservoirs
were constructed far up the river. Be-
low, the levees were built along the
banks and away from the banks, CIV
ing a oheckerboard effect with an idea
to Irrigation. Control OF the river,
even in those farygone days, was the
object, however, and it was accom-
pnshed. incidentally prisoners Of war
did the work or most of 1t.
1t was discovered long ago that the
situation on the Mississippi was wholly
different. Waters came from a cold
region and came after crops were in,
rather than before. 1t was necessary
to build 1evees for protection. But the
idea of control Of the floods was the
same as the Pharaohs had In mind,
The first Mississippi levees were