The star-progress. (Opelousas, La.) 1917-1921, 1920-12-01
MISSISSIPPI RIVER
SEEKS NEW OUTLET

The Mississippi river is seeking
new channel to the sea, nearly 100
miles west of its present course. APP
parently tired of being confined be-
tween high walls of earth, made to
run deep and work hard through the
semitropic miles from Cairo to the
gulf of the Father of Waters is slow
ly but surely cutting his way down to
the Gulf Mexico, and to help himself
in find this new channel, he is
just as slowly and surely filling his
present channel with a river made
dam of silt, bit below the mouth Of
the Red River.
From a stream barely Is # wide in
1910 the Atchafalaya has gorged on
the waters of the Mississippi until it is
now nearly LOO # wide, 40 # deep
and possessed of current some Is
per cent faster than that of the Mis-
sissippi River at the same distance
from the gulf
But the most serious part of the
whole matter is the fact that the Faith.
er of Waters, moving his channel 100
miles westward, calmly ignores a city
of nearly 100000 inhabitants, the main
port of the Mississippi Valley, which
! sits on his banks, 10 miles from the
gulf Of Mexico. There is, it is true,
another city on the Atchafalaya, just
where the new course the Mississippi
is seeking runs into Atchafalaya Bay,
Int the city Of New Orleans has no in
tention of yielding to Morgan City,
and allowing the commerce Of the Mis-
sissippi Valley to flow down new
channel, past a new port, making use
less more than $3.50, 100000 worth OF
public utilities, port improvements
barbor facilities, and private industries
lust because a little thing like river
half a mile wide and 100 #. deep, mas
decided to change its channel for a
shorter one.
.erhe remedy, in my opinion say
CAPTAIN L. V. Cooley, a MISSISSIPPI
River captain and boat owner is TO
close the mouth of the Red River com
mailing it to flow to the sea down
the course of the Atchafalaya, and
from the Mississippi River. To do this
bowever it must be understood that
the Red and Atchafalaya rivers ana
the Bayou Terrebonne were once
months of the Mississippi, and that
the closing Of these streams will force
a tremendously greater volume OF wa
ter than now down through the leVees
oF the main channel of the Mississippi
mast New Orleans to the gulf OF Mex
leo. If these streams are divorced
from the Mississippi, commerce into
them still can be served from the MIS-
sissippi to the Red, Ouachita and At
chafalaya rivers and the Bayou Terre-
bonnie through the PlaQuemine locks
at Donaldsonville."
The opponents of the plan to div
orce the. Red and Atchafalaya from the
Mississippi claim the danger to New
Orleans would be greater if the entire
stream of the Mississippi were con-
finde to its Ievee-walled present chan
mel. maintaing enough through the
allowed to seek the sea by way OF the
Red and Atchafalaya rivers. They,
therefore would seem to advocate that
control be placed on the main liver,
SO that only a certain part Of its wat
ers could flow through the new chan
mel. maintaining enugh through the
present channel to provide for the
commerce of the port of New Orleans,
without putting undue strain on the
levees, or endangering the city.
This plan, however, takes no cogni-
zance of the flooding of between 1000
and 5000 square miles of arabic, eul-
tiyated land, in eight parishes, with
consequent loss of millions in poten-
tial or actual production every year
shrough the havoc wrought by these
flood waters Of the Mississippi being
allowed to go out through the Red