The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1921-06-24
BRIEF RESUME
OF DRAINAGE
DISTRICT PLAN
Opposing Views as to What It Means
to Tallahatchie County. 35,OOO.OO
Acres in Grenada County.

From what has been CLEANED from
different newspapers and the state
ment made by different persons who
ought to be informed about the Yo-
a-Tallahatchie Drainage District,
the following is brief summary of
the status of the proposed PROPOSE
tiOn and the amount involved:
AS is known by the reading public,
Judge j. G. McGOwen at Batesville,
more than a week ago, ordered the
extension of the district from YocOna
river to Yalobusha river, in the west
ern portion of this county. The ex-
tended district will include altogeth-
er about $4,000 acres. of land; the
engineers estimate that 10000 acres
Of land will have to be purchased
outright and that for the cOnstruc-
tion of the channel and the purchase
of lands made necessary for the
f1oOd-way, it will cost $6,75O,00O.
The plan for the construction of
the drainage canal across Talla-
hatchie county to Yalobusha river,
near Parsons station, provides that
1t shall run near the foot of the val
ley hills and shall be from to Is
feet deep, and that back of the chan
mel 1000 feet, there shall be a levee.
1t seems that the purpose of the
channel is to carry off the waters of
creeks and branches when there are
no floods and that the levee is to
hold the flood waters and make a
food-way from the levee on the west
to the foot of the hills.
1t is asserted by the objectors to
the canal that in Tallahatchie coun-
fU IN ono of 1anI alnnn ho
foot of the valley hills and which
needs no drainage, will be taken and
confscated in order that lands which
were bought by certain big lumber
companies solely for the timber may
be protected from water. The OBJ
iectOrs for Tallahatchie county claim
that some of the very best lands in
that county will be in the f1ood-way
and that in view of the fact that the
maximum benefit will be assessed
against the low lands lying between
the levee and the old ivrer and that
the assessment on these lands cannot
be less than $40 per acre, which will
be equal to cOnfiscatiOn. Talla-
hatchie county objectors also assert
that in addition to the cost of the
drainage canal, that that county will
have to build not less than four
bridges at cost of $4,000 each and
that the bonded Indebtedness of the
county is already $1,200,O00.
Those favoring the district, especi-
ally those in the neighboring county
of Tallahatchie, assert, among other
things, that there are now 100000
acres of waste land in that county
which is being assessed at about 81.
per acre, which by the canal will be
assessed at $50. per acre and that
the flOod-way is estimated to take
care of 2 1-2 times the greatest rain
fall ever known in the United States.
AS this paper understands, the
canal will effect about $4,000 acres
of land in Grenada county. The
writer of this article was born and
reared just in the edge of the terri
tory to be included in the canal dis
tr1ct and he believes that there is
such an immense volume of sand to
come down out of the hills into the
valley and into the proposed canal,
that it is one of the humanity i'm
possible things to construct any sort
OF a ditch or canal in that territory
which will not fill up within a few
years. Of course engineers ought
to know about these things, thew
ought to be able to figure these things
out almost to a mathematical GER
talnty; but an experience with and
an observation of engineers during
the past ten years, forces the conclus-
ION that they are just human like all
other people and that they make
about as many errors or blunders as
the average professional man.
The case will go to the State Su-
preme Court, hence it may be safe
ly surmised that it will be probably
q year or longer before ANYTHING
definite is determined.