The New York herald., 1922-04-23
The Father Of Waters in Flood.

At five observation stations on the
lower Mississippi the Father OF
Waters has established new records
for food in this springs unprece-
dented flow Of water. s
Floods occurred in the Mississippi
when the head of the Gulf of Mexico
was an estuary as far north as the
mouth of the Ohio; they occurred
before the Missouri came into being.
They have been. aggravated by the
character of the Missouri River it.
self; they have been aggravated by
the efforts of man.
Before the settlement of the region
having greater possibilities than any
other bread and butter producing re-
gion of its size in the world most of
the drainage area was covered with
forest, with shrubbery and with
grass. The topping of leaves, grass
and decay was inches and even feet
in thickness. 1t formed filter bed
through and along which the storm
waters percolated so slowly that ac-
cumulation did not Immediately fol
low rainfall. Channels filled more
slowly. The flood stage did not'occur
so quickly and probably it lasted
longer.
With the advent OF cultivation con-
ditions changed. To get rid of the
surplus OF storm waters every farmer
ditched and drained. The topping OF
loose vegetation was turned under
and the burrows of the plow took
its place.
As a result quick drainage brought
rapid accumulation. The slowly per.
colating storm waters were poured
out in such torrents that the stream
beds could not take care Of them.
Above the mouth Of the Ohio the
Mississippi can take care Of its sur
plus waters fairly well. There are
floods, it is true, but they do not
wreak the havoc that marks flood
stages below the Ohio. Below the
junction of the Missouri another fac
tor of tremendous Importance ap-
pears.
The Missouri and its branches
drain an area approximately $4,000
square miles in extent, upon which
falls an average of almost twenty
inches OF rain each year. The drain
age area is not fixed, however; 1t is
increasing. The river and its
branches are back cutting further and
further into their mountain water.
shed and each foot Of recession adds
to the possibility OF disaster when
their floods come rolling into the
great food plain below st. Louis.
The Missouri and its branches flow
much OF their course through loose,
friable rock waste. Much 9f the rock
waste is wind blown; soE of II is
silt carried by the streams t-em-
selves. The stream channels in most
places are overclogged. AS it is fire.
quently said. "the rivers have bitten
off more than they can chew"
Only part of this silt is carried
to the Gulf OF Mexico--a trifle Of
about seven billion cubic yards a
year, or enough to cover q square
mile OF area with heap more than
two hundred and fifty feet high. The
rest OF the silt is spread over a flood
plain from three to fifty miles in
width. In times past the river not
only built this food plain but did
what 1t is doing to-day: making its
bed and banks higher than the sur.
rounding land and then cutting them
away spreading out its sinuous loops
and then undermining them; shift.
ing Mississippi into Arkansas one
year and Arkansas into Mississippi
the next. All this is The legitimate
work OF the river.
Once upon a tiWe there was Pal
myra Bend. The distance around the