Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-23

The food in the Mississippi Valley
again Is becoming serious. What have
the engineers accomplished toward flood
control In all the years since they began
the attempt? This Is an inquiry-not a
faultfinding.
For more than 200 years the white
man has been struggling to harness the
Father of Waters. The first flood OF
the white mans record occurred In
l71S, and men began protective efforts
by building a 3-foot levee at New Or
leans. BY 1878 levees extended along
both sides Of the river from Red River
Landing to IS miles below New Orleans.
In the century from 1928 to 1927 there
were Is important floods and levees
were washed open. From 1928 to 1927
there we're "a gagged floods, nearly all
causing crevasses in the protecting
levees. crevasse at Vicksburg in 1880
flowing for six months before 1t was
closed.
In the early days farmers Of the
South, along the banks OF the river,
would raise levees about their indivld-
ual plantations or about their buildings.
Later, neighbors began joining their en-
circling levees into a more compre-
hensive system. Even today there re-
main some farmers who perch their
residences and live stock upon high land
surrounded by levee In some cases
and sit there patiently waiting for the
food to subside.
Still the most modern levees prove
inadequate. According to the United
States Weather Bureau. In the flood OF
1874. there were crevasSes below New
Orleans and IA above. They included
the famous Bonnet Care crevasse, 1870
feet long and sat feet deep. Later
floods have developed crevasses ranging
from half a mile wide to nearly two
miles In width. In the 1927 flood many
disastrous crevasses washed away miles
of levees. When will levees be able
to hold back such mighty flood as
that whose source comes from water
shed covering half the continent and
stretching from the Alleghenies to the
Rockies, and from Lake Itasca to the
Gulf?
When q levee breaks and the flood
pours out through crevasse. 1t rushes
in O. wave sometimes 10 to IS feet
high and spreads for many hours and
many miles, sweeping buildings and
everything ahead Of the water. 1t is
like a bursting dam. and far more dam
gerous than the gradually rising waters
Of a main stream.
The 1927 flood was the greatest gage
food In history. 1t is believed that that
in 1895 carried more water than came
in 1927. but the earlier flood was not
hemmed in by levees, hence was not
so destructive as the one of two years
ago when levees suddenly gave way.
The levees actually increase the
height of the flood. by combining the
volume of water. For example. in the
early years, before the extensive levees,
a stage of 40 feet at Angola. La, cor
responded to SO at Baton Rouge, and
Is at Carrollton. while today stage
of 40 feet at Angola brings a height
of 3S8 at Baton Rouge and 1876 at
Carroilton.
Furthermore. 1t Is alleged that the
effect of levees, instead Of securing out
the main channel and deepening 1t, &C
cording to theory, actually tends to NIL
it with sediment. and so requires ever
increased height Of the levees until the
river becomes elevated above the level
of the surrounding terrain, increasing
the danger, although Army engineers
have not confirmed this fllling-up
theory so far as applies to the Mis-
sissippi.
The service of the Weather Bureau
In forecasting the height which on
coming floods will reach has been
greatly developed in recent years. On
May l. 1927, warning was sent out to
all villages and cities in the territory
protected by the Bayou des Glaises
levee that the peak of the food would
be AZ feet higher than that Of the pre-
vious flood and would overflow the
levees. The alarm was diligently
spread. and all people moved out Of the
endangered region two weeks ahead OF
the crisis. Finally, the levees gave way
and wall of water Ia feet high sud-
denly swept over region where thou
sands of people had been living. 1t
carried houses and everything else with
Il In the greatest onrush OF water in
the history OF the river, yet nobody was
drowned.
Many theories as to what causes the
great Mississippi floods and how they
can be controlled are exploded by the
mature studies and constructions Of
modern engineering. It is recognized
that levees alone are futile means Of
creating confined channel; the VOL
ume of water from the vast valley is
too great to be held in check merely
by levees. Spillways must be provided
so that the river may stretch out to
It's wider channel-l0 to so miles wide
In parts.
Says an ofic,al renort Of the chief
engineer: = So.