Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-05-04
RISING RIVERS OF SOUTH
CALL UP OLD LEVEE FEUDS
Alluvial Farmers, Ordinarily Peaceful
Citizens, Become Nervous as
Floods Threaten.

accomplished by men only with q
charge Of dynamite very well placed.
Usually the charge Is just laid against
the side Of the levee, which Is perhaps
blowing the water high into the air, but
harming the levee very little.
In these rare cases the would-be levee
breakers are almost always appre-
hended. Their punishment is swift and
sure, once they survive the journey to
the county jail, and their feat lives long
In the memories Of river people. Every
its tales Of levee breaking.
These stories and the acute situation
created by leveeful rivers are enough
to keep the levee feud alive as long as
there are leveeS. River people, al
though they are never secure In their
homes and on their farms, have q rev.
erence for the soil that gives them sus-
tenance. A river which reaches to the
top Of the levees Is very serious thing
and strikes at the very source OF their
livelihood.
River Has Personality.
Perhaps 1t Is because the terrors OF
the river become impersonsted In the
folks across the river" that this I'LL
feeling at times exists. The river GER
tainly has personality to those whose
very life II governs.
To those who depend on the mercy
Of the river for their daily bread the
stream has Its pleasant moments and
Its periods Of madness. and in its fury
It is Irresistible, uncomfortable. Those
who fight floods realize the futility Of
throwing q heap Of Sandbags into
raging torrent Of muddy water, and,
quite unconsciously perhaps, they trans
fer the human qualities Of their foe to
something tangible, something which
can be fought and whipped-those who
live on the other side.
The somewhat distorted mind Of the
man whose home Is threatened sees in
those across the river, who are perhaps
In Just as bad Q Ak as he II. the incar-
nation Of all the bad qualities Of the
mighty but tickle, stream. ~
During the high water the impending
disaster Is laid to every possible human
agency On the smaller streams leveeS
are built by taxpayers organized into
districts. Perhaps the two districts on
different sides of the river may have the
same levee engineer As the water goes
over the top of the levee on one side Of
the river this engineer is accused of
building the levees on the other side
little bit higher. Perhaps he has some
land on the other side.
If he has not, he is bought of by the
rich plantation owners, the disgruntled
farmers say. But these levee engineers
are never fired. After the flood danger
has passed all animosity vanishes and
every one Is at peace-even with the
levee engineer.
Mythical Levee- Breakers Live In Legend.
Many and queer are the methods sup
posed to be used by these mythical
levee- breakers More than likely these
methods are the Pigment of the old
river characters imaginative minds. II
levee quietly crumbles in some isolated
spot between the inspection trips Of the
levee guards, 1t Is nearly always laid to
the activities Of some knave who has
used the mercury method"
The story Is that three or four pounds
II mercury placed In slight hole In the
levee below the water line will slowly eat
It's way noiselessly through at first,
which becomes larger as the sand
particles are washed from the hole
There Is no definite proof that such
method has ever been used, and the
chances are that the theory that the
eroding action of the heavy quicksilver
will loosen the particles Of soil - er-
roneouS.
Levees, however, do break mysteri-
ously. II root has been imbedded in
the soil that goes into the dixie, break
may develop from the looseness Of the
soil caused by decay. Moles are natural
enemies and their borrowings probably
cause most of the mysterious breaks.
Usually there Is no mystery about q
levee break, because 1t Is caused by the
river slowly eating into the dixie and
caving It on in great slabs into the
water. A river at flood stage Il most
unrllly, and many II the time that they
have been known TO change their course
entirely, cutting through levees, farm
lands and woodlands as II they were
just 20 much sugar, throwing up piles
Of sand in one place and digging
enormous cavities IN another.
But the levee feuds 60 on And they
probably viii continue as long as man
tries to conflne an unruly body Of wa
ter between bikes Of clay. River men
win 60 on looking for culprits among
the water-soaked willows that line the
river side Of the levees, peering Wild
eyed with fear and cursing the invisible
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