Cyrus C. Adams and others

“ Dredging is not practicable, as the river frequently deposits as much as fifteen feet of silt in one place in the course of a single year, and as frequently removes it in the course of a single week or less. The quality of the soil itself also makes diking and revetting peculiarly difficult. ”

“ The first attempt to guard the lower part of the valley against the river floods was made early in the eighteenth century, when the French Governor, De la Tour, ordered embankments for the protection of New Orleans. In the old slave days, when labor was cheap, each planter erected barriers on or near the river front of his own ground. These were called levees, and were simply artificial mud banks, sometimes strengthened with ribs or foundations of timber, sometimes not. ”

“ The inner line is built to define the course of the channel and to prevent floods; the outer line, which is located far down the river ridge, is designed to protect the farms and plantations from the invasion of the back water in case the front levee is broken. The levee is in certain places the only possible safeguard. Cairo, Ill., affords a conspicuous instance of this. No revetments or dikes could possibly guide the current so that it would flow past the city without overflowing it, for the simple reason that the city is below high-water mark. ”

“ The river forms a portion of the boundaries of ten States, having the southern part of Minnesota, and the States of Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and most of Louisiana on the west bank; and Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi on the east. Twenty-one States and Territories are intersected by the navigable waters of this great system. The chief cities situated on its banks are New Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis, Cairo, Saint Louis, Quincy, Burlington, Rock Island, Davenport, Dubuque, Saint Paul, and Minneapolis. ”

“ It is of necessity entirely surrounded by a levee that rises some fifty-five or sixty feet above low-water mark, or ‘zero,’ as it is called on the Government records. The keeping of the works in repair is a matter of vital importance; constant watching and constant strengthening are the only things that can successfully combat the action of the rushing stream. ”

“ The most important of its tributaries navigable by large or small boats are the Missouri, navigable to the Great Falls in Montana, 2300 miles; the Arkansas, navigable to Wichita, Kan.; the Red River, navigable to Gainesville, Tex.; the Ohio, navigable to Pittsburg, Pa., 963 miles. The total navigable length of the Mississippi and its tributaries is over 14,000 miles following the river windings, and 9000 miles measured in straight lines. ”

“ The precipitation, however, is subject to great variations at different seasons—which fact, together with the sudden melting of the stored-up snow in the spring, causes considerable variations in the volume of the various tributaries. Fortunately, all are not at their highest at any one time ”

“ With a powerful engine a stream of water is pumped through a hose, and the soft earth is readily washed into shape. The ultimate purpose of these mattresses and other devices is to secure an approximately uniform width between the banks of about 3000 feet. ”