EVIDENCE OF A LOCAL SUBSIDENCE IN THE 

 INTERIOR 



In the spring of 1883, I made a survey to build a levee along 

 the Wabash River on the west side of Parke county, Indiana, for 

 a length of twelve miles. I took the levels with great care, and 

 checked on the river water every half mile to guard against 

 errors. The great flood of the preceding winter had left its high 

 water mark very plain on the trees in the bottoms, and I checked 

 on them also. I cut some sixty bench marks on the trees in 

 running the levels, some of which are still intact. The lower 

 end of the levee was built square across the narrow bottom to 

 the bluff and crossed a bayou through which the flood water ran 

 off of the bottoms into the river. We built an automatic flood- 

 gate across this bayou so as to shut out river, but let out inside 

 water from breaks above. The gates were hung to heavy brick 

 walls built on timber foundations three feet thick, and deeply 

 bedded below the bottom of the bayou. A bench mark was 

 cut on a bur oak tree near the walls, and the level of the 

 walls was taken when built. I had charge of the maintenance 

 and repair of this levee four years from its building, and had 

 frequent occasion to run the level over the top to restore breaks, 

 for it was built only twenty-one feet above low water, whereas 

 the great floods rise twenty-eight feet. I set the grade stakes 

 for the contractors to work to, and in doing so ran the level 

 over the ground again. I speak of all this to show that my 

 leveling was correct, as so many levelings would detect any error, 

 and none were found to exceed a half inch. I can say positively 

 that the levels were correct in 1883. 



This spring ( 1901 ) the levee was to be raised three feet, mak- 

 ing it twenty-four feet above low water, under a new law of 

 the state, but including only the lower seven miles. I leveled 

 the work again, and found bench marks again intact except the 



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