WISCOXSIiT ACADEilY SCIE^'CES, ARTS, AND LETTERS. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI 



RIVER. 



BY JOHN NADER, C. E. 



The improvemeut of the mouth of the Mississippi, the free and 

 unobstructed outlet of a great national highway equal in extent to 

 that which forms the subject of this paper, can certainly not be 

 over-estimated. A number of important producing States depend 

 mainly upon this highway to dispose of their productions, and also 

 to obtain through the same those imports 'which are necessary for 

 manufactures, arts, and comforts of life. The river, very properly 

 denominated the father of rivers, llov/s in a north and south line 

 through a fertile tract of country, partaking of varieties of climate 

 and embracing the extremes of latitude of the United States. Its 

 tributaries are numerous, and some are of considerable magnitude; 

 its productions embrace the extremes, its commerce concerns the 

 world at large, and the national character of this great highway 

 demands free and unobstructed passage for the largest ships sailing 

 the ocean. 



Before entering upon any plan of improvement, we will first 

 examine the physical and hydrological conditions of the river in 

 question. 



The Mississippi River is one of the great working-rivers of the 

 world, and compares with the " Nile," the " Po," the " Rhone," 

 the " Danube," and others. By working-rivers, we understand 

 those rivers vdiich deposit large quantities of alluvium in deltas at 

 their outlets to the ocean or seas. 



The working of rivers is due only to natural forces, and in order 

 to remedy any resulting dif&cuities it is necessary to amend these 

 forces, but in order to master the forces of nature and to use them 

 to our advantage, the first condition is that we should well under- 

 stand them. 



In examining a map of portions of the Mississippi valley, we can 

 conclude, by observing the form of sloughs, bayous and annular 

 lakes, that the river which occupies a very inconsiderable portion 

 of the valley, has at some time occupied in turn nearly every por- 



