MISSISSIPPI LEVEED. 537 



■ To protect the valuable lands along the exposed part ot the river gigantic 

 systems of levees have been made necessary, forming a length, on one side or 

 the other, of about i,8oo miles, and representing in first cost and present value 

 $20,000,000. But even the present system is regarded as entirely inadequate, 

 for the levees, which are constantly breaking or threatening to break, protect but 

 a comparatively small strip along the main stream and its principal tributaries, 

 whereas by protection against overflow, and by proper drainage, an enormous 

 expanse of what is now waste swamp land would be brought into cultivation — a . 

 stretch of country beside which the areas reclaimed from the sea in the Nether- 

 lands sink into insignificance — while the work of reclamation, gigantic as it 

 would have to be in relation to its results, in the amount of time and labor re- 

 quired, would be comparatively small beside the work of the industrious Dutch. 

 There would thus be rendered available along the Mississippi not less than 2,500,- 

 000 acres of sugar land, about 7,000,000 acres of cotton land, and 1,000,000 

 acres of corn land, all of unsurpassed fertility. On the eastern side of the river 

 is the great swamp of Mississippi, fifty miles wide, extending from just below 

 Memphis to Vicksburg, 170 miles in a direct line and nearly 400 miles along the 

 river. On the other side is another vast and fertile region, embracing the lower 

 part of Missouri, all the alluvial front of Arkansas and of Louisiana as far down 

 as the mouth of the Red River. This land is not so favorably situated for rec- 

 lamation as that on the eastern side, where there is no tributary of the Missis- 

 sippi until the Yazoo is reached, within a few miles of the Walnut hills, near 

 Vicksburg. But on the west side are a number of tributary streams, themselves 

 all liable to overflow, while all are subject to back-water from the Mississippi, 

 which would make levees necessary as far as the line of back-water extends. 

 Much fine land, however, has been reclaimed here, although the line of levees is 

 more fragmentary than on the other side. Below the Red River there are no 

 tributaries entering the Mississippi, and on the other hand the waters are depleted 

 by numerous outlets to the Gulf. 



The levee system of the Mississippi in its beginnings is comparatively an- 

 cient, having been started in Louisiana in the early part of the last century. But 

 in Mississippi and Arkansas the reclamation of the swamps is of modern date, 

 having originated almost within the memory of living persons, and having been 

 at first the work of individuals, unassisted by the State, which, from an early 

 period, assumed the control of the matter in Louisiana. The first plantations on 

 the Mississippi, between Memphis and Vicksburg, were established upon knolls, 

 which, although the product of the floods themselves, gained the reputation of be 

 ing " above overflow , " because they had not been submerged for a number of years. 

 Being very rich, they came into great favor as cotton plantations. But finally 

 unusually high water came and dispelled the delusion about their security. Once 

 in possession, however, the planters were naturally reluctant to abandon such 

 rich lands, and means were devised to keep out the water. Water marks left 

 upon the trees and other objects indicated the highest points the water had ever 

 reached and supplied the place of engineering knowledge in telling how high to 



