MISSISSIPPI LE VEES. 539 



available funds. But it is a rule to make the top three feet perpendicular 

 above high-water mark, to top level, and as broad as the levee is high. The 

 height, of course, varies according to the level of the natural bank above 

 the river. The last step in the process of construction is the " seep-water ditch," 

 dug something like thirty or forty feet from the inner margin of the levee, and, 

 running parallel to it. This is to carry off the water oozing through even the 

 most compact of levees. l^Yom this ditch the water is conducted off to the swamp 

 in the rear. As a finishing touch the levee is planted with Bermuda grass, which 

 in a short time will cover it with a dense sod and add greatly to its strength, en- 

 abling it to resist the abrasion of the water. The season for building lasts from 

 October through the winter until the spring rise puts a stop to the work. The 

 laborers are collected by contractors in St. Louis, Cincinnati and other up-river 

 towns, and are chiefly Irish, with a few other nationalities mixed in. When the 

 season closes, all except a few return to the upper country. The work is paid 

 for by the cubic yard, usually from 25 cents to 35 cents a yard. The cost varies 

 with the dimensions, a good seven-foot levee with ample base costing from $8,000 

 to $11,000 a mile, the higher costing in a much greater proportion and the lower 

 in much less. 



The season of the highest water, which is that of the greatest peril to the 

 levees, is variable, and ranges from April ist to July ist, sometimes coming ear- 

 lier and sometimes later. It depends greatly upon the winter in the upper re- 

 gions ; a mild winter brings an early flood, while a hard winter delays it by keep- 

 ing the rivers above closed with ice. The most dangerous floods come from the 

 Ohio and its branches. The Upper Mississippi and Missouri have not nearly such 

 a power for evil. This has reference to the effect upon the Lower Mississippi, 

 The recent October floods that have wrought such damage were upon the Upper 

 Mississippi and its tributaries, above the region of the levees. 



The breaks of crevasses are rendered more easy of repair as they increase in 

 width. This diminishes the force of the water, and when it falls below the 

 strength of the material forming the levee the abrasion ceases. Sometimes the 

 destructive work is Hmited through securing the ends of the levee by driving 

 down heavy stakes and depositing masses of gunny-bags filled with earth. Some- 

 times a thicket of willows or other trees, or even a chance log, masking the criti- 

 cal point, accomplishes the same result. The closing of a crevice becomes prac- 

 ticable when the river has so fallen, or the overflow water within has so risen, as 

 to diminish the current to allow the driving of a line of stakes across the break. 

 With the diminishing width the greater becomes the difficulty. A crevasse closed 

 ' in time, and with comparatively slight expense, will often save hundreds of thou- 

 sands of dollars worth of property. Gunny-bags are the best things to stop a cre- 

 vasse ; they are rather costly, but it pays to have them on hand. Other materials 

 for stopping a breach are stakes, boards, brush and earth, the latter both in 

 bags and loose. 



v— 34 



