BULLETIN OF THE 

 y/ii/ii'irf 



No, 198 



Contribution from the Office of Experiment Stations, A. C. True, Director 

 April 21, 1915. 



(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 



REPORT UPOiN THE CYPRESS CREEK DRAINAGE DISTRICT, 



DESHA AND CHICOT COUNTIES, ARKANSAS. 



By S. H. McCrory, O. G. Baxter, D. L. Yarnell, L. A. Jones, and W. J. Schlick, 



Drainage Engineers. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



General description 2 



Present drainage conditions 4 



The survey 



The drainage problem 6 



Page. 

 Run-ofl 7 



Drainage plans considered 10 



The recommended plan 13 



Maintenance 19 



A comprehensive drainage system needed ... 20 



INTRODUCTION. 



The levees that hnc the lower Mississippi River ordinarily protect the 

 adjacent alluvial lands from overflow, but this protection is usually 

 only the first step in reclaiming those lands from excessive wetness. 

 The occasional tributaries require that openings be left through the 

 levees or that the streams be diverted long distances from their 

 natural courses. Levees are built along such large tributaries as the 

 Arkansas River, but the junctions of the smaller streams with the 

 Mi.ssi.ssippi often permit backwater from the main river to overflow 

 large areas at times of extreme floods. 



The southward slope of the general land surface is exceedingly flat, 

 the greatest slope being away from the river to the foot of the hills. 

 The lf)W area is cut with many winding bayous, large and small, each 

 witli barika elevated above the adjacent surface approximately in 

 proportion to the depth of the channel. These high banks, so 

 characteristic of alluvial lands, pond the water upon the area and 



^'"TK.— Thl.M buU'Tiln will }><•. 1 11 IuU-.ti'hI to landownnrii, imi'lncvTH, and others inU-wulM in tlin rficliimiif inn 

 •t Hwamp and overflowed liinds uIohk the MRsLssippi Hhvj below the mouth (rf tlio Missouri Ulver. 

 82086*— Bull. 198-15—1 



