2 BULLETIN 198, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



prevent drainage. The conditions in the Cypress Creek drainage dis- 

 trict of Desha and Chicot Counties, Arkansas, are typical. 



It has long been apparent that an interior drainage system is needed 

 to supplement the sixty-odd miles of levee built to protect this district 

 from the floods of the Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers. In 1906, 

 John T. Stewart, drainage engineer of the Office of Experiment 

 Stations of the United States Department of Agriculture, made a 

 survey for the relief of the wet land in the neighborhood of Arkansas 

 City, that project being known as Desha County Drainage District 

 No. 1. The improvements constructed in that district were, however, 

 of only local benefit. The first active step in the direction of a com- 

 prehensive drainage system for the county was taken in 1907, when 

 engineers of the Mississippi River Commission made a survey which 

 had among its objects the location of a feasible line for the diversion 

 of Cypress Creek. The report on that survey stated that the project 

 was entirely feasible, but recommended that further surveys be made 

 before construction was undertaken, in order that other routes might 

 be compared with the one laid out. 



No further action was taken until early in 1911, when further 

 assistance was requested from Drainage Investigations, Office of 

 Experiment Stations, United States Department of Agriculture. 

 An agreement was ultimately reached whereby Drainage Investiga- 

 tions undertook to make the survey, one-half the cost to be paid by 

 the Cypress Creek drainage district, which had in the meantime been 

 created by the Arkansas Legislature.^ The survey was begun in 

 September, 1911, and completed in March of the following year. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 



LOCATION AND AREA. 



The Cypress Creek drainage district borders the IVlississippi River 

 in southeastern Arkansas (see fig. 1), including about 65 per cent of the 

 total area of Desha County and extending 2 miles into Chicot County, 

 which is in the southeast corner of the State. Memphis is about 110 

 miles northeast and Little Rock about 85 miles northwest of the 

 center of Desha County. Arkansas City, the county seat, and Mc- 

 Gehee are the most important towns in the district; Pine Bluff, on 

 the Arkansas River about midway between Desha County and Little 

 Rock, and Helena, 60 mUes north on the Mississippi River, are cities 

 of local prominence. 



As defined by the legislative act, the district is rouglily triangular 

 in shape, with an apex to the south. Its greatest width east and west 

 is about 23 mUes, near the north end, and its extreme length north 

 and south is approximately 36 miles. The total area is 466 square 

 miles. 



1 Thirty-eighth General Assembly of Arkansas, Acts 110 and 445. 



