WET LANDS OF SOUTHERN LOUISIANA. 



27 



Reclamation work was first started in 1908, and ;i small pumping plant was 

 erected at the eastern end of the tract. Construction of the Interior canals 

 and the building of the levee followed. While the levee was carried entirely 

 around the district to a moderate height, the canals were not all cut for several 

 years. After the early part of 1913 construction work was carried on more 

 rapidly and was practically completed in the latter part of 1911, except for the 

 small field ditches. A second pumping planl was erected during 1913. The 

 details of the improvements will be given with reference to their condition in 

 the latter part of 1916. 



LEVEES. 



On the west end and the north side of this district the embankment of the 

 New Orleans & Northeastern Railroad forms a levee with a height of about 10 

 feet above mean Gulf level. On the other two sides a levee was built with mate- 

 rial taken from the outside of the district by a long-boom, orange-peel floating 

 dredge. No muck ditch was cut under the levee, as the material was very soft, 

 so that the top sod was well broken by the falling earth. The berm allowed 

 was about 15 feet. This levee was raised and smoothed by handwork so that the 



SCALE IN MILES 



Pig. 5. — -Sketch, map of New Orleans Lake Shore Land Company tract. 



top width was about 6 feet, the side slopes 2 to 1, and the elevation about 5 feet 

 above mean Gulf level. After this treatment by hand the levee seemed to be 

 free from seepage. The portion of the levee toward the east end of the dis- 

 trict was raised in 1916 to about 10 feet above mean Gulf level, and the new 

 levee then was carried directly south to connect with and become part of the 

 lower protection levee of the city of New Orleans. This extension is not shown 

 in figure 5. The material in these levees was placed in several layers and time 

 allowed for each layer to dry and harden before the next layer was placed. 

 In this way a sliding of the base of the levee into the canal was avoided, al- 

 though the base will subside considerably and the material shrink a great deal 

 in drying. On similar work elsewhere the amount of material measured in 

 excavation is often two or even three times as much as the net section in 

 embankment. 



Reservoir Canals. 



A considerable portion of the reservoir canals of this district were first cut 

 with a short-boom, bank-spud dipper dredge. As a result the canals were left 

 in very poor condition. The banks were too soft to hold the spuds, and the 



