BYBEE-MAT.OTT : THE FT/)OD OF 1913 



151 



main channel. This alone would account for the immense sandbar 

 below. By consulting the map it will be seen that this was a natural 

 course for the river to take after the levee was broken through. 

 The current took a short course while the river takes a circuitous 

 course to reach the point where the current enter(Ml the channel 

 again. 



This levee has perhaps done much good in the past and would 

 have done much good this time had it not been broken through. 

 The water would naturally back up from below and cover this large 

 area of some four hundred acres, and being quiet, much silt would 

 be deposited. A levee situated as this one is would be very useful, 

 if well made; but it must be well made, for if it breaks it will bring 

 great damage to the land that it is supposed to protect. 



The next levee that demands attention is in Section 5, about 

 two miles below the one considered above. Again a stream comes 

 in from the west, and a levee fifteen feet in height, constructed 

 within the last few years, extends parallel with the stream for 

 about three-quarters of a mile. This levee lies at a right angle 

 to the river. About the middle of the levee a wing extends to the 

 southward for nearly one-half mile, where it joins the river which 

 has circuited to the west, and at the point where the levee approaches, 

 it turns south again. It seemed that a current of Avater left the 

 main river above the levee and flowed up the small stream. The 

 levee seemed to be sufficiently high, but it broke in two places. 

 The break again appears to have been caused by groundhog burrows. 

 The first break was between the south extending wing and the 

 river. Quite a deep hole was made here and a corresponding 

 sand and gravel bar was made below, but otherwise very little 

 damage was done, since the area included by the main levee, the 

 wing to the southwest, and the river was mostly covered w^ith silt. 

 The main part of the current went by this break to near the western 

 end of the levee where a break of large dimensions occurred. Below 

 the vent and holes, a large bar from one to two feet in depth covered' 

 about two acres. Quite a strong current went through this break, 

 denuding a strip all of the way to the Henderson bridge, where 

 the current again joined the river channel. 



This levee with its south-extending wing has been valuable 

 in ordinary overflows in causing the land to be silted, but its use, 

 as in the preceding levee, lies in its being unbroken. It should 

 evidently be protected from the ravages of groundhogs. 



The conditions at the Henderson bridge were striking. The 

 current was on the south side of the river channel. It was prob- 



