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INDIANA UNIVERSITY STUDIES 



7. Public road grades, such as at Henderson Bridge in Morgan 

 County, at Bloomfield, and at Newberry suffered considerable 

 damage because of the inadequate passage-way for the water at the 

 bridges. 



8. Some public roads suffered because the flood waters were 

 high above them rather than because they impeded the waters. 



9. Where trestle-work was sufficient near the river, neither 

 the bridges nor the grades nor the land below suffered any con- 

 siderable damage. 



From these conclusions, it seems that the way to prevent damage 

 by future floods, so far as railroads and public road embankments 

 are concerned, would be to provide more trestle-work. This remedy 

 is both simple and practical. 



The levee question along White Eiver above the junction of 

 the two forks is but little related to such a question in a great 

 valley like the Mississippi River Valley. In the Mississippi valley 

 the object in view is to keep the great volume of water that comes 

 from the upper tributaries confined to a relatively narrow 

 channel, and to keep it from spreading over the entire valley, or 

 at least any considerable portion of it. Along White River the 

 object in view is to protect small areas from currents which would 

 wash and carry away the top soil. In many cases it is not de- 

 sirable that the water should be kept off the land, as back water 

 generally enriches the land with its deposit of silt. However, 

 the levee question along White River is related to the lower Mis- 

 sissippi River problem in the fact that White River is a tributary 

 to the Mississippi River, and the rate of discharge, etc., all have 

 an appreciable effect upon the lower course. For instance, should 

 all of the tributaries be improved before the lower course of the 

 river was improved, serious consequences would follow. Local 

 improvement only tends to make the damage more intense farther 

 down the course. The levee situation on White River has little 

 in common with the levee situation of the lower Mississippi River, 

 but there must be some co-operation in the plans of the improve- 

 ment of the two different parts of the same river system. Improve- 

 ment should begin at the lower course and be extended toward 

 the tributaries. 



The levees which were encountered during the flood investi- 

 gation were all built with the idea of protecting a small area of land, 

 and they w^ere all wisely planned for that purpose. These levees 

 served well in ordinary overflows. In the March flood they were 

 all failures. They were not strong enough to withstand the pres- 



