TEXAS. 19 
LEVEES. 
HEIGHT AND CROSS SECTION. 
The height of the levees should be at least 1 to 2 feet above the 
highest water expected. The gagings at Beaumont by the War 
Department show a big rise m the Neches River after every heavy 
rain over its drainage basm. Following the heavy rains of December, 
1911, the gage registered 5.12 feet above Gulf level, but as the first 
available record of this gage is for January 4, 1912, it probably does 
not show the extreme height of the December flood. In March, 1912, 
the gage registered 4.5 feet, and in May, 1912, 5.3 feet. Assuming 
that the high-water profile of the Neches is a straight line, beginning 
with the elevation 0.0 of mean low tide at the mouth of the river and 
passmg through elevation 7.0 at Beaumont, the high-water mark at 
the mouth of Pine Island Bayou would be 9 feet; actual high- water 
marks at the Neches Canal Co. pumpmg plant on Pine Island Bayou 
have an elevation of 15.3 feet. This assumed high-water profile gives 
elevation of 8.5 feet at CoHiers Ferry, 7.5 feet 1 mile above the Southern 
Pacific Railroad bridge at Beaumont, 6 feet at Mansfield Ferry, 3 feet 
at the Port Arthur Rice & Irrigation Co. pumping plant, and 2 feet 
at Port Neches. Since the general elevation of the marsh of district 
No. 6 is about 3 feet, the levee to protect it must be at least 13 feet 
high at the Neches Canal pumping plant and 6J feet high at CoUiers 
Ferry. The levee for district No. 7, whose elevation averages about 
2 feet, must be at least 7^ feet high at Colliers Ferry and 6| feet high 1 
mile above the Southern Pacific Railroad bridge at Beaumont. The 
levee for district No. 9 must be at least 5 feet high at Mansfield Ferry 
and 1 foot high at the Port Arthur Rice & Irrigation Co. pumping 
plant, assuming that high tides have no efiect above that point. 
Before construction is begun on the levees for districts Nos. 6, 7, and 
9 further investigations should be made to determine the elevation of 
high water between Neches Canal Co. pumping plant and Port Neches. 
The daily range of tide in the GuK along Jefferson County is ordi- 
narily 0.5 to 1.5 feet, but heavy winds blowing directly against the 
shore for considerable periods cause rises of several feet. Sometimes 
the storm tide affects only a smaU part of the coast line, sometimes it 
extends the vvhole width of the county. The highest tide in this 
locahty was in 1900, when the water rose 16 feet at Galveston. The 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey gages at Galveston show 
that from 1888 to 1890 there were 6 storm tides 2.7 feet or more above 
mean low tide, and from 1904 to 1909 there were 7 tides 2.5 feet or 
more above mean low tide. The highest of these were 4.9 feet in 1890 
and 4.8 feet in 1909. In the streams and bayous several miles back 
from the coast the tides are neither so great nor so prolonged. To pro- 
