4 BULLETIN 198, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 
encounter the belt of elevated land bordering the river, however, 
they are diverted directly south, their waters eventually reaching 
Bayou Macon. An exception to this condition is Cypress Creek, 
As may be seen by figure 1, this stream maintains an outlet directly 
into the river at about the center of the eastern boundary of the 
district. It is owing to this fact that a continuous levee can not be 
constructed along the front of the district under present conditions 
to exclude the damaging river floods. 
AGRICULTURAL CONDITIONS. 
The cultivated areas are mostly confined to the high lands along 
the bayous, and at present comprise probably not more than 10 per 
cent of the district; all of these will be benefited by the proposed 
ditches, which will afford outlets for underdrainage. The top soil 
generally is the ordinary Mississippi alluvium, modified more or less 
by decayed vegetation. Cotton forms the main crop, though some 
rice is grown in the north part of the district along the Arkansas 
River. While by far the larger part of the district is wooded, the 
area has been fairly well cut over and the larger timber removed. 
Some logging is still done, but the cutting of railroad ties and stave 
bolts forms a considerable part of the timber industry. Fairly good 
roads are maintained along the high-banked bayous, but travel over 
the roads of the low lands of the interior is rendered uncertain by 
overflow. Land values depend largely upon accessibility and degree 
of drainage. 
PRESENT DRAINAGE CONDITIONS. 
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FLOODS. 
Primarily, the reclamation of the area covered by the Cypress Creek 
drainage district is dependent upon the exclusion of the flood water 
of the bordering rivers. Before the levees were constructed along the 
Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers, the larger part of the area now 
included within the boundaries of the district had been subject to 
intermittent overflow from these streams. The period during which 
some measure of protection has been had from levees, extends back 
a great many years. During all this time the levees have from time 
to time been increased in cross section, as higher flood stages demanded 
and as funds permitted, until now, so far as they have been con- 
structed at all, the levees are expected to afford protection against 
any flood that may be looked for in the light of past experience. 
The flood of 1912, during which the river rose at Arkansas City to 
a stage of 2.5 feet higher than any previous record, required the 
temporary raising of the levee, but did not cause any crevasses along 
the Desha County front. Apparently the only serious defect in the 
levee system is the gap at the mouth of Cypress Creek. By reference 
to figure 2 it will be seen that in the southwest corner of T. 10 S., R. 
