BULLETIN OF THE 
(if 
No. 198 
Contribution from the Office of Experiment Stations, A. C. True, Director. 
April 21, 1915. 
(PROFESSIONAL PAPER.) 
REPORT UPON THE CYPRESS CREEK DRAINAGE DISTRICT, 
DESHA AND CHICOT COUNTIES, ARKANSAS. 
By S. H. McCrory, 0. G. Baxter, D. L. Yarnell, L. A. Jones, and W. J. Schlick, 
Drainage Engineers. 
CONTENTS. 
Page 
Introduction 1 
General description 2 
Present drainage conditions 4 
The survey 6 
The drainage problem 6 
Run-off 
Drainage plans considered. 
The recommended plan 
Maintenance 
A comprehensive drainage system needed . . 
Page. 
7 
10 
13 
19 
20 
INTRODUCTION. 
The levees that line the lower Mississippi River ordinarily protect the 
adjacent alluvial lands from overflow, but this protection is usually 
only the first step in reclaiming those lands from excessive wetness. 
The occasional tributaries require that openings be left through the 
levees or that the streams be diverted long distances from their 
natural courses. Levees are built along such large tributaries as the 
Arkansas River, but the junctions of the smaller streams with the 
Mississippi often permit backwater from the main river to overflow 
large areas at times of extreme floods. 
The southward slope of the general land surface is exceedingly flat, 
the greatest slope being away from the river to the foot of the hills. 
The low area is cut with many winding bayous, large and small, each 
with banks elevated above the adjacent surface approximately in 
proportion to the depth of the channel. These high banks, so 
characteristic of alluvial lands, pond the water upon the area and 
Note.— This bulletin will be of interest to landowners, engineers, and others interested in the reclamation 
ef swamp and overflowed lands along the Mississippi River below the mouth of the Missouri River. 
82085°— Bull. 198—15 1 
