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Show THE GREAT FLOODS. The recent mighty floods along the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and their tributaries are a sinister notice to this nation, a direct challenge to science. They are a notice to the nation that along the upper water sheds of these streams the vegetation must be restored or soon the desert will begin to encroach upon What are now fertile lands that is what has come around the shores of the Mediterranean, Medi-terranean, since history began to make notes of ovents. To science the challenge is: "See man was given dominion over all matters at first, can you not arrest this annual destruction?" Years ago, at its mouth the Mississippi became lawless. It broke its banks, it filled up its own channel and commerce that had long held New Orleans as a great central seat, began to cast about for a new station. But an inspired engineer went down there and examined the situation and then declared that with willow wands he could subdue the boisterous river and bring it once more under un-der useful control. His brother engineers shooV their heads, but finally permission was given Kim to try his experiment on the least promising outlet of the great river to the sea. He went to work with the enthusiasm of established science; the great river grew tame under his touch; after awhile it in obedience to him, or to the natural 3 laws which he invoked, hewed out for itself this new channel to the ocean and now an unobstructed i course for the world's biggest ships is clear from New Orleans to the deep sea. A good deal of like work has been done above New Orleans, but the comprehensive plan which is to give to the river a deep channel and at the same time control its iloods has not been adopted, and to prepare this and put it in execution is the challenge which the river offers to the nation's engineers. Our belief, from a limited knowledge, is that somewhere along the river below the Ohio, a great artificial lake must be established to catch and hold the surplus waters and the work of corf-'' fining the river within narrower channels, that it ' j may hew out for itself a deeper way to the sea, must be continued until completed. Prom the lake a channel must be cut to the gulf, the waters to be used for irrigating the country below it and by increased crops, pay for the land under the lake. This ought to be accomplished in the next quarter of a century, and with it such improvements improve-ments in agriculture that the question of irrigating irrigat-ing would cease to be confined to the arid west, because by the great object lesson the men of the east would realize that after all water is the life of the soil and to trust to the clouds to supply it to growing crops is but old fashioned shiftless-nesa shiftless-nesa akin to barbarism. |