Show I 1 J f I N J Engineers Studying S Flood That Swept we Over Ter rr 7 n S q care Miles M 1 es' es H Hundreds an Driving Dri N Q UV ItY A A My Their r L 4 People From of Homes Tell J Just lIst What I j 1 Lis e Done o Prevent Another Such Catastrophe y w I f r J k Mo I at rS dy gACS D t j jr 3 a here h of Y raga c eRg P bt k r r l 1 t ra r Scene at Mound s the g ticIe fA a i i 1 had battered down Inadequate leves to spread if death and destruction over the county side t Ya ts x f fit t t 1 i A AN the the River be C tamed Army engineers tac ng t the e dis- dis cour fact that the floods in inthe inthe the Valle Valley h have v b been h th the worst since 1844 in spite of nil the flood control work accomplished in the interim say it can Disagreeing on J tails gree on this this- this that that it will take years ears and cost the country billions It is unlikely that the engineers will wil find the American people stingy when the time tiffi comes to reckon the total cost b however wever for the grim American ic n trag- trag tragedy tragedy edy that rampant nature has been stag stag- staging staging ing in the lower reaches of at the the Miss Miss- Mississippi I this year ear has made a tremendous impress impression on upon the average citizen As these lines are written and with the raging waters still battering away the levees and inundating it seems probable that the 1927 flood loss will reach the staggering total of Countless lives have been lost persons have be been n rendered homeless the tho of whole communities has been destroyed Better Detter billions for defense defenso than millions and human lives for tribute and sacrifice Curbing the mighty stream is not as simple as it may look to the layman and even the best of engineers as has been intimated do not agree on all the details But Dut most of them particularly army r engineers who have ha been studying the problem Jar years agree that an ade- ade adequate adequate quate levee 8 system tem is the first bulwark of defense Permanent spillways emergency en y re reservoirs and a reforestation reforestation tion program may may help but in the end the people of the fertile valley must look to their levees le for foi protection The c urse of the river dver from st. st Louis to the Gulf of Mexico is approximately 1170 miles or doubled a riparian fron- fron frontier frontier tier of 2340 miles Part of the land along this this' front is ilS pitched so high it needs 10 no artificial barrier against I waters Elsewhere theland the land is protected now by dikes or levees es There are arc 1815 miles of levee n St. St Louis and the Gulf The layman laman of course ae why shy the river was able to togo go on the rampage when ton confined fined in such a strait To which the engineers reply that the straitjacket strait was not strong enough In other words the tho leeves were not continuous enough thick enough or high enough Arguing that the levees arc the first first- line trenches in the war on the Miss Miss- Mississippi the engineers want to study the records o of the present flood and then have the country build a rampart of V dikes along the lower stretches of the river strong enough and high enough t to 1 a J I f Flood victims at L Rock Arkansas Arkans s abandoning a S k y t P s. s es J their home sad and saving some ome of their g a 4 Goods from the c rapidly rap d y rising using waters t J J C J. J Syr a 4 tb t tA tIff A Iff A tragic incident during the Biblical deluge of Noahs Noah's time as imagined by the famous artist Gustave Dore hold the water in ch check ck under any and andall andall all conditions In New Orleans alone su such h 3 a project would cost un estimated milli millions ns they admit Railroad tracks tr and docks in that city were built with the present levee levels ns as the basic grade and would have to be torn up and built over Nevertheless less such authorities as Major General Edgar Jadwin chief of the army engi- engi engineers engineers and commander of the the forces forces' forces fighting the flood of 1927 say that is what must be done Other things be- be besides sides but first of all that Major General Jadwin admits that even en high strong levees taken by them them- themselves selves wont won't check the Mississippi it if it ever goes amuck again as It has this year And there Is no s s reason for hoping that it wont lie He is studying a project for lor construct construct- constructIng Ing a series of permanent spill spillways way along the Mississippi drains similar to the temporary crevasse which was was opened o ned below New Orleans a few v weeks ago Jadwin has not dismiss dismissed d the project as impracticable and oth other r army cn engi- engi engineers i- i are enthusiastic about it Com Com- Compared Compared pared with some other undertakings which have been suggested it suggested it would be inexpensive Another plan calls for the construction construction tion of great emergency reservoirs in inthe inthe the upper reaches of the Ohio and Mis- Mis Missouri Rivers ers These reservoirs would permit the flood waters waters' waters to be released gradually upon the lower bed of the tho Mississippi About this proposal J vin d is not so so enthusiastic enthusiast lie He belie believes es e's it might give relief luring during local floods To give relief during great floods such reservoirs would have to be constructed in the for fer- fertile tile valleys of the Mississippi itself or orits or orits its tributaries Regardless of the build build- building building ing cost cOEt the land submerged would be equal in value to the land which would ordinarily or in rily be inundated I i a flood year ear Major General Jad J d i thinks ilk the res- res reservoir reservoir plan as a solution of f the the- difficulty would anyway a be because ue of the expense and lie he points out that was was' was spent making head head- it n the the- theD D Dayton n flood con con- control 1 p district some year ago ngo And there is no comparison between that th t little district and the thou thou- hou j sands of square square miles of land in the Mississippi Valley area elrea Fig Fig- Figures ures by his subordinates subordinates' co convince e him that to be effective q reservoirs would have ve to oc- oc occupy cupy a great cal more territory than that occupied by the Great Lakes Higher levees spillways and reservoirs are re the three main sug- sug suggestions suggestions made by those interesting 1 themselves in flood control Jad- Jad Jadwin win is quoted as saying And he added that a few enthusiasts are arc j 1 El still JI crusading for a reforestation poli policy y on the premise that it would be a major factor in influencing r rainfall and keeping the river within bounds Yet the gre greatest test flood on rec- rec record record ord back in 1844 came while the north north- northwest northwest west was as covered covered with primeval forests So it all gets back to to the gees lc big big- bigger bigger ger and better levees And they will cost millions Between 1844 and the people ot of the Mississippi Valley spent about building levees which were naturally not built according to a avery very coherent plan In 1879 the United States government took a hand and be- be between between tween that year ear and ond 1922 was spent strengthening and extending the levee system In 1922 the floods reached a Highwater nigh High water mark terrified the inh inhabitants of th the valley and convinced the army engineers that something really drastic must be done Studying the records of 1922 the engineers engineers' decided that the the levees along the lower reaches of the ther theer r river er ought to be raised three thre feet Con Con- Congress Congress gress voted to do d it it and when the 1 1927 flo floods ds began had been spent THe records of 1 1922 22 have been surpassed in this n year ar of disaster rind the the estimate of three feet add add- added added ed to is recognized as no longer adequate As this story is written e n g r I- I themselves do not know what the new new- estimate will vi l be nut But they mean to make it high enough this time e dt- dt m k r I a ta W I Q u. u J Y r I Jy f n p Train on flooded rails at Tenn to one of the many emergency camps established on ground above the angry waters water's reach Certain facts confront them and will not change One is that floods result from heavy rains in the spring end you J cant can't stop that Levees already built must In some in- in Instances stances be strengthened as well as heightened Cities other than New Or- Or Orleans leans lenns will be hard hit ht by the proposed program having to raise their railroad tracks docks and other waterfront facilities facilities ties to conform When the engineers say it will cost billions to put ole Debit Miss Miss- back in a strait jacket that will hold they mean menn billions and not maybe mabe The indirect expense of a levee heighten ing program will reach hundreds of mil mil- millions lions Probably it will be in New Orleans and n a few other Louisi- Louisi Louisiana Louisiana ana towns alone I Few Ie Americans even in the devas- devas devastated devastated area have any idea of the magni- magni magnitude magnitude tude of the 1927 floods or the havoc they have wrought Close to square miles or of most land of it fertile and due to arc yield under water as these lines ire aro written Crops Crop buildings railroad beds livestock have been heen de- de destroyed The cost of rehabilitation will willbe willbe be great The The indirect loss to business will be greater The damage to public confidence is not easy casy to estimate in dollars and cents The loss of li life e can can- cannot cannot not be esti estimated in money at p City people always find it difficult to understand why cili others continue to dwell in regions continually exposed to such menaces as blizzards floods volcanic and tornadoes eruptions earthquakes J JAnone Anyone Anone who knows anything about land however understands that valleys I through which broad are dis dis- I- I proportionately productive of the things M that go to sustain life One On cant can't have ha everything says the farmer of the Miss Miss- Mississippi Mississippi Valley calling his family together after the flood subsides and plodding back to the old homestead or what there may be left of it The plot of ground is the farmers farmer's busi- busi business business ness as well as his home He has taken root there The ground has given him a good living lhing Better th than n he could make makeIn In the comparative security of n a hillside farm So he goes back Floods come only every once in so often oten he figures n Be- Be Before fore the next one comes he may have made enough to take his family amily to the cit city And too there may not be an- an another another other one Hope is what ke keeps ps people alive Hope is what sends them back to 1 j the farms below Vesuvius after an eruption eruption tion to the Galveston waterfront after a tidal wave to the Florida beaches after a storm storm to the pleasant alle valleys s 's of the L Ll Mississippi l when the waters go down I 1 a COP by Johnson Features Inc s t I r i r t I v I i. i j. j l k I t F r. r r k r |