FLOOD CONTROL PLAN UNDER WAY ON MISSISSIPPI

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6669, 24 July 1928, Page 7

FLOOD CONTROL PLAN UNDER WAY ON MISSISSIPPI

EMERGENCY SPILLWAY ABOVE NEW ORLEANS FIRST MAJOR PART IN UNDERTAKING. WASHINGTON. The 10-year program of bringing the Mississippi River, under control one of the greatest engineering efforts ever undertaken —has begun. In the coming 12 months following action by Congress authorising expenditure for the task, 12 per cent, of the entire work will bo completed. Although exceptional in its magnitude, the engineering program ismnusually simple. These and other statements dealing with the effort to control the great river were made hero by Maj.-Gcn. Edgar Jadwin, chief of the army engineers under whose authority tho major American engineering program of the present decade falls. “A great many people think that just -because wo have spent and aro going to spend a lot ot money, and because the floods have been exceptionally big, that control of these floods is a complicated thing beyond the ken ef the ordinary man,” Gtncral Jadwin said, “That is not true. The cn gincering features of the St. Lawrence waterway are much more , complicated and difficult, both to understand r’and carry into effect.” Carrying Capacity for Water. All that is necessary, General Jadwin continued, is to provide carrying capacity for the water, and if one big conduit or trough is ncit sufficient, then an additional ono must .be placed alongside. According to General Jadwin, the program which has now started, will progress speedily and solve lem that has agitated the Mississippi Valley since -settlement. When completed tho -work will protect the entire valley from any flood danger comparable tb that of 1927, he is confident. The work to be done this year will consist of tho construction of a controlled spillway at Bonnet Carro above tbe city of New Orleans. This spillway will empty into Lake Pontchartrain and will be capable of discharging 250,000 second feet. # Protection for New Orleans. This emergency spillway will probably be operated only • once in fivo years and then from a period of only one to three' months. This spillway will practically assure the safety of New Orleans. - Tho second major task of the present year will consist of strengthening and setting back main lino levees, dredging and surveying. A total of 25,000,000 dollars is available for the entire period, until Juno 30, 1929. With the -first big steam shovels sinking their noses into Mississippi delta earth, General Jadwin pointed out, the United States has embarkedon an engineering program not surpassed since construction of the Panama Canal. In assuming his duties as tho civil engineer member of the Mississippi Flood Control Board, to which position ho was recently appointed by President Coolidge, Carlcton W. Sturtcvant of New York City bas undertaken work with which he is thoroughly familiar by education find practice.

Fellow members of the American Society of Civil Engineers speak of Mr. Sturtevant’s “broad experience and technical ability, ’ ’ and as most of his experience, since earning his. engineering degree at the University of Missouri in 188-1, has been in river and dredging work—some of it on the Mississippi itself—they feel that he ■nas well chosen for the present work. Mr. Sturtevant’s career began with work on the Mississippi and continused with added river experience on the St. Lawrence, the Magdalena and the Panama Canal. The three members of the - board are to meet in St. Louis, it is 'said, whence they will make an inspection trip south.