The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 1, No. 32, June 17, 1897 - A Weekly Magazine for Boys and Girls by Various
page 24 of 43 (55%)
page 24 of 43 (55%)
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Each Board has the power to do the work for its own district in the manner that seems best to it. There has, so far, been no general meeting of the various Boards to decide on the best kind of levee to build, but each has done the work independently of the other, and put up the best levees it could afford with the funds it had. In view of the widespread distress caused by the floods this year it is thought that some better system should be adopted, and that all the levees should be under one board of management. Daring the recent floods, it was found that certain levees were able to withstand the force of the waters better than others, and the farmers all along the river are insisting that when the new levees are built they shall be of the kind that withstood the flood. It has been felt that the work should be taken in hand by some one body which should have control of both banks of the river throughout its entire length. Want of money prevents the dwellers of the Mississippi Valley from doing this for themselves, and so the appeal to the Government has been made. Should the request be granted the dwellers along the river will be relieved of one great anxiety. When the waters run very high the people along each bank would be glad if the bank on the opposite side would break and relieve the pressure on their side, and so several times men have been wicked enough to cut the levees opposite, and allow the floods to pour over their neighbors' lands. |
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