er wash out the channel, and improve it
for commercial purposes, answering the object of protecting
the land, and at the same time opening that immense channel
for commerce.

Again, there are very important lines of railroad that are
being built up and down either bank of the Mississippi
River, and it is necessary they should be protected for
commercial purposes, as well as that the Mississippi River
should be improved for commercial purposes, and they can
only be protected by the building of levees. We who have
been on the river, and who feel that we are familiar with
it, have closely watched the course of the Commission, and I
can only say, as an expression of the opinion of the people,
that we indorse what the Commission are doing.

Q. And desire still more of it?
--A. Yes, sir; it is absolutely necessary. What has already
been expended by the Government would be absolutely useless
unless additional appropriations are made to complete the
work. I would like to call your attention to this point. The
Atchafalaya, in Louisiana, is a stream which runs from just
about the mouth of Red River into the Gulf of Mexico. The
fall from the mouth of the Atchafalaya and Red River to the
Gulf of Mexico is very much greater than the fall from the
mouth of Red River to the Gulf by way of New Orleans down
the Mississippi River. A few years ago the Atchafalaya was a
stream which could be waded across, but owing to the current
gradually going through it, it commenced to wash out until
now it has got to be a stream 100 feet deep.

Q. Is there or not any perceptible increase or diminution
of the column of the Mississippi itself as compared with 25,
or 50, or 100 years ago?
--A. We think that our waters are higher now than they have
ever been before.

Q. Greater extremes, or is there a uniform flow?
--A. A larger uniform flow, and it is attributed to the
destruction of the forests, though that is mere theory. One
of the arguments, at any rate, is that it is owing to the
destruction of the forests in the Northwest, which causes
more rain storms and gives a larger rainfall.

Q. I have heard the idea advanced that the destruction of
the woods and timber about the headwaters would, in case of
rain, lead to a more rapid deposit in the