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 D11151115 
 
MEMORIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 E. H. ANGAMAE, 
 
 RELATIVE TO THE 
 
 NAVIGATION OF OLD RIVER, 
 
 TO THE 
 
 LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA. 
 
 MARCH, 1861. 
 
 BATON ROUGE: 
 
 M . TAYLOR, STATE PRINTER 
 
 1861. 
 
/ Af 
 
 Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2011 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/memorialofehanga01anga 
 
MEMORIAL. 
 
 The channel through which the Atchafalaya and the Red Rivers com- 
 municate with the Mississippi, known by the name of Old River, has been 
 filling up ever since 1831. 
 
 That channel was, in 1831, ninety feet deep; it is now about seven feet 
 deep ; and last summer, there was, at one time, only fifteen inches of water 
 over the bar. 
 
 The forcible consequence of that constant filling up is, that within a very 
 short time (perhaps this very year), the navigation of Old River will be 
 entirely destroyed at low-water. 
 
 Some persons say, that the cry of the impending destruction ,of navigation 
 in Old River has been so often repeated, for the last fifteen years, without 
 the ominous event ever taking place as yet, that they do not believe such a 
 fact will ever be realized. 
 
 These persons are mistaken ; and forget, or never knew, the past history 
 of that navigation, for were they to make any researches about it, they 
 would find out that said navigation would have been destroyed long since, 
 was it not for the temporary reliefs applied to it at different times and in 
 different ways, either by appropriations of money by the State, or by the 
 use and work of dredge boats, as well as by cut-offs : and we are within the 
 truth when we assert, that at least 8X0,000 have already been spent on it. 
 In 1845 and 1846, the navigation of Old River was on the eve of being 
 entirely suspended, when the then Board of Public Works proposed and 
 executed the Raccourci Cut-off. Governor P. 0. Hebert, then State En- 
 gineer, opposed that measure very strenuously, and stated at the time, that 
 the relief so afforded to the navigation, would have temporary effect only, 
 and that, within a few years, the Mississippi River would resume its old 
 level, and fill up, again, the gorges of Old River. (See Reports of 1846 
 and 1847.) 
 
 The predictions of the far-seeing Engineer have, unluckily, been realized, 
 and now the prospects of losing all water communication between the two 
 rivers, are more threatening than ever: for, from reliable soundings taken 
 
4 
 
 and communicated to us very recently by respectable pilots, we are informed 
 that the channel is, at this very moment, filling up more than usual in high 
 water, and that if the Mississippi and Red Rivers happens to fall at the 
 same time this summer, all water communication between them will be 
 entirely cut off this year. (A') 
 
 (B") This opinion is not ours alone, it is also the opinion of all the 
 practical men, pilots, captains, and engineers, who have examined seriously 
 into the matter. 
 
 (A") After the low-water communication is destroyed, the filling up at 
 high-water will go on at an increased rate, and in no distant period, even 
 the high-water communication, between the two rivers, will be entirely de- 
 stroyed. (B') 
 
 The longer we wait before taking action in this matter, the greater the 
 difficulty of restoring the navigation, and the greater also will be the 
 cost. The eventful result is before us; is it not wise and proper to apply 
 the remedy in time, especially, if we take notice that the works necessary 
 to effect the desired object will require, at least, two or three years before 
 they can be carried to completion. 
 
 Then do we say again, something must be done in the premises, and the 
 sooner the better j for this is not a question of low-water navigation only, 
 but a question of high-water communication also; for, as we have said 
 above, the communication being once totally interrupted at low-water, the 
 communication during high-water will soon be destroyed also. Such has 
 been the result in the case of all cut-offs, and there is not the least reason 
 why that should be otherwise in the present case. On the contrary, full 
 and positive evidence is before us of the tendency of the upper channel of 
 Old River becoming entirely separated from the Mississippi in the same 
 way as the lower channel now is. 
 
 And now comes this question : Which is the best and cheapest mode of 
 executing the works that will prevent the threatening destruction of water 
 communication, and insure the needed navigation in a permanent manner ? 
 Shall the State undertake the works herself, or shall she entrust their exe- 
 cution to a company who will do it out of their oavu funds for a compen- 
 sation ? 
 
 A very important question of expenditure has to be incurred in executing 
 the works, and because Louisiana is not the only party interested in the 
 matter. Texas and Arkansas are equally so; for out of the 500,000 bales 
 of cotton shipped annually through Old River, about 210,000 bales are the 
 growth of our State ; the balance being raised and shipped by the States of 
 'Texas and Arkansas. Then, it follows that Texas and Arkansas ought to 
 vparti.cipate in the expense, and here springs this question : How can it be 
 done ? W& have no power to tax them directly. So it is. But, if we 
 £annoit tax ih&m directly, we can do so indirectly, in entrusting the under- 
 
taking to a company who will collect their revenues from the very freight 
 benefitted by the improvement, and who will, in that way, obtain the object 
 that the State herself could not accomplish, that is, force Texas and Arkan- 
 sas to pay for their share of the improvement. 
 
 Some parties may, at first sight, object to the establishing of tolls, because 
 it looks like a tax; others are of the opinion, that this being a measure of 
 public improvement, the State should pay herself for the whole expense, 
 and let the navigation remain free. But the intended toll is so light that, 
 on account of the facilities afforded to the navigation by the improvement, 
 it is almost certain that steamboats will assume and pay themselves the light 
 toll to be levied on the produce carried by them, without charging for it, 
 as is the case in almost every similar instance j and, besides, the improve- 
 ment in navigation thus afforded, will do away with the high rates of 
 freight during low-water. 
 
 But even should it be a. tax, it is to our interest to submit to it, for we 
 are on the eve of losing the navigation of Old River, and we must not, we 
 cannot, allow such a result to take place ; and hence the unanimous opinion 
 of the people, that something must be done in the premises, and done soon, 
 at whatever cost; and, if we judge of the public opinion by the acts of the 
 Legislature, we may say that this question has been before the people every 
 year since 1856. 
 
 As the idea of charging tolls on freight might be construed as imposing 
 an extra tax on cotton, let us examine the expense to be borne by the inte- 
 rested parishes, in case of the works being executed by the State, and in 
 case they be entrusted to and performed by a company. 
 
 By so doing we will arrive at a perfect understanding of the question. 
 
 In case the State is to execute the works, she must raise the money 
 necessary to carry them through, and she has no other means to raise it 
 except by way of taxation. 
 
 Let us suppose, for the sake of argument, that the works will cost $500,- 
 000, and that the State execute the works. 
 
 Twenty-five parishes of the State are, more or less, interested in this 
 matter, to-wit : Avoyelles, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, 
 Claiborne, DeSoto, Franklin, Jackson, Morehouse, Xatchitoches, Ouachita, 
 Rapides, Sabine, St. Landry, L'nion and Winn for the whole of their ship- 
 ments, and Concordia, Lafayette, Madison, St. Mary, St. Martin, Tensas and 
 Vermillion for part of their shipments. 
 
 As those parishes represent a little over two-fifths of the whole taxation 
 of the State, they will have to pay towards the completion of the works, in 
 the shape of taxes, the sum of a.bout two fifths of the entire sum, say §200,- 
 000 : and the remaining three-fifths, or *300,000, will have to be paid by 
 the other parishes of the State, although they be not at all interested in 
 the matter, and although they do not derive the least benefit from the works 
 of improvement. 
 
6 
 
 Should, on the contrary, the works be executed by a company, what pro- 
 portion of the expense has to be borne by the aforesaid twenty-five parishes ? 
 Exactly the very same amount as in the case of the State performing the 
 works herself, for the reason that these twenty five parishes shipping- 
 through that channel only two-fifths of the whole produce passing that way, 
 they will have to pay two-fifths only of the expenditure, or $200,000; here 
 comes the difference between the two plans, to-wit : the remaining three- 
 fifths, or $300,000, instead of being taken from the pockets of the balance 
 of our own citizens who have no direct interest in the matter, and who 
 derive no benefit at all from the expenditure, will be collected from the 
 people of Texas and Arkansas, who derive the full benefit of the improve- 
 ment; thereby saving to our own people the payment of a tax of $300,000. 
 
 From the above it appears, that in having the j)roposed improvement 
 executed by a company, the State saves three-fifths of the total expenditure, 
 or $300,000. 
 
 From the above it appears also that the toll proposed to be levied by the 
 company will not, in any way, augment the taxes of the parishes interested 
 in the improvement, since they will pay under the name of tolls the very 
 same amount of money they would have otherwise to pay under the name 
 and shape of taxes. 
 
 Then, since the company can secure the navigation for two-fifths of the 
 amount of money that it would cost the State, if the State was to under- 
 take it, and since those of our parishes who will be taxed in the shape of 
 tolls for the payment of the improvement, will be made to pay only the 
 same amount of money as they would have to pay if the State was to exe- 
 cute the works, the balance of the cost of the improvement being collected 
 by the company from people foreign to us, it is evident that the works 
 should be entrusted to a company ; in so doing we save our own people 
 from paying a tax which we set on strangers, and still we derive the full 
 benefit of the improvcmeat. Besides, as we have stated before, there is a 
 very strong probability that owing to the greater facilities of navigation 
 brought on by the improvement to navigation, and owing also to the compe- 
 tition between steamboats and railroads, steamboats will assume and pay the 
 toll to be charged on freight without charging for it. 
 
 It is a matter of policy admitted by all nations now that all works of such 
 a nature as this, are more : cheaply and properly carried on by private com- 
 panies than by States, and there can be no doubt that such will be the result 
 in this case. 
 
 Herewith I respectfully submit the project of an act for the incorporation 
 of the Old River Navigation Company, the most striking feature of which 
 is, that whenever it will be the pleasure of our Legislature to free the 
 Louisiana grown cotton from toll, for one or more years, they are empowered 
 to do so by making an appropriation sufficient only to pay to the company 
 
the amount of tolls that would accrue to them for one or more years from 
 Louisiana grown cotton j in other words, let us suppose that this year's 
 Louisiana grown cotton crop amounts to 100,000 bales, and that the toll be 
 ten cents per bale, then should this Legislature pay over to the company 
 $10,000, the Louisiana cotton would be allowed to pass free for next year; 
 and next year the same thing might be done again, if desired, it not, not. 
 
 Another very striking feature of the bill, by which an}- and all the ob- 
 jections that might be entertained against it ought to be pacified is, that it 
 is not a peremptory, but a provisional and conditional bill only, for it cannot 
 take effect until the next session of the Legislature, on whom will devolve 
 the responsibility of approving, amending, or repealing it; thereby referring 
 the whole matter to the people, who, between this and the election in No- 
 vember next, will have an opportunity of studying the matter, and of in- 
 structing their Representatives elected by them, how to act in the premises. 
 
 As the originator of the proposed company, and as a citizen deeply 
 interested in the navigation of Old River, I do most respectfully demand 
 that the subject of this communication should at least receive, at the hands 
 of the Legislature, the serious attention and examination it deserves, and 
 that some action of some kind be taken in the premises, for wether the idea 
 of entrusting the works to a company be eutertaiued by our Legislature or 
 not, the Legislatures of Texas and Arkansas should be consulted in order to 
 ascertain whether they would or not assist in some shape, in accomplishing 
 the needed improvement, and it may be more than a year before they can 
 be made to act in the matter. Their concurrence in the expense would be 
 so much saved to our State, and, therefore, I beg to suggest and recommend 
 the propriety of passing a joint resolution authorizing the Governor of the 
 State to appoint a Commissioner, representing the State of Louisiana, for the 
 purpose of waiting on the Legislatures of Texas and Arkansas, conferring 
 with them, and soliciting their co-operation in this matter. Said Commis- 
 sioner to report to the Legislature at its next session, the result of his 
 mission. Said Commissioner to receive no pay or compensations of any 
 kind for his services, but to be entitled to mileage. 
 
 E. H. ANGAMAB. 
 
Hollinger Corp. 
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