No such gap had ever been closed before, and the levee
engineers declared it to be impossible to do so.
Necessity, however, decided them to make the attempt, and for the past
week a large force of engineers and bridge-makers have been at work.
They first built cribs around the crevasse; cribs are walls made of
timbers which break the first force of the waters; they do not of course
stop their flow.
When these were in place sacks were filled with earth and thrown down in
front of the cribs.
In a very short time it was seen that the sacks remained in their
places, the water coming through the cribs not having sufficient force
to wash them away.
More sacks were piled against the wooden wall, and gradually the waters
ceased to flow through the break, and the crevasse was closed.
This feat of engineering is considered the most important work of its
kind ever done. Engineers from all over the Mississippi have gone to
look at it.
Very little of the sugar-cane has been damaged by the overflow, and
people along the river are feeling very happy over the great work that
has been done.
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