made in the management of the State convict farms, the control being placed in the hands of three Trustees, appointed by the governor to serve until the first general election in 1907, and afterwards elected by the people together with a Superintendent appointed by the governor. An act providing for a geological Survey was passed. Two new circuit court districts were created to meet the demands of the rapid development in the Southern part of the State. In the same section of the State two new counties were formed; Jefferson Davis, taken from Lawrence and Covington, and named in honor of the President of the Southern Confederacy, and Forrest, embracing the second court district of Perry county, and named in honor of Gen. N. B. Forrest of the Confederate army. The greater part of the session of 1906 was given to the adoption of a new code of laws which was compiled by A. H. Whitfield, T. C. Catchings and W. H. Hardy, and to be known as the Mississippi Code of 1906. During this session, among other things, a liberal appropriation was made for the support of Beauvoir, the Confederate soldiers' home, and the sum of $50,000 was appropriated for the erection of a monument in the National Park at Vicksburg in honor of the Confederate soldiers of Mississippi. Lela, a postoffice of Wilkinson county.

Leland, an incorporated post-town of Washington county on the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley R. R., and the Southern Ry., about 10 miles east of Greenville. The land on which Leland stands was patented in 1834. The first settlement was made in 1847 by Judge James Rucks. In 1884 the town was laid out on the advent of the railroad. It is a railroad junction point, and has a telegraph office, an express office, a newspaper office, and two banks. The Enterprise is a Democratic weekly established in 1901, of which Hill & Hanson are the editors and publishers. The Bank of Leland was established in 1899 with a capital of $15,000, and the Delta Bank of Leland was established in 1903; capital $50,000. Leland lies in the fertile Delta region, and is a cotton shipping point of importance. Among its industries are a large saw mill, a large cotton seed oil mill with a daily capacity of 100 tons of cotton seed; the Leland Ice and Cold Storage Co., capital stock $20,000, capacity 20 tons daily; bottling works; Leland Compress Co., capital stock $50,000; Leland Lumber Co., capital stock $10,000. There are five public school buildings for whites; also one school for colored pupils. There are five churches; two for whites and three for blacks. The city owns its electric light and water works. The Leland Cotton Co., organized in 1903 for the purpose of selling cotton, is the only organization of its kind in existence. Population in 1900, 762; estimated in 1906 at 2,000.

Lemon, a post-hamlet in the northern part of Smith county, 9 miles north of Raleigh, the county seat, and 15 miles south of Forest, the nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 100.

Lena, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Leake county, 12 miles south of Carthage, the county seat. The station of Raworth,

on the A. & V. R. R., 15 miles to the south, is the nearest railroad town. Population in 1900, 63.

Lenoir, a postoffice in the northwestern part of Marion county, situated on the west bank of the Pearl river, 10 miles northwest of Columbia, the county seat.

Leonia, a postoffice of Jasper county, 5 miles south of Paulding, the county seat.

Leota Landing, a post-hamlet of Washington county, situated on the Mississippi river, about 25 miles south of Greenville, the county seat. It has a money order postoffice. Population in 1900, 50.

L'Epinay. M. de L'Epinay was appointed governor of Louisiana by Crozat in 1716, to succeed Cadillac, and served in that capacity for a period of about eleven months. He arrived in Mobile Bay on the 9th of March, 1717, accompanied by M. Hubert, commissioned to succeed M. Duclos as Commissaire Ordinnateur; also three companies of infantry, commanded by MM. Aruths de Bonil, de Loze and Gouris, and fifty other persons, among whom were MM. d'Artagnette, Dubreuil, Guenot, Trefontaine, and Mossy, wealthy and prominent Frenchmen, who came to establish colonies in Louisiana on their several concessions. De L'Epinay brought Bienville the cross of St. Louis, which the king of France had granted him as a special reward for his long and distinguished services in the interest of French ascendency on the Mississippi. La Harpe, in his Journal, tells us that "the commander of the Paon (one of the vessels which brought the new governor and his companions), who had lately entered the port of Dauphin Island by a channel of twenty-one feet of water, discovered in two days after that it had changed, and he was compelled to unload and go out by the Grand Gosier Channel, which had only a depth of ten feet." This sudden chocking of the Dauphin channel, no doubt, was one of the principal reasons for the reëstablishment of the headquarters of the colony in the Bay of Biloxi (see Bienville.) De L'Epinay seems to have engaged at once in the same dissensions with Bienville as his predecessor, Cadillac. He was ignorant of conditions in the new world and caused some regulations to be enforced in opposition to the wishes of Bienville, which created great dissatisfaction. As above stated, De L'Epinay's tenure of office was brief. Crozat surrendered his charter in 1717, and in August of that year, the "Western Company" succeeded to its privileges. On the 9th of February, 1718, the ships Dauphin, Vigilant and Neptune, belonging to the Western Company, arrived at Dauphin Island, and brought orders for the recall of De L'Epinay and the appointment of Bienville as governor-general.

Lerma, a postoffice of Webster county, 8 miles northwest of Walthall, the county seat.

Lespideza, a post-hamlet of Panola county, 8 miles east of Sardis, one of the two seats of justice for Panola county, and the nearest railroad and banking town. Population in 1900, 40.

Lessley, a postoffice of Wilkinson county.

Lettie, a post-hamlet in the southern part of Winston county, about 14 miles southeast of Louisville, the county seat. Population in 1900, 50.

Levees. Since the advent of the white man into the Mississippi Valley, efforts have been made to confine the mighty flood of the Mississippi within its channel by means of levees, or dikes of earthwork. Owing to the sinuosities in the ever changing bed of the stream, the Mississippi washes the western boundary of the State for a distance of 500 miles. From the standpoint of protection against the overflow of flood waters, this distance constitutes the "danger line" of the State of Mississippi. The river has been likened, with its tributaries, to a huge funnel, with a small tapering spout. It drains a total area of 1,240,038 square miles, or nearly 800,000,000 acres. The spout of the funnel is really only half a spout, open at the upper half and semi-cylindrical at the bottom, which permits the flood waters to escape freely over the sides. The Yazoo basin of Mississippi is one of the largest basins in the valley. of the great river. It has a length of 190 miles and a width of more than 50. Its area is 6,650 square miles, all of which is subject to overflow except a narrow ridge along the upper Yazoo. Lower down are 278 square miles of alluvial lands in the Homochitto basin, making about 7,000 square miles in the State subject to inundation.

The necessity of protecting this great area of over 4,250,000 acres of rich land, extending along the river front for 340 miles, from the annual visitation of flood waters through a system of levees or dikes is of prime importance to the State of Mississippi. Scientists, engineers and governments, for more than a century, have sought the proper solution of the Mississippi river problem. This problem has been all the more difficult, when it is borne in mind. that below the junction of the Ohio, for more than 1,100 miles. the great river sweeps around a succession of great bends, with a deep, wide and rapid current of five or six miles an hour during the floods. Its surface is nearly on a level with the alluvial banks, which continually yield more or less to the power of the stream. In all this distance are no hills or mountains and only a few lone bluffs, and much of the flood area is from five to ten feet below the level of the river banks. Indeed, the peculiarity of the immediate banks of the river being higher than the alluvial plain, is characteristic of the whole course of the lower Mississippi. In extreme floods, when not protected by levees, these low grounds were covered by the redundant waters nearly to the level of the river surface. As the surface of the river approached the high water mark the water escaped in a thousand places, through "low banks, outlet bayous, sloughs, or crevasses, becoming an immense forest lake and enclosing thousands of islands and ridges of alluvion only a few feet above the water level." No wonder the minds of men were early directed toward the prevention of these recurring overflows, and the protection of the rich arable lands. The period of floods. in the lower Mississippi varies from four to nine months. It

generally commences in December or January and lasts until June or July.

The extreme rise and fall of the Mississippi varies greatly at different points. It is greatest between the Ohio and Lake Providence, one hundred and thirty-five miles below the mouth of the Arkansas. It is least from the mouth up to New Orleans.

A close study of the records shows that extraordinary floods have occurred on the Mississippi during the following years: 1782, 1797; 1809, 1815, 1823, 1828, 1844, 1849-51, 1858-59, 1862, 1874, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1897, 1899, and 1903. Quoting from the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society for 1904, p. 353, we read "The floods of March and April, 1903, which occurred in the lower Ohio and Mississippi, were notable because of the unprecedentedly high stages which occurred in the latter river. The stages of the water were, with a few exceptions, greater than any before known from Memphis to the Passes, exceeding the previous highest stages (principally those of 1897) from 0.9 feet at New Orleans to 2.8 feet at Memphis. Where the crest stage was below the maximum stage of 1897 the deficiency was usually due to crevasses in the levees." Speaking of the great floods of 1882, 1897, and 1903 the report goes on to say: "At Memphis the river was above the danger line in 1903 for 54 days, as against 65 and 53 days in 1882 and 1897 respectively, but it remained at 38 feet or higher for 13 days, and at 40 feet for two days in 1903; while in 1882 and 1897 the highest stages were 35.2 and 37.1 feet respectively. At New Orleans the river was at or above the danger line (16) feet in 1882 for six days, with a maximum stage of 16.2 feet; in 1897 it was at or above the danger line for 75 days, and at 19 feet or more for 29 days, with a maximum stage of 19.5 feet; while in 1903 it was at or above the danger line for 85 days, and at or above 19 feet for 43 days, with a maximum stage of 20.4 feet. The conclusion is that the causes of these differences in the three floods in the lower Mississippi river is to be found in the restraining influence of the levees, which have been in course of construction for many years, and especially during the last ten years. These new levees, except where crevasses occurred, served to confine the flood to the immediate channel of the river, and consequently an abnormal increase in the height of the flood crest was inevitable. The more levees are built, and the more they are improved and strengthened, the higher the stages become."

6,820 square miles of territory was inundated in 1903, 13,580 square miles in 1897, and prior to 1897 the greatest extent was 29,970 square miles. While it has cost much to strengthen and repair the levees of late years, the flood losses have been comparatively insignificant as contrasted with the amount of property saved.

In Gould's History of River Navigation is found this description of the first levee on the Mississippi river: "The water of 1718 was much higher and interfered seriously with the men laying the foundations of New Orleans, they being compelled to stop work and

devote themselves to the construction of a rude levee in front of the town and for some distance above it, which sufficed to keep it clear of water. This was the first levee in Louisiana, and was constructed under the auspices of Sieur LeBlonde de la Tour chief of the engineers of the colony and a knight of St. Louis. This levee was merely a temporary one, but answered its purpose. It was worked on each successive year, raised and strengthened from time to time, being finally completed under Perrier in 1727. It then presented an 18-foot crown and 60-foot base, and was 5,400 feet, or slightly over a mile, in length. This was more than the city front and was ample to protect it." The levees were gradually extended both above and below the city, experience from disastrous floods like that of 1782 having convinced the early inhabitants on the lower Mississippi of their necessity and efficacy. The total length of levees in Louisiana in 1812 was 340 miles, built at an estimated cost of $6,500,000. A big sum for a young country.

Meanwhile few levees had been built in the Territory of Mississippi. Governor Sargent in his notes, declares that the inhabitants of the Natchez District could not understand the flood of 1809, which destroyed many of their crops. It was thought by many that the Great Lakes had forced an outlet into the upper Mississippi and were pouring down on them. In 1828 the line of levees extended from New Orleans to Red River Landing, a distance of 195 miles, and for 65 miles below the city. Above Red river they were in an unfinished state to Napoleon. From 1828 to 1844 they were gradually extended on the west bank to the mouth of the Arkansas, and there were also by this time many miles of levees on the Yazoo front, though they were by no means continuous. Above Napoleon, little had been done in the way of levee building. Those tracts in the delta that were above the level of ordinary flood were promptly settled, in spite of great dangers to health. Hence the region produced 39,000 bales of cotton in 1840. In 1850, there yet being no levees, the product was 42,000 bales.

Throughout the great speculative period of 1832 to 1844 the dismal swamps of the river valley were left in the hands of the government, which offered them in vain at $1.25 an acre. "The idea of a levee had not been considered. The country was regarded as valueless. Even as late as 1848, some of the intelligent men in the State regarded a levee upon the Mississippi, looking to the reclamation of the whole country, as impracticable, the idea as utopian." (Alcorn report.) But in eight years all this was changed, prospectively at least.

The Memphis river convention of 1845 made an earnest appeal to the United States to grant the planters assistance in the matter of levee building, without which, it was declared, the settlement of the lower Mississippi Valley could not go on successfully. The planters had expended millions in building dikes, and it was pointed out that with more levees millions of acres of fertile lands could