New volumes of the Encyclopædia Britannica > Volume 30, K-MOR

MISSOLONGHI — MISSOURI 783
to avoid the lower ground, which, owing to the peculiar formation, is
found as one goes back from the river. Another ill result of this
nearness of the levees to the bank of the river is the loss of levees
by caving, which was over 4,000,000 cubic yards in 1898-99, and
can only be prevented by bank protection costing $150,000 per
mile, to protect a levee perhaps 16 feet high costing about $30,000
per mile. The levees have top widths of 8 feet, side slopes of J,
and banquettes when their heights exceed about 10 feet. The
grades of the levees are usually 3 feet above the highest water,
and have to be raised from year to year as greater confinement of
water gives greater flood heights. When this system is com¬
pleted, there will probably be hundreds of miles of levee with
heights exceeding 14 feet. In 1883 a majority of the Mississippi
River Commission estimated the cost of a system of levees from
Commerce, Missouri, 38 miles above Cairo, to Fort Jackson, 1039
miles below Cairo, at $11,443,000. In 1899, after about
$28,000,000 had been spent on levees by the United States and by
the local authorities, the commission submitted an estimate for
additional work on levees, amounting to 124,000,000 cubic yards
and costing $22,000,000. The effect of the levees has been to
increase flood heights. A conspicuous example is that on Lake
Providence, where the maximum gauge heights since 1879 have
risen from 38‘3 feet in 1882 to 44*5 in 1897, or by 6-2 feet.
Captain Newcomer, the local engineer, estimates that perfect
confinement of the water will increase this maximum gauge reading
to 49’5, a total increase of 11 '2 feet. Though the Mississippi
River Commission was forbidden by Congress to build levees to
protect lands from overflow, a majority of its members believed
them useful for the purpose of navigation improvement. Since
1882 no less than $28,000,000 has been expended on levees.
This enormous expenditure has effected no sensible improvement
in the navigation of the river at low stages, and at other stages
no improvement was needed for the purposes of navigation.
About $37,000,000 has been appropriated for the commission
work below Cairo since 1879.
In 1879 Mr J. B. Eads, the contractor for the South Pass
jetties, obtained a channel through the pass having a depth of
S thP ss ^ ^ee^’ or^na^ depth on the bar having been 9
ou ass. an(j thus earned his final payment for the jetties.
Ho used essentially the plan of a Government board of engineers,
on which Congress gave him the contract, without competition.
His original contract was for a channel 30 feet deep and 350 feet
wide, but Congress subsequently removed this restriction on the
width without making a corresponding reduction in the price.
The works were required to be “permanent works by which said
channel may be maintained for all time after their completion.”
He was entitled by law to $100,000 per annum for maintenance of
a channel 26 feet deep and 200 feet wide through the jetties, and a
central depth of 30 feet, and of 26 feet deep through the pass,
until 1901. By the aid of dredging, this channel has thus far,
with interruptions, been maintained ; but these interruptions
were for 174 days in 1897, and 63 days in 1898. In 1891 a
crevasse occurred about 2 miles from the head of South Pass,
from Pass a I’Outre to the gulf, and gradually increased until
it was 2000 feet wide in 1894. The contractor’s heirs made re¬
peated efforts to close it, but in vain, and now the United
States has undertaken the work. This crevasse, by lowering the
water surface at the head of South Pass, diminished the flow
through the pass, which has decreased somewhat in size. At the
sea end of the jetties delta-building has gone on, so that dredging
has been needed there. Of the curves of depth at the sea end of
the jetties, the 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 feet curves each advanced,
between 1877 and 1897, from 92 to 108 feet annually, and the 40
and 50 feet curves advanced respectively about 52 and 62 feet.
The difficulties in the South Pass have led Congress to require a
plan to be made for improving the South-West Pass, which is
much longer, and where the delta-advance at the sea end is much
more rapid.
See the Annual Reports of the Chief of Engineers, U.S.A.,
since 1879. (c. B. C.)
Missoiongfti or Mesolonghi, a city of
Greece, on the north side of the Gulf of Patras, about
7 miles from the coast. It is the chief town of the pro¬
vince of Acarnania and AStolia. Population about 10,000.
MisSOUla, a city of Montana, U.S.A., capital of
Missoula county, on Clark fork of the Columbia river,
at the mouth of the Bitter Root, in the western part
of the state, at an altitude of 3197 feet. It is on the
main line of the Northern Pacific Railway, at the junction
of a branch from the Bitter Root valley, and is situated
m the level valley, on which the town is regularly laid
out. It is the seat of the University of Montana, a
non-sectarian institution, founded in 1895. In 1899 this
had 12 instructors and was attended by 208 students,
of whom 108 were women. Near it is the United States
military post of Fort Missoula. Population (1890), 3426 ;
(1900), 4366, of whom 1020 were foreign-born and 34
were negroes.
Missouri, a central state of the American Union,
lying between about 36° and 40° 30' N. and 89° 2' and
95° 44' W. Its population in 1890 was 2,679,184, or
39 persons to the square mile. The native-born population
in 1890 was 2,444,315; the foreign-born, 234,869. 5U7
per cent, of the population were males. The white popula¬
tion by the same census was 2,528,458, and the coloured,
150,726. There were, in 1890, 705,718 persons entitled
to the privilege of voting. The population of the state in
1900 was 3,106,665, giving a density of 45‘2 to the
square mile, and was made up as follows:—1,595,710
(5U4 per cent.) were males and 1,510,955 (48-6 per cent.)
females; 2,890,286 native-born and 216,379 (7‘0 per cent.)
foreign-born; 2,944,843 were white and 161,822 (5‘2 per
cent.) coloured, of whom 161,234 were negroes, 449
Chinese, 9 Japanese, and 130 Indians. The death-rate in
1900 was about 12‘25 per cent. The urban population,
classing as such all persons in cities of 8000 inhabitants
or over, was 955,563, or 30'8 per cent, of the total popula¬
tion, as against 26‘3 per cent, in 1890. St Louis, the chief
city, had in 1880 a population of 350,518; in 1890,
451,770; and in 1900, 575,238. Kansas City, on the
western border, next in importance, had in 1880 a popula¬
tion of 55,785 ; in 1890, 132,716 ; in 1900, 163,752. St
Joseph, in the north-west, had in 1880, 32,431 ; in 1890,
52,324; in 1900, 102,979. Hannibal, in the north-east,
had in 1880, 11,074; in 1890, 12,857; in 1900, 12,780.
Springfield, a thriving railway centre in the south-west,
had in 1880, 6522; in 1890, 21,850; in 1900, 23,267.
Joplin, in the extreme south-west, in the centre of a lead
and zinc mining district, had in 1880, 7038; in 1890,
9943 ; and in 1900, 26,023.
Agriculture.—All the chief cereals, all varieties of fruits, and all
varieties of grass are found in abundance. Horses and mules are
raised, and the mule market of St Louis is visited by purchasers
from every part of the world. For 1899 the cereal products were
reported to be as follows: corn, 162,915,064 bushels; wheat,
11,398,702 bushels ; and oats, 20,709,000 bushels. A large crop
of tobacco is also raised, that for 1899 being estimated at 7,580,000
tt>. The fruit crop for 1899 was valued at $19,500,000. The
total number of farms in the state in 1890 was 238,043, with an
aggregate acreage of 30,780,290, and a valuation of $109,751,024.
Minerals.—Coal and iron are found in large quantities, as also are
clays for fire-brick, marbles, limestone, and sandstone. The most
important minerals of late years have been the immense deposits
of lead and zinc in the southern and south-eastern sections, the
richest of which lie in the counties of Jasper and St Framjois.
The output for the year ending 30th June 1899 was 70,829 tons of
lead ore, and 181,430 tons of zinc ore, the total valuation of both
being $9,120,861. A large increase is made yearly in the lead and
zinc product, especially from the south-western part of the state,
and the area of mining lands is being greatly extended.
Commerce.—The commerce centres at St Louis in the east and
Kansas City in the west. Trade with the south-west and with
Mexico has made great strides since 1880. Foreign shipments of
flour and grain by railways and river during 1899 were : flour,
743,373 barrels; wheat, 1,006,840 bushels ; corn, 12,285,515
bushels ; oats, 360,697 bushels. The total amount of freight re¬
ceived at St Louis by rail and river in 1899 was 15,272,482 tons,
and the total amount shipped was 8,469,598 tons. The shipments
of cotton for 1899 showed 377,513 bales exported, while 612,446
bales went to various parts of the United States. The total value
of the gross receipts of cotton for the year was about $15,000,000.
Among other receipts at the St Louis market for 1899 were ;
lumber and logs, 1,148,124,000 feet; wool, 28,491,625 ft) ; sugar,
204,322,225 ft>; coal, 109,067,875 bushels ; butter, 13,729,188 ft).
Banks.—There were, in 1898, 494 banks incorporated under
the state law. There were also 85 private banks and 70
national banks. The total resources of the banks in the state
amounted to $117,009,314, distributed as follows: loans and
discounts, $76,161,897 ; overdrafts by solvent customers,
$771,803; U.S. bonds and other bonds and stocks, $6,292,472; real