212 The Mississippi Valley in the Civil War

little over a mile, but as the canal was designed toadmit vessels of sixty feet beam and nine feet“ Grant’s big draught, the amount of excavation re-diteh.” quired was very considerable, and asmuch labour was necessary to keep the canal freefrom water while the digging was going on, theprogress was very slow. A dam was built acrossthe upper end, and dredging-machines were set towork, and at length, after six tedious weeks, successseemed near at hand, when. all at once, on the 8thof March, a sudden rise in the river burst openthe dam. If the torrent could have been confinedbetween the levees of the canal, it might perhapshave helped the work by scouring the bottom, butits force was so great that it broke down theselevees and submerged the surrounding country,sweeping away tents and tools, drowning horses,and driving off the men, who had to flee for theirlives. The catastrophe was a godsend to thenorthern croakers, who all these weeks had beenwagging their heads in scorn of “ Grant’s bigditch.” The rebels saw in it the judgment ofHeaven upon an impious attempt to disturb theorder of nature. Many enthusiastic friends of thegovernment, who had built great hopes upon theundertaking, were sadly disappointed. Not soGrant, who from the first had expected very littlefrom it. He had observed that the lower end of