Phenix Gazette

From the New-York American, April 13.

By the ship Talma we have our files of the New-Orleans Mercantile Advertiser to the 24th March inclusive. The rise of the Western rivers had thrown much produce into the market and business was active. We give some extracts relative thereto:

By accounts from the Ohio country, we learn that an unusual quantity of snow and rain had fallen on the high lands, during the month of February, in consequence of which, all the rivers connected with the Ohio, and the latter itself, had risen in a manner unexampled for twenty years past. At Louisville, the water is said to have overflowed the streets—at Shippingport, the second stories are flooded—at the mouth of Cumberland, the water had risen 16 feet higher than ever before remembered.

Although the influence of this freshet is not yet completely felt in the lower valley of the Mississippi, we believe the water has reached within two feet of its highest elevation. The quantity of drift wood is unexampled, even at this season. The bayou Placquemine, we are told, has at its mouth a raft of timber one mile in length, which completely cuts off the usual communication by water with Oppelousas. Several barges that had essayed to pass are now so environed by this raft of new formation, as to be immovable.

We are of opinion that the judges, police juries, and syndics of the parishes in our neighborhood, cannot exercise too much vigilance, or take too many precautions, with respect to the levees along the Mississippi banks. It were better to be cautious overmuch, than to run all the risks of an inundation.