It is evident from the conditions which exist that the suspended matter in the river water at New Orleans must be of extreme fineness, in other words, approaching the colloidal state. The erosion which produces the turbidity of the water, to be sure is constantly going on, but the coarse sediments which are fed into the Mississippi River through its principal affluents, namely, the Missouri and the Ohio, have about 1,000 miles of distance in which to settle before reaching New Orleans. The relative amount of suspended matter which will be deposited in a given time from Mississippi water at New Orleans is not very great. Experiments have shown the following data in regard to the amount of suspended matter deposited in 24 hours in different localities tributary to New Orleans: for instance in the water of the Missouri River at Kansas City it is found that 82 percent of the suspended matter, and in the water of the Ohio River at Cincinnati 62 percent will be deposited in 24 hours; while in the water of the Mississippi River at New Orleans only 45 percent of the suspended matter will be deposited in the same time.