True American. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1835-18??, 1839-03-07
TIE TRUE AMERICAN:
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FAITHFUL AND BOLD.
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THURSDAY MARCH z, 1889.

L xlSba1 E4tA1IS4A t'Ocs
The following Report, Survey and Exa-
mination were made in compliance with the
7th Section of the. Act of 18th of March,
1887, which requires That the Civil En-
Gineer of the State shall cause, with the
least possible delay, surveys to be made of
such houses as he may deem expedient'for
the passage of the Road from the City of
New Orleans to the town of Uncle Sam
and shall report the comparative advantages
and cost of such routes to the Board of Di
rectors of said Company. .
Neap- Orleans, May, 1888. \
Hon. JUDGE WOODROW,
President B. P. W. of La.
Sir-I beg leave to submit to your consi
Iteration the following Report, upon the
survey Of the Western Route of the New
Orleans and Nashville Rail Road.
The survey was commenced at the South
ern boundary of the town of Uncle Sam,
on the New Orleans and Nashville Rail
Road, sixty miles from the city of New
Orleans.
From this point the route pursues the
course of the ridge dividing the waters of
the Ponchitoulas from those of the Nata-
bany, until it strikes the latter stream be-
low the town of Springfield. On this por-
ton of the route, the amount of work is
about equal to the similar portion of the
located line both lines passing through a
very level country, with few elevations to
break the general harmony of its surface.
At Springfield, if. we take the straig lima
as drawn upon the map, we would be OBJ
liged to have a drawbridge, which would
cost as much to make and keep up, as the
draw at the Pass Manshac.
Passing from Springfield, the country be-
comes more broken, particularly as you APP
proach the Ticfah, requiring more than
double the amount Of grading, that the
same portion of the Eastern route would
require. We would have an embankment
over the valley of the Ticfah, about fifteen
feet above the surface, and over half mile
in length, which can be found in no instance
on the location of the Eastern route. The
straight line would cross the Tigfah at
Rome, with bridge about 600 feet long
with an average depth of 90 feet water.
By throwing the line one quarter of {
mile west of Springfield, the drawbridgc a,
Springfield would be avoided, leaving onl,
one at the Ticfah, that is if Blood River,
branch of the Ticfah, should be declared
not fit for navigation. The bridges, then
across the Ticfah and Blood Rivers would
each be about 300 feet long, with one O
125 feet at the Wallabout.
o. Leaving Rome, we pass through an un
broken country, gradually descending to
wards the Lake, until we strike the Amite
over which we would have a bridge of 35t
or 400 feet span, provided with a draw
with an average draught of water from
twenty-five to thirty feet.
Crossing the Amite, we enter upon thu
Great Lake Swamp, through whichwe pas
to Blind river. l think that this portion O
the Swamp, with the exception of abou
one mile near the Amite, is decidedly thu
worst have seen, and l have traversed
great portion of the swamps in the regio1
4 of the Lakes. The timber is small and ull
fit for use, and in many places we have nc
thing but gum, unless near the Lake, wher
the timber is as fine as any ever saw.
We now cross Blind river, with a draw
bridge four hundred feet long, with fror
twenty-five to thirty feet water, and afte
following the Lake shore for about tou
miles, we enter into the great swamp, com
pretended between the two Lakes and tn
Mississippi river.
This swamp, as regards the difficulties t.
be encountered, is about equal to that POI
ton passed by the eastern route, betwee
| all
The line would strike the line of the loca
ton, after running through the swamp 70
distance of fourteen miles.
The eastern route, from Basin street t
the intersection of the two lines at the south
ern boundary of Uncle Sam, is 81 mile
long. The western route, from the same
the same, is 66 miles, 1000 feet, making a
increase of five miles, 1000 feet over tn
location; and this increase is Cypress
Swamp, there being on the eastern rout
about IA miles of swamp, and on the wes
ern 20 miles.
The Western route, then, without posses
sing single feature ofadvantage that ca
see, gives us the following result to she,
its interiority.
LIST. Five miles, 1000 feet increase c
line, and that increase bad cypress swami
I'd. Four bridges, each with draw, tina
would cost as much as the draw at the Pass
with an average length of 400 feet and 2
to 25 feet water
Sd. On one half of the pine woods pal
of the line we would have almost doubl
the grading that we have ON the Easter
route.
,.- GEO. T. DUNBAR,
Engineer 3. P. Works, La.