New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-09-21
Lake Pontohartrain and the Railroad
Scheme.


evidently made to create an alarm in the minds of tn
the promoters and shareholders of the New0reans Jack
son aud Great Northern Railroad and to excite prejudice
against undertaking which, after mature delberation
received the sanction Of the entire community
brief ANALYSIS of the series will dispel at and for
ever the fears of the credulous by exposing to public
view the fances and which form the and sub
stance of those four gratnitous epses, with which thu
learned Professor has cssayad to cnlghten the
general and the denizens of Neworeans in particular
1t is for this purpose, gentenenfor the furnishing o
an 'analJ isis Of the ''series that respectfully re
quest the appropriation of corner in your issue
that the poison disseminated may not be without an anti
| dote.
TO "begin at the beginning then we learn from epist
No 1, that Mr. Forshey, for the purpose of satisfying
himself to the depth and character of the bottom
the Lake "aads eery CAROTID sounding lines y
| How he could bave made sounding tuo lines is
| little incomprehensble; but as this involves matters
pathological, shall let it pass for the present.
In epstle No q however, find that the very care
full sounding has resulted in aoaf that the bottom
of the Lake the lines examined is ersy echee firm
reliable for toorfs Of any chaacer Then, to make
surance douby sure whole epise-ful of geological
considerations follows and yet, mrable dctt, the Pro
essor is still involved in the darkest doubts as to the
practcability of the scheme He is not sure by any
means, that the very careful sounding. which has
suited in the convincing evidence of proof and his
geological considerations to boot worth 'red
cent witness the and anxious appeal which is
made in the latter portion of his fourth letter for
pertinent and test Verify the Professor is the first
| to demolish his own q castle in the ar'' y
But. it seems without such test Mr.. Forshey
cannot perceive how great deviation from the right
line be justified That Is to say he cannot perceive
how the people of New0reans should prefer acting
their sober judgments and convictions rather than
follow learned Professor through of intricaces
which prove nothing and through the uncertain quag
| mire of his doubts and misgivings.
| The Jackson Railroad is speculative thing
it is great fact Gentlemen of sound practical
sense of enterprise and intelligence and remarkable
for their business habits, its promoters Profess
sonal gentlemen of profound scientific attachments,
and of great practical experience, acquainted with
every circumstance of soil and climate and whose profess
sonal capabilities may not be measured by theoretical
speculative crotchetnor by the questionable results of
paper war-haye directed, and directing, its con-
structon The people of Neworleans generally approve
Of the route the most practicable cheapest and best
under existing circumstances and hence when rival
scheme is proposed it is obvious that the p,oJata
rests with the propounder.
Before Mr. Forshey with any show propriety then
call the public to operations which will afford
them better security and larger interest for their in
vesments than his scheme Gas will hereafter appear he
is bound to make manifest the superior advantages the
failed he cannot marvel if his suggestions not being
we'll founded' should be long neglected by dis
eliminating public
Passing over very many ambiguous, obscure and
ficting statements, shall take glance at the
hydrodynamcal features of the series For what pur
pose statistics carbohydrates introduced by Mr.
Forshey at ALL it indeed difficult understand since
no application is made of them although in No,
he places himself under promise to demonstrate the
ne
ces of wind and He has not, however kept his
promise and when gentleman fails to redeem pro-
mise publicly and solemny made the natural and egt
mate inference is that he either will not or cannot do
what he has undertaken.
Not word then, it will be borne in mind. does Mr.
Forshey ouchsafe about the effects of gales storms hur
rcanes tornadoes the proposed structure No not
one solitary word Dangerous ground that , But in
lieu thereof have intimaon of his willingness
furnish rigorous analysis of the strength of mate
rails etc Now certainly Mr. Forshey does not need to
be told how unnecessary is any such analysis No one
knows better than he that those matters have been
lyzed, investigated and experimental ten thousand
times and ALL therefore he has to do is simply to consult
his library as it is obvious he has already done his sta
tstics hydrodynamics. What indeed would rigid an
alys formuaes and diagrams avail when pitted against
common and everyday experience? The Professor
knows full well how by analysis diagrams, etc mposs
bities are made to appear possible and absurties to
appear rational He knows, Doubtless. the gusto with
which mathematical students frequently endeayor to i'm
pose erfeows by rorin (by analysis diagraus)
that part Of thing greater than the whole and that
the less contains the greater He knows presume how
during the continuance of the of some learned
Professor, Doctor, A. sup town. prorea that the
water flowing thererom could not by possibility attain
the height in the woods at which left its mark and
which may be to this day And in all probability
he knows how some years the notorious Dr. Lardner
ord ION paper that steam navigation across the Atlantic
was thing impossible!
Come now to the nth, such it is of the entire
SERIES The Professor falling to show the feasibility of
his scheme by other means institutes q comparison be-
tween the wharves of city and his proposed structure
Now he knows and the most indifferent observer knows
that little or analogy exists between the two cases
But granting for moment that they analogous let
us See what a broken reed be leans upon then
have consulted gentlemen of known probty. whose op
portunties of daily observation such that scarcely
any circumstance for against the stability of the
wharyes their notice. and have cleaned from
them the following facts viz that in pile driving for
of the wharves hours driving reduces
the elevation of the pile in many instances not more than
three or four inches such is the compact and tenacious ma
ture OF the soil yet what is the consequence? Why,
That the WharFes as general thing require rebuilding
in from seven to ten yearsequent repairs being neces
sary in the mean time. In two three cases in the
upper part Guy. WHarVeS quit from to
years have actually fallen into the river within the last
six months and in other instances the piles have sunk
and become disconnected from the Orders and flooring
above and all this happened not any unusual or
unlocked for occurrence, but simply from the effects of
gradual mperceptibe washing away ohe soil into which
he piles driven and at place on the river side
where the velocity of the water is scarcely ever oneaf
If that assumed by Mr.. Forshey
To the scientific student these results by no means
{tn,,,
philosophers who have written on the subject and with
he rules that have flown from the application of well
established theory to experiment Di Bua Eyteue, and
few others have treated the subject extensively and DR.
Robinson, in the Encyclopedia Britannica gives an abrdc
nent of Du Buats large treatise entitled the Principles
If Hydraulics from which it is that velocity of
hre inches second at the bottom will just begin to
work upon fine clay fit for pottery and hocerer firm and
ompact may be, HwiH ea p although he asserts
no beds stable than clay when the yelocties
10 not exceed hs And learn further that the tear
ng of the bottom often accelerated by the action
curse sand gravel wearing it off in thin layers "A
eoCty of eight inches' says the same authority will
lift coarse sand " twelve inches per second will sweep
long fine gravel-twenyf inches will roll along peb
lies inch in diameter, and thirty-six inches sweep
way angular stones the size of egg
Thus that Professor Robinson. Du Brlat and
ther eminent philosophers believing and concurrnc in
he theories and experiments of ancient and modern
INES are death upon the theory of Professor Forhcy
acked By no experiment ohaerer And when we consider
ather the effects of lake storms any structure which
view NAV nror,,+ o,,