Washington telegraph., 1854-03-15
The Falls of Red River.

The Alexandria Republican, of the IItb
inst. has the following in relation to remov.
ing the Red River Falls opposite that place
We had the pleasure on Thursday of VI
iting the work which Messrs. Maiilefert Il
Raasloff, the able and well known snbmari,,.
engineers, have now for some time BEN
carrying on, Oh the lower falls and Wera
very agreeably surprised to find this imrnr
tant improvement much more prorresse5
than We had any idea Of, though Ne i,
heard many glowing descriptions Of the u
feet produced BY the powerful explosions n
which these gentlemen excel.
We went out in Francis metallic Iifebo-.
to the place where the men were at work il
the middle of powerful current. and had
an excellent opportunity of ascer,aininr
that channel was cut through the ledge :,
rocks which forms what is called the lower
falls, channel which, with the exception ,f
two spots, had width of about sixty fee,
and an average depth Of four feet
large body Of water flows through this chan.
mel, and is well calculated TO facilitate H.
operations towards widening and deepening
it, which are still required to make It ref,
fectly good and available for boats Of ordi.
nary size. a. it j. now, the channel would
however, allow the passage Of boat of lirht
draught, and it would be very tempting n
boats which are now excluded from the nav
igation Of upper Red river, to profit BY such
a chance. if the upper falls which have MI
yet been touched By the operators did not
oppose another obstacle to navigation as for
midable as ever. The channel through the
lower falls had TO lie cut in length Of over
800 feet through ledge, consisting of lay
ers of more or less of soft sand stone, alter
mating with layers of very hard and ex-
ceedingly tough blue clay. in which consid-
cradle quantities Of pebbles were found In
crusted.
The lower layers Of the rock, Of which
we gathered several specimens, are much
harder than the upper ones, and have all
the outward appearance Of being real rock,
yielding but very little to the knife. The
extraordinary continuance Of low stage of
the water had compelled the operators 10
combine their peculiar mode Of blasting
rocks under water without drilling, (for which
Professor Maillefert has patent, and which
has attracted % much attention BY lis cele-
brated operations in He'll Gate, near New
York with other modes Of operation adapt
ed to the circumstances and this fact, to-
gether with the beautiful result already Oh.
tanned, the skill and energy with which they
have overcome the delays and difficulties Of
all descriptions which they found in their
way here, and their remarkable success
elsewhere, forced upon our mind the couyic-
ton that these men are not easily stopped
or embarrassed and that the long spoken
of improvement Of the falls will this time
be accomplished for good and ALL to the in
calculable benefit Of the whole upper Red
river.
We are informed that the Board Of Com
missioners for the Improvement Of the falls
has been convened ~ it, worthy and ener-
gctic chairman, r. IT. Hickman. Esq, of
this parish, to a meeting in our town On ihc
18th inst We shall Be happy in due time
to lay before our readers whatever We may
be able to learn about the report which On
that occasion i likely to be made by Col
De Russy, the distinguished engineer, who
acts in conjunction with the Board.