New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1859-02-21
The BAR DISTRACTIONS.

4 We have before d the Reports o. the Commtsee q
~ Chamber IL Comnaerce, Of varisas pilots snd snip
nasters. and of J. K. Duncan, Civil Ensineer upon
IL bar cbstructons Ia South Ws1t Pass and rass'
ar Outre u ne meath x ths Aississippi ana nom
these documents W purpose 70 condense statements
exhibiting iii facts Of importance which they contain
aud Ire plan suggested for the removal OF the pars
which Il eel forth 10 the able report Of Mr. duncan.
a neetins Of the Chamber Of Commerce, held on
II. aoth nltino. Nsszs William Creevy, Thomas =.
Witeay. John B. Mnrison, George A. Fosdick and p.
i n atinwitb wese appointed committee TO proceed
q IL mouths * tho river survey their condition and
report accordingly On the Lat instant they left the
cty 70 perform this duty, arrived at the Pilot Station
inside he bar 1t the South West Pass On the 3D. and
there found two old and experienced pilots, Mr..
Towne of tho Association and Mr.. Chsm, Of the OPP.
position, whose services they engaged, and under
whose pilotage they surveyed and sounded the waters
Of the bars. The towboat Anglo Saxon, Capt. Grant,
being placed at the disposal Of the Committee they
proceeded in her to survey the bars, their careful
soundings at high tide and with the heavy swell Of
stiff 8. W. breeze on, showing but fifteen feet water
the shoalest part Of the bar of the West Pass
On the morning Of the Sd soundings resumed at
low tide. with the wind NJ and the best depth then
found on the shoal part was thirteen feet.
The committee then proceeded round by sea to
Pascal Ontre and, sounding, found but thirteen feet
ct hightide, and the next morning at low tide the
best depth was but twelve feet. These soundings
were taken at favorable time, and the observations
OF the pilots and Of shipmasters whose vessels have
been long detained agree with them, thus certifying
TO their correctness the average depth at all times
The committee direct attention to the immense in
jury which is being done to commerce BY the deten-
ton Of ships between forty and fifty Of which,
with an average tunnage of one thousand tuns each,
they found at anchor or aground within or without
the. bars-nineteen being outside and unable to get
In. The Value Of ten leading articles of export
cotton tobacco, sugar. moasses pork beef -four, lard,
hams and Hheat-of which the cargoes of the out
wardbound vessels inside the bars are principally
composed the committee report to be nearly five and
half million of dollars the interest upon which,
at per cent, is nearly 81 900 per day They make
no account Of sundres of the value Of Ships Of the
cargoes Of those rd-bound, and Of those which
have cleared but not left the city, knowing the inut
ty Of efforts to cross the bar-items which would
more than double the above sum, we presume.
The committee call attention to the disastrous de
rangements Of commerce ADD monetary affairs which
likely to be the result of this detention Of
chandise. The amount Of cotton detained is seventy
two thousand bales some of it for several weeks and
the committee considers it unlikely that the purchas
ers will again to New Orleans to buy if there
is the least chance for such detention again. The
bills of exchange drawn against this cotton will
probably mature before it arrives to place means in
hand to meet them, and the consequences may be
foreseen. The inward bound goods delayed, and
the West and the Western trade will look to other
points than New Orleans for supplies and to other
means of communication with the Eastern world than
via this point.
The committee bear witness to the immense efforts
Of the Towboat Company to get ships in out, and
state that during their stay they occasionally
ceeded in getting them over the bar when aided by
the swell brought ON by 8. e. and s. W. winds.
The condition Of the bar threatening the entire pros
tration of commerce the committee recommend the
of the adoption of the plan reported
by their engineer, Mr.. Duncan-a plan Of "acknow-
lodged utility" and which is set forth below in
abstract Of that gentlemans report.
In the historical sketch of the surveys of the delta
and Of previous efforts to remove the distractions of
the tidal bars with which his report opens Mr. Dun
states that the first correct soundings maps and
charts, were furnished by the surveys Of Captain
Talcott under the General Government in 1888, and
the last in 1851 and 1862 A careful comparison Of
the results Of the two surveys shows that the outward
progress Of the bar and the delta formation is at the
rate Of $50 feet per year, or of one mile in fifteen
years. In 1888 the water was six feet deep at low
tide where the Pass aOutre lighthouse now stands,
and the land extends from mile and quarter to a
mile and half beyond it. Similar progress is shown
ct the Balize and at all Of the mouths of the delta
the tidal bars being formed out beyond the shore line
| IN the aame nron6rfinn Of extension
The first attempt to improve the passes was made
by the General Government in 1889, the ordinary
bucket dredge being employed and the enterprise
sgnally falling All further efforts were abandoned
until 1862, when Government entered into CONTRACT
with the Towboat Association to open the Passes,
and the contract was completed and the work effect
lively done in twelve months, the means used being
the dredge harrow and scraper, with which chan
mel eighteen feet deep by three hundred feet
wide was opened through bar where the water aver
aged fourteen feet. The distance over the bar to
the eighteen feet depth on either side was mile
and halt-just about what It is now. Nothing
was done to keep the channel open, and the bar
was soon as bad as ever, and in consequence con-
tract was made in 1856, between the United States
aud Messrs. Craig and Fighter, to open channels
twenty feet deep through the bars Of Southwest Pass
/
closing Of the minor passes and throwing out walls Of
png to act jeties for concentrating the water into
narrow channel and thus forcing it to do the bot
tom cutting and securing This was failure, for the
piling and filling, though very strong, could not
resist either the river current or the sea waves and
was swept away by hundreds Of feet at time, even
while the work was progressing. The contractors
then tried to remove the bars by submarine blasting
but the explosive force would not act on the yield
ing bottom it has been successfully proved to ac
on mari rock, as in the case of He'll Gate Pass il
/ East river.
i Such means having been tried and proved unsuc
cessful, the question arises as to what is the bes
method of deepening the Passes and this method
Mr.. Duncan reports. is by the ordinary heavy dredg
and seraper, for it has already been applied and it
operation crowned with complete success, as at th
| Southwest Pass in 1852. The machinery for thi
work is very simple consisting Of triangular harrow
Of the width Of the boat used, with timber frame
and wrought iron teeth three feet long the scraper
attached to and following the harrow, OF heavy boe
iron and projecting six inches below the teeth t
drag this a low pressure steam tug with double en-
gines would be required the narrowing and scrap
ing should invariably commence at the head of til
channel previously marked out by buoys, and wor
| "a.