Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-06-06
OUR RIVER FRONT.
The Changes In the Current of the MIssls-
sippi.

"A AAAAa VI SLA 80
successful merchants, property owners
and business men have been, al
some period of their lives, engaged
in the occupation of navigation on
the Mississippi. These, together with
a large number now interested in steam
boats, either as owners or employees, are
familiar with, and understand the freaks
OF, our great river, in the sudden change
of channels and currents after each rise
or freshet. The under, cross and counter
currents, eddies, chutes, false points,
sand bars, islands and other singularities
are known to every practical river man.
They have been carefully studied, learn
eddy cussed and discussed, and elaborate
Iy treated during the past thirty years,
in numerous reports and surveys of vari-
GUS skillful and scientific engineers. Pa
tient research, combined with long prac-
teal experience, and the expenditure of
countless sums of money, have demon
strated the difficulties of controlling the
river at any particular point between the
mouth Of the Missouri and the Gulf of
Mexico. Except at st. Louis. every at
tempt has resulted unsuccessfully.
Numerous Congressional appropria-
tiOns have been wasted in efforts to I'M
nrove the hannels near the entrance of
The river to the gulf. Ships loaded with cot
ton have each season been detained weeks
and even months on the bars at the passes,
I AuEuEIlnk utdNY "a B6uHCos AZ OANoAE
large losses upon their owners, because
unable to 90 over the shallow water on
the bars into the deep waters of the ocean.
Some of the most eminent engineers or
the present generation have tolled, Ia
bored and caused the expenditure of mil
lions Of money, only to be baffled, and in
the end forced to admit they had failed to
do good.
Hard Jumps, composed of the stiff,
tenacious clay of the river bottom, have
often risen up in a single night directly
where the main channel ran a day or two
before, and as if in mockery, frequently
while dredging boats, pile-driving and
other works were being carried on.
AT an early period of the late war, the
same skill, energy and industry was en-
pIoyed, and money lavished u~nsparingly,
TO control or Obstruct the main river at
several points, only in every effort to re-
suit in a signal failure.
The narrowest point on the Mississippi
from Cairo to the Gulf, is at Columbus,
Ky. Anchors, chains and cables of he
heaviest pattern were used there in con-
nection with barges, fats and steamers,
and months of labor was expended in
placing them in proper position. In q
single half hour a freak of the winds and
currents swept every thing down the
river, iumbling the whole tOgather in
dire confusion. In that short space of
time the stream was as clear and unob-
structed as it was in days anterior to its
discovery by DeSoto. e.
At Fort Jackson, seventy miles below
New Orleans, heavy logs were converted
into stupen1Ous RATS, and fastened by
tremendous chains and anchors, and all
this proved Intellectual. Grants celebra-
ted ca nal, near Vicksburg, was the most
signal failure of all-and as before mem
toned, only at st. Louis, after twenty
- - a-.a.ls#vr-n aE mil
lisns of dollars, was an effort to govern
the action of the river crowned with
success.
Twentv-one years ago a devastating fire
swept over st. Louis Twenty-Jhree
steamboats,, with other water crafts, were
destroyed in a single night while lying
moored at the wharf. Their charred and
blackened hulls sunk to the bottom along
the river 'front.', and soon after filed with
mud and sediment. Strenuous efforts to
remove the wrecks proved futile and una
FALLING. A bar commenced forming in
front of the lower part of the city, while
the channel on the Illinois side of Bloody
Island the latter directly in front of the
city, began to grow deeper and wider.
The city was threatened to be left with a
huge sand or mud bar in front that would
render its harbor worthless. The wharf,
or Ievee, had always been too narrow, and
draws were often backed up among freight
piles for hours, with a dozen policemen
at work to untangle them 1t was finally
determined to fill in over the sunken
wrecks, and thus widen the levee. When
this was completed, st. Louis boosted the
finest wharf in any western or southern
city. But the river had a notion of its
own. 1t had taken a start and refused to
come back. The bar continued to in
crease in size. In a short time portions
reared itself above the surface. 1t must
be stopped at all hazards, and after many
experiments it was done.
First, jetties or wing-dams OflOOse stone
were run out from the Illinois side above
the head of Bloody Island, and several
miles above the city. This threw the
water over to the Missouri side. The bar
then began to cut away, but a new danger
threatened. The head of the island COM
menced washing of, and it was palpable
the whole of it would shortly go. An ex-
tension of the wing-dams, and the con-
struction of others of ~stupendOus proper
tiOns at the foot of the island, failed TO
stop it. Finally it was determined to
build two dykes of stone and earth
from the Illinois shore to the island,
and stop up the channel altogether.
The plan was successful but the cost
footed up millions. The whole volume of
the river was confined to a space of 1000
feet and passing in a straight line directly
in front of the city. To prevent the banks
from caving, they were sloped by grading
and paved with stone, down to extreme
low water mark. Thus st. Louis was
saved the trouble of moving over the
river, while she was enabled TO boast of
one Of the best and most convenient
wharves of any city in the country.
Nearly twenty years ago one of the
packet lines built a stone wharf nearly OPP
posite the mouth of the Missouri, to
make a convenient coaling place for the
use of their steamers. A sudden freshet
of the Missouri cut a channel across the
country and made a new entrance into
the Mississippi several miles above the
old mouth, the latter filling up entirely in
a short time. The current striking di-
rectly across with great force. The oppo-
site bank commenced wearing away, and
forming a deep bend a short distance
above the former coal yard. The little
pile of stone protected the point where
the wharf stood, and the deep bend above
is now a proof that small things often
produce large results.
Several plans have been suggested to
save the upper portion of our levee, and
the grounds below Wolf river, from being
carried away by the undermining cur
rent now sweeping down against il. I'm
less something is done, it is plain that
the batture, or made land, will all finally
washed away, and our steamboat
landing greatly damaged or totally de-
One of the plans proposed is to
an immense wing-dam of stone.
from the Arkansas side, above Island 40,
to throw the water over behind the is
lands above Wolf river, and make the
current pass in a straight line along the
'front.' of The city to Presidents Island.
This proposition will be attended with a
heavy outlay. Several hundred thou
dollars az least will be required to
,a.E,run - mhfTa tho rag11fa ora hu NO
certain. The river may still per-
list in doing as it pleases and refuse to
-un the Tennessee shore, or TO cut the
I'D channel out again, as was the case at
St. Louis.
Another plan proposed is, to build two
cities, or wing-dams, extending from the
at the foot of Poplar and Winchester
treets, inclining down stream, to the
main bed or channel, where the stone will
on the hard, tenacious blue clay that
orms the river-bed and affords a founda-
as solid as masonry. That this plan
; feasible and will nave the desired effect
5 a reasonable conclusion, and so conf
lent are many of the groUnd-owners Of
he threatened district, that in the event
f a failure they are willing to bind them
elves in securities of unquestiOned SOL
to reimburse the city for all outlays,
he proposition is made by Capt. Postal, {
being interested in lots that are like
Y to be swept entirely away, is anxious
3 save them as well as the other property.
Ie proposes TO construct each dam for
Is, 000-certainly a small sum for the BEN 5
tina will accrue if successful. Many s
ssert tha the work cannot be performed
Or the sum named, but Captain Postal
the aid and services Of parties
rho know what they are doing, and who 4
ave learned it by long years experience s
D the work of controlling the river at
e. Louis.
The above, and doubtless other plans,
slIl De discussed at the next meeting Of