New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-03-14
THE MISSISSIPPI BAR

bordering upon Tie NieH' A"enoA va
Waters" than this unfortunate obstruc-
| ton to the commercial prosperity OF the
| great West. 1t is bank of alluvial de-
| post which stretches across the mouth
of the great artery of American COM
merce, perpetually defending it against
I the ingress and egress of vessels OF
reasonable draft Of water. 1t is simple
mound of deposit, about thousand
| yards in width, constantly receiving
| Accommodations and gradually beng
| forced seward at the rate OF one nun
dred wards year. As it proceeds on It's
course it leaves banks upon either size.
1t seems to be the generally accepted
opinion Of biologists and scientific men
that bars belong to the constitution OF
the globe, that if they were removed
| the water would rush down to the ocean
and drown the country, and that it would
become uninhabitable for the want of
| irrigation" There seems to be some
foundation for this theory when we COM
pare the Mississippi with rivers that con-
vey no slluvial matter with them. 1t is
we'll known that our river has no percep-
tible current at any considerable distance
from its mouth, while the Amazon, which
is clear, runs some three hundred miles
into the Atlantic. The inference seems
to be that while the Mississippi is charged
with as much deposit as it can hold IN So
luton, which it gathers from its banks.
it precipitates or deposits the debriaSe as
soon as it comes in contact with the still
water Of the gulf This deposit, it is said
by practical men. amounts to four tons
second, or, in round numbers to fourteen
thousand tons an hour.
In view of this fact, what possible ad-
vantage can be derived from dredging?
1t is like dipping water out Of the sea;
the space is Immediately filled up again,
and the money laid out is utterly lost.
Since the earliest history of our coun-
try various schemes and enterprises have
been suggested, some few Of them tested,
and all have thus far resulted in disas-
trous failure. The last, and perhaps the
most expensive experiment has been a
continuance of steamboat with a screw,
or some other contrivance attached, which
we have been told would stir up the mud
and deepen the channel. 1t screwed and
wrenched away for nearly two years, with
no result, until there came very low
stage of the water, when the current
ceased, in great measure, to operate in
bringing down deposits. The action Of
the counter current and winds caused the
bar to become changed and We had more
water. The people in charge Of the gov
eminent steamer gave notice to the psb-
lie that they had obtained nineteen feet
OF water, and could in all probabilities
continue giving us twenty feet twill be
noticed by letter from a correspondent,
published on Sunday, that there was but
fifteen feet of water, and calling upon the
government to assist us by some practical
means. We believe the government has
expended half a million in the late fu-
tile attempt and are about expendins
$500, 900 more in constructing another Of
these experimental contrivances Could
not the government adopt some other
means which has some assurance of sue
cess? There are vessels drawing only
seventeen feet of water lying outside the
bar waiting to get in. These vessels have
been lured hither by statements of
government officials.
Why may not vessels be hoated across
our bar upon the system OF Colonel Gowen,
which he used SO successfully at Sevasto-
pol. when he carried vessels weighing
over 5000 tons a distance of more than
five miles? This system has been ex-
amined and approved by General George
B. Mcclellan, Sir Charles Hartley,
Lloyd's Salvage Association, and the most
prominent and practical engineers both in
Europe and America.
Colonel Goweu is now here, and we be-
lieve it to be the duty of our national gov
eminent to examine this subject carefully,
and we do not hesitate to say that the
merchants and property holders, not only
in Now Orleans, but through the entire
valley of the Mississippi, will give the
colonel their assistance to bring the sub
iect before Congress. 1t costs the price
of two bushels of corn in freight to carry
one bushel of corn from the West by rail
to New York that is two bushels in every
three are consumed in transporta ton,
whereas if floated down the Mississippi,
and thence across the ocean, to which
there is no natural impeachment except
the shoal water at the mouth of the river,
breadstuffs could be sold in France and
England as cheaply as, and of a better
quality than, that imported into those
countries from various sources. The
chief supply of breadstuffs for the Euro
pean market is now derived from the
broad fields of southern Russia. Two
hundred million dollars worth of grain
from that empire is annually consumed in
Great Britain and France alone.
What magnificent market is that fol
the employment of American enterprise
and industry With the port of New
Orleans accessible to vessels carrying five
thousand tons, the products of our West