Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-11-06
The Red River Raft.

THERE is now a certain prospect that
the great raft which has been an obsuuc-
ton in the Red River, in Louisiana, ever
since the advent of white men in this
country, will soon be removed, and that
navigation will be opened for steamers
from Shreveport, La, to Jefferson, Texas.
The history of the raft, and the attempts
to remove it, is exceedingly interesting.
In 1905, the obstruction of logs reached
one hundred miles. Since that time RATS
have formed at various points IN the river
near Shreveport. one of these was re-
moved by Captain Shreve in 1880, by the
help of a Congressional appropriation,
and another between 1910 and 1874, under
Government contract, by General Will
hanson. In 1854 the raft region extend
ed only twelve miles, and at that time
Captain Fuller, aided by Congressional
appropriation of $15O0OO, attempted to
remove it. At the end of two years, how
ever, the appropriation had been exhaust
ed and nothing accomplished, and. the
work being abandoned, the obstruction
began to increase The present raft re-
gion extends thirty five miles, from
point forty miles above Shreveport to the
Arkansas State line, and contained, before
the present work commenced, nearly fifty
RATS, from one-eighth of mile to mile
in length, and occupying the entire width
of the river, navigation only being ac-
complished through the bayOus around
the raft, but, as these were only available
at very high water, navigation was inslg-
nificant. In 1871, The attention of
the Engineering Department was
again directed to this work, and,
an appropriation of $4,000 having
been made by Congress, the work OF pre-
liminary surveying was intrusted to Lieu
tenant Woodruff, who completed it in
1872, and submitted plans and speci-
fications for the removal of the raft, where
upon an appropriation Of $15O,OOO was
made. The plans were accepted, and
Lieutenant Woodruff reached the raft re-
gion in January last with snag- boat, two
crane boats, and all the requisite machin-
cry for his work The following descrip-
ton shows the difficulties to be over
come:
Logs, roots and snags Of every descrip-
ton had been crowded and jammed into
a tangled mass, becoming more compact
each year as the pressure from above in
creased Annual freshets mad brought
down mud and deposited it i'll and over
this mass until in places, the raft itself
had become entirely covered with earth,
small islands, or stow heads" thus being
formed Upon these tow heads were
growing trees, usually willows, three feet
and more in circumference.
In addition to the removals of logs by
saving and cutting, blasting-powder was
used, but it did not prove Of any use.
Dynamite was then tried, but failed, re-
fusing to explode even with an electrical
exploder At last ro-glycerine was
brought into use, and it never failed to
do its work thoroughly. All that remains
to be done now, is the blowing out Of
some tow-heads and improving certain
points in the channel, which will be &C
complisheG in few weeks. The oosuuc-
ton of centuries will then have been re-
moved by the skill and perseverance Of
Lieutenant Woodruff The saddest part
of the record of this great work is that
Lieutenant Woodruff has not lived to
finish it, having died of yellow fever at
Shreveport, October 1.-Chicago Tribune.