Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-10-30
The Red River Raft.

There is now certain prospect that
the great raft which has been an OBJ
struction 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 JEFF
ferson, Texas. The history of the raft
and the attempts to remove it is exceed
ingly interesting. In 1906 the obstruc-
ton of logs reached one hundred miles.
Since that time RATS have formed at
various points in the river near Shreve-
port. One of these was removed by
Capt Shreve in 1889, by the help of a
Congressional appropriation, and an
other between 1910 and 1874 under a
Government contract by Gen. William
son. In 1854 the raft region extended
only twelve miles, and at that time
Capt. Fuller, aided by a Congressional
appropriation of $3.50, 900, attempted to
remove it. At the end of two years,
however, the appropriation had been
exhausted and nothing accomplished,
and, the work being abandoned, the OBJ
struction began to increase. The pres
ent raft region extends thirty-fve miles
from point forty miles above Shreve-
port to the Arkansas State line, and
contained, before the present work COM
melced, nearly fifty rats, from one
eighth of a mile to a mile in length,
and occupying the entire width of the
river, navigation only being accom-
plished through the bayous around the
raft, but, as these We're only available
at very high water, navigation was in
significant. In 1871, the attention of the
Engineering Department was again di-
rected to this work, and, an appropria-
ton of $4,000 having been made by
Congress, the work of preliminary sur
veying was intrusted to Lieut.. Wood
ruff, who completed it in 1872, and
submitted plans and specifications for
the removal of the raft, whereupon an
appropriation of S150,000 was made.
The plans were accepted, and Lieut..
Woodruff reached the raft region in
January last with a snag-boat, two
crane-boats, and all the requisite ma
chinery for his work. The following
description shows the difficulties to be
overcome:
"Logs, roots, and snags of every
description had been crowded and
jammed into tangled mass, becoming
more compact eacn year as the pressure
from above increased. Annual freshets
had brought down mud and deposited
it in and over this mass until, in places,
the raft itself had become entirely COW
cred with earth, small islands, or tow
heads" thus being formed. Upon these
tow-heads were growing trees, usually
willows, three feet and more in circum-
ference"
In addition to the removal of logs by
saving and cutting, blasting powder
was used, but it did not prove of any
use. Dynamite was then tried, but
failed, refusing to explode even with an
electrical exploder. At last nitro
glycerine was brought into use, and it
never failed to do its work thoroughly.
81 that remains to be done now is the
blowing out of some tow-heads and i'm
proving certain points in the channel,
which will be accomplished in few
weeks. The obstruction of centuries
will then have been removed by the
skill and perseverance of Lieut.. Wood
ruff The saddest part of the record of
this great work is that Lieut.. Woodruff
has not lived to finish it, having died OF
yellow fever at Shreveport Oct. 1.-Chi-
cdQO Tribune.