American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-11-08
The Red River Raft.

THERE is now certain prospect that
| the great raft which has been an obstruc-
| 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
a 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 $150,000, 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-fve miles, from a
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 insig-
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,OO0 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 iammed into
Il tangled mass, becoming more compact
each year as the pressure from above in
creased. Annual freshets had brought
down mud and deposited it in and over
this mass until, in places, the raft itself
small islands, or ''tow 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 1t did not prove OF any use.
Dynamite was then tried, but failed, re-
ftising to explode even with an electrical
exploder AT last nitro 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
in few weeks. The obstruc-
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
October 1.-Chicdgo Tribune.
1t is well remembered by army OIL
GERS that of the various dclicacies dis
tributed by the civilian delegates OF the
various commissions and relief agencies,
the major part were obtained by class
of patients who made the most noise and
not by those who were the sickest 1t was
after Gettysburg, when the corps hospitals
were crowded with wounded, that, while
dressing slight wound, patient started
up as n delegate of the Christian Commits
sion passed the tent, and asked: "Warnt
that Christian?" Yes "Jovel but |
forgot to groanl Well, that is the first
of them I've missed yet l wonder what
he had? ?"