The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1873-06-12
The Red.RiVer Raft. Over 0ne-Half
oft Already Removed.

The Shreveport (La) Times
publishes a very full and inter
estiog account Ct the great raft ia
Red River, the experiments Of ito
removal in former time, and the
snccess that is now attending the
efforts of Lieutenant E. A. Wood
ruff. The following extract
shows the work Thus far accom-.
plished, how it is done, and the
benefits to result:
The most OF the feet ia now at
work at towhead No. 25. seven.
teen miles from the foot Of the
raft, having cut through twenty
-four towheads. To reach this
point has required a vast amount
of work, aud the heaviest part of
the undertaking. The channel
cut in the narrow est part is seven
ty-fve feet wide, and this Only
accurs in a few instances. In
nearly every cut place the chan.
mel is az wide as the river just
above Twelve Miles Bayou. The
remaining patch Of raft, No. rs,
about one eighth of a mile long, is
the last solid one left, and that
will he open by the 14th Of this
month when boats will be able to
60 from Shreveport to the head of
Red Bayou, eighteen and one
fourth miles from the foot of the
raft, and avoid Twelve Miles Ba-
you-something that has not been
done IN thirty years before. A
boat reaching Red Bayou by this
ronte can get above the floating
raft bygoing down the Red Bayou
three miles to Stump Dam, thence
by the Sale & Murphy route to
Bargetown; or it can take Posten
Bayou, just above the Red Bayou
outlet, and follow the Alban
route around the remaining foa.
ting raft. Thus we have already,
from the work done, a decided
improvement in our communities
ton with the upper country. A
good deal of work has already
been done by a shore party above
Red Bayou, which will he made
more apparent when the fleet
reaches there. This is the work
thus far accomplished.
Tho removal of the RATS is be.
ing accomplished by simple but
powerful means. 1t is done by
the Aid, with her steam capstans,
and immense purchase power,
which moves to the attack followed
at intervals of one hundred yards
by one crane boat and two fats
armed with glittering saws. An
old log, perhaps one hundred feet
long, first attracts the attention Of
the commanding officer, who at
once orders the skiff men to advan
ce to hitch "onto him." THIS is
done quickly, and soon the steam
capstan is Juggling away, Ii he
prove refractory and won't yield,
another capstan is called in, when
he generally succumbs and is drag
ged from his sandy bed with many
more hanging to him, forming
quite a mass of logs, dirt roots,
and growing cottonwoods. This
mass is pulled to pieces and the
logs turned loose, to be picked up
by the ysteam saw boat in the
rear and cut into small pieces,
which are allowed to float Oft
and eventually find a resting
place in the lakes, supplied 10y
the Dolly Bayou outlet. Some.
times two or three logs are hitch.
ed at one time and the full pur
chase power Of the Aid applied
and then the mass moved is very
large. Sometimes the Aid moves
up and bitches on TO three or four
different parts OF the raft, as she
is able to do, having a front Of for
ty or fifty feet, and then back
ont with all her weight and force.
Sometimes she makes three or four
efforts before the mass moves.
Once moved, the water soaks
through, the dirt, crunibles, and
the mass is easily pulled to pieces
and the logs allowed to Aoat of.
As yet explosive materials have
not been called into requisition,
tn any great extent.
The benefits likely to accrue
from the opening of the raft arc
beyond conjecture. il will re-
claim hundreds OF thousands of
acres of The finest cotton lands
in the world, now utterly useless
and prevent the further DISTRICT.
ton Of many valuable farms, ser.
iously threatened by the elonga
ton Of the raft, besides opening up
to navigation an immense area OF
country now almost destitute OF
such facilities.
---e.-Ns.s
Tn ranorta ra IN he credited tho