New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-04-14
REINFORCEMENT OF CAPTAIN ElDs,,

| oUcu ID lue meaning Win Wh1cn the 81
Louis Democrat prefaces the publication
OF Professor Fontaine in favor of "Mani
cos patent lattice caissons," as a mode O
jettying the Mississippi outlet. We ma,
presume it will announce with eve,
greater triumph the conviction which i
alleged to have come over the mind O
Senator West, and the published advocacy
Of the jetty system by Mr.. G. w. r. Bay
ley, civil engineer, published in the P;ca
y1ne OF Sunday last. 1t is, perhaps, for
tunate for the cause of science that these
two distinguished engineers are at present
unemployed, and so have the leis.
ure to show how much they know
and how lamentable is the ignorance
Of others. We have no intention to
enter upon the physical question
involved. The engineers are experts who
are employed to tell US whether one plan
| is better than another, and the weight of
engineering testimony-we ask pardon Of
the distinguished unemployed-is thus
far in favor of the canal The only prac-
teal example of river outlet deepened
by jetties. cited in justification Of the
Eads scheme, is one which does not drain
half the territory of the Mississippi val
ley, and lies within parallels Of latitude
not corresponding with the rainfall es.
Gaping by the outlet of the Mississippi
We are compelled to doubt the applica-
tons of this analogy. It may be as if a
pair of pantaloons should be made at St.
Louis for Professor Bayley upon the ad-
measurement of Professor Eads. Both
the Danube and the Mississippi 'have
delta says Professor Bayley. Under
the sartorial analogy supposed, we
might say both the professors wear
breeches. but if it should chance
that one professor measures some forty or
fifty inches in girth, while the other
might creep through an alderman's
thumb ring" we submit that much yalu-
able cloth might be ruined in tie ez-
perimental enterprise. Engineers, as we
have said before, are indispensable ex-
per.s. but with them professional glory
may overweight the sordid considerations
of actual use. We have witnessed the |
composure with which military engineer
will outline a bastion in your from: yard,
and raise an embankment through your
garden and shrubbery. 1t is the same
with the projectors Of grand works.
Engineer NJ. JEFF Thompson steams
Up to Bayou Plaquemine with men and i'm
elements to cut the embankment and
lrown out several hundred people
or the protection Of others. These
several hundred can no. see il.
They know that private property ough:
lot be taken for public uses without due
variant and valuation. This ezpropria-
ion of their homes and crops, even by a :
distinguished engineer, is an unwa-rant-
BILE experiment made at the expense Of
ONE for the benei. Of others. SO, in
tead Of meeting Engineer Thompson
18th assistant spades. they throw on. a
kirmish line along the levee. and General
eff retires in order.
Now Engineer Bayley in Ii. entire
acuiSy Of professional occupation i.ches
his professional fingers to make SINH
II experiment for the general benefit CT
'ience and foreign commerce by choking
lie vast food which Engineer JEFF can no
niger restrain. What boots it to pro
sslonal engineer what may be the risk OF
re Louisiana planter if the laurels of the
anube can be transplanted to st. Louis?
ngineer Bayley thus treats the danger
lat to narrow the outlet with wing dams
ay embarrass Engineer Thompson in re-
raining the water within the !evees. He
Us: Il
For quite number Of miles near the head K
the passes the Southwest Pass is always II
ntracted by Its banks or natural ietties to
less Wldtn than would be necessary across !
par, and yet we have never heard that
en- contraction damned the river at all,
Without presuming to be engineers we
~ reply that these banks are the normal
ties reared by the river for its own =
dance. They are sufficient to re-
ain the water. but does it follow tia.
this volume Of water should be con T
cted 10y wing dams to the width OF a
p channel, that there would not be an =,
erhow of this water to and above the na
ght OF these banks and consequent sp
srtiow Of the lands as far back as the 90
al flow? ~
The engineer cites, in proof OF his BIZ
DRY, that hydrographical Mrs. Harris, n ,n'
Sulina mouth of the Danube, and .
apes in fog of professional explana- sro
us that there 1.-THE waters increased, a., .:y
tead of diminished, the flow Of water to VIII
sea, because ''of the reduced friction adj
inst the wetted perimeter at the point Of zen
charge into the sea-" Now We are not spc
II terrified or convinced By the eric me
against the wetted perimeter. We 70
lslate it to mean that the wing dan, not
tructon will cut the channel deeper. B
cad Of making the river wider. This, can
.lOV
N'oe' iio' Soi'e tae ORjec- IS 2
that the water being arrested mus. fra
back. The wing dam becomes the to
of the Gulf tide. and limits the out I TsG
OF the river to the width iav
ship canal. Why, then, pat'
nld not this water back up from this si1e
ed obstruction But if the restriction enoI