New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-08-15
The Jetty Plan and the Canal.

A correspondence has been going on for
some weeks between Mr.. James B. Miles,
of Helena, Arkansas, and Major William
E. Merrill, United States engi neer. sta
toned at Cincinnati. on the st. Louis
bridge, the Fort St. Philip canal, the Eads'
engineers, etc. MIR. Miles stands up bravely
for Cap tain Eads, his bridge and his plan,
and intimates his belief in the general
superiority of civil over military engineers.
Major Merrill, in his latest letter that we
have seen, which is published in the Helena
(Arkansas) Independent of the first instant,
reviews Mr.. Miles views in most courteous
and moderate style, and says in reference
to the St. Louis bridge:
II do not write any of this with view to
disparage Captain Eads, because esteem
him highly as a man and an engineer; but l
wish to defend the corps Of engineers from
unjustifable attacks, and to show that Cap
tain Eads may make mistakes as well as
other men,"
Major Merrill then goes on to say:
You seem to think the improvement by
jetties a certain cure for the evils at the
mouth of the Mississippi. l think the case
admits of considerable doubt Jetties have
succeeded at the Sulina mouth of the Dan
ube and at the mouth of the Oder; but they
have failed at the mouth of the RhOne and
at the mouth of the Vistula. At the mouth
of the Rhone the plan of jetties has been
entirely abandoned, and in its place canal
has been cut into the Gulf OF Foz, which
gives twenty.three feet of water at all times,
and it is almost the exact counterpart of the
proposed Fort St. Philip canal. The case
then is not SO simple that child can under
stand it, but really requires high order OF
scientific attainment, and q full knowledge
of similar work elsewhere, to determine in
Il. hot <1,oo tr,,ot tim nf iaffoo
will b success or failure. My own work
on the Ohio shows me that the contraction
of channel often brings to light new diff
culties and dangers. Last year l had
good channel at HendersOn's Island. This
year there is a very poor one, as sngnt
obstruction of the dixie has made channel
behind the island, which must now close.
you are entirely mistaken in supposing
that the soil along the canal line is soft
mud. 1t is an impure. tenacious clay, ike
the river bank at Helena, and there is no
practical difficulty in cutting canal
through it. The sides of the little bayOus
that make in from the Gulf are nearly
vertical, which would not be the case If the
clay we're soft. -.
6But do not mean to advocate either
plan, preferring to leave the question to the
able board who have been intrusted with it.
l only desired to set you straight in some OF
your errors, and to protest against any pre-
Judgment Of what is unqaestiOnably very
difficult problem. My own opinion is moi
settled, but after a careful study OF all the
documents in the case, and personal
knowledge Of the country, incline to the
belief that the canal project offers q Ger
tainty, vile the jetty project is, for the pres
emit at least, quite uncertain. There is no
doubt, in my mind, that the physical con
ditions are quite different at the Sulins
mouth of the Danube from what they are
at the mouth of the Mississippi. Whether
the difference is vital do not pretend te
saw