New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-02-04
HOW ST. LOUIS AND CHICAGO COMBINE
TO DEFEAT OUR CANAL ELL,


Louis was 'the mistress Of the Missis
; sippi?" and have received various answer
in the affirmative. In one the Nsso,r
Democrat takes the side of that grand ex
cavator, Mr.. Eads, who proposes to con
fine the river by line Of piles driven a
the mouth of one Of the passes. The st
Louis Times treats the subject with tn
same complacent superiority:
1t is objected to by some of our friends a
New Orleans that any proposition shouie
be pressed upon Congress to open the navl
cation of the lower river otherwise than by
means of the Fort St. Philip canal They
say that the two projects, that of clearing
the passes and that of building the canal
conflict with each other, and will have a
tendency to create rival interests danger
Gus TO the success of both. 1t Is urged still
further that the Merchants Exchange OF
st. Louis committed an error and an injus
tice in not giving the canal its nnequivocal
| Endorsement.
In reply to the denial that the memorial
has taken sides in favor of the jetties we
have only to refer the Times to the Gppe1s-
dra of the memorial in which it will find
an argument showing that the concentra-
ton of current by jetties is preferable to
the Improvement by canal. We have de-
manded that New Orleans should propose
the 10 ode of outlet improvement and that
st. Louis should support it. The appeal
of Mr.. Eads in favor Of the jetties over
the canal is in the same line. What we
| have said, and repeat, is that New
| Orleans has never interfered in the
modes proposed for the improve
| ment of the river above her
port She has decided by unanimous
voice of her press and people that the
canal is the most eligible mode Of i'm
provement and nodestly limits herself to
this work. It is not the first time that
influential agents in st. Louis have
presented modes Of improved navigation
for the lower river. 1t was few years
ago that the Manchac pass was pressed as
means of avoiding New Orleans alto
gether and going to sea without her con-
sultation or cognizance. The Lake Borgne
canal, which never pretended to carry more
than nine feet water into the Cult,
had also some advocates there as well as
here On experimental and scientific com.
PARSONS of the various modes of improve |
ment, New Orleans has, we repeat, chosen
the canal, and We think all her up-river
friends, if she has any, should allow her
to decide this question for them and her
self She has left the shadows, snags and
sandbars above Memphis aid the rocks Of
Desmoines rapids to be removed accord
ing the wishes of the up-river cities. Her
will aid in all that may be
determined in regard to those obstacles:
all she asks for Is similar courtesy Oh
Tie part of those cities.
That sister city 0: S.. Louis. CHI.
100, comes to the aid Of the Excavatog
Company by demonstrating the absurdily
If the Fort st. Philip canal. It is pre-.
,umed that the statement: beio" is
ounded on alleged information afforded
by q loca! paper OF Louisiana. the Slate
Register. J.; theSo = 10 quotation We
.aa 40. separate the Seton from The
Here ars !.w Of tie
elections 30 the canal: !
The Fort st. PHILIP, ranaS viii Se seven F.:
niles long. With tie exception Of a third
f a mile, the soil is so marshy where it is ,
boye water at all that a cat can not walk !
pom it. II consists of about twenty-five :
eet of watery mud that is almost muddy S
,ater, and then an unknown depth of quicko ;
and. The upper stratum can, of course, be |
asiiy dred ged, but the earth on the sides ! !!
ill ooZ3 back into the canal and fill it up
once. No banks can be constructed, for
le satu rated slime will not hold up even !
Je smallest stone If the canal bed should ! t
e built of stone, the time needed is ealcu. :.
tied at 900 years. :hSee mon:h5 a.d t~.Ny.
NO days.
Then follows Iii: a: -. Louis a:i a. Il
re great eXcavator: lie
This calculation is Based. however. on Il
le length of time st. Louis took to buiti :,
er bridge. Probably 10 other american
ty would work so slowlyo IN
This may show the Board of Trad. that a
,icago is no friend to he: or any o; &c. a
orks, whether bridges or jetties. Is
The same fancy or eSaggeratios occurs Il
the estimate Of the cost OF this work: u
The cost of construction in stone IS stated n
the easily remembered figures OF seven ! a
lndred and seventy seven times seyeU NIL 4 ,
IN dollars. %
The Chicago Tribune rejoices IN the =
Of local paper, and considers al
e canal project as good as dead. 1t says: VI
If all these objections can be overruled, "
70 insuperable ones remain. In the first G.
ace, there viii soon be no river within
rty miles of Fort ST. Philip. The Mssis- te
ppi Is fast cutting itself an entirely new n
annel. Secondly, the proposed mouth of h,
G canal is precisely where the drittwood | "
I'd alluyium Of a number of streams col al
ct. Passage would generally be impossi c.
G. 1t can not be told. at this distance,
neither or not the Register il correct in the q
argos we have cited. But if half of them OF
Q true, the Fort st. Philip canal would be y.
bottomless pit for the nations money to y
thrown into q
1t seems from the Tribune that this as al
ult on the Fort St. Philip canal is in OF
e interest Of scheme to open a ship &C
nal from the ''town of Algiers to the pl
llf Of Mexico" sa
There are evidences that ought to salts Ia
the city of St. Louis that there is i'm in
lnent danger that no improvement will nj
made at the mouth Of the Mississippi. til
/. There is the opposition Of the great OF
cavation interest OF
2. The irreconcilable hostility Of CA:cG. Vi
; and Of tie sre.: Northwestern IN. w
rests. gi
;. The local interests which may prefer it.