New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-02-19
THE BRETON ISLAND CHANNEL.

The character of the approach to Breton
Island Pass and of the anchorage and har
Dor afforded by the pass has been so often
misrepresented by parties opposed to the
Fort St. Philip canal that we take pleas.
ure ir giving the reliable information con-
tanned in the following letter which Major
Howell has kindly permitted US to copy
STEAMSHIP HUDseN, February ii, 1875.
Major HOWELL
DEAR SIR did not write you as /
promised in regard to my observations OFF
Breton isle, where informed you fell in
on my last trip across | will say this, that
l was very much surprised at the adyan-
tages apparent if there were an entrance to
the Mississippi there. l had always been
informed by the pilots that it was danger
GUS to approach, that there was bad anchor.
age. etc. 1t has, on the contrary, good
anchorage protected, can be approached by
soundings, and with the assistance of a
lighthouse or ship, it struck me as far
superior and safer to enter or leave than
either of the passes used at present. shall
make further observations on future trips
and report.
Truly yours,
f. v. EAGER.
Commanding Steamship Hudson.
In this connection, we call attention to
the following comparison Of the Sandy
Hook entrance to New York harbor with
the entrance to Breton Island harbor:
They both open to the southeastward;
both are fanked on the north by sand
islands, and on the west-the former by
the sandy shore of New Jersey, the latter
by the alluvial shore of the Mississippi
delta. Sandy Hook entrance is exposed
to all southeast storms, crossing the whole
Atlantic. Breton Island entrance is COW
cred, in measure, from such storms by
Florida and Cuba. The Sandy Hook
channel is narrow, crooked; runs for
some distance oblique to the direction of
exposure; has sandy bottom; is but
twenty-six feet deep at mean low tide,
and is infested with fogs. The Breton
Island entrance is straight; two miles
wide; lies in the direction Of exposure;
has sand bottom for but very short dis
lance; is twenty-eight feet deep at mean
low tide, and is occasionally covered by
fog during the spring of the year, but
not so often as the mouths of the river
are covered.
The commerce of New York has been
largely built up through the Sandy Hook
channel Its navigation calls for fewer
pilots than are to be found at the mouth
Of the Mississippi. 1t annually passes a
fleet compared with which in number and
size of vessels, that of New Orleans is a
mere bagatelle; and this feet, proper
meets with as few disasters as
that of New Orleans
What would New Orleans become with
such channel to bring commerce to her
doors "a channel she could depend
upon for all time, not one to be continuous
ly choked by river deposit, the removal of
which requires large and continued an
nual expenditures of money that may not
always be available when wanted?
Such a channel-yes, better chan
Mclean be or could have been had
through Breton Island Pass by little
consistent effort on the part Of the people
Of New Orleans.
1t remains to be seen whether we are to
have this certain, safe and permanent
channel, or whether we are, through our
own imbecility, to be saddled with a
etty experiment that may only be exploded
after our commercial rivals shall have
made it of no importance to have a port
Of New Orleans.