The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1875-06-03
What ere 5etties =?

Tho Scientific American gives a
familiar description of the ietty system
which is to be applied in the Improve
ments at the mouth Of the Mississippi,
as follows >,
Tire loHg discussion relative to the
most practicable method of improving
the mouth of the Mississippi, so as to rem
der the same passable to vessels of deep
draft and thus to open the river ports
to direct ocean traffic, was virtually
terminated by the granting of an APP
preparation by congress, for the con-
struction of system of jettiea, at one
of the passes through which the stream
enters the Gulf. The plans involving
canals, which have been stfehuousIy
advocated by MARY eminent engineers,
are therefore for the time at least set
aside, and to Capt. J. L. Eads, an en-.
gineer now widely celebrated for his
euccessfai construction of the st.
Louis bridge, has been entrusted the
task of causing the mighty current of
the father CT Waters literally to undo
its owl work and to break down the
barrier which itself has created.
The delta of the Mississippi Is formed
of narrow strips of land, tnoscly low lying
banks, through which the river winds
till it inakee It's exit to the golf by a
number of narrow passes. In some of
these channels, previous attempts have
been made to deepen them by dredging,
with but partial success, however, as a
single flood has been known to carry
down sufficient sediment to fill THEM to
their orig inRl depth and the current
besides, emptying Into the open water
at the mouths, speedily left at that point
hara nj hIrTa I'll Nok -
by light draft ships. The gist of Capt.
Eads' plan viii now be readily appre-
hcnded when it is regarded as shifting
the point of deposit Of these barriers
from the sheel Eater at the entrance of
ope pess, out into the deep water where
filling up by natural causes is impossi-
BILE. By this means the river current is
to be made to cut ont end bcotr its own
channel acrosb the present bar. To do
this, Il IS obvious that the banks Of the
paSS must be extended, so as to lead the
stream far enough out another section
OF conduit, as it were, must be added,
and this is now to be formed of the
submarine dykes or jetties.
The materials of which these struc-
lures are to be composed are will Nv
tWigs bound in bundles, termed by en-
gineers faoines," eight OF ten feet in
length, and about IS naany inches in
diameter. A large number of facines
will be dashed together to form RATS.
The RATS will be from seventy-fve to
two Thousand feet in width, the largest
being sunk in the deepest water. The
RATS will next be towed to the proper
point, there loaded with stones and
submerged, and thus the work
will continue, one raft being sunk
above another until the surface
is reached. Each line of the RATS
Will be narrower than the one be-
low it until the upper course will not be
more than ten feet wide. The two
which will thus be constructed will be
prolongations of the banks, and be-
tween them will form a channel with
slOping sides. In the course of time,
the 1ntersices of twigs and stones will
fill with sand and mud, so that eventu-
ally two solid submarine levees will be
produced. Very little pile work, it is
said, will be required except, perhaps,
at the head of South Pass, which is the
outlet at which the jetties are to be
built, IL order to provide for the proper
regulation of the volume of water in
the new channel at various stages of
the river.
Captain Eads has already begun his
surveys, in which work, together with
the making of the necessary contracts
for materials, labor, etc., the summer
will be consumed. The first raft, it is
expected, will be sunk by the beginning
of October next.