New Orleans Republican., 1875-11-09

The regular monthly meeting of the
Chamber of Commerce occurred last eve
ming, President Cyrus Bussey in the chair.
The minutes of the previous meeting we're
read and approved.
Mr.. A. Baldwin, chairman of the commit
tee on conference with the executive COM
mittee of the Southern States Exposition as
TO the expediency of calling an international
convention. asked further time, and that
the.committee be reconstructed.
Judge Howe moved that the recommends
ton he adopted, and the motion being car
ried, the following gentlemen were appoint
ed to constitute the committee: w. B.
Schmidt, Albert Baldwin, w. C. Raymond,
Joseph M. Putnam, II. o. Seixas.
Mr.. Highly, chairman of the committee on
obstructions. presented the following re-
port:
To the President and Members of the Chamber of
Commerce Of New oflesns:
As chairman Of your committee an OBJ
structions at the mouth of the Mississippi
river, l have the honor to report that
through the courtesy of Colonel James An
drews, contractor, and Major Tupper, owner
OF the steamboat iberia, received an invi-
tation to go down to the ,jetties and see
what had been done, and was being done,
by Captain Eads to remove the distractions
to our commerce under his contract with
the government When we arrived at'the
Jump" twelve miles from the passes,
saw sliding way had been built 200 feet
long, and running into the river fifty feet,
on which, In July, some fscines had been
| made and barged to the jetties. Along
the shore of the jump" are endless
| quantities of willows, about twenty feet
bigh,. where the jetty company now get
one or two barge loads per day, the
butts of which are intended to be not
over two inches in diameter. just be-
fore We entered the South Pass there was
| oa, our left a row OF piles circlipg toward
| the point of land dividing South Pass from,
| Pass s'a-fOutre, to turn the water into the
| South Pass, by which it is expected the cur.
rent will wear away the bar at the head of
south Pass. reaching from the upper point
| OF Pass a-lOutre to the Island between the
South Pass and Southwest Pass. over which
the water is said to ba but eighteen feet
deep at low tide. From this point to E ads
town is ten miles, which has an average
depth of forty-six feet of water. There
found Colonel Andrews, who first went on
the grounds on the fourteenth of last June,
when nothing was to be seen but weeds and
| water, since which he has built a hotefbuild-
ing 46xl5O feet, very convenient for guests
and his engineering department for this
| great work, with q substantial wharf for
boats to land. Below this he has built
blacksmiths, carpenters and shipbuilders'
shops. Then 400 feet OF ways built into the
river with one quarter of pitch on which to
build and launch mattresses from. From
| this point to the main land between Pass-a-
| rOutre and South Pass, two rows of piles
are driven into the sand l6 feet on an
| average and cut off 3 feet above low
water mark. These two rows of piles are
SxlO feet apart, of square pine l2xl2 tim.
| ber, requiring, many OF them, 175 blows
from a 5000 pound hammer. This double
row of piles extends down one -mile-the
inside row has a stringer of l2xl2 pine
timber bolted on the inside of piles ala
feet from the top. On the inside OF this
stringer are sheet piliug driven l6 feet
| long and spiked to the etringer for 5000
feet. From this point ningle row of piles
| are driven 20 feet apart. ci1cling west
ward, so as to turn the current toward the
West Pass Il miles into 26 feet of water
and no more extension is to be made al
present.
The west jetty commences ON the outer
end in twenty four feet of water, and ex
tends up $500 feet, with single row OF
piles tU enty feet apart and 1000 feet from
the east jetty. At the head of this jstty a
row of piles 600 feet have been driven at q
right angle to the main land, to turn the
water into the jetty channel. About 5000
feet above this west letty another 400 fee,
Of ways and six boarding houses have been
built. which are directly opposite the hotel
The contract of Captain Eads with the
government calls tor $50 feet between these
jettes, but he has made it 1000 feet, as i,
would cost no more, as he says, land will
| afford ships more room"-a great co asdera
ton 10 commerce. Colonel Andrews has
| maue great improvements in willow work
ing. At first he made 'fascines" or bundles
OF willows about one foot diameter, and
| then fastened thirty or forty of them TO
| gether before sinking. He now makes
mattresses" by placing 2xs timbers along
across his ways for sixty feet these he
places five feet apart until he has fifty feet;
in each are holes bored IA inch diameter
| each five feet with hickory stakes 2l2 feet
long drove in line SO as-tO. make each
compartment 5x5, which being filed
| by several layers of willows crosswise
to the depth of two feet, is bound
down by another ks timber and fastened
| the same way 40 the lower one and about
the same as bundle of shingles, forming a
mattress firmly bound together 50x60 and
two feet thick. This tug pulls of the
ways TO the jettie and is sunk alongside OF
the piles with stone. which is covered in a
| day or two with sand, when another one of
| half the width is sunk on top of the first
one, and so on up to the top of the water.
III 900 feet of these mattresses, so feet wide,
have already been sunk at the east jetty,
and 1000 feet to the top of the water from
the upper end down. At the west jetty 1000
feet of mattresses have been sunk, with ten
mattresses done ready to sink at the outer
ends when the water is still.
The perceptible effect of all this work i q
filling of logs, stumps, trees and sand,
from two to four feet, over 200 acres outside
of the east jeIty,s which makes a strong
backing for the piles and mattresses. There
Is no perceptible increase of water over the
crest of the bar which is half mile across,
hut above the crest two feet has washed out.
The natural water over the crest is seven
feet. As soon as the mattresses are laid to
the top Of the water, ut both jetties, then
the gap where the piles are driven from the
west jetty to the land is to be mattressed,
which will turn all the waser in the South
Pass through the jetties, and increase the
present current from three to six miles per
hour.
This force of current is expected to make
. deep channel through tho crest
Should We have calm, still weather for
thirty days. the object will be attained from
my observations. But in the usual weather
at this season of the year Colonel Andrews
.thiakA sixty dAys. VI apf 'fCt
The Jetty Company have twelve vessels
constantly freighting lumber, which they
at a cost Of 81 so per ton; they have driven
5000 piles thirty to sixty feet long, have
used - feet of fhmber, have employed
600 labOrers, twenty three carpenters,
.pSa .oIt % November II, VS5OOO0 All
which shows that their work was COM
menced nine months before this contract