The New York herald., 1875-09-02
THE MISSISSIPPI BAR.
A CONGRESS OF EMINENT ENGINEERS TO DISCUSS
THE JErTY SYSTEM

A CONGRESS OF EMINENT ENGINEERS TO DISCUSS
THE JErTY SYSTEM.
The board Of engineers invited by Mr.. james b. Eads
to consider certain plans for increasing the depth of
water and facilitating navigation the bar the
mouth Of the Mississippi River assembled at the Fnh
Avenue Hotel yesterday at eleven O'Clock A. NJ The
following gentlemen Dresent:-SIr Charles A. Hart
ley, civil engineer, and Engineer of the Euro
pean Commission OF the Danube; Colonel w.
Miner Roberts, civil engineer, and Presi-
dent of the Philadelphia Board Of Engineers
on Water Supply for the Centennial and for
the city and also the Chief Engineer of the Northern
Pacific Railroad; General j. G. Barnard of the United
States Corps Of Engineers, President of the Board Of
United States Engineers Of 1878 which recommended
the Fort ST. Philip Canal General Barnard alone dis
sentlng and favorng the jetty SYSTEM; General B. s.
Alexander of the United States Engineers in charge
OF the United States works the Pacific slope and
a member OF the Board of 1874: Mr T. +. Sickles
Civil Engineer and Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific
Railroad, and also member OF the Board OF 1874,
which appointed report the best system OF
Improvement Of the mouth OF the MIssissippi and
Mr.. H. d. Whitcomb Chief Engineer of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Railroad and in charge OF the James River
improvements, and a member of the same Board.
Owing to the absence of Professor Henry Mitchell,
engineer and the United States Coast Sur
vey detailed u serve the commission perma-
nent organization was effected yesterday; but Mr.
Mitchell is hourly expected with his official papers 1t Is
probable that an organization VIII be effected to-day.
THE DAY WAS SPENT.
The gentlemen mentioned above spent the greater
part OF the day in examining the maps charts plans
&c, of Captain Eads and reviewing the results OF
this gentlcmans surveys Of the South Pass bar These
surveys made by order Of Captain r. Patterson
chief Of the Coast Survey, and made by Mr. H. L.
Marinden assistant in the Coast Survey Service These
the exhaustive and perfect that have
ever been made
CAPTAIN EADs'
The manner In which Captain Eas proposes to facili
tate navigation upon the Mississippi may be briefly de-
scribed as follows Jetties simply dykes evees
river TO prevent expanding and dIuslng itself AS II
enters the The Mississippi transporter Of solid
matter the This consists chiefly OF sand and
alluvion which is held in suspension by the mechan-
ca effect Of the current small portion con-
sisting Of larger nggegations, such gra-
vel bou!ders, small Jumps OF clay and
drt wood rolled forward along the bottom
BY far the greatest portion Is however transported IN
suspension. The amount OF this matter and the size
and weight Of the particles which the stream is
abled hold up and carry forward depends wholly
upon the rapdity Of the stream modified however by
It's depth The banks and bottom being chiefly sand
and alluvon easily dsinegrated by the movement
the water; hence the amount OF load lost by any
stacking the current at one place will be quickly
covered In the first place below where the current Is
again increased At the mouth of the rIver there Is
a bar over which there flow only feet
Of water Captain Eads' theory that BY construct
ing a system OF ettes the river Will be necessarily
confined within a channel; that the will
the rivers mouth will be increased seven feet in
depth TO thirty feet He also insists this artificial
lefty system Is analogous with natural jcty system
peculiar 10 the phenomena OF the nver itself