New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-09-12
.....R.},, The Jettios, -.
We copy the following from the New
YORK Herald of the aixhth inasan4.

York Herald of the eighth instant:
The advisory board or commission Of
engineers on the Mississippi bar improve
men1 assembled again yesterday, and spent
several hours in earnest and thorough oop-
sideration of the important questions be-
fore them; The locating of Captain Eads'
Jettles and their width apart having been
already acted upon by the board, snsrain-
ing, with very slight deviation, the lines
previously determined upon by Captain
Eads, the discussion was upon the order
and methods of construction, with a view to
the earliest possible opening Of channel of
at least twenty feet for the benefit of naviga-
ton. With regard to the priority of con,
struction of different parts Of the work, the
1oarq H.rt On motion of Sir Charles
that the seats Of both jetties,
and OF the spur or dyte connecting
the west jetty with the right bank of the
lands end, be protected with mattresses
throughout their entire length that, first of
all, the foundation of the east jetty be Sc
cured out to depth Of thirty feet and of
the west lefty to twenty feet. This is done
IN order that the scour caused by the prog
rIess of the jetties shall not SO cut away the
bottom on which they are to rest in such
manner as to delay their construction or
rencer it more costly. The board further
recommends that the east jetty be built up
to the surface of the water before raising
the west jetty to the same level, and that
the details OF the construction of the pier
heads or extreme sea ends of the jetties be
left for consideration till the board can
meet at the South Pass this fall.
Alter an attentive examination of the
plans OF construction, consisting of COZ
bination of willow mattresses and ston "
now in execution by Captain Eads, che
board lind It to be amodifcatiOn of methods
m in Y1Ga sy1H Toll Nd IL
therefore, not new and untried expert
ment. 1t is ssentially the same as that ap-
pied IN the old jetties at the mouth of the
oder, and also in the recent ietties at the
new mouth of the Mas river the latter
being 80 satisfactory as to draw from the
lower legislative body of Holland the declara-
ton that their complete success has re-
moved all doubts as to the possibility of
making piers at sea on any coast" 1t is,
moreover, the board declare, essentially the
same method as that adopted by the recent
commission OF engineers, organized under
the act of Congress of June %, 1874, and
which commission, after examining the
mouths of jettied rivers in Europe, decided
in favor OF applying the jetty system at the
mouth of the Mississippi. instead Of making
a ship canal from the river near Fort St.
Philip to Breton sound.
In regard to Bayou Grande, which leaves
South Pass about half way between its
head and its mouth, and which. according
TO the recent survey of Lieutenant MarindiB,
of the United States Coast Survey, carries
of a little over onefifth of the water enter
ing the head of the pass, the board advise
that nothing be done at present until the
effect of the works at the bar wish the
present volume of water going out at the
mouth of the pass shall be developed.
After the foregoing action the board pro-
ceeded to consider what works will be nee
essary at the head of SVuth Pass and had
this subject under discussion when the
hour OF adjournment arrived. 1t will, no
doubt, be taken up again to-day.
Ihere were present yesterday Sir Charles
A. Hartley, General Barnard, General Alex
ander, Fl. Il. Whitoombe, T. E. Sickles and
Colonel w. Minor Roberts 1t is expected
that the board will meet at Port Eads, the
new town at the mouth of South Pass,
early in November. for final action ON the
engineering problems involved in the large
and important work in which Captain Eads
and his associates are engaeed. So far as
the board have acted, they Seem to have re-
cognized the wisdom aud propriety of the
plans and methods determined on BY
Captain Eads, and which he had frankly
submitted to them for examination and
criticism, lin order that there should be no
possibility that the public interests or his
own should suffer from imperfect or ill
advised works. The high professional re-
putation of the gentlemen composing the
board gives great value to their decisions.
The New York Times of the same date
contains the following:
To the Editor of the New York Times
l learn by the papers that board of en-
glneers has convened in this city to deter
mine OF the best mode of building ietties at
the mouth of the Mississippi river, in order
co deepen the water at the mouth of the
same. do not know the gentlemen com
posing the board. or where they went, but
will you be SO kind as to inform them that
by consulting the proceedings of the Ameri-
can Geographical Society for the year 1862
they will find an important paper on the
" Flow of the Mississippi" which, by the
invitation OF the society. l read before
them. They will there find the peculiar
philosophy of the moving water elaboratelv
explained and will fully demonstrate tif
they study the suhject) the utter impossi-
biilty OF deepening the channel by the
mode of constructing jetties, as determined
upon.
At the time the engineers under General
Grant attempted to cut the bend of the
river at Nicksburg, the Times published
a communication that had the honor of ad-
dressing it, demonstrating the utter i'm
of the undertaking by their
manner of working; they persisted and
failed. There is about to be a grander
failure at the mouth of the Mississippi
JOHN BARNARD,
New York, Sunday, September ), 1875.