The New Orleans bulletin., 1875-11-23
NOVEMBER. 90 1876

the minutes of its proceedings.
After having devoted three days to examin
| ing the works in progress and in conferenc
with Mr.. Eads and his Engineers the Commits
sion presents the following general summar
\ of its views:
Upon personal examination of the localit,
| and observation of the work which has bee,
performed, the South Pass Of the Mississippi
Is found by the Commission to more than full
fill the expectation OF its members in ragar:
to its fitness for furnishing an "open mouth
of ample depth for the largest class of sea
going vessels to the Mississippi River b,
means of jetties.
In making this statemen reference mustsbt
had to the fact that two of the members have
never before examined the locality with q
view to this particular question, one indeed
having never before visited the spot OF course
on ali points concerning difficulties of execu
tion of the works recommended, they had
had no actual local experimental results, while
on the other hand, opinions were rife among
many that the local peculiarities of the soil
such as its extreme softness its eruptive
"mud Jumps" etc., would effectually thwar,
Efforts to lay upon it substantial and perma.
nent engineering construction.
The members of the Commission had, in
deed, satisfied themselves that such opinions
"C4O uhAouAuoAs Out ~ 40 bhtiSidCLOTy W D6
able to state positively, after four months Oh
actual operations, that the work of pile driv.
ing, extending from the east lands end to
twenty-six feet depth beyond the bar crest,
along line two and quarter miles in length,
covering nearly the whole length of the east
ern jetty, and an examination of the texture
of the bar and of the shoals on which the
works are to rest, furnish the most satisfac-
tory evidence of a bottom material not only
adequate to bear all the necessary works, but
even to suggest that but for motives of
economy (quarries being far distant) the jet
ties. as at the Sulina, mouth of the Danube,
might be made wholly OF stone. The Com
mission, therefore. unhesitatingly announces
that the supposed or attributed engineering
difficulties OF construction of engineering
works a. the South Pass of the Mississippi
as depending on peculiaritles of the Mssis-
sippi delta are illusory.
In fact the execution of the works is far less
difficult than that of several recent successful
works OF the kind on European shores, known
to and examined by the members of the Com
mission. This facility of execution arises, in
measure, from the fact that the broad,
lateral shoals, almost bare at low water which
extesd seaward from the lands ends, mar
ginai to the channel, form very good protec-
tion to the proposed works and almost reduce
them to the grade OF mere river works until
the outer edge of the bar is reached The
deep water portions, outside the bar OF the
proposed jetties, are comparatively short.
sions.and strength of exposed sea works they
offer no difficulty not common to other simi-
larly exposed works now existing.
IL Would seem proper in this connection to
say Few words as to the South Pass itself, in
refertAce to its capabilities to furnish an open
mouth to the main stream, and thus form an
adeqtate connection between the sea and the
thirtyF thousand miles of inland navigation,
which sramify from the river.
The:South Pass is the middle one of three
great Fasses, into which the river, after hav-
ing fos many hundred miles rolled in a single
chanDAl, divides few miles before it finally
discharges its waters into the Gulf of Mexico
II isbut twelve miles long, being the short
est of he Passes From its point of division,
it carrE,s its waters in channel everywhere
five ia hons or more in depth, with a straight
ness q course and uniformity of section
and dsath such as almost to suggest to the
voyage that he is navigating canal Of un-
parallesed dimensions, OF a width averaging
700 feek sufficient for the convenient transit
Of the Eargest sea going ships and of the con-
geries III vessels which constitute tow for
the powerful tugboats in use No sharp
bend, ID shoal, no reef embarrasses its navi-
gation.8
At the o1igin-the head of the Passes-a
shoal indeed lies in advance of its entrance.
This shoal has. however, a natural depth
equal I'd that over the bar at Southwest Pass,
and the commission anticipates no serious
difficulty in effsc.ing over it the required
depth. From this point the adequacy OF
depth continues unbroken for ten miles till
ha rd ayfponifioc of ba 1o,,
the natural jetties which thus far maintain
t) are reached. Here released from cohfne-
ment, the current diffuses itself; the depth
diminishes until at two miles further (about)
The bar, having but seven feet depth, is
reached: beyond which, seaward, depths of
5, H. "a and more fathoms are found in
quick succession. The specific engineering
work which the Government of the United
States has committed to Mr.. Eads is by the
xell-known method of Jetties, or otherwise
called parallel piers,' to supply artiicially
throughout this two miles from the lands
ends to the outer slope of the bar the con-
lining barriers which shall prolong to the sea
he uniformity of section and depth which
he natural barriers for the preceding ten miles
nave secured.
merits of a well known method which has
elsewhere in reference to its application here,
oeen thoroughly discussed and disposed of,
md in which the individual members of the
Commission have had each one his own part
o take What has been said in former para
,raphs sufices to exhibit the strengthened
confidence with which personal examinations
If the spot and of the works now in progress
las imbued the members of the Commission.
The Commission consider the present an
'pportune moment to record its opinion.
NIrst, that the physical characteristics of the
Delta and Bars of the NJ ssissippi and Danube,
re similar in many important respects. And
econdly, that owing to the greater sea depth
Immediately beyond the crest of its bar, TO
he existence of tide-water, to the apparent
,reater abrading forces along the Coast, and
o the extreme fineness of the sand, of which
he Bar is composed, the mouth of the South
'ass of the Mississippi is more susceptible of
uccessful improvement, notwithstanding the
,reater turbidity of its fuvial current, than
vas the Sulina mouth of the Danube, when
n 1858, the construction of parallel piers was
which secured to the navigation
# that river depth of III feet in 1861, and
,f 20I feet at the present time or va teet