New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-01-12
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
| Our Commercial Delegation In Alexico-
From New Orleans to Vera Cruz.
| ACROSS THE BAR.
Leaving the river to the accurate descfip.
! tons of science and the innumerable
sketches Of preceding voyagers allow some
practical observations upon an element to
be consulted somewhat IN the proposed
improvement Of our outlet. The ocean has
been modest spectator of this controversy
as to the manner in which its opposition
shall be conciliated OF controlled. Yet it is
obviously the despot OF the situation. and
no permanent or adequate channel can be
obtained, or. what is more important, main
tanned, without its consent in the first place
had and obtained.
1t is impossible tina: the photography or
the hydraulics Of the Mississippi could be
better expounded than they have been by
Humphreys and Hebert. and Forshey and
Beauregard. OF the outlet soundings more
accurately made than by Howell and his
predecessors. The normal regime and ex.
ceptional caprice of the river. its currents
and its overtiows. have been perfectly de.
fined.
We watch tho turbulent and irresistible
river as it flows by our doors. 1t has con.
quered in every combat with nature. 1t has
hewed it's way through mountains, cut it's
course through plains aud forests. and as it
marches past in the flush Of triumph we
deem that it goes to future conflicts as to
past an assumed victor. But as Napoleon
came from Marengo. and Austerlitz, and
Lodi. and Borodino only TO meet at
Waterloo the wreck of his fame, so the
Mississippi meets in the ocean the
first obstacle to it's course of conquest.
Tho conflict is brief but decisive. The
river broken into fragments. split into
a dozen channels. submits to its imperial
own AFFECT mud. 1t is forced by such igno-
minious subterfuge to enter the ocean; yet
it thereby gives year by year an accretion
of territory which it could not have &C
Quired in open conflict.
How could it be Otherwisel The Missis-
sippi meets a wall Of water more impervious
depth of the gulf is 900 feet. The slightest
calculation OF the dynamic force OF the
current, with the added weight of its cubic
cross section. shows the incapacity of the
river to force it's way into the ocean. But
the usual estimate of the ocean as an OBJ
stacle is that it is a tranquil body, and that
it even has a tidal current which sweeps
away the river sediment as it arrives in the
gulf We should not underrate our anita
ia q frQnnni1 hn6 q
of water. 1t has tides; not high. it is true,
but constant in their action. 1t has it's
restless surges always expanding its body
upon it's shores, always heaping around it's
whole border the sand bars which bound
the whole periphery Of the gulf. There is
far more and worse to encounter. TEN.
pests arise not surpassed in violence in
any northern seas. These periodically
drive the waters Of the river back, and
have Obliterated in one night the whole
work accomplished by the dredges in a
season.
Regard then the Mississippi outlet. There
is an expanse OF mud equal in area to six or
seven hundred miles. 1t is a mere batter
spread out rising foot or eighteen inches
above the water. 1t is covered with bull
rushes, and in this whole extent there is not
the timber for walking cane, nor reed
which will more than bear q blackbird.
Through this morass the river cuts its way.
There is nothing by which its stream may
be governed. There is no rock, or reef or a
structure that offers the least resistance.
Hence there must result a difhulty OF plant
ing any permanent work which the river
will not either overthrow or evade. The
chemistry of muriate of soda settling the
river sediment and so forming the bar is all
very we'll. But the chemical effect is wholly
unnecessary since the river water, over.
charged with sediment. deposits it with
any arrest of its current velocity. A ere.
vase which checks the current will cause q
deposit on the river bottom as we'll below
Bonnet Care as at the Balize. The forma.
ton of the bar is then rather mechanical
than chemical Chemical action would
cause an eqnal spread Of the de-
post over the river bottom. The
bar is mound elevated above the normal
depth of the river, assumed at seventy feet,
to within fifteen feet OF tie surface. This
would represent a mud ridge across the
river rising fifty feet above its normal
bottom. This ia not chemistry. 1t is dy.
namics. 1t is the bastion and entrench
ment thrown up by these two great COM
batants, in the eternal war of their waters.
The sediment ditfused by solution is depOs-
tied upon the bottom Of the sea according
to the relative lenity Of its several compo-
nents. 1t is very possible the whole strait
fcation Of the delta has been due to this
marine action. While the river deposits its
sediment on the bar and recOils from the
shock, the ocean with it's tide and surges
scoops up and beats on the outer side of the
bar this mass of sand and sediment which
form its bottom. 1t is proper then to accord
to the ocean its proper share OF the bar
formation.
The reasons for regarding this bar as the
mechanical result Of ocean impact are
strengthened by the fact that the ocean
casts up by its own impulse alone bars
where there is no river or sediment, notably |
at Galveston and at other smaller gulf |
ports.
If this theory be correct. if the gulf rims
itself around with mud and eand from its |
own action, and even against the current of !
our mighty river. how eternal must be the |
war Of art against nature. ii the advocates
of the dredge or Of a jetty engage in the war |
will it not involve the perpetual application |
Of national revenue to this purpose! If the |
nation weary of this expenditure-if the i'm. |
proved commerce of the river dlverts trade |
from the routes by which it is now carried. !
Orleans regaining her ascendency by this |
means, what is to prevent these Eastern |
cities from defeating, OF what is as bad, |
delaying the annual or periodical appropri. |
atoms indispensable to maintain this outlet |
improvement! tseems dangerous to com. |
nit the destines of city to mode of i'm. |
provement fraught with such uncertainty
and such danger.
The deduction from the reasoning would |
be that if work can be constructed which. |
in place Of warning against nature. will find |
no such conflict, but will merely connect |
the water of the gulf with that of the river. |
guarding by adequate works against the |
casual agitations OF the one, or the period. |
cal overflow of the other. Such work, if |
succe ssful, must be- permanent. easily and
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