The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-05-24
CAPT. E4Ds,s JETTIEs.
Tho South Pass Of the Mississippi Perms-
nently Opened to Commerce.
trom ne Neu orlean. Bnllena. 4ap 20.

fron the heu Orleans Bulletin. May 90
In spite of all carping and croaking, the
South Pass has, by Capt. Eads's jetty system,
been converted in less than year, from a use
less outlet, with only seven and half feet on its
a sixteen foot vessel has passed. THIS has been
accomplished by the jetties alone. without any
dredging or following up to this time:
There IL a depth OF twenty-five to thirty feet
Of water in nearly the whole jetty channel. with
a short bar Of eighteen feet at It's end, and a
few Jumps OF indutated sand, OF small dimen-
sions, hey ond these, In the channel. Capt Eads
Il preparing a sea hollow to scarify those and
promote their dissolution, and a few days work
viii suffice 10 give twenty feet, ana shortly after
twenty-five. twenty tour, aud even thirty will
be successfully attained.
lhe jetties are not yet completed, and the
Grand Bayou has nOt been closed, and yet over
sixteen feet Of water has been actually chan
work the jetdes will be permanent structures,
aud II they have forced the current to scour
through indurated sand, hardened by the COM
pacing OF hundred years, and give channel
OF twenty to thirty feet ut time when the
Mississippi is carrying an unusual quantity Of
sediment ana most likely 10 shoh at its bar,
surely when the 10000 Of cubic yards Of hard
bottom has been secured out and carried away,
the jetties which have done this will be sufficient
to carry OF the mud which may ordinarily come
down IN solution and keep deep channel.
The bar reported outside toward the end of
the west jetty ~, or, as Capt. Howell erro-
neously reports, loo feet from the jetty, Is an
old lump for which Capt. E,ds aud the jettes
are IN TO way Responsible. IL was there with Is
feet Of water on It, aud containing, down to ~
foot line, about Hoo cubic yards Of mud before
capt. Eids drove "A stake. IL now has is feet OF
water at hiRn tide, and the current of the let
ties has cut IL away until there are out $500 Gu
bic yards left out of l.OOO year ago. IL Will
soon disappear As to the shoang OF the Sc
at from ~ 20 miles out TO sea mentioned bv
Capt. Howell, CaDt. Eads has nothing To do with
that. Capt. Howell thinks the Gulf there will
snoal up 70 ~ feet IN about eighteen years OF
high floods. IL IT did II would be a godsend to
ships, IA with plenty OF deep sea room In front
OF the jetties OF 81 to 800 feet, such bar would
afford protection to vessels anchoring outside
In point OF fact, however. II such oar or sho al
is there, IL has come from Pass al Outre. and
now that the lefty current Is turned upon II, II
Will soon wash away. The very latest SURVEYS
made by the Coast survey and Capt. Esds's en-
Rineers In the last few days show that the jetty
current now sixteen to eighteen feet deep and
Que thousand feet wide. drives far out 10 sea in
solid bulk, like the stream from the pipe Of fire
engine, and ut two and half miles out the cur
rent Is stiii three feet per second, sufficient to
scour out channel there II necessary.
SO vanish, as have vanished one by one, the
arguments and faacious theories set up against
the Jetty system.
The South Pass Is now the only permanen. and
unohstructed outlet for deep Vessels. The South
west Pass, which we were promised should be
Kept open To twenty feet by the dredges, is now.
or Was Yesterday, blocked up by The snip Biz
mlngham, drawing only seventeen and "A half
feet. An eighteon-fOot vessel could 20 10 sea by
the south Pass,