The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-05-06
THE JETTIES.
Nucleus Of the New Bar-What Eighteen
Nigh water seasons Will DO.
UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE,
New Orleans, May 6. 1876.


Editor Democrat Your editorial OF
gram from Mr.. jas. b. Eads which ap-
peared in the New Orleans Times OF
April 30, has provoked Mr.. Eads into
writing q letter published in your issue
Of the 4th inst.) which is calculated to
create wrong impression on the mind
Of the public.
Mr.. Eads is mistaken in supposing
that because he has q contract to try to
| improve South Pass, this fact bars me
! from continuing to completion n series
OF surveys commenced under orders re-.
ceived two years ago. The series would
have been incomplete without the re-
cent gaugng of the Passes and recon
noisance Of South Pass bar.
The results, when fully submitted to
the public, will greatly interest ny.
draufic engineers, and go far toward
reflting many of the absurd statements
and theories advanced by Mr.. Eads
before commencing his jetties, and on
which all his specious plans are based.
Perhaps this Ia the reason why, in his
usual brow beating manner with which
the people Of New Orleans are so ia
miliar, he attempts to choke off investi-
cation.
The SURVEYS have been made at Gov.
/
| In solving the great problen1apresentsd
at the mouth Of the Mississippi.
| IL the results had been available be-
| fore the passage Of the jetty contract, 1t
! il probable that the country would not
have been saddled with the adventure.
| NV charts. observations for velocity
OF currents. amounts OF material car
ried in suspension by the river water.
and volumes Of discharge, have always
been open for the inspection Of any
courteous gentleman interested in SEQ
| ing them. In this there is no impro-
priety, as Mr.. Eads would insihuats.
The insnuation in regard to the St.
Louis telegram is one that no just man
would give such publicity without first
satisfying himself as to the facts. i
have not seen copy Of the telegram
| do not know what II contained; but
know this, that il the information on
which 1t was based came from my Office.
| and was honestly used. instead OF being,
as styled. "a malicious falsehood," 1t
was the unpalatable truth.
! The more direct charge, that my as
fsistant eDdeavored to create among the
guests and passengers OF the Grand Re-
public an impression unfavorabie 10 the
| jetties. is equally without foundation.
After investigating the matter, l find
|
ing completed his field work, In accord
ance with his instructions to return to
/ New Orleans rs soon as possible, took
passage on the Grand Republic, paid
| his fair. simply answered questions
when courtesy required 1t. and was an
! Interested observer Of the solemn farce
entitled "Col. Andrews examination. y
There was no volunteered attempt on
/ his part to influence the minds OF the
St. Louis delegation against then
JOSH" his work or his teachings.
BY Implication, the accuracy OF the
work done by my assistants mas peen
| brought in question.
/ Mr.. Collins has been with me over
| four years. He has worked in the field
with three OF my military assistants,
rapid and extremely conscientious en-
gineer. I place full faith in his reports.
The results OF dredging at Southwest
! Pass are very unfairly presented.
The reported mean low tide depth at
Southwest Pass is introduced IN such
artful connection with reported high
tide depth at South Pass, that the
casual reader would be led to think the
| depth OF channel at the two passes the
same; whereas, the fact Is, that on the
day OF the Grand Republic splurge
there was at South Pass only q channel
OF twelve feet entitled to be called
nauigabis, while. at Southwest Pass
there was q nnriDable- channel OF over
| 1S feet.
Now, let me give my understanding ol
the position held by Mr.. Eads and the
opponents Of his jetty attempt. 1t may
give the public something worth think
ing over.
! Tknow that between distances two and
half and seven and a half miles sea-
ward Of the outer ends OF his jetties the
Gulf has shoaled at q rate, which, II
| continued, will in eighteen high water
seasons bring the Gulf bottom to the
surface and necessitate the prolongation
OF the jetties at least y miles.
know that on the day the Grand Re.
public visited South Pass the nucleus OF
n new bar existed 1000 feet In front oil
the ietties and that a shoal had made
out from the end OF the west jetty 1886
feet toward this and diagonally across
the front Of the jetties.
/ know that since the commence
ment of the jetty work the low-WateI
cross section@of South Pass, one mile
below its head, has been diminished
one-sixth that the velocity at this point
has relatively decreased, and that the
volume OF discharge OF the pass which
before commencement OF the Jetties
was found to be Is per cent OF the tota
discharge Of the three passes, Is now but
IL per cent. Mr. Eads has probably dis
covered these facts having such seri
Gus bearing on the ultimate success q
his work, and knowing that they will
soon be made public through officia
channels, seeks in advance to break
their force by crying out malice,
falsehOOd." ETC., etc. t+t
Since the passage OF the .Jetty con
tract, those opponents OF the expert
ment who took part in the discussions
preceding passage Of the contract, cop
sidered first that they were in no way
responsible for the experiment. Second
! that further discussion would be useless
except so far as required to complete
that left unfinished by the action o
Congress- Third, that as the expert
ment had been decided upon, it wa!
every way desirable that it should bt
carried to completion, in order that 6
question which has embarrassed th'