The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-05-03
Tue JETTIEs.
OFFICIAL FACTs AND FIGURES ABOUT
THEM.
How the Department ot United states
Engineers obtain Their sounaings.

Capt. Eads comes out in q communi-
cation to the Times, in which no ritter
ates his assurances concerning tho con
dition Of the jetties. and refutes the
statements of other people, and
he takes occasion to say that
he has instructed the Secretary
OF the South Pass ietties to state in
reply to kilograms from New Orleans to
st. Louis, that the reported shoaling
i'm front of the jetties was Il malicious
falsehood" Further on, Captain Eads
SAYS. But as these works are not
under the supervision of Major Howell,
I ii Is Unjust to inftir that hc has author
lied any of his assistants 10 make an
official survey Of the South Pass bar at
the Governments expense, or that he
would countenaneG on the part 0l his
assistant any effort to create in the
minds OF the visitors BY the Grand Re-
public. OF ut those Of other persons tthdt-
Grcr, the italics are oursl the false inn
preston that this tar. which has thus far
been removed hy the effect OF the jetties,
is being reformed in advance OF them,
or that he would. as the readers Of your
editorial might possibly suppose. permit
tho draft OF such snundings to be eXhib-
| tied on the Grand Republic or in his
| Office, with any show of official sane
ton" Certainly, in penning the above
| quotations taken from his communica-
| tion. Captain Eads was reckoning with
| out his host. as the saying is. and his
deductions in the last paragraph must
/ fall to the ground when he Is informed
that the drafts Of the sounoings of
Major Howell 4 assistant. Capt. Collens.
are exhibited in his Office with
a considerable show of "oiiicial sane
ton" In fact. the soundings are made
Officially" at the Governments ex-
pcnse, and are part OF Il series OF coast
surveys which are under Major Howell 6
supervision, although the jetty works
may not be. And ii Captain Eads doubts
the truth OF this statement. he can visit
the Office OF Major Howell and satisfy
himself He will find there charts
made from time to time Of the South
Pass, of SO elaborate Il character. that
he will confess that, by comparison.
his own Autographed charts must
pale before them. 1t is useless to refer
to the malicious falsehood" portion Of
Capt Eads' communication. in so far as
it might affect those "other persons
whatever. also spoken OF by him
These utterances Were made under cir
| cumstances which exist no longer. since
ii is now told to Capt. Eads that the re-
ports, or some Of them at least, were
based on the Official" figures of the
/ Engineer Department That Capt
| Eads is entitled to belief when he
asserts that his soundings are
true nobody will deny, out credit
| is also Cue to Major Howell
and his assistants i'm the same relation
| IL. however, the question of correctness
is raised on the score of favor or opposi-
n ~, ,Aft
tion becomes delicate, but that of Major
| Howell remains unchanged, whatever
may occur in the case OF the opposers Of
tho system. Captain Eads is largely
interested in the success OF the letties
His money and that of his friends, to the
tune of several hundred thousand dol
lars. is jeoparded, and his reputation
Is involved. He has everything to lose.
Major Howell, like all engineers Of
OF his ability, may and must have his
theory on the subject, but he has neither
money nor reputation involved. He is
simply performing duty. If, in per
forming this duty, the results conflict
with those obthined by Capt. Eads,
there can be no impropriety on the p TT
of the department engineers to give ac-
cess to their records, when politely re-
quested to do SO.
Now. to facts; they are few but i'm
portant. During last week, as was
stated in the DEMOCRAT, Capt. Collens
was engaged in taking soundings Of
the Pass. and yesterday had already
compiled and collated good portion of
his work. This compilation shows that
the west end shoal, which year ago
was eight hundred yards beyond the
end of the jetty. was, on the Goth OF
April last. thrown out to one thousand
Yards. and from the radial soundings
taken by the Same officers exactly $50
feet out Of the jetties the bar has sim
ply been pushed out, slope, shoal and
ali, as though it had been bodily re-
moved from one point to another. show
ing, however, q difference in favor Of
Captain Eads, at, the crest OF the
present bar, Of something like
it is shown by the protiles that the crest
of the shoal, as it existed u year ago,
was mere peak. the crest Of which has
easily cedel to attrition. Again, it is
shown by the same profile that the
breadth Of the shoal, rs 1t is now, is
considerably increased, and hence will
require more force TO be removed than
previously.
That the soundings have been care
fully and elaborately made by the
United States engineers will be under
SIOOt Wnen III Is Sitiu tnat tues nave
been made in ten longitudinal sections,
one hundred yards wide each (the width
of the jetties being one thousand yards,
according to the regulation Instructions
of the War Department. The proiiles
are complete, and with their aid. and
after making all duo allowances, Major
Howell has traced q possible fifteen
foot channel to the west end OF the jet
ties, where the depth, the shoal, is
about sixteen feet. He has. however,
been unable TO trace a similar channel
to the east end, where the depth Of water
is far greater.
As to the volume OF discharge upon
which Capt. Eads depended SO much TO
scour out the channel of the jetties.
Major Howeli's belief that it had dimin-
lished in the South Pass and increased in
the Southwest Pass has been verified by
actual measurements. The velocity was
taken one mile below the head of South
fr, 4 L - V,S h