The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1876-05-03
NAILED

The people OF afro, next to those OF
New Orleans, are most deeply interested
in the progress and results Of the attempt
to apply the jctty system to the mouth of
the Mississippi river.
General Humphrey. Major Howell and
other civil engineers OF some eminence.
long ago predicted that even should the
there would be an immediate reformation
of the bar at the sea end of the ictties,
and this process of reformation would
continue until the work. because OF its
immense cost. would have to be aban-
doncd.
General Humphrey and Others having
made this prediction, seem wholly una
bic TO divest their minds of the belief that
1t is now undergoing fuliillmcnt and
hence the periodical appearance In the
newspapers OF the country of paragraphs
like this Vessels drawing sixteen feet
can go to sea through the iettics at mean
low tide; but there is an ugly feature
that must not be overlooked. a draft Ct
soundings made by Major llowell's as
sisiant. at n point four hundred feet out
from the sea end of the jctties shows that
the water shoals there suddenly to
sixteen feet. Assuming these soundings
to be correct. the impression i. inevitable
that new bar is forming. not OH the sea
slope of the old one. but on the other
side OF a narrow sound, across which the
swift current of the river carries its scd.-
ment TO he suddenly dropped. mt Gel =
tain distance out. This is very discour-
aging feature of the case. and if it cam
not be explained away, the sooner the
public are advised of the fact. the better.
This. and all other statements to the
effect that there is a shoaling of The sea
in front Of the jetties, Captain Eads pro
nounces. over his own proper signature.
malicious ialsehoods." II was justified
in thus cmphatically denying these
anonymous communications. writes the
captain, "becalse of the recent sound
ings, carefully made by my assistant en-.
gineers. al all points within a thousand
feet OF the sea end of the ietties AMI be-
yond the bar. These soundings were
carefully. located by instruments. and
were compared with those made one year
ago by The United States coast survey
and they prove conclusively that there
has been general deepening in advance
of the bar in front OF the Jettics. precisely
where Gen. Humphreys, Major Howell
and other opposcrs Of the system, pre-
dicted reformation of the bar"
"The cause OF this remarkable deepen
ing. which our soundings have discover
ed Immediately in the advance of the bar,
is attributed by me to the fact that the
river current now concentrated between
the jetties is a strong. bold stream from
twelve to sixteen feet deep, possessing
such momentum and force that the pre-
vailing westerly sea current, that inter-
sects it nearly at right angles, is forced
beneath the river discharge and has eNca-
waited for its own accommodation an in
creased depth on the sea slope of the
bar
This cause being OF II permanent
character, the effects will prove equal y
enduring. capt. Eads clearly knows
| what hc is about; aud he has 50 nearly
demonstrated the success of his great
work, it is about time, we think, tor the
Humphreys and llowcll> of the country
to give him Arrest