The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1876-06-22
THE MISSISSIPPI JETTIEs.


AN INTERVIEW WITH CAPTAIN EAps-HIs Ac-
COUNT OF THE GREAT woRK--AN INTEREST
ING DESCRIPTION OF THE WILLOW BANKS
cASEBRAKE CHANNEL.
From the 81. Louis Globe Democrat June 1871
Among The multitude Of descriptions, all more or less
technical which have been printed the etles at
the mouth Of the Mississippi hardly Of character
likely 10 interest unsccuthc reader has been pub
lished Taking advantage Of the return ihis city OF
Captain James B. Eads aud Mr.. d w. Bowman. one OF
his assistants. Globe Democrat reporter sought to
ind such Information concerning the
GENERAL THE PLACE
as might prove Of interest From the accounts re-
ceved Il appears that tho work OF opening and estab
fishing water highway between tho centre OF the
North American continent and the rest Of the
world has not been altogether what may be charac
tcrized as even aIriy comfortable. workng almost
night and day, in sub tropical climate, in
wild cane swamp which Is overlooked by the sea
al each recurring tide and having endure
the fortunes inflicted by ganippers mosquitoes OF
Brobdlngnagan typo and exaggerated malignancy OF
sting, sand dos deer dies and 'sch," hardly be
considered very agreeable method Of spending time
But when this class of discomfort is liable DO diver
s,ned win an occasional personal interview with
member OF the saurian tribe In the gusc twenty
foot alligator, the excitement becomes trifc too seri
Gus Tor patient endurance by even the best regulated
. mind
as well known, situated the east bank II the
ward Extremity oil tue South Pass, what the
seward extremity until the jetes had been built
as lar as their present. Limit The se city which has
sprung up there now cludes tolerabiy large sized
hote., huts Tor some $50 Iaoorers, backsmlhs' and
other workshops, and generally presents busy ap-
pearaAcc The and--or water--on which the city IS
CONSTRUCTED is covered by great canebrake, tho Wild
Gaze growing to Inc height OF Twelve or fifteen icct,
though The canes are frequently burnt the dry
season, when the ordinarily desolate appearance
OF the country rendered doubly destruction
OF all vegetation once day, though at irregular
hours the whole place Is submerged by the Cuff tide to
tue depth OF from eighteen 10 tDirty inches the range
be ween meau low aud mean high water beng about
eighteen inches. The soIl, however, Is perpetuaily
saturated with MOISTURE anu the streets Of Port Eads
They consist OF panks raised piles driven
tue blue cay, and average about Two ieet IN width
bic 70 postpone the Construction OF any very extensive
system oil street railroads
TIKI CLIMATE.
Notwithstanding tue drawbacks above enumerated,
Mr. Bowman says Port Eads OF the ATHEIST 10
cations IN the world In answer to a question o
whether maaral levers were not prevalent he said that
fevers OF all kinds unknown fhe temperature OF
tho place y both milu and equable. In summer II
never, hardly, rises ABOVE ninety degrees Faien-
hct the average hspg between that and seventy
i've degrees. In winter the temperature rarely
falls below sixty degrees and then only during the
prevalence OF tue chilly 'norihcrsn when " has been
known 10 30 as low as forty degrees Under these
advantageous circumstances IL IS considered by the
to be great exporting and importing emporium for
the Mississippi Valley. MT
rnE HEAD oy THK PASS
to the lands end the distance is about ten miles, from
head vi The Pass The ard extremity OF
letties = Is about twelve miles Speaking roughly.
Lands End, the western bank Of the Pass is nearly
y mile iurtncr toward tho Cult than the eastern
balk. From Lands End on the side tho ettes
run out nearly IN direct course. From Lands End
on tho western side cross dixie is built Tor economi-
cat purposes Ia general nortneasterly direction I'LL It
the western parallel line OF the jettes From
both eastern western jetties have been built
on a foundation covered all the while with
water varying In depth from two to fifteen
twenty feet, the foundation being sold silt, de-
posted by the how OF the river meeting the ye1nx
aclion Of the tide to which conflict ng ion
Whole Of the delta OF the MISSISSIPPI including nearly
all lower Lou siana, is 10 be attributed The object OF
the whole work Is ~ far the force Of the
river How as 70 enable y 70 carry out the silt Cutting
away that already deposltcd), TO give open
and perpetual channel Tor sea gong ships Of tho heav
the fact reported in yesterdays Globe Democrat that
the latest reports show channel OF eighteen feet aud
hall IN depth In assisting nature thus 10 cut out
emanuel there has carried and into the
deep waters OF the Gull Of Mexico 900 900 cubic
yards or dep1 earth since the works CON-
menced This tremendous result has been ach ioved
in only outlet OF the river, the three principal
outlets being known AS the Southwest Pass. the South
Pass and Pass a-lOutre.
HOW rHE WORK IS ACCOMPLISHED
has been well told by f. l. Corhe chief engineer OF the
works But the rst inception o tho idea grew out OF
similar but more expensive works projected and carried
out al the Suna mouth OF tue Danube. As conse-
which really fought Tor the control OF the navga
ton oil the Danube, commission Of officers appointed
Of Paris in 1885, took charge Of the mouth Dan
ube the interest OF all the Powers concerned Al the
head OF this commission engineer, Charles Hart
ley VINO aiterwafd raised 10 the rank Of baronc
for his services in this connection, and who is
known to lame us Sir Charles Hartley This gentleman
adopted modified plan OF the Jetty system which had
been before that time found useful in destroying the
bar al the mouth OF the Rhone and, with almost unlim
tied resources at his command succeeded in a very
anOrt n
Danube from seven 10 about twenty-five feet Upon
this hint Captain Eads set to work He first visited
Europe and thoroughly examined tho works at tho
Rhone and Danube aud then thought out . similar
plan
But In undertaking the control OF the euence OF the
great which this vallcy be grand
difficulties with which TO contend wnich we're unknown
to his engineering predecessors In the FIRST place,
the Father OF Waters 10 not only vastly superior 10
the Danube In size, but IL carries down 10 its mouth
thousahdfold more silt than any stream in Europe.
Second, IN the European works labor was plenty and
cheap and skilled labor could be obtained at any tmo
II might DO required At comparatively low rates In
opening the works at the mouth or the Mississippi,
however, the engineers had not only no skilled labor
ready 70 .nor hands put or ordinary aoor 'nsy laa
Orleans and OF that they could only the worst
and most worthless class at first. The feeling In New
Orleans hostile the work certain already formed
organizations. whose interests lay in another di-
rcclion, interposed their powerful voice. aud state
mcnts made calculated to scare the average day
laporcr IRON accepting employment which no vas
sured all sides would never yield him his monthly
share oil ducatA These difficulties, however, were
overcome; and when, after few months, had been
shown that the now company paid their laborers with
exactness, The labor diffisully solved
But the greatest difficulty that had to be solved
how TO control the waters OF the great and
compel them 10 cut out the much needed chahncL
hundred cubic yards OF flowing water spread
wa crcourse hundred yards wide would give only
yard depth. The problem was, speaking relatively
TO con1nc that bunarcd cubic yards into channel
which should compel IT to scoop out deep channel
Masonry has been used at the mouth oil tho Danube,
but masonry such gigantic work would far exceed
IN expense any possibility that within the powers
OF engineer oil the Mississippi AT this juncturc