The New Orleans Democrat., 1876-05-07
THE JETTIES.
LETTER FROM MAJOR HOWELL
sMOALING or THE GULF HESOND
THE JETTgEs.


April 10. has provoked Mr.. Eads int
writing letter published in your issIl,
of the 9TH inst which Is calculated tc
create n wrong impression on the mine
Of the public.
Mr., Eads is mistaken In supposini
that because he has contract to try tf
improve South Pass. this fact bars me
from continuing to completion u series
Of surveys commenced under orders re-
ceived two years ago. The series woulo
have been incomplete without the re-
cent gauging of the Passes and recon
noisance of South Pass bar.
The results. when fully submitted to
the public, will greatly interest by
draulic engineers. and go far toward
refuting many Of the absurd statements
and theories advanced by Mr.. Ehds
before commencing his ,jetties. and on
which all his specious plans are based
Perhaps this Is the reason why. in his
usual brow. beating manner with which
the people of New Orleans are SO ia
milial. he attempts to choke off investi-
CATION
The surveys have been made ut Gov.
ornment expense. because needed to aid
In solving the great problem presented
nc the mouth Of the Mississippi.
II the results had been available be-
fore the passage OF the jetty contract. 1t
is 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 Sec
ing them. In this there Is no impro-
priety, as Mr.. Eads would insinuate.
The insinuation 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. !
have not seen copy OF the telegram !,
know this, that If the information on
which 1t was based came from my Office.
and was honestly used, instead OF being,
40 styled, "a malicious falsehood," 1t
was the unpalatable truth.
The more direct charge, that my as
sistant endeavored to create among the
guests and passengers OF the Grand Re
public an impression unfavorable to the
jetties, Il equally without foundation.
After investigating the matter. find
these to be the facts Mr.. Collins, hay
ance with his instructions to return to
New Orleans as soon as possible, took
passage on the Grand Republic, paid
his fare. simply answered questions
when courtesy required It, and was an
interested observer Of the solemn farce
entitled Col. Andrews examination.
There was no volunteered attempt on
his part to influence tho minds of the
st. Louis delegation against their
Josh" his work or his teachings.
BY implication, the accuracy of the
work done by my assistants has been
brought In question.
Mr. Collins has been with me over
four years. He has worked in the field
with three of my military assistants,
who report him to me as an accurate,
rapid and extremely conscientious en-
gineer. 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 ut South Pass, that the
casual reader would be led to think the
same whereas. the fact is. that on the
day Of the Grand Republic spurge
there was ut South Pass only channel
Of twelve feet entitled to be called
napigdble, while at Southwest Pass
there was ndrigdble channel of over
1S feet.
Now, let me give my understanding Of
the position held by Mr.. Eads and the
opponents Of his jetty attempt. II may
give the public something worth think
ing over.
fknow that between distances two and
half and seven and half miles sea
ward OF the outer ends OF his jettes the
Gulf has shoaled at n rate. which, If
continued, will In eighteen high water
seasons bring the Gulf bottom to the
surface and necessitate the prolongation
OF the jetties at least Il miles.
l know that on the day the Grand Re
public visited South Pass the nucleus of
u new bar existed 1000 feet in front of
the jetties and that u shoal had made
out from the end OF the west jetty $50
feet toward this and diagonally across
the front of the letties.
/ know that since the commence
ment or the jetty work the low-water
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 total
discharge OF the three passes, is now but
IL per cent. Mr.. Eads has probably dis
covered these facts having such a seri-
Gus bearing on the ultimate success OF
Ills NoIk, anu kuONlHS tIdl lncN VIII
soon be made public through official
channels, seeks in advance to break
their force by crying out "malice,"
"falsehood," etc, etc.
Since the passage OF the jetty con-
tract, those opponents of the expert
ment who took part i'll the discussions
preceding passage of the contract, con-
sidered first that they were in no way
responsible for the experiment. Second.
that further discussionwould be useless.
except SO far as required to complete
that left unfinished by the action Of
Congress. Third, that as the expert
ment had been decided upon, it was
every way desirable that it should be
carried TO completion. in order that a
question which has embarrassed the
mouth of the river problem for forty
years. and which might do SO for an in
definite time to come, should be practi-
cally settled, one way or the other, be-
yond resuscitation.
Holding these views, no army en-
gineer has thrown a straw in the way Of