The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-03-20

64 miQnlgot, 70. 3'.Jss.e Zrs
Tire Mississippi 5ett1es. -
AN INTERESTING LsTTER-oUEBR PEOPLE.
Louisiana Correspondence OF the Providence
JournaLl =, -
But what lauding Is this--s rough.looking
clearinghouse, little unpainted telegraph.
office, and this stream flowing out of the
| river into the back country Why, this is
the s Jump"--a wonderful place where ma
ture, forestalliDg the need of an open river
mouth. made feint as if to open up new
channel to the Gulf; but 1t vas only q
abIind"; its ultimate object was to furnish
materials for the jetties. I have naVigated
the !" Jump" through and through, and yeti
cannot even sketch 1t or map out its numer.
Gus, intricate, and winding waterways. Let
me tell you how 1t was formed, and how 1t
grew in one night, about forty years ago,
from little wee break through the soft,
alluvial banks Of the river to mighty tor.
rent-600 feet wide and so feet deep-into
| which by the force of the current, 1t Is said,
a tug-boat was drawn, with its tow of two
large vessels. Thus it flowed into the shal.
| low inland bay and through it to the Gulf.
| A vast amount Of sediment was poured in
with the water, the most of which was soon
| dropped on the bottom, spreading out q
| delta of mud. Soon the reeds and grasses
made their appearance above the halt-sub..
merged mud. This growth checked still
more the flow of the water. helped to build
new banks, and divided the flowing water
into many winding and gradually narrowing
channels. Then, when the banks had be.
come somewhat higher and firmer, the seeds
Of the willow took root and sprung up, ten
millions of them, and sktrted the banks OF
I rpiI Ilnxr hou h,1slk
he tgreater part of the jetties over the South
Pass bar. ...,--.
But is the Jump. inhabited? Yes! by
alligators-it is lovely place for them. The
soft. oozy banks make q bed for them as
" soft as dowpy pillows are" In the sum-
mer season there are at times twenty or more
| of them within stones throw, Of sll sizes,
from three, twelve, or more feet in length.
doa't believe they have any evil Intentions
on human beings, or have animation enough
to hunt up good meal, but, like most lazy
people, they fatten on their lazlness. There
are. however, human Inhabitants Of the
| . jump" We found them located here and
there on the high spots Of ground. A foot out
| of water, not OVERT owed more than quarter
of the year, is high bluff to these people.
| They are called "Cajsns," which is degene.
rate name for the far.famed poetic Arcadisns.
Bnt If Eysngelne was of this stock aad re.
sembled these specimens Of females, / caR't
saw admire Longfellow's taste in the choice
of a heroine. These people pass miserable
existence, wading about in the mud and
water, trying, ever so feebly, to raise little
rice. and If laZiness was ever PERSONNEL IL
is in these people, who lie all day, half asleep,
| on raised platform, occasionally cracking a
| whip to frighten the birds from the rice
fields.
peyer beard anything particularly inter-
esting Of them, except the manner OF bury-
ing their dead. / understand that they are
all blood relatives; that they intermarry and
are very exclusive, so that when any one OF
| this numerous family dies the whole coun'
try is bound to 60 to the funeral. The
WJump" resembles Venice in one respect,
jnssmuch as all communication is by means
of these winding, sluggish channels, and
al Hays in-not poetic gondola exactly, but
| in an unpoetic, fAt-bottomed skif.
But we have devastated the "Jump"-
have moved our forces of hundreds OF men,
with boarding. boats and barges, from one
end to the other OF its half dozen or more
channels, each six or seven miles long, and
have brought o1t from this jetty harvest
field more than thirty thousand CORDS OF Will
| lows for our work--enough to have ouiit
the sixty.seyen thousand liDeal feet OF mat
tresses which now lie sunk with rock on the
lines of the jetties.
when we come to the head Of the Passes
our work of construction commences. here
q dyke is being built about quarters OF
a mile long, the OBJECT of which is two
Ifold-frst, by deaecung into the South Pass
some of the volume now flowing into Pass
la Loutre, to deepen the shoal that RoW lies
at the entrance of the South Pass; and,
secondly, to give us more volume for
securing away the bar at the mouth
of the Pass. You will notice large
amount of material stored on the
banks of the Pass, and active work going
on at the dyke. The mattresses, which
constitute the larger portion Of the work,
are made at the "Jump" on ways erected
there, and are brought down the river by
our towboat. Entering the South Pass, We
are struck with its beauty and symmetry asa
ship .canal-the deep water close into the
banks, the smooth, even shores, and It's very
gentle curves: About four miles below the
head of the Pass we notice dyke or dam
commenced at Grand Bayou, which is to De
closed very soon, But here we are at the
ljettiesl Since last wrote this enserprising
town has improved wonderfully.
| A roomy and comfortable hotel, with its
broad yerauda extending entirely around it,
has been fnished, numerous other houses
and shops erected, and wharVes and mat
tress. ways built. II you would like birds.
eye view of the jetties, climb up the steps 10
the observatory on the top Of Headquarters
Hotel, aud you can see the long lines of the
jetties stretching out into the Gulf nearly as
far as the eye can reach. You look down on 9
busy scene of mattress making and launch.
Ing, and away out at the sea-ends of the
1jetties you can just distinguish the placing
and sinking Of the mattresses. The tug,
toW-boats, steam,launches, yawls, and sklffs,
with moving willow and stone-barges, with
men fastening to and fro on this and that
work, the numerous hills In the distance, the
ocean steamers passing close in front Of the
sea.ends Of the jstties, and away to the
northwest host of sailing and steam.ves'
sells at the mouth of the Southwest Pass,
| waiting for chance to 60 in and out OF the
marrow channel made daily by the dredge-
boats. present lively, pleasant scene.
might enter into the details and plans OF
the work, and state the great progress that
has been made towards securing deep chan
mel through the bar, but l forbear. The
work we are engaged 10 is not private or
sectional work, but national and OF national
importance as opening for domestic ana
foreign trade, unobstructed and free, with
ont bars or tolls, the highway Of the nation
to all the lands and peoples who wish our
cotton, rice, sugar, corn, and Wneat; ana