Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-05-12
Plain Talk TO these who Abuse the
Great Engineer for Expending
his own Money.
Calm, Fair and DisPassiOnat2 Views Of
the Mobile Register and the New
Orleans DemOcrat-Etc.
New Orleans Democrat ]

ON ciAltY, al J0B governments eADanso
and are part OF q series Of coast surveys
which are under Msj1r Howell's super.
vision, although the jetty wcrEs may
not be-" Tnis is the first declaration L
have seen published to the effect that
MEj r Howell, United States engineers,
Is s.so making Official soundings Of he
pass, and your editorial seems 70 90 into
such details as 70 leave but little doubt
that you have obtained yoEr inf0rma-
ton from this oflce, as you say If 1 will
go there Will fad "chRTts there, made
from time to time, Of The South Pss3 OF
so elaborate character that be II will
confess that, by comparison, his myl
own autographed charts must pale be-
fore them General 2. 3. COmstock,
United States engineers, was appointed
by the SECRETARY OF war to disc aTge the
same duty which, it seems by your edi-
torial, is being performed by Msj jlr How
ell and his assistants. Gsnersl Com.
stocks assistant, Captain NJ. r. Brown,
United States engineers, and psrty were
yesterday engaged At the jetties ia max
ing elaborate sodndings, by order of ths
war department also, and radial sound.
ings, Immediately in advance of IL . let.
ties, are likewise bsipg uade by tue
sOundings are made at least ones a
mcnth, and sometimes twice q month,
by my chief assistant engineer, Mr.. e,
l.. Corthell, assisted by Mr.. Marx E.
Schmidt and Mr.. w. L. Webh, civil en-
giDeers, the results OF which have from
time to time been promptly published
by me. It would seem, therefore, that
between the cost to the government and
to myself and associates, the public are
likely to ba well informed upon the sub,
ject. There seems to be, however, con-
siderable discrepancy, by your state.
ment, between the results Of Mai)r
HoWelPs and my own sounding on the
bar, and especially re- p 3cting the refor-
nation Of the bar in ADVANCE OF the Jet.
ties. On the appearance OF anonymous
telegsms in st. Louis papers, sent re-
Gently from this city, s'aIing that the
WSVer was shOaling in advance OF the
jetties, l authorized the empbat-
1c declaration to be made by the
S1uth PAS ietty c0mpsDy's secreta-
ry in tbst city, that this report was
"a malicious falseho6d.n | cay 50
still, although it seems less apOny-
nous than before. Your editorial leaves
but little doubt of the fact that you have
been misled by Information derived
from Msjor HoWell's Office. You say:
" This compilation shows" among other
things you mention, "that the bar has
simply been pushed cut, slops, sho8l
and all, a. though it had been bodily
from one point to another
etc. To this l have Ouly to reply that
any ticom 2ilstions," or charts of sound
ings, showing any such result as this,
are absolutely false and unreliable. The
contour lines OF soUndings on the
outer slope of the bar embrace b9tween
the width Of the jetties one thousand
feet, and these lines have frequently
altered, sometimes Tecediag on tiie east
side of this width and advancing on the
west, and again Te.reating and advanc-
ing on the opposite sides; and again,
these lines have retreatCd and advanced
In the middle of the jstties, leaving
nearly equal depths on each side OF a
middle ground at their mouth. Ga the
twenty. fifth we had channel OF nea,ly
equal depth on each side of such middle
ground, while on this latter, the depth
was but two or three feet less than in
these channels. Last Sunday the depth
in the east one was sixteen feet, aud 10
the west sixteen and half feet, while
but thirteen feet was over the shoal be-
tween them. At no time, however, have
these contour lines advanced Oh Onepart
Of the bar front without retTeating on
rome other, and there has not been, and is
not to-day, any average advance slI
over the front Of the bar. At no time |
has any part advanced anything like so |
much as you assert. The eighteen foot |
contour line, for instance, is not to-day |
further seawRrd that it was year ago, |
while the deeper contour lines have |
nearly all retreated; that is, have come |
further landward, making the outer
slope of the bar sleeper than ever be- |
fore; while beyond the thirty-feet con-
tour line the deepening has been very
decided, ranging from one to httesn teet.
I repeat, therefore, emphsticslly that |
the reported shOaling in front of the Jet |
ties or the reformation of the bar on its
sea slope-a phenomenon conf ienlly
predicted by MsjOr Howell and other
opposers of the jatty sys'em-hasnot oc-
CURED, and that the effort now being
made to create this belief is founded in
ignorance or malice. The cavilers at
this improvement declare they have
come through the jetties and found
places with but ten or twelve feet on
them, when we have reported fifteen or
sixteen. They ignore the fact that tue
ietties are one thousa1d feet wide, and
expect to find the maximum depth from
jetty to- jetty, yet praise the channel
maintained by the dTe 1gebOst at SJutl-
west Pass to q degree that makes it sur
prising that any one should want bat
ter one. although a deviation Of thirty
{ ct from its center gives hut fifteen feet
or les, and within q distance
not Ole qua { r OF the width Of
the jstties, there is but eight or nine
feet. The Persistent misrepresentation
and hostility shown by portion of the
citizens and pre- So Of this city to this en-
terprise is one of the most unexpected
snd remarkable features developed by il.
| was led to believe that every intelli-
gent citizen Of New Orleans wanted
deep water at the mouth Of the river, l
came here with the authority Of con-
gress.to improve the shsllowest one of the
passes, aud one not at all used for COM
merce, and having at high tide scarcely
more than eight feet on its bar. Of
fered to interest the cit'Zsns OF New Or.
leans in such pecunisIy profits as
might realize by success. The plan pro-
posed had been subjected to one Of the
most thorough discussions and was Eus-
tanned by the opinions Of the very
ablest engineers in the world. A very
few enterprising citizens here aided me
with their means, snd with this aid and
that supplied by myself and parties in
s.. Louis and New York, We have been
at work less than eleven months, spsDd-
ing our own money, creating no inter-
ruption to the old channels Of the river,
and in that time we hav? obtained a
permanent increase in the depth on the
South Pass bar, which IL steSdily inn
proving, and which is to-day Only cne
foot less than the dredged-out groove st
the Southwest Pass; and yet one
would suppose from the fault finding
that we were increasing the expenses OF
the government, or wasting the money
Of all these gTumbleTs. Whereas, have
yet to hear one word OF doubt or COM
plant from the genuine public spirited
men who are spending their own money
under my direction in his important
work, and the noble he arted ones who
are giving it q moral encouragement
scarcely lees potent and important. l
had not closed the reading Of your edito-
nal when was handed the accompany