New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-18
The Ensineers and the Jet.fes.

SMALL PROPERTY OWNER AND SUB
SCRlBER TO THE N. o. p. K.
The Engineers and the Jet.ies.
The question of the South Pass jetties has
caused q division of sentiment among en-
gineers of all grades, and the best light the
unlearned masses can get is evolved from the
friction Of great minds. Mr.. Eads has
developed many theories Of late which
have challenged attention by their origin
ality. Their practicability is a matter to be
demonstrated hereafter. In this coHnec
tioD, the following communication is pre-
sented:
VIcKsBURG, Miss, April 15 1876.
EDITOR REPUBLICANS:
There is great difference of opinion be-
tween the most distinguished engineers AZ
to the benefit to be derived from the jetties
Among those who believe that the je,tiee
will prove successful we find Captain Eads
Sir Charles Hartley, General Alexander,
Major Comstock, Professor Mitcnell, T. E.
Slckies. w. M Roberts. II. d. Whitcomb
G. w. E. Bsyley and many others, and the
jstties have received the favorable ap.
prevail of the American Society Of Civil
Engineers.
On the other side. those who believe the
istties will never be . permanent success
are General Humphreys, chief of United
States engineer c0rpe; General Wright,
Colonel Abbott, Msjor How ell, and tue ma
jority of the Uaited States engineer corps.
The question involves more than the suo
cess of the jettiss. for it is contest be.
tween the civil and military engineers OF
| the country, and an attempt on the part OF
ha ~ n n hfai n a trnl I, a
internal improvement Of America. 1t the
| jetties prove successful they will deserve it,
| and it will clear the way for those wonder.
| full improvements which Captain Eads 60
ably described in his letter to the New Or.
leans Times, where he proposes to set Cairo
en- hill, free the valley from inund alton,
and give thirty feet Of water to the Gulf.
In July, 1874, Q board, consisting Of six
engineers, was appointed to report on the
| sippi river. Two of the members visited
| the Vistula, the Danube and the khone in
| Europe, and the board reported as follows:
"At the Vistula, after vain attempts fer
many years to improve the natural mouth,
| the river formed Q new outlet, and the old
| one, turned into lateral caual, hss long
given the needed water way to the inpor
tant port of Dantzic.
"At the mouth of the Danube. after the
canal system and the jetty system had each
been proposed by eminent authorities and
neither adopted, as final plan, in order to
do something, to try feeble jstties as pro-
vlsional scheme. The results were for bet
ter than the engineers expected, and the
jetties, made permanent, give an admirable
outlet to the Danube to-day.
"At the mouth of the Rhone. the engin-
GERS, after trying for many years to secure
Q good outlet by dykes. which never
reached the bar, abandoned that plan aud
built lateral canal, which is more than
adequate for the wants Of commerce"
From this it will he seen at the Vistul .
the jettes proved failure and the canal .
success. At the Danube, which is not a
delta river, but the bar formed by sand
waves, the same as at Galveston, the Jet
ties we're successful. At the RhoEe the
jetties again proved q failure and the canal
a success. The board state the dykes
never reached the bar, and for good rea
son: the bar always kept advancing sea-
ward. Before the jetties were commenced
the bar advanced yearly seventy-six feet;
during the work on the jetties it advanced
6233 feet; before the jetties commenced,
5000 feet from tho bar seaward it was
80 feet deep; when the jetties were aban
dOped it had shOaled up to eight feet six
inches. 1t wasl like following the ignis
,tatuus in the swamps; as they were about
20 grasp the Plittering prize it disappeared
in the distance; or, to use q more
homely illustration, like the jackass over
whose head its rider held q bunch of
of hay, no matter how he galloped the
tempting bait was always a little abe ad.
After spending 1900 coo francs on the
Rhone, Mons. E. Malezeiux. eDgineer.in-
chief, reported:
Gas it has been proved that the works
which have been executed have not pro-
duced upon the bar OF the Rhone the deep
ening which the wants of navigation 10.
quired, and that there was every reason to
conclude that in following the adopted sys-
tenn of jetties . definite improvement in the
cOndi ion of the entrance could not be ct :
fected, it was believed that any further at.
tempt to deepen the entrance to the RhOne
should be abandoned"
On this evidence the board state: "The
result of these examinations abroad has
been to largely strengthen their estimate
of the value for jetties at the mouth of the
Mississippi river" and the board recon.
m ended the jetties in preference to the
canal, with the exception of General
Wright, United States army, who states:
"As the chip canal project does, in my
judgment, offer reasonable chances of sue
cess, must give it the preference over the
jetty project recommended by the board"
With respect to the canal the board state:
''The board is therefore of opinion that the
canal can be built at the estimated cost,
$ll .5l4, ,200." "
On March 3, 1875, Congress passed an
act authorizing Captain EAds to build the
jetties, payments to be made az follows:
- NM - INA an