The Cairo bulletin. [volume] (Cairo, Ill.) 1872-1878, 1877-07-20

GENERAL HEAuREGARD on THE WORK
BEING DONE BY GAIT. EADs
The serious and Interested opposition
10 Captain Kais in his lab1rs at the jet
ties at South Pass. have induced General
Beauregard, in ,pirit Of fairness, to pub
lish facts on the subjec' known 70 him.
self. He states, in published cOmman.
ication, that during the past year he
visited the jetties several times, and j.
convinced that, but for he delay caused
by the momentary crisis 81 1874, there
would now he depth Of twenty-five
which had only eight feet before Captain
Eads's Improvements were made.
At the beginning two principal doubts
existed-that the force Of the water
might not be sufficient to scour out tie
required channel that new bar might
form outside the pass. The results
thus far obtained" says General Beaure.
gard, ".how cODclu-iveIy that these fears
were groundlessn In November las',
the board Of United States cOmmi,siOn.
ers reported channel twenty feet deep
and two hundred feet wide, where /, had
been about eight feet deep. The spring
rise brought Increased action Of the cur.
rent, and In one spot, where The United
States coast survey map Of ls1j showed
only thirteen ieet Of water, there Is now
the extraordinary depth Of eigh,ynine
feet. On this General Beauregarl r..
marks This securing shows clearly
that the power 10 sXcayate 1. there.
but must be judiciou,ly controlled ~
perform the work intended 10 b- accom-
pllshed. The general add. win re-.
gard to the probability Of "A new bar b.
Ing soon reformed in front Oi the ietile..
accurate s0nn1ings made during the Ias.
two years prove that no danger Of that
Kind need De apprehends1 At present"
The following statement by the eminent
authority we have quoted from, ia Of in
terest, "a showing hog the iettiea, and
the current they control, effect their re-.
markable result: when the high wat.
ers OF the river, already charged with
alluvion, reach the shoal at the head "
the South Pass, they are contracted by
the works there constructed, their We.
loclty 10 INCREASED, and they take up
an additional quantity OF scdl-
and ment, which is stlll further
augmented when they reach the icttits
wing.dams, which reduce the width of
the channel 10 about seven hundred feet:
lhere they become overcharsed with sod
lmeht from tie eroslye process constant
~ gong on. ANA when ascending the in
side slope OF the bar they meet with the
incoming tlde-increased by the sou,her.
~ winds-thcy lose part of their ye-
locity, and drop gradually their SURPLUS
sedimcntary matter. which is removed
and even the channel is dcepcncd by the
ebb tide, especially when accelerated by
n change OF wind to the northward this
is the cause Of the Irregularities of chan.
nels so much complained OF, and which
must continue until the works OF i'm
provemenis shall have been COM
pleted and the regimen of
the pass shall have had time
to accommodate itself to the new condi-
ton Of things, when the channel will
become as normal AZ at the Southwest
Pass and at Pass q la Ioutre. One might
IA well complain that new roadway Is
obstructed and dangerous while the
cuttings and Filings are still unfinished"
IN conclusion, General Bcaurcgard
claims patience and forbearance when
occasional difficulties occur, as thew
naturally must in such an extensive
Undertaking, and asks the people ITO en-