Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1878-02-02
SUCCESSFUL PROGRESS OF THE
GREAT JETTIES.
TScientific Americana

captain LslttS improvements it Iuo
mouth of the Mississippi river having
successfully progressed to point at
which, under the act of Congress relating
to the subject, a second installment OF
half million dollars falls due to him,
Generals Barnard and Wright, Of the Un-
tied States Enginees, recently made a
thorough examjnation of the new chan
mel. Tho substance of their report is CIV
EN- below.
1t is safe to say that no engineering
work of similar magnitude has ever been
maintained and conducted with such
splendid success, under so many unfavor-
able conditions. From the very outset
Captain Eads has met with opposition
none the less bitter because it came from
official sources. He was confronted by
atlversarics who would neither support
his plan nor agree among themselves
upon the feasibility of any other project,
and the prospect was that the Mississippi
would remain unopened to commerce in
definitely into the future. With bold
ness born of perfect faith in his scheme,
Captain Ea,ls broke through the dead
IoCk VI W A'iAISoli seo-
suming the entire enpenses of putting
the same into practice, and asking no re-
endorsement or pay until tho officers of
the United States should themselves tes-
tify to the successful attainment of va
rious points in. tho progress of operations.
Congress at length passed the requisite
act, and Captain Eads began the appar-
Of h q
great jetties out into the open sea.
Certainly no engineer has ever before
undertaken such task under such aus
pices. Executing q great enterprise OF
the first national Importance, he has been
entirely without Government aid; on the
contrary, at the outset, officers of the
Government, if not active opponents. did
not in many cases hesitate to predict the
failure of the scheme. Still Captain
| Eads has labored ON, always successfully.
| until now large ocean vessels may safely
pass through the channel he has made,
and his title to the gratitude of the peo-
pie rests on an unassailable foundation.
We have published, both in these COL
umns and with much detail in those of
|
the steadily successful progress of the
work; and from the beginning the Scien-
| titic American has been among the few
steadf;,st supporters of tho correct
ness of Captain Eads' theories and
plans. It is therefore with no small
| qualification that we now coli
gratulate Captain Eads on his triumph
Generals Barnard and Wright in their re.
po,t state that there is now a channel
nowhere less than 209 feet wide and q
feet deep from the South Pass between
the jetties to the deep water of the Gul
of Mexico. The width between the 2:
feet curves varies from 300 feet to NOR
than SEQ feet. At the head of the Pass :
channel 264 feet wide and % feet dcel
exists, and a practicable channel 23 fee
deep was also found. No more complete
announcement of the success of Captain
Eads' work, or one which at the same
time emphasizes more strongly the erro
of his opponets, can be made than is EN-
bodied in the following words from tn
report of the above named distinguished
officers:
eff we look at the actual facts presen
ted by the prosecution of this work, W.
find that while two and ha'f years age
there was bar at the mouth of th'
South Pass, over two miles in extent
measured from twenty-five feet of wate'
inside to the same depth outside, ove
about a half mile of which there was
ei"ht feet of water, a wide and deep chan
nel exists: and result inferior in physl
l,uf f,,r,- los rp1y, fpn n a
has been attained at the head of the Pass
This result is SO exclusively due to tho
ettics and auxiliary works, that the aux
, iliary aid of appliances, if in such we in
clu,le dredging machines, is ntterlyinslg
nificant. About Z, 5000 cubic feet o
material were eNcava ed by tho current
; against d,aHo hy dredging