, 1879-04-26

THE CHICAGO TRIBU1
demn the very succcss Of tl,e work m iall,,sc.
The tnfllIona os yards Of sctltmcnt would scctn
10 bury up everything but the rivcr's channel
md mouth. The present work at the mouth
cnuse
TOTAL s7orrAon or scoun THROUGHOUT
THE RIVER ABOVE
until tho equilibrium Of the stso II rc-estab.
llshcd, whilo the system uf openInR thu month
by "fAlse bar u will cause an effective svo,lr
throughout tho channel Of the river aud liz
branches, the channel current being de-.
s!'a ede1ly :. concentrated thereby. But that
outside the 1cts!cs may 10 safely denied by my
ont. TX there was not pound OF sediment
TINT went sown the river, tho wave Action Ut tbs
unli would hcayn up the sand from the bottom
ol the sea Into tho mouth NJ t1Ic river. Arat,
Il requires somewhat u MI clastlc conscic,lca
Tor any man to aaY That there d literal current
outside the mouth. But, II thrre was II literal
current Of even ten knots per honr swueplng
tae lateral current merely determining the post.
tim ot the lar. The engineering talent Of tho
world has been universally envnneu In ATTEMPT.
ing 70 chow that each and every river should or
could bs made to exist without bar at It's
mouth. This Is just as impossible a. TINT man
cenId exist without q stomach. Consequently,
oil englheers lluv0 failed III their nttetipts 10
open TIC mouth Of river, except Tor tu mo.
mcnt. because no river can exist without bHr
ut ITS mouth, to uso III tlla forcu OF the soa
waves. Therefore,
TIE SCIENTIFIC WAX
OF opening the mouth OF river, both for the
benefit bf lts commercial entrnncc md tho brfl-
ciit Of Ito chaniel throughout Its entire length,
IL simply to build false Or artificial bar directly
across tts MOUTH but Tar out In leep water, m'lil
50 deeply submerged that Nil yrsse1s may pnsa
freely over II IN going out aud cunning In. The
result Of this is to enable the outllowIng
river current to cut down tho OLD
natural bar mud inerease thc channel both In
question Of giving tue Misslasppi River Tho
deepest and widest commercial eutta,cc Of nny
port In tic world, even up to forty feet draught
Il It was required, followed by The fmpartnnt
river and It's brat'chcs several fce., bcsidcs
strengthening them as well aB the rlynr, n1nl Gu
ablinE It to yet away with it's floods, al Of whcl.
sotne Congressional COMMITTEES Of Commerce IN
tle future may ho able to SEQ tho utility Of. 1t
would he very satisfactory for you to sec The
tnany hydrographtc Charts Of the conditions at
various times Of the South Pass Jctties, isaictl
under act Of Congreas caIl!ng for CONSTANT re-
ports from iltg Government supettutcndhlg ctl-
Einccrs.. While most of the reports from time
to time have said TINT "only 1890, OF $500, OF
6, 900, ETC., cubic yards Of sedtnicnt were IL lie
removed from the sea to give twenty, twenty
two, or q twenty-f.ur fout channel from Tic
hen Of the Pass through 10 tic Gnlf, still t!.,t
81 drclging or raDtl currents. It is simply tho
little "carlunco" :" that knocks tlle 1c.ty tiirnry
Into cooked hat, and leaves tts advocates
lounderlng like blind porpotse.
ONE WORD MORE:
HTle jcttles at the Mas mouth Of ftl,c RlIin,
md the Sa1ina mouth Of the Danube have Iean
repeatedly given by engineers rs eniuently
successful, and rs proving tte correctness ~
tue tultY business. For my part, ask any Que
TO stiow greater engineering failures than these
-tIt.-
outlay. the Dutch Government Is unahlu tu
keep more thun sixteen feet at high tidy Oh the
AlnGs bar, Bo ttat thu heavy draIt vcsscls bound
to Rotterdam cni' only reach THAT tuwn by wuy
Of branch Of the river left nits natural state,
&, unnproycd By joittcs. Destdea, the a,aas
through Its cntsro leuEth has tilcd up several
feet With mud, and the Government iIas had If
teen to twenty lrcdge b0ats at work for TWO
years past to dredge It down to Its ultl level.
But It Is a job thcy will give I'D after while,
The Danaubo discharges Into quiet, shallow
little sea. quito land-l0ckcd uud therefore has
totalIy different conditions from what are found
on our Atlantic or iulf Coast. But, even With
keep seventeen to cfgitcHn feet Of water OIL Its
barf Millions OF money and constant 1abor. Is
that ALI Woll no, II has also cost tl,tt part ut
Europe hundreds of millions by its raising tho
ra!sing the levees anl banks to keep tho water
confined, and the bursting u which
THIS ,eEAsoN ALoNR
in South Hungary, on tho most careful computa-
tlDn frun various authorities, atnoui,ta TO loss
approximating $20,0 0,HD, ln.l some hundreds
Of llyes. 1w0ulu like to know from TINT great
Institution tu Gruatt George strect, WcBttf,in-
ster, whose members manipulated tic iettlcs Of
the Danube. as nlso; tic jettEcB Ut tllc South
Pass Of the Mississippi, where does tho SUCCESS
Of The Danube works show itaelfa 1n tue eight
cen feet Of, Its larl Not muct,i Now, another
nj Hfn fbffn tn al ffstk
crcatcd In tho Mississippi delta las lust stopped
the former drainage OF tho entire valley to that
cxtcut- II tho raise Is still nade hiGher, of
course tllu stoppaye will bu still Grcnter. but
enormous extent of country In any country
drained by blg river. tias thts abnormal coi-
ditIou OF tic drainage OF tie Mississippi tile
past two years had anything to do With
ITS ABNORMAL SANITARY CONDITION
the past summcrT Siany constituents In that
rs ,Sndupt will say tho bigger tho river t1la
bigger the ta!ltug always Of 1cttfes, or any con-
tractmcnt Of tho flycr's naturAl capacity, simply
because the damages, that follow are propur-
tlnnnte to the sze Ut the river, md may be meas
Mrcd by Its number of running fcot or miles.
Wlleru tic good cotnes iu have never been
able to learn from tho lnultItudInous volumes
published GU the subject. Cupt. Eats Ind
three-Quastcrs Of the burden Of bis original con-
tract talsen otr by the last Congress-, BY itB rc-
wllth Oh tlln thirty feet depth Of channel, a,l
accepting i1lstcad gcotnetricaI line Ut no width
or depth Resides, they reduce4 tiiu work re-
quirc.i for two al tho intermediate payments 10
per cent, tnnsMuct, as they now ngree to Gvu
him e500, ,00O for s6foot depth a.,ti $500 U00 far
Atf0ot Aeph. instead OE, Oh originally con-
tracirds s500 ,000 Tor 70 feet and s5p, QUO for
.3 lnet et,-lilai ~ thy threw of couuiu uf feet
hc has gs1t us nlucl, as he cau hundle.
"lu conclusion, II the General Uoverptueut