The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-07-17
Complea,ou OF the Jeitles.

A few DAYS ago telesraphic dispatch
from New Orleans announced that the max
imum channel required by the jetty act had
been secured, and that the mouth OF the
Mississippi is thus fully and permanently
opened to the commerce OF the World.
The complete success CT one OF the most
difficult. costly, and courageous exploits OF
hydraulic engineering geverattempted is thus
briefly chronicled. Captain EadS has put
curb in the mouth OF the most powerful
and turbulent Of American rivers, forced
| il to obey his will, turned large part OF
| its waters into channel they had long
since abandoned, and compelled It's mud
dy current to cease depositing delrltus,
and to set to work removing the bars 1t had
piled up for centuries. This work the do-
cile river has accomplished, and the channei
| It mas thus obediently eXcavated, after being
barnesscd with jetties, piles, and Sunken
dams, now opens its broad and safe course
to the heaviest shipping. Years of labor
and large amount OF money have been re-
quired to accomplish this result, but the
value of the achievement to the commerce
OF the Mississippi Valley is beyond calcula-
ton. 1t is said in New Orleans that the
saving on the freight Of cotton sent abroad
resulting from deep water at the mouth of
the river amounts to enough in a single
year to pay the entire cost OF the lefty work.
When the Jetty Company began its ope-
rations at South Pass the commercial en-
trance to the Mississippi was at Southwest
Pass, but only light-draught vessels were
sure OF getting in. A ship drawing~over
sixteen feet was liable to get fast on
the bar and remain there until she un-
loaded her cargo upon lighters. The cost
OF unloading and reoading and Of the long
| Nod fbo ne tho
voyage. Besides the obstruction Of the
bar, which constant work by Govern
ment steam dredges for more than
twenty Years had failed to remove,
there were the curious mud-lumpS, which,
heaying up from the bottom outside
the rivers mouth, often caught ships in
their sticky embrace. Southwest Pass was,
however, the main channel, and the only
practicable entrance for craft larger than
fishing smacks. South Pass had only six
, feet OF water on its bar, and Pass L'Outre
and the old Belize had long been closed
The Government would not allow Captain
Euds to work upon Southwest Pass, which
-, having by far the greatest volume OF water
was most easily improbable. 1t was fearet
S he would ruin the poor channel existing
there, and so choke up the river completely
He had to take South Pass, and Wa
compelled, in order to get enough water il
: it, to throw sunkcu mattresses across tn
heads OF the other passes. Then he had t
: conquer shoal at the head Of South Pas
and stop up an outlet through which POI
ton of the current escaped into the gul
All this was preliminary aud additional
; the real ietty work, which consisted i
. building two walls from the rivers mout
straight out into the gulf for distance {
nearly three miles to the outer verge OF tn
bar-walls that would resist the force
the current and the huhetings OF the sea.
The enterprise met with discouragemer
r from many Of the best engineers IN th
Government service and in civil life. Pre-
phecies of the ruin of the willow walls b
: the waves, OF their destruction by worm!
Of undermining by the current, and OF the1
failure to compel the river to deepen II
channel and cut passage across the bal
were much more abundant than WORD
of cheer But Captain Eads had faith
his system, and paid little attention
the scepticS. His success is complete
There is now a depth of thirty feet bs
tween the jetties. The commerce OF Ne'
Orleans is revolutionized. The, large:
, iron steamers 90 up to her wharves'f for Cal
goes OF cotton and grain. All the lowe
Mississippi region is open to direct trad
with the great seaports OF the world. TT
i. MUS, persistence, and practical skill hay
seldom won so great a triumph over tn
forces OF nature and the prejudices Of mel
Neao York Tribune.