Daily Republican., 1880-02-16
A QUESTIONABLE PROJECT.

Channei ?--rbe Possibility Of the
Christiana Being FILLED MP and
Heinx Rendered Unnayigable-
The Opinion 0fWnter Men-bOme
Pronounce IL q Dangerous Ex.
perimoDt, others Favor IT.
For two weeks the question Of
erecting ice piers in the Delaware below
the Light House, has been pretty gen.
orally discussed together with the i'm
mense advantage the impr ,vemsnt
would naturally give this city over
river towns. The impression that
prevails Is that this contemplated
work would 90 more towards giving to
Wilmington the long desired posses
sion Of front on the river and de-
yelop our commercial facilities into q
channel which would at a not sfar dis
tant day rival and possibly in meas
ure supercede those Of Philadelphia,
than all other internal Improvements
combined. Petitions have been distri-
buted and are being numerously
signed. The form reads:
The undersigned citizens of Wilmington,
New Castle County, State of Delaware,
pr0priation for the construction OF leo piers In
the Delaware River, opposite Ohrlstlana
Avenue believing that the facilities afforded
By the Christiana harbor to the great and
growing commercial interests.of the Delaware
river and TO the manufacturing and CONNER
cial interests o the City of Wilmington, are
of Sufficient Importance to warrant such an
ifnE, n
ware River.
Those who are appsuding their
names TO this paper are doing so with
out a careful consideration; and have
not even looked for the least objection
able reason why the ice piers should
not be erected. 1t would be we'll TO
think.
In building these piers what would
be the effect upon the channel OF the
Christiana
Every one will admit that any i'm
provement made by which ingress and
egress over our natural outlet would be
materially effected, would work to the
business interests OF our city an incal-
cuable amount of injury. 1t would bs
disastrous. Would not the erection of
these piers SO change the channel and
so disturb the fats in the river as to
cause the gradual formation Of a bar
directly across the mouth of the Chris
tianay
Recognizing at once the possibility
of such a result Republican" repre-
sentative called upon a number of wa
termsn who from their knowledge OF
the channels are fully capable Of judg-
ing and obtained from them opinions
upon the matter. Some were emphatic
and declare that in case Of the ersc-
ton Of the piers the city would bel
compelled to keep dredger at work
periodically to keep open navigation.
One gentleman in giving his opinion
states that sin a short time you will
not have ten feet Of water at high tide.
Any one In the city who has hshed
with a net knows that the current from
deep water piers sets right in the mouth
of any creek or inlet near by when IL is
running high. In this instance when
the river is running down the tide will
set in from the New Jersey shore, and
it will only BE- a question OF time and
not very extended one at that, before
there would be gradual filling up at
the mouth of the creek.
"Every one knows how straight the
steamboats, have 10 run into the Della
ware before they can clear the flats;
and if these ice piers are put up, the
mud fiat will extend itself across the
channel of the creek and render navi-
cation impossible"
''How are you going to obivate this"
inquired the REPUBLICAN,.
"You see," said he, "that many
people have an idea that our river
front can be improved very easily
Such Is not the fact. To make a front
and obviate the accumulation of OBJ
s.ruction In the Christians channel
you would have to wharf out easily
oae- fourth of mile. You can fill up
the marshes and build short wharves
inside of the mouth, SO as not TO take
up too much of the creek and by these
means have one of the finest water
fronts and harbOrage combined"
Leaving this gentleman we repaired
to the offices of Charles Warner Il Co.,
and George W. Bush & Son ptoprietors
Of the Electric Line, and had an inter
view with them in relation to the mat
ter. Although their information in
relation to the channels of the river
aud creek was limited, they admitted
that the filling up OF the creeks chan.
nell would bs the greatest catastrophe
to Wilmington that could well be con-
aud should there he the
east possibility of such an effect, the
project of building the piers should be
abandoned at once. The thought of
heir being such an effect had not oc-
,urred to them and consequently, they
were upprepared TO express an opinion.
They referred uS to the commanding
,fficers of the various New York vessels
which were then awaiting sailing
,rders, and from these gentlemen OBJ
aimed Que opinion, which was that If
he piers were built, and the chanuel
hanged in coarse that would be like
v to cause an eddy, which, owing to
he peculiar position of the flats, would {
20 highly probable, that the creek !
would fill up necessitating almost con- {
inual dredging.
This morning We called upon Captain
Ieycock of the tugboat "Falcon." He
vas of the opinion that If the piers {
we're built off Christisna Avenue they c
yould SO interfere with the currents as
o form an eddy which would result in
he formation of mud fiat and ulti-
nately be the means of completely {
losing the mouth of the creek against
navigation. One of the Barry brothers,
lealers in ship stores, who was present 6
! sal II L s. l., =.