The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1882-10-14
Improvement Of the Misssss,nn,
River.

Improvement Of the Misssss,nc,
River.
New Orleans Times Democra,
The proposed Improvement of the MI
sissipPi is by no means a new sch.,.
1t has been demanded and insisted On c..
years.
THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI
The mouth of the Mississippi river e
constantly changing and shifting Th;s
is especially so of the passes. sine ~.
discovery of the mouth of the river nv
La Sale. just two centuries AGO the
commercial exit from New Orleans n 40
Is the deepest pass, the one throupb which
the vessels plying to and from New a.
leans have sailed. has changed no less
ehan TOUR times. In 1880 the Northeast
Pass was the one chiefly in use. since
then Pass-a-lOutre. Southwest and
South Pass have been suecess;va,,, 80
HISTORY OF THE PASSES.
Attempts were made as early as 1926 70
deepen the channel at the mouth of +he
mississippi river by dragging iron har-
rows over the bar Nothing came of tbis
and for more than century no attemnt
was made to improve or deveIon tbe n.s-
ses, In 1873 the sum of $aso ooo was an.
propriated by Congress for the improve
ment of the mouth of the river. BEING the
hrst sum ever given by the Federal Gov
eminent Ter that purpose The appro
prlation was so nearly exhausted upon
survey and the preparation of the dredo-
ing apparatus that nothing more was done
tor several years. Northeast Pass. then
the deepest mouth of the river. gave only
IL feet of water, depth whose made
quacy for the commercial needs of a near
future was overlooked. At that time yes
sells built expressly for the CARRYING trade
between New York and New Orleans
did not exceed 600 tons register.
SURVEYS and reports of the passes were
made in 1890, 1887, 1880, 1870 and 1891.
Shortly after the survey of 1897, North
east Pass. then the chosen commercial
channel of New Orleans, shoaled up; but
Southwest Pass was found to answer pres
ent purposes, being only less convenient
OF approach. and it continued to be used
with tolerable facility until about 1880.
Then the increasing draught of ships
brought new difficulty, and sowing to
the pressing memorials of the citizens of
New Orleans, Congress ordered an ex-
pioratIon Of the region. and appropriated
large sum for the purpose of the deep
ening of the channel of the river" While
various measures We're beieng recon-
mended, vessels of less than I, 900 tons
were grounding on the bar. In 1882
there were no less than 40 ships aground
on the bar from two days to eight weeks,
many of them being compelled to lighter
their goods. and some even to throw them
overheard, in order to get safely off the
mud Jumps.
That year, 1882, $4,000 was appropri-
ated for the mouth of the river, and
Board of Army officers appointed to sug-
gest proper plan of operation for in
creasing the depth of water on the bar.
The Board recommended the system of
stirring up the bottom, and dredging the
river; and, if that failed, the building of
letties at Southwest Pass, five miles into
the Gulf, and the closing of all the lateral
outlets; finally, should this fail, the dig
ging of ship canal at Fort ST. Philip or
some other convenient point from the
river to deep water in the Gulf
The recommendation of the Board to
dredge bv stirring up the bottom was APP
proved by the War Department and
contract was accordingly entered into for
deeping the Southwest Pass to IS feet.
The contract was successfully executed
and depth of IS feet obtained in 1883.
No further appropriation was made until
1886. when no trace of the former deep
ening of the channel was left.
In 1886 100000 was appropriated for
opening and keeping open by contract
ship channels through the bars at the
mouths of Southwest Pass and Pass-a-
POutre. A contract was awarded to
Messrs. Craig s. Fighter for opening both
passes 20 feet deep and 900 feet wide and
for maintaining that channel four and a
half years. They constructed on the east
side of Southwest Pass jetty about one
mile long, which with narrowing and
dredging deepened the channel to IS feet,
which depth was maintained during 1859
and 1860. Then came the war and the
passes were neglected, no attempt being
made to open the channel during the con-
tinuance of hostilities.
In 1868 the Federal Government went
back to the system of dredging, and con-
structed steam pro oeller dredge at a cost
of $4,000. A second boat was built a
short time after. These two boats worked
for three years. but in 1873 the army en-
gineers gave their opinion that this dredg-
ing could not maintain depth of 10 feet
DETENTION OF VESSELS AT THE BAR.
In February, 1889, a committee from
the New Orleans Chamber of Com
merce, which visited the mouth of the
river, reported that the value of merchan-
disc DELAYED at the bar was: expectation,
S., 567,33o; and for importation 81 100000.
A month later there were IS vessels in
side the bar waiting to go out, 3 on the
bars and II outside, waiting to be towed
in. From 1872 to 1877, inclusive, AT
vessels grounded and were detained at the
mouth OF the river.
A DEMAND FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF
THE PASSES.
But the demands for the Improvement
of the Mississippi river had grown so loud
from all portions of the great West at
this time, that the Federal Government
had to harke1 to it. The railroads had
apfire fn0nn0o1v of the