Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-26
TIE RED RIVER DAM.
How a Lieutenant Colonel Saved
Admiral Porter's Fleet.
A Brilliant idea from a Subordinate
Is Developed into an Eight Days
Wonder Of Engineering
Success.
I'M. Quad in Detroit Free Press.7

M Quad in Detroit Free Press
Banks Red river expedition was lacked
by Porter with his Mississippi feet of gun
boats. The vessels had made their way up
on a rising river, and were all above the
Alexandria falls, when, early in May, Banks
received orders to evacuate the country.
The expedition had resulted in the capture of
a few river vessels two or three small forts
and posts, and the occupation of long
stretch of country, but no great advantages
had been secured. The expedition, as whole,
was ordered by Halleck, interfered with by
, Grant and Sherman, broken up by unlocked
for accidents and circumstances, and taken
{ altogether was a blunder for which some one
higher in authority than Banks should have
! been investigated. Porter, in his official re-
port, says he requested Gen. Banks to have
the dam built. Banks, in his official report,
claims to have first preached the subject to
Porter 1t was an expedition in which no
one had faith, no one seemed to have supreme
, command, and about the only advantage
gained was the capture Of large quantities Of
cotton. Had not Banks received orders to
evacuate the country he could not have tar
ried longer Provisions and ammunition
were running low, the Confederates were
gathering to fall upon him, and that he sue
ceeded in getting his army out of the trap
when be did was looked upon as a piece Of
good luck.
THE IMPAssABLE FALLS.
When Porter was informed that the army
would soon take up the march in retreat his
entire feet was above the falls. Some of the
vessels had been taken above after great
trouble and now all were in trap The river
had fallen until there was not sufficient depth
to float the lightest craft
The current of the river was about eight
miles an hour and the greatest depth of water
on the rapids only six feet. The bed of the
river seemed full of rocks and the waters tum-
bled over them until it seemed as if q skiff
could not find safe channel. Porter must
either get his feet below these rapids or aban-
don it and march his men with the army.
1t appears that the idea of dam was first
preached by an engineer named Bailey, rank
ing as a lieutenant colonel. The river was
nearly 800 feet wide, the water falling every
day and thus adding to the velocity of the
current, and Bailey'S plan was hooted and
ridiculed by engineers and officers alike. Por-
ter g1shed over it when his feet was safe, but
before the work was begnn he secuted the
idea and announced that he would blow up
every boat in lis fleet if the water did not
rise in time.
BEGINNING WORK.
Banks agreed to prolong his stay until
dam could be erected, and when the task had
been decided on at least u, 600 men went to
work. There were wood choppers and log
gers and lumbermen and bridge-builders in
that army, and had the question been put to
them in the first place it would have been car
lied by unanimous vote.
There was plenty of timber and stone at
hand, though chimneys and walls were torn
down for bricks, and some square timber
hauled several miles. The work was por-
toned off to gangs, and no task was ever
prosecuted with greater harmony. After
the choppers had thrown down a tree
another detail trimmed of the limbs, a third
scored and faced, and the timber was then
picked up and carried to the bank In some
cases fifty men, each Selling the end of a
hand-spike thrust under the log, carried it
along with military step and perfect ease.
The dam was a rude Authenticated SIM
ply to back up the waters until the feet
could pass over the rapids. A part Of the
dam was composed of cribs Of timbers filled
with stone, and the stone were hauled from
one to three miles. In eight days the $1,000
men had accomplished what civil engineer
would not guarantee to do in four years.
The dam stretched out from both banks until
the rapidity of the current and depth of water
would permit of no more work. Barges filed
with stone were then sunk to narrow the pass
age still more and in eight hours the rapids
had almost disappeared in the back water.
THE ACCIDENT.
Had Porter been ready to go over ct this
time nothing would have been easier, but he
was engaged in sending his heavy guns
ashore. It was seen that the pressure on the
dam was becoming SO great that it must give
way and the three or four nearest boats were
put through the channel at moments no
tee and without much peril. The last boat
came down as part of the dam near the
centre was forced out by the pressure of the
water. In twenty minutes the six feet of
back water on the rapids had disappeared,
and the army realized that it must renew its
labors.
The work of chopping, digging, carrying
and lifting was the easiest part of the work.
Nearly a thousand men, all of them stripped
of coats and vests, were obliged to work in
water from two to four feet deep, and scores
of them with ropes around their waists to
prevent the current from tumbling them
down stream. Scarcely one had escaped
chills and fever and rheumatism, and of those
on shore every back ached and every hand
showed blisters. And yet within an hour
after the break in the dam the army was at
work again. There YVES no longer any doubt
that the fleet could be saved.
THE NEW DAM.
Col. Bailey saw that he must leave wider
opening in the centre, and while doing this he
must lose a foot or two of backwater. As
an Offset to this loss he prepared wing-dams
above the main structure, thus narrowing
the channel and increasing its depth. The
army was at work q little over three days
and nights at the second dam, and the depth
Of water on the falls was almost as great as
before.
SAVING THE BOATS.