Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-04-27
TIE JErTIEs AND TIE CINCINNATI
"COM EECIAL GAZETTE"


The Cincinnati Commercial Gazste having
ietty Cd the brain, and Cowdon for patron
saint, and Deer creek and Mill creek as studies
in hydraulic science, finds lite Investigations
obstructed by some very elementary inteili-
geuce respecting Mississippi river improve
ment which it copies from the columns OF
the Memphis APPEAL. II has always ex-
pressed ita.lf So cure that the plans of the
commissioners, which are those OF Capt.
Eads, TO improve the navigation OF the Mis-
sssippi by cou6uing the stream where 1t
extends out TOO broadly and thus cause
larger amount of water to pass through
given space than before, would not accom-
plish the object. It favored Cowdon's ex-
ploded scheme OF deepening the water at The
bottom By arranging outist4 10 take
water away from the top. Having read
the Memphis APPEAL, however, and probably
tested the facts the APPEAL explained by
new observsiionsl exploration along the
romantic shores of Deer creek, it has at last
come 10 Inc conclusion That cdP.. 4s2dS's-
principle that the more the water passing in
given time, that ia the swifter the current,
the deeper the channel will be, is correct.
Therefore it row says: "Of course if the
mouth Of the Mississippi is stopped with the
exception OF email! hols, the water will
pass through the creVice with force increased
in proportion TO the elevation of the food
line, and the higher the water the deeper
will be the istties." Thu shows progress,
k,t Al in hvdr anil
makes two little mistakes. The water at the
ietties did not pass through hole or ori6ce,
for the ietties are open at the top, and an
ori6ce sis a mouth or aperture OF tube,
or pipe, or other cavity" The other error
lies in the assertion that "the higher the
water the deeper it will be in the jstties,"
and the other assertion that "lhe other passes
have been closed, and the paas itself mar
rowed, raising the Watsrn M wonder thai
with such a Misunderstanding Of the prin-
eli pies Of hydraulics eur Cincinnati cotempor-
airy should have been ssiray all these years.
IT becomes the APPEALS duty TO Inform the
Deer creek student that the pass where the
jstties are, had, originally, at its shallowest
places a depth Of only eight and one-haf
feet; the depth ia now thirty feet. The mis-
take we have TO correct is that Of supposing
that the twenty-one and one-half feet which
has been added TO the depth Of the water in
the pass, has accumulated upon the suIface
of the original eight asd one-half feet, rails
ing "the elevation of the food lIHe," SO that
the higher the water the deeper it will be at
the j-tties, owing 10 the means the CONNER
eiaI Gazette says were used by Capt. Eads
"raising the water Well might our cotsm-
porary, laboriug under such u misunder-
standing, think that Cowdon'5 genius and
Cowdon's outlets were required. We must
assure the attentive Deer creek student that
water finds its own level in the Mississippi
below New Orleans Just as it did in Deer creek
the last time we saw it, consequently there
! il not mass of twenty one and one-half t.et
high Of water raised above the land level at
the jetty. On the contrary, the water that
ran swiiter than before, owing 10 the willow
mattresses confning it in a narrow space, by
reason Of that swiitness washed away the
! bottom, so as to make q channel thirty feet
deep, within which runs the original eight
and ne.half feet depth Of water, and also
the added Iwenty.one and one-haf feet OF
water. In other words, the water is
deeper, not because it runs twenty
| one snd one. half feet higher than be-
fore, but twenty-one and one-half feet lower.
| Twice in the article the Commercial Gazette
calls the people that has excited lis ire
ind h.f il mt
proper for students, Dser Creek students H.
cluded, "lo call Names" especially after
having so far blundered in their hydraulics
as TO suppose that, below New Orleans,
when water is deeper the depth is gained up
ward by ''the elevation of the food line, y
instead of downward by lowering the bot
tom OF the channel through which it runs
Spite of Cowdon's unsoientifc theories and
the experientsl errors of our cotempor
airy, the jelties are working wonders, and
when the River Commission has dune iii
work those wonders will be indefinitely ms g
nifed. The following from an exchange pa
per is proof IN point: "Since the completion
of the jelties, the foreign commerce.
OF New Orleans is assuming grea
proportions, aggregating in 1882, 1
valse of SIS, O92. O22; sum which en-
titles that city to rank fourth among thu
ports OF the United States, being exceeded
only by New York, Boston and San Fran
cisco. During the quarter ending March 81
1888, the exports Of domestic merchau
disc from New Orleans amounted 10 over
$50, 200 ISL, against S24 81, Ill for the CORE
spending three months of last year. Thes'
figures speak volumes for the growing i'm
portance OF the trade of the Mississipp
Valley, for which New Orleans is the natu