The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-02-15
JUDGE n. y. TAYLORINTERvIEwED
What He Has to Say About the Missis.
sippi River.

What He Has to Say About the Missis.
sippi River.
ST. LOUIS, Feb. l4.-Judge r. 8. Tay.
lor, Of Fort Wayne, member Of the Board
Of Mississippi River Commissioners, is at
the southern, and Is Is full a. the old r river
itself of enthusiasm, with regard to the
work OF the commission. Questioned by a
reporter with regard to the business before
the meeting of the board now In progress,
he SAID:
"As you know, the primary object of
the meeting is the allotment of the appro.
priation Of H,0O0,000 made by Con.
gress. This money will be for the most
part divided between tho works at Plum
Point and Lake Providence. II 10 posi-.
BILE that u few thousand dollars may be
applied to the work of closing gaps and
leyees already In progress on the Tensas
front. The amount expended In that way,
however, will be only so much as may be
necessary to save the work already begun.
Among the gaps now In pl ocess OF closure
ure are Two, on the west side Of the river
between Vicksburg and the Red river.
They are known as the Kemp's and Hard
Scrabble gaps. The work on them has
been delayed BY the failure Of the contract.
ors aud in one or both cases the work has
been taken away from the contractors by
Major Stickney, the United States engineer
In charge.'
"Will the district engineers have any.
thing Of importance to report to the meet.
ing?"
capt. Marshall, the engineer In charge
Of the Lake Providence work, was present
at the meeting, and submitted his plans for
the continuation Of work GU that reach.
Capt. Knight, of the Plumb Point work, Is
expected.
TIE PLANS SUBMITTED
by Capt. Marshall contemplate no change
in methods heretofore employed. He pro.
poses to strengthen the works already con-
structed at the head Of Bale Shed bar and
to strengthen some portion Of the bank
protection with additional stone. Aside
from this the work on bis reach will DO a
continuation of the work already adopted.
The work at Lake Providence Is of q very
difficult kind, on account Of the volume Of
the water, the rapidly Of the current and
the great s0ftuess OF the banks. In respect
to the unstable opposition OF the banks,
which Is everywhere the most difficult
feature Of the business, hero 10 no worse
place In the river. II the works proposed
will stand there they will stand anywhere
on the river.'
''Is there possible any change OF the
methods Of improvement
1.-THE two general methsds-That Of con.
traction, of forming q channel by permea.
bic dykes which stay the velocity of the
current and compel deposit Of sediment
below them, and the method Of bank pro.
lection by mattresses Of wood aud stone
will, in the opinion Of engineers, remain
the general methods to be followed. The
improvements continually suggested are
Improvements In the way Of carrying
these methods into effect--improve.
ments In the manner of work. The
methods now In use were applied for the
purpose Of bank p rejection at Cairo and
Memphis a half dozen years ago. Sub.
stantially similar methods were employed
for deepening the channel for the first
time by Major Ernst on Horsetall bar, be.
low 81. Louis, few years since. His
work had been in progress but short time
when the work Of the commission was be.
gun. 1t began practically at Lake Provi.
dence and Plum Point In 1882 The meth.
DDS and results have been practically the
same since the introduction a. Cairo and
Memphis.
"How was Capt. Marshall's report re.
garded by the Commisslony"
Gas very valuable. 1t was based upon
his two years. experience at Lake Provi.
dence and dwell, upon new devices and
difficulties to be overcome. Capt. Mar.
shall has exhibited
EXTRAORDINARY ABILITY
and energy and 1t is greatly regretted that
there is danger he will be obliged to give
up bis work In consequence OF the Ill health
brought about by the exposures incident to
1t. AT the last meeting Of the commission
a resolution was adopted requesting the
Score tary Of War to allow him to establish
his headquarters at any point he might
select and continue his supervision of Lake
Providence work from that point. think
the request would be granted, but doubt
II Marshall would continue his work unless
he could be present at the scene Of it,"
''What do you think Of the Washington
convention"
~ think the result will be good. My
impression Is that the convention was well
planned aud wisely conducted, and that 1t
canno fail to exerta very beneficial in.
huence In turning the attention of Congress
and the whole country to the necessity OF
the Mississippi river improvement. I think
that the memorial adopted was q mo lei