The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-03-28

spread apart as widely as possible. The
spaces between the fingers will represent
the passes from the river to the gulf, and
the fingers the marshy island. The space
between the ring finger and the middle fin
ger will be Fades Channel which is the
narrowest of all the passes Captain Fades
system of channel improvement is simply
by means of his 'jetties," to make as much
as possible of the current of the river pass
through this channel, and prevent as much
as possible of its waters from getting out
to the gulf through the other passes. The
jetties that do this are structures similar
to our Bayside water fences Piles are
driven down, and willows are driven be-
tween and among them; and these are bal
lasted with broken stone, like a railroad
bed, to keep them in place. The current
cuts out and deepens the channel Out
on the bar where the jetties would be ex-
posed to the breakers from the gulf they
are protected by seawall, or breakwater,
made of immense granite blocks. | in
quired particularly of Capt Thorn, of the
Bell, as to the result of Captain Fades
work. "Before the jetties were built" he
said, there was only nine feet of water in
this pass; now "there is everywhere in it
over twenty-eight feet. This pass was not us
ed; the one that was used had but sixteen
feet" 1t is possible that bars will form out
in the gulf beyond the jettied channel, and
that these works must be hereafter extended.
There is quite village, Port Eads, in
the marshes at the mouth of the river
Capt Thorn said the government had Civ
en- Captain Fades this marsh, and that the
buildings are his. He has force of men
at work there constantly, and they live in
these houses. The other inhabitants are
the men of the lighthouse and life-saving
service, pilots and fishermen. The houses
are low and fiat, but strongly built and
neat and attractive. Whatever soil there
is has been carried there, but each cottage
has its little yard, with grass growing in it,
and its flower and vegetable garden There
were mosquitoes at Port Eads on the 22d
of February
At New Orleans the range between high
and low water mark in the Mississippi is
fifteen feet The volume of water poured
out through its mouths varies considerably,
being 100000 cubic feet per second at low
water and 100000 at the highest flood.
The grade of the bottom of the river from
New Orleans to the gulf is about an inch
and half to the mile. At Cairo the fall
is nearly three times as great The Mis-
sissippi below Cairo is the muddiest river
in the world. A tumblerful left to settle
twenty four hours will deposit teaspoon
full of mud in the bottom of the glass
This experiment on small scale will give
an idea of the immense amount of silt the
current of the Mississippi carries along
with it. The power of the current to sus-
tain and transport this solid matter depends
on its velocity 1t is this sediment, which
is deposited when the velocity is checked,
or when the current becomes sluggish, that
makes the bars in the river, and the delta
at its mouth. When the channel is broad
the velocity is lessened, the silt is dropped,
and bars accumulate. Where the channel
is narrow, the current is swift, the silt is
held in solution and carried along the stream
and the river deepens. In the outer curve
of every bend, the channel is deep and
clear, because the current is swift and strong.
But on the inside of the return curve.
where there is slackwater, the silt is dropp-
ed and bar is formed The willows of
the jetsies check the velocity of the water
that abrades them; it parts with its silt
which becomes entangled in the brush, and
is gradually forming wall.
An eloquent writer has said: "The
greatest law Of the Rivers life is that it
shall be forever laden with burden that
slips from its grasp the instant it loiters
by the way. The whole valley is itself
the result and the proof of the existence
and the operation of this. There is not
shovelful of earth in all its square miles
that has not been dissolved in water, and
carried by water to the point where its
journey ended, for want of velocity to carry
it farther. Every grain of sand, every
drop of water, every inch of movement,
every low stage, every high stage, every
flood is equally obedient to the same great
law. The engineer who has learned its
meaning well has taken the first step
towards successful solution of the problem
of the rivers improvement. He who ig-
nores or defes it puts himself in the path
way of forces as irresistible in their opera
tion as the march of glacier.