National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-06-17
Mississippi River Commlssio on. .

sisters.
Mississippi River Commission.
The president of the Mississippi river
commission has addressed letter to Sena-
tor Gibson, reviewing the action Of the
House in suspending the functions Of the
commission, which has been referred by the
senator to the Senate. 1t will scarcely In
duce that body to reverse the decision OF
the House, for the reason that 1t lacks
frankness. The commission has lost the
confidence Of the House and the country,
because 1t abandoned the plan II recon-
mended to Congress in 1880 for one essen
TALLY different and much more expensive,
and on which by its own admission 1t has
already expended s2225,0OO without at all
increasing the depth Of the rivers channel.
1t recommended In 1882 ''the jetty sys.
tem," and Congress approved that system
by voting liberal appropriations to carry 1t
into effect. Gen. Gilmore himself described
the leading principal of that system in the
following paragraph, which he submitted
to the commission in 1880, when 1t was pre-
pairing its report. 1t will be found In the
minutes Of the meeting, Jan. II, aud reads
as follows:
Rosolred That the following general prlnci-
pies be embodied in the report of the commits
sion
That the method of improvement of the
navigation of the Mississippi river, which
promises the most valuable and permanent re-
suits, will comprise as Its essential features the
contraction by suitable works OF the water
way in the wide portions of the river, and the
protection of caving banks by special means,
Wtenerer he contracting tcorks referred 10 do not
effect that result
The minutes show that this proposition was
unanimously accepted by the commission,
all of the members being present, and 1t is
embodied In the report made In 1880 to
Congress, in which the other features OF the
same system are set forth, viz the de-
velopment OF new shore lines by river de-
posts in the wide places where the permea.
BILE jettles or willow dams were to be placed
TO contract the width, and thus ultimately
bring the high water channel to greater
uniformity Of width; also the closure Of all
outlets, by which the whole flood volume
should be utilized to scour out and deepen
the channel. Gen. Gillmore's resolution
shows that the leading feature OF this sys-
TEN is"the contraction, by suitable works,
Of the waterway IN the wide portions
OF the river.n In the language of the reso-
luton, 1t is the essential principle, for the
words italicized snow that the protection OF
the banks was only to be resorted to In case
the contraction works failed to stop the
caving.
This system was applied in 1889 to two OF
the shallowest reaches In the river, 400
miles distant from each other, and having a
total length of So miles. Willow dams were
| put in to narrow the wide places and induce
| deposit; and the levees were repaired and
outlets closed to conserve the excavating or
| deepening force Of the floods. The first food
that came next year was OF unusual volume,
but II failed to attain the height Of previous
ones in those reaches, because its concen-
trated volume rapidly deepened the river
bed through the shoals where the contrac-
ton works had been put in, and when the
low water Of 1888 came 1t was found that
the flood had dredged out a chanuel nine
or ten feet deeper, throughout the whole
fifty-fve miles, than 1t was before, and at
the same time many million cubic yards
Of deposit was thrown down In the con-
traction works, as the incipient develop
ment of the new shore lines contemplated
1t is neither frank nor polite to refer to
these splendid results of the jetty system as
proofs that " the plans Of the commission {"
have already been tested. Unfortunately
the commission abandoned that plan,
which was known as the Eads plan, for a
totally different one, known as the reret-
meat system, or protection Of caving banks.
Since the deep water was secured through
Plum Point and Lake Providence reaches
three years ago, not rod Of contraction
works have been put in on any of the other
wide and shoal places in the river. Three
or four millions, however, have been spent
since then chiefly in bank protection, but
not one inch OF channel-deepening has
followed this expenditure, while "the at
tempt to protect them has in almost every
instance been failure"
The contraction works, combined with
the closure of the outlets through the
levees, produced the deep channel through
Plum Point and Lake Providence reaches.
The attempts to revet the banks In those
reaches subsequently having signally failed,
while the depth has remained constant, is
proof that the rovetment there was un-
necessary. That attempt was, possibly,
excusable on the theory OF excessive
caution, but what apology can
be offered for the plain abandon
ment of a system adopted by Congress,
and for the expen diture of public money
voted for 1t, upon another plan in which
the chief feature of that system is actually
ignored. One in which the contraction
works is not used at all. This reyetment
plan is the one the commission has been
pursuing for the past three years, and IT
has brought 1t to grief. Mile after mile of
banks have been revetted without single
foot OF contraction works ever having been
built within fifty miles of them. The bend
above Memphis Is one of several illustrations
of this fact. Toreferto Plum Point aud Lake
Providence TO prove the merit Of the pres
ent plans OF the commission mtseads the
general public and possibly may score a
point for the commission, but there are
men in the Senate and House who will deem
1t lamentable effort to carry water on