Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-30

Galveston raised 500, 900 to do the
work. When the money was expended
the city was out of pocket just that
much, and not single inch more water
on the bar than before. In the face of
this failure it seems strange that the
government should be expected to ex-
pend millions of dollars to repeat the
same experiments. This same board in
formulating the plans for the improve
ment of Galveston harbor spent only
about twenty-four hours at that place
making examination on which to base
the expenditure of more than Sc 200 900.
The engineering board of 1889 gave
about the same amount of time to
each of the gulf harbors on which to
base their decisions as to their avail
ability as deep water harbors. In fact
their whole report is based on old re-
ports and data, much of which is known
to be very unreliable. OF all the har-
bors on which the engineering corps
have tried their experiments not single
deep water entrance has been obtained +,
while at the mouth of the Mississippi
river where they expended 81 ,6l4, 600
without any special beneficial results,
private enterprise opened channel
across the bar thirty-three feet deep for
S., 250 200 with profit to the contractor
of nearly 50 600, 600.
At the mouth of the BraZos river the
government engineers, after having used
appropriations amounting to Sl5S 900 +,
abandoned the work as impracticable +,
with not single yard of jetty left in
sight to show for this vast expenditure,
and when private capital undertook the
enterprise the engineering corps did
everything in their power to prevent the
company obtaining the necessary legisla-
ton. In abandoning the work the en-
gineers say that the river is not capa-
BILE of maintaining a channel over ten
feet deep; whereas it actually does main
tain channel over forty feet depth.
An officer formerly in charge of the work
states that the ''Brazos is non-sediment
bearing stream from the fact that there
is no delta at its mouth, - when, IN
fact, it is heavier sediment bearing
stream than the Mississippi river
When so little attention as this is given
to the physical features of harbors what
better can be expected than the failures
that have followed all of their expert
ments.
Their estimate of amounts that can
profitably be expended at Galveston iS
50 1850 900; yet when the bill was before
the senate committee these same en-
gineers requested that they be prohibited
from spending more than 81, 200, 900 per
year, thus making the time for the COM
pIetion of the work over SIX years, in
stead of less than three. 1t is apparent
from this that the officers of the corps
are afraid of failure and wish to postpone
the time as long as possible, and then
shift the responsibility back on the act of
congress.
1t is not question of money alone in
this case, but whether the people of the
south and west can afford to wait anoth-
er six years for these engineers to try
their "tentatIve plans which they do
no not guarantee to produce any bene-
fetal results whatever. With these facts
before US a resume of what has been &C
complished will be of interest.
At Sabine Pass jetties 2200 feet apart
have been built out into the gulf dis
tance of about three miles. The line of
deepest water through jetties is about
eleven feet deep, and apparently not
deepening from natural agencies, show
ing that the present cross section of jetty
channel is capable of carrying the volume
of water discharged, and that uutil other
plans are adopted a channel of over
twelve or thirteen feet is not likely to be
obtained.
At Galveston after sinking 81, 1878, 200
there now remains about one and one
half miles of one of the jetties. The
plans so far as width is concerned are
similar to those of Sabine, and a COM
parison of the cross-section of the pro-
posed jetty channel with that in the
gorge shows that the results will without
question be more disastrous than those
of the latter place. At Arkansas Pass
S5Sl ,250 have been expended with the
pass at present in a worse condition than
when in a natural state. In fact the
narrowing to the pass from the effects of
the work done there is of immensely
more damage to the future Of the hsrbor
than any benefit that can probably be,
derived from the material that now reE
mains of the jetties they have tried 70
construct. III
At the Brazos the engineer corps expended
SI53 900 on work of which nothing now remains.
The private company now engaged in opening
this harbor have jetties on both sides Of the
channel constructed $500 feet into the gulf wltA
a sixteen foot channel through the compi eteo,
work and twenty feet deep at outer end of jettes.
Another 100 feet of ietty work will place the end
of the jetties beyond the crest of the bar and in
the first freshet in the river that afterward ~
ours. ~
The only precedents we have of successful ne
provement of mouth of sediment bearing stree3hs
are the Sulina mouth of the Danube, and3'the
South Pass entrance of the Mississippi river.
The only port having physical characteristics
similar to those two rivers is the Brazos river.
The Brazos is somewhat smaller than South
Pass but larger than the Sulina branch Of the
Danube and has slope of gulf bottom outside
OF the bar, and lttoral currents almost identical
with those of the latter port. AT South Pass the
original depth on the bar was about nine feet
The ietties were built over the bar into
depth of twelve feet and pro-
duced a channel thirty-th feet deep
the scour extending 1000 feet beyond end of jet
ties At the mouth of the Danube the depth on
the bar nine feet and the jetties were built
over the bar into sixteen feet of water, produc-
ing channel twenty-one feet deep. At the
Brazos the same state of affairs exist as during
the construction of the etties at the above ports
Particular attention is called to the accompany
ing sheet of cross-sections showing the COM
parative sections of the gorges and proposed
channels of the Texas ports, together with South
Pass and Chicago river. The principal reason
given why Galveston is the only port on the
coast capable OF being made frst-class harDor
is that the cross-section Of all others are too
small.
The dimensions of these cross-sectiOns are as
follows: "a
Width. Depth. Area.
Feet. Feet. So .Fese,