The Hazel Green herald. [volume] (Hazel Green, Wolfe County, Ky.) 1885-19??, 1895-10-31

Wonderfuf Jettles to Be Constructed for
the Purpose OF Securing Deep Water.

the wonderful jetties built TO secure
deep water for ocean steamers in the
bay ut Galveston. Anyone who never
saw these jetties at Galveston has no
idea OF the magnitude OF this scheme
TO get deep water. From 1870 until
four years ago the United States gov.
eminent has been letting contracts in.
termittently for this work. Each APP
preparation would be something like
one hundred thousand dollars. When
that amount was expended there would
be long delay until another appro.
priation was made, and little good re-
suited from the work. In 1891 Uncle
Sam took the bit in his teeth and de-
termined to rush things. Hc entered
into contract for six million, two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars of
work. The contractors have already ex.
pended about four million dollars and
say they will require one million eight
hundred thousand dollars more
There are two jettios, known as the
north and south jetty. The south
jetty begins at the north end of Gal
weston island and runs in a northeast
erly direction thirty-two thousand
eight hundred feet, or six and two.
tenths miles. When il is completed
1t will be seven miles long. The north
| jctty starts at Bolivar peninsula,
and is now built for four and one
half miles. The two jetties, probably
two miles apart at the shore end,
gradually approach each other as they
r"n into the gulf, so that at the water
end there is but a narrow channel and
a sort of funnel is formed. Within the
bay thus formed the water is suffi.
GENTLY deep for the safe anchorage of
the largest ocean steamers, but near
the head or small end, of the funnel
these jetties make sand bar II has
| been growing in recent years, and
there was great fear that big vessels
would be shut out of the harbor
This is the simple duty the jetties
are supposed to perform: When the
tide comes up into the bay it comes
| from deep water and brings little
sand. When it goes out through the
narrow channel formed by the jetties
the current is naturally stronger and
swifter, the water is more shallow,
and it carries the sand into the sea. In
| a few words, this is the plan of the
ietty-makers In addition the jetties
make a safe harbor within their
bounds. The sea never runs high
| there. That portion of the jetties
nearest the shore is made of ordinary
limestone; further out it is made of
granite taken from Granite mountain,
at Marble Falls, Tex. These jetties at
the top will average about fifteen feet
| in width, at the base about one hum
dred feet. They are on an average
eighteen feet deep. Try to form
an idea of the amount of stone
that has gone into this work! The
quarries at Granite mountain have been
sending to the Galveston jetties TWEEN
ty carloads of thirty tons each twenty
six days in the month for the last four
years-nearly seven hundred and fifty
thousand tons, and yet not more than
forty per cent. of the material used so
far has been granite. A 6ve-ton block
of this granite is the minimum used
the waves would make playthings of
lighter weights, and a ten-ton block
costs forty four dollars
Out over the jetties, on trestle built
over the rocks, runs a railroad track,
1t is a standard gauge, but fussy lit
tie engine hauls the cars. Nowhere is
the railroad track more than four or
five feet above the water. Four miles
out at sea worms damaged the wood
work of the trestle so much that the
track was abandoned and another
built alongside of it. At the water end
of the jetty a squad of men are en-
gagged in sending big pine poles forty
five feet long into the sand. The occu-
patton is a most hazardous one. The
gulf current is very strong here and
once a man loses his footing, precarious
at best, it is all over. AS the piles are
driven and the trestle formed the rail-
road track Is extended. Carloads of
granite are run out and unloaded. There
Is no placing of this stone. IL is dumped
into the water and allowed to find its
own resting place. Car load after car
load is emptied into one spot without
showing above the surface and with
out perceptible effect. When the
winds blow for days from one direction
aid the gulf runs high the danger and
the discomfort of the work Increase
greatly. The breakers strike the jetty
and go high in the air
The contract for the work Is claimed
to be the largest single contract ever
let by the United States government,
and while an immense amount of
money is being literally thrown into
the sea, the cost of these jetties will
be Insignificant compared to the benz
efits, II the plan succeeds 1t will be
the longest jetty system in the world,
and all the west will derive benefits.
Already an immense waterway BUSH
ness Is done at Galveston. 1t is esti'
u an. .. A. -. -.