The evening times., 1899-02-06
Doctors Endorse Ii.
Everybody Praises III.
Cast Aside All other Medicines and
Treatments for TNventS-four Honrs
and Give This New system Trial.
AMERICA'S DES0LATE REGION
Sea Wilderness Where the Paul
Jones Was Lost.
From The New York sun.

Jones " as tsH~t
From The New York Sun.)
The loss of the Yacht Paul Jones off the
Louisiana marsh has called attention TO
the fact that this region. within sight of
the largest city in the South. is perhaps
the widest and most desolate part of the
United States. u is like world in process
of formation The coast line is constantly
changing islands are arising and disap-
pearing. bays are altering their outlines
and it is almost impossible TO tell what
is land and what is water
Thousands OF lives have been lost in
wreck and food along the Louisiana coast.
and the problem whether anything can ne
done 10 make this region habitable and
protect passing vessels from the shores is
a serious one. So far. the Government has
been able to do nothing. and disasters
like those at Lost Island Johnsons Ba-
YOU. Sabine Pass. and Cheniere Caminada
have come at intervals Of a Jew years with
great loss of life.
Half dozen years ago. in order 10 avoid
the danger resulting from having the yel-
low fever quarantine station Immediately
opposite the pleasure resorts of Mississippi
Sound the Government established a sta
non Oh I ldNQeituI lSldili anu SAptAiAtN q
large amount OF money TO make il perfectly
safe but with the first storm the station
completely disappeared. II was decided
that il could not he built on the island
again. and the quarantine authorities re-
turned to Ship Island. Immediately facing
+he prosperous towns of Biloxi and Ocean
Springs. 10 which fact the yellow fever
epidemics of 1897 and 1898 are attributed
Where Life Is Impossible.
The proposition was strongly urged by
the people OF Mississippi and Louisiana
after these epidemics that the quarantine
station should be returned TO the Chande
leurs. but the answer was made that life
was impossible there. II is true that a
number Of fishermen live in this region, or
rather fish there. but it is al great risk.
and thousands are drowned. 500 in the
single disaster of Cheniere CaminaGa, a
few wears ago. The fishermen seek the
Chenieres and higher places in their small
boats pirogues and skiffs on the approach
of the storm. but even then they do not
always escape. for the sea sweeps over the
ridges.
The Paul Jones was a small yacht, using
her sails infrequently and depending main
ly on a naphtha engine for power She
steamed down the Mississippi on a pleas
were warned at Buras. the southernmost
settlement on the Mississippi River.
against the trip along the Louisiana coast,
but the warning was disregarded and on
January the yacht steamed out Pass a
fOutre Had it been an ordinary yacht
ing party this is the last that would ever
have been heard of it; but the host hap
pened 10 be a prominent merchant of ST
Louis: the owner of the Yacht was d
wealthy resident of Louisville. and one
of the young ladies in the party Was a
daughter of the mayor of indianapolis. II
was only by the Investigations conducted
bv friends and relatives OF those on board
that the fate of the yacht became known
1t took dozen expeditions 10 get the fact
Ii was almost by accident that the search
ers learned that the wreck of the Pau
Jones had been seen and visited by usher
men more than a week before. and all the
vaIuables removed. The fishermen thought
so little of wrecks that they did not deem
in necessary even TO report il. But for the
extraordinary measures taken by Messrs
Jones and Taggart the fate OF the yacht
ing party would have remained mys-
terry.
Constantly Changing Region.
The dozen or so parties of friends, anna
teur yachtsmen, and others who assisted
in the search returned to New Orleans
thoroughly impressed with the wildness
and desolation of the region they visited,
and they all agreed that nothing like il
exists anywhere else on the American
coast Round the mouth OF the Mississ-
ippi, from the fringe of islands facing the
Mississippi coast to Grand Isle. a distance
of zoo or 500 miles, is a region of which
ii is difficult TO say whether Il is land OF
water, marsh, or island. There are times
when IL is all under water. times when il
is mud, and times again when il is land
Its conflagration is constantly changing
Here in countless centuries the Mississippi
has poured its millions of tons of mud
carried from the upper valley, and so fill
ing up the gulf bottom that the entire
coast is a shallow sound In this sound
what are called mud Jumps arise from