Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1899-11-14
A Communication.

head of Watching the Mississippi" Z"
by Lieutenant Colonel Bixby, who is a
member of the Mississippi River Com
mission, which is composed of several
M from different states, some of
them no. bordering on the Mississippi
river and 1t is more than probable
tLat there is not boatman among
them. Col Bixby says one method of
making the banks secure is to put
down a continuous abutment of will
low mattresses, covered with stones.
Now this may be very pretty theory,
but did not work in practice. as it
was tried at Plumb Point bend several
years ago. Col lolXby may not have
Deen in charge at that time, but some
other army officer was and Col. Bixby
ought to profit by his experience.
will cite one other case of the
failure of theory. Within the last two
years a towboat with a feet of barges
on her way from st. Louis to New Or
leans, got as far as Point Pleasant
about 80 miles below Carlo. A bar at
this place prevented her from going
any further. There being a govern
menl dredge boat near she was called
on to dredge out the channel, which
she proceeded to do 1t was easy dig
ging in soft sand as there is not
stone to be found in the river or on its
banks from Carlo to New Orleans, a
distance of 1860 miles. After a couple
of weeks or more getting through the
bar, it was discovered that the channel
at the upper end had filled up, as
might have been expected, and the
towboat with her fleet remained where
she was until they got rise in the
river.
Coz. Blxby says it is only costing $50
per lineal foot as far as they have
gone. 1t is 1861 miles from Cairo to
New Orleans, ana at a cost Of $50 per
foot would cost tn enormous amount
of $157, $50 400. Talk of protecting the
banks and bottom of the river with
willow mattresses held down VIII. loose
stone! How long would a loose stone
remain IN one place with four or
five mile current to wash it away I!
Where could all these stones or rocks
be found?
While watching the Mississippi river
has the Colonel ever discovered a
stone from Cairo to the Gulf of MeXi-
co? Eighteen miles above Cairo, in
both rivers, there are rocks called the
Grand Chain. Six miles further up
the Ohio is the Little Chain. These
rocks all lie in the rivers and none on
the banks. 1t is about a hundred
miles up from the mouth of the Ohio
to where stone can be had to advant-
age.
To show the absurdity of these
propositions made by Col. Bixby, it is
only necessary to know something Of
the topography of the Mississippi
river and the country which it runs
through, a description of which we
shall attempt to give, from the mouth
of the Ohio to New Orleans, the only
part of the river that We claim to have
a knowledge of, and of that part we do
claim to have far superior knowledge
to any army officer living. We gained
this knowledge in an experience of
twelve years floating boats from Mari
eta to New Orleans. These were what
were called fatboats and IN which were
carried most of the produce or pro-
duets of the farms of the Ohio valley
and e.. tributaries. These boats were
of various sizes, from so to 100 tons
capacity manned by from four to six
men. During the '4Os and sos the
Wharfmaster' books at New Orleans
showed the arrival at that place of
1000 annually. These boats, carrying
on an average five men each, gave
1000 men every year an opportunity
of Tearing something in regard to the
Mississippi river, all Of whom, if llv-
ing, would testify to the truth of my
statements. Few people except the
old time flatboatmen and steamboat
men, have much knowledge of the
Mississippi river below Cairo. In 1910
when we made our first trip down the
river, it was an unbroken wilderness
from Cairo to Memphis, 260 miles. On
the west side was New Madrid, rs
miles below Cairo; on the left side, 20
miles DeIow Cairo, few years later,
was Columbus; -, miles lower down
on the same side was Hickman, or
Mills Point, as it was then called;
and about 200 miles below Cairo was
Randolph, which had been quite trad
ing point, but was going into decline,
the inhabitants all going to Memphis,
about 60 miles lower down, 260 miles
from Cairo. Here were five little towns
in a distance of 260 miles. All told,
their population did not exceed $500.
Randolph had disappeared long before
the war. The country below Mem
phis to Vicksburg, 400 miles, was
much the same. Helena, 80 miles be-
low, and Napoleon, at the mouth of the
Arkansaw river, both might have had
300 residents. The Government built
a marine hospital at Napoleon, but the
Mississippi taking a notion to change
its base few years after, crossed over
into the Arkansaw a short distance
above its mouth, and not finding the