The times., 1899-02-05
AMERICAS DESOLATE REGION.
Sea Wilderness Where the Paul
Jones Was Lost.
(From the Nav York Sum- =

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. 1t is like a world in process
of formation. The coast line is constantly
changing. islands are arising and dsap
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 flood along the Louisiana coast,
and the problem whether anything can be
done to 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 few years with
great loss OF life.
Half dozen years ago in order to avoid
the danger resulting from having the yell
low fever quarantine station Immediately
opposite the pleasure resorts of Mississippi
Sound the Government established sta
ton on Chandelier Island and expended
large amount of money to make it perfectly
safe; but with the first storm the station
completely disappeared 1t was decided
that it could not be built on the island
again, and the quarantine authorities re-
turned to Ship Island, Immediately facing
the prosperous towns of Biloxi and Ocean
Springs, TO 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
number of fishermen live in this region, or
rather fish there, but it is at great risk,
and thousands are drowned-2.500 in the
single disaster of Cheniere Caminada a
few years 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 small yacht. using
! her sails infrequently and depending main
| ly on a naphtha engine for power She
steamed down the Mississippi on pleas
ure trip. The members of the party on her
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 4 the yacht steamed out Pass a
! rOutre. 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 to be a prominent merchant of St
! Louis; the owner OF the yacht was 4
| wealthy resident of Louisville, and one
! of the young ladies in the party was
daughter of the mayor of Indianapolis. II
! was only by the Investigations conducted
| by friends and relatives OF those on board
| that the fate of the yacht became known
! It took dozen expeditions to get the fact.
/ II was almost by accident that the search
! ers learned that the wreck OF the Paul
| Jones had been seen and visited by fisher
! men more than week before, and all the
! valuables removed. The fishermen thought
! so little of wrecks that they did not deem
| it necessary even to report it. But for the
| extraordinary measures taken by Aessrs.
! Jones and Taggart the fate of the yacht
| ing party would have remained mys
t terry.
A Constantly Changing Region.
| The dozen OF 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 it
! exists anywhere else on thes American
| coast Round the mouth of the Mississ-
ippi. from the fringe of islands facing the
| Mississippi coast to Grand Isle. distance
| OF 200 or 300 miles is region OF which
| IL is difficult TO say whether it Is land or
water marsh. or island. There are times
| when it is all under water times when it
| is mud. and times again when II Is land
! Its conaagration 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
time 10 time. They are young volcanoe,
| due to the gas produced by the fermenting
matter in the mud, which forces up the
mud in the form of cones aJore the sea
| level.
The mud is baked hard in the tropical
! sun and a few reeds or little marsh
grass grow on it-and it is then dubbed
| an island. But it Is most dangerous ISL
! and. Sometime il is called prairie trem-
| blante With the water still lying beneath
! il. il is a mere superstructure of debris
| wood, canes, etc, upon which the earth
! rests. floating raft, it were, anchored
| by the roots of the marsh grass. Some
times 1t is mere quicksand, sometimes a
3
| eating gases. To be lost on one of these
| islands means death not the death that
/ threatens Il castaway from starvation. but
/ death from being swallowed up in the
| quicksands or poisoned by the gases. And
! even a boat will avail little. The land IS
| too soft TO walk on, the water too shallow
10 row in. More than one amateur fisher
mar who has been caught in his boat in
! the chaotic land has had TO wait hours for
IL .,
He dared not leave his boat aud the water
| was too shallow to allow the skin TO move.
Treacherous Sea Maze.
/ Then too, no maze was ever invented
more lsbyrinthian than the bayous and ISL
! ands of the St. Bernard coast. All the ISL
ands are dentical-mud and sand Spits
with saw grass growing on them. All the
| bayous are as much alike as two peas.
! You may wander for weeks and never get
out of the labyrinth unless some fisherman
I gives you the clew. Many have been the
| lives lost in this swamp; many the people
who have gone into it with confidence
never TO find their way out.
The story that castaway from the Paul
| Jones was seen on one of these islands is
| generally credited He was seen by two
| fishermen at different times. and his foot
! prints were clearly traced by the officers
of the relief boat Zeta. but neither the
! man nor his body could be found when
the island was searched. The verdict is
that he was swallowed up in one OF the
many quagmires or quichsunds.
Such is the condition OF the country un-
I der the most favorable conditions. II ap-
| pears at its worst when gulf hurricane
| blows from the southeast. Then the wa
ters of the gulf are piled up, and all the
land disappears completely from view-it
| IL the pIIlf then nd a ann. I,n