Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1903-01-23
NTH OYSTER SHELLS
INVENTIVE ENGINEER DAMNED
@ THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.
remarkable Feat Performed by Col.
n Hudnutt During the Civil War
a How Railroad Was Built Across d
Texas Qlaamire.

Did you ever near how Col. j. O.
Hudnutt Of Chicago damned the At
1antic ocean with oyster shellso
It is fascinating story and recalls
bit of hitherto unpublished war his
tory. The Army of the Frontier. num-
bering 10000 men. under the command
OF Maj Gen. Heron. was in 1864 locat-
at Brownsville, Texas. Tie sol
ers' supplies were landed at Drazos
Island, then shipped in lighters to
Point Isabel, and then transported by
mule train to Brownsville. thir1s miles
away
Col. Hudnutt was in command of
the engineering corps and relieved the
situation somewhat by building ferry
4 across the Nocacherio pass. which was
I about 500 feet wide. The bed was
quagmires SO feared by the MeSicans
that they could not be bribed to even
approach the bank. One day in a spir.
1T of bravado a auartermo ster's clerk
rode out into the treacherous water,
and to the unspeakahle horror of the
SOnlookers both horse and rider were
Immediately engufed
g The situation became so serious
that Gen. Heron notified Gen Banks
Of New Orleans that unless some 9TH
er method for the TRANSPORTATION of
supplies was devised 1t would be nee
@essary to abandon Brownsville. Gen.
Banks Immediately dispatched an en-
8Gineer to BraZos island. who. with
much ceremony. soon arrived with
two schooners loaded with cars. en-
AYines, pi)ing and all the necessary par
sAphernalia TO build and equip a rail
road.
SM He soon declared it was impossible
Ito build bridge across the Eocache-
srio and ordered the return of the load
Sed schooners.
8 Then Col. Hudnutt was given carte
blanche to study the situation thor
Roughly, and if plan was feasible, to
proceed with the building of the
bridge. He found that the water in
THE pass was four and half feet deep
aAt ordinary tide. but rose to seven
feet at deep tide the current rushing
with the tremendous velocity through
the inlet between BfaZos island and
the mainland. Fortunately he had
made an exhaustive study of quick
sand and knew that if the water could
sbe eliminated it would make a foun
sdation firm as rock
His first act was to buy 10 600 feed
sacks from the quartermaster and hire
"a force Of MeXicans to fill them with
eor five feet high, as for generations
sthe native tribes visited til" coast TO
1feast on the sueeulent biSaNe.
With force Of . ,oo0 soldiers and an
adequate number Of teams. tie work
was begun at each shore end and
pushed With all possible speed Piles
We're sunk and spiked together with
cross tiers to prevent spre aiding and
these sections We're filled with brush
and sacks of oyster shells to the high
water mark
In fortnight 1.foo feet was com
pleted and only 400 feet of water
space remained in midstream Al each
mense heaps of filled sacks and a for
est of brush, and WHOM the ide reced-
ed regiment Of men swarmed ont at
each shore. and in a few hours Brazos
island was annexed to the mainland
by strip OF land SEQ feet wide and as
hard as a macadamized road. over
which railroad was soon laid
How did the government recognize
Col. Hudnutt's splendid engineering
feat?
Oh, they lauded him to the skies
and made him brigadier general by
brevet, and when the scheme was
brought to the attention of Gen.
Banks engineer lie scoffingly re-
marked:
Il have heard of the dam fool who
undertook to dam the Nile with bull
rushes, but the d--dest fool ever
heard OF is the fool who is trying to
dam the Atlantic ocean with oyster
shells!"