The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1906-12-15
|F7 r. COASTAL CANAL
Maj. JadWin Wiz F3v0.-a-
bly, Report tire Protest
through thus Section.
From the Mississippi River 20 Gfand
Lake IN Cameron Parish

Galveston News.
Major Edgar JadNtr, United
States engineer III charge OF this
district, is engaged in the work of
preparing his report upon the IN cr-
roas a, canal. which viii be for.
varied to WASHINGTON shortly
Major Jadwin has included anoth
favorably recommended. This IS
the section from Point Isabel to
the Rio Gyande, and is designed 10
give Brownsville water connection
with Point Isabel. I he canal will
be dredgcd to ii uniform depth of
five feet and bottom width of
forty feet.
Major Jadwin is to report favor
ably OH nearly all of the projected
waterway. The section between
Corpus Christi and POinte isabel
IS not at the present time, he
thinks, of sufficient commercial
value to justify The government in
constructing a waterway between
the two points. The section be.
tween Sabine Lake and point d
So Il I al
Louisiana is still in donbt, but
aside from these two sections tna
entire route bears the stamp Of his
approval
Major Jadwin will report favor
ably upon the canal from the !,
Mississippi river to point fow.
miles west of Grand Lake. Skip
ping the section in doubt above re-
ferred to, he will recommend fav-
Orably the building of the canal
from Sabine Lake to Galveston
and the month of the Brazos river
is already open for light draft nav
igatlOn, and he will also recon-
mend favorably the section west
to Corpus Christ. Skipping the
section between Corpus Christi
and Point Isabel, he favors the
opening of the remaing portion of
the route to the Rio Grande.
Fully two thirds Of the total
mileage of the proposed route, if
Major Jadwin's recommendations
are carried out to the letter, Will
be improved by the government.
There are, however, many portions
of the approved sections that are
already navigaDle and no work
will be required to put them into
navigable shape. 1t is estimated
that fully one third of the entire
distance of approximately 500
miles between the Mississippi and
the Rio Grande is now navigable.
While the Interstate Inland
Waterway League at It's meeting
in Lake Charles last spring passed
a resolution calling for depth of
nine feet and width Of 100 feet,
Major Jadwin Will recommend
five feet depth and II bottom width
of forty feet for all sections which
he is passing upon favpably. He
believes that these dimensions will
be sufficient for preselt needs, and
it is time enough to work for
a greater depth after it has been
demonstrated that the canal at a
five feet depth IS upon CONNER
cial basis.
The league will of course contin
uc It's fight for nine feet of water.
Its request for that depth is based
on the assumption that the canal
will be used for trarsL Lorting coal,
iron, etc from Pittsburg and 9th
er Ohio river points to Texas, and
in view of the fact that the govern
ment is to improve the Ohio ri yer
to depth of nine fact, the same
depth will be required In the can
al. The league treats the project
as National in it's character and
scope. Ifcompleted III accordance
with the request of the league i
will, it is believed, play an import
ant part in the regulation 0
freight rates affecting a large por
tion of the southwest.
The government, on the othe
j hand, REGARDS the project in its 10
cal aspect. When congress Oh
dered survey the projected rout
was divided into four sections, a
follows: Mississippi river to 81
bine Pass, Sabine Pass to Calves
ton, Galveston to Corpus Chris
and Corpus Christi to the n
Grande. Each of these section