The Vashon Island record. [volume] (Vashon, Wash.) 1916-1919, 1919-05-22

In the shadows, hurrledly descended
the stream, and the army, deprived of
its support and already sayagely han.
died by the opposing Confederate
force, followed after.
At Alexandria. In central Louisiana.
the retreatlng fcderals found them
selves face TO face with II crisis. At
this point the Red river is broken by
mile OF rapids; the stream had fnl.
len so quickly that the gunbouts could
10 longer navigate this stretch of the
channel. The stage OF the wnter was
but three feet four inches, whereas
Porter's lnrger gunboals. with their
heavy armament drew at lenst seven
feet.
Here was indeed a desperate stun
tion-thc army far from It's source OF
supplies. In the midst Of hostile
country The victorious enemy pressing
In hot pursuit, und the S2,000000 neet
maro0ned by falling wntcr. II seemed
to almost every one that the only course
open was TO blow up the vessels TO
prevent their failing into the hnnds
OF the cncmy
But moi 10 every one. for u brave
Wisconsin soldier had another idan
OF the uau,r. Lieut.. Col. Joseph Bal.
ley of Tie Fourth Wisconsin. who was
servlng az he time MS acting engineer
of the Nncirenth urmy corps. came
forward "ll u plnn for bringing the
ironcluds ip itery. II was TO rnlsp
the lcvrl ni The water above The rap
ids by corlruclIng great dam across
the river When n sufficient depth of
water 4 u accumulated he proposed
to break The dam In the cent n. thu
forcing the vessels with the ouirush. NJ
flood throu.h the shadows and into
the deep WAFER below Before the wal
Colonel ilubg had been lnmbermnn,
ana had often seen this scfpmc en-
poyed in the Wisconsin plneries to
lift" stranded RATS Of logs to safety.
The project was at FIRST received with
ridicule by Colonel Bnileys supcriors.
II was declared impossible OF achieve
ment by the best engineers In the
army. Only General Franklin, Bal
ley's immediate superior. offered any
encouragement.
But there was nothing elsa to be
done. and AT length the Wisconsin
lumberinan was obviously granted
permission to put his project to the
proof. His first step was to reqnlsi-
ton detachments of "plnery boys"
from the Odd and Goth Wisconsin regl-
ments. who understood what was TO
be done and how to 20 about II.
In NIL, 5000 men were employed in
the enterprise. Brawny lumberjachs
from Maine We'd with those from wis
consln in prosecuting the work ; catch
ing the spirit of these instructors, sol
diers who had never seen n log-raft
also worked with will. Hundreds
OF men were set to Ceiling trees: other
hundreds tolled In the quarries that
were opened for the OCCASION; and
200 or 300 wagons were engaged in
the essential work of transporting the
materials for the dam. Up to their
necks In the swift current. which
swept over the rapids at the rate of
nine miles an hour under the blister
ing southern sun. the men toiled with
utmost good humor and never n word
Of complaint.
Al the end of eight days the rver
was sufficiently high to permit three
of the lighter gunboats to pass the
upper falls, where they had been held,
and come down to position imme-
dlately above the dam, ready to pass
the lower rapids. One more day. and
the dam would be high enough to
permit al to come down in readiness
for the final attempt.