The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1919-10-11
LOCKS IN BAYOU LAFoURcHE.

LOCKS IN BAYOU LAFoURcHE
Public Hearing Under Act of Con
gress to Be Held in Thibodaux.
Many public meetings have beer
held in the past to try to stimulate
interest in the proposition to build
locks in Bayou Lafourche and to de.
wise ways and means for raising the
funds to defray the cost Of their con.
struction; but owing to the enormous
festimated cost Of the project, it has
been virtually considered beyond the
financial reach of the two levee boards
interested. Repeated efforts were
made to interest the federal congress
lin the matter, and finally in March,
1915. that body passed a bill order
ing that a preliminary examination
and survey of the situation be made
under the direction of the War De-
4 paftment, to ascertain whether the
project was feasible and what part
LOT the cost should be borne by the
government. But owing to the war
/ the matter was allowed to remain
dormant. Now that peace and quiet
have been restored, the long deferred
examination ordered by congress will
Ibe made.
A public hearing will be held at
the courthouse at Thibodaux, on Oct.
I28, at II o'clock a. M, at which
Lieutenant-Colone Herbert Deakyne,
CORPS of engineers, q. S. A., will
be present as representative of the
government, and at which the whole
subject of the proposed locks, their
feasibility, cost, the volume, char
acter and value Of the tonnage which
will use them, ETC., will be thorough
ly threshed out.
lof the proposed public hearing in a
circular letter issued from Nak Or
leans on Oct. 8, and which rea&h as
| follows:
|"To Whom 1t May Concern:
Congress, by act of Mach a, 1915,
authorized and directed preliminary
examination of
"Bayou Lafourche, Louisiana, for
la lock at the head, with a view to as
|certaining whether such lock, either
in connection with a new dam or in
local levee boards in pursuance of
authority contained in the river and
harbor act approved June 13, 1902.
lis necessary for navigation of said
bayou; and, if so, what part Of the
cost, if any, should be borne by the
United States.
sThe examination has been assign
ed to this Office, and, in order to SUBJ
nit to the department full and COM
plete report, public hearing will be
held in the courthouse at Thibodaux,
La, at II a. M, on Oct. %, 1919.
'sThe purpose Of this hearing is to
secure information as to whether
such lock, either in connection with
a new dam or in connection with the
dam built by the local levee boards,
is necessary for the navigation Of.
said bayou, and, If SO, what part OF
the cost, If any, should be borne by
the United States.
Conformation is required as to:
"First. The location of the lock
whether in the present bayou or adj
jacent thereto.
and between what points it is moved;
the stream, it's character and value,
also what part Of the present COM
merce and what prospective COM
merce would move through the lock
|if built and between what points It
would move.
1Third. A statement as to the rea-
Isons and necessity for the payment.
|by the United States of a part Of the
cost of construction, and as to the
proportion to be paid.
ssFor accuracy of record, all I'M
portant statements should be re-
duced to writing and submitted in
triplicates. Oral statements will,
however, receive consideration,
'sHERBERT DEAKYNE,
"Lieut. Colonel, Corps of Engineers,
u. S. A"
It is sincerely to be hoped that the
citizens of Ascension, AssumptAn
and Lafourche, who are the Xt
vitality interested in the pro@ged
locks, will attend the hearing at
Thibodaux in large numbers, and
that they will go fully prepared to
give all information desired and
necessary to make out case suf-
ficiently strong to interest the fed
eral government to the extent that
+ it will agree to bear a part at least
if not the whole of the cost OF con-
structon.