The Donaldsonville chief., 1920-05-15
BnnalnHntthtlIp Uhtrf
SATURDAY, MAY IS, 1920.
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.

u The Chief is not responsible for
views expressed by correspondents.
IA Dredge Work in Bayou Lafourche.
Lafourche, La, May 10, 1920.
! Editor Chief:
& | have your favor of the 9Th in
slant regarding copy Of my commu-
nication to the Joint Levee Boards
executive committee, wherein | ques-
ton some of the statements made
that honorable body by it's present
4 chairman, Hon. Frank Sims, because
. Of the fact that reflections were
I sought to be cast upon my previous
4 administration, which / am willing to
D have speak for itself. But inasmuch
as the public has been given one side
of the matter, and since you have
with good reason stated in yours to
me Of 9Th, refused to publish the let
ter as sent you, therefore ask that
ssyou please give space to the follow
ing, that my position be not misun-
derstOod:
# In view Of the fact that the joint
y Executive committee Of the Atchafa-
!. laya and Lafourche Levee Boards
1 will not probably meet for some
mcnths, and in order to keep the
reeold straight while the recent pub
Iished reports Of the present chair
man Of said committee are fresh in /
1 the minds of your readers | feel it /,
necessary to state some facts.
1t will be remembered that the |
Il dredgeboat Captain V. NJ" was for
4 The major portion of the year 1919 .
engaged in placing in navigable con- !,
dtion the Cuncienne canal on which |
some seventy thousand dollars had |
been spent of the taxpers' money to |
die some years ago. The expenditure t
. Of that amount Of money was either
wise or unwise. If wise, the public |
3 was entitled to have it maintained, |
dredged. kept clean, and rendered
rayigable if possible. That was
done as witness the following from
/ The present chairman's report:
"The matter Of getting the dredge |
!. from Patterson to Donaldsonville by /
4 the inland route was looked into and |
found feasible
AS to securing of the suction |
dredge while some consideration had
been given the matter, the writer
.adyised against it after learning how
nearly impracticable it was and at
no time took any steps or made any
expense to bring any such condition
about Therefore when the United
States engineers answered the pres
ent joint executive committee chair
man, the opinion of the writer in the
premises was endorsed
a While the Smoke Bend section of
81 the bayou gave repeated trouble and
the dredgeboat was at four different
i times called to this place, several of
the times from the Cancienne Canal,
Bayou LafOurche was never closed to
i navigation, for any lengthy period
On the first occasion of the slide into
the bayou, delay was caused between
the time we got out of Cancienne
!. Canal and the removal Of the obstruc-
i ton, less than 4S hours. During the
last few years the anne craft now
navigating the bayou, oyster boats,
Lafourche Mercantile boat, oil boats,
Percy Lobdell CO., Texas Oil Co.,
, standard Oil Co.'S boats, and others
piled the bayou above and below the
Smoke Bend section. The fact is
that while. in and around the Can
eienne Canal oil boats of the above
named companies supplied the Cap
tain " NJ" with fuel oil and to do
50 had to get by the Smoke Bend sec
tion. This would indicate that some
thing was being done.
Now as to the marvellous and stu
pendous engineering feat the present
Joint chairman would herald from all
!. housetops to the four corners of the
world Let US see: "At two p. m.
the dredge was started on this line of
work, and at p. m. on the 18th, af-
ter just ten hours of actual. opera
tons she had cut 200 feet of shoal
annavigable water and we were able
to allow the Standard Oil Co. and
Texas Oil Company's boats and bar
ees loaded with oil, the Lafourche
Mercantile Company and Frank II.
Aliens boat and barge load of lum- !,
Der 60 through@ho their destinations.