The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1922-11-04
INITIAL Step TAKEN TOWARD PERMANENT
SOLUTION OF BAYOU TECHE PROBLEM.
Two Parishes Behind Canal Project Will Remedy
Sanitation, Navigation and Irrigation Ills.

cal. The left hand side shows pilina
set thirty feet from the center or ten
feet from the edge Of the canal the
slope inside the piling one to one, i
ten foot BERN and the dump with a
slope Of one and half horizontal
to one vertical. The right hand side
requires that the center of the dump
be 106 feet from the center of the
canal and that the top of dump he
40 feet above low water, and that
the right Of way be $50 feet wide to
hold all the dirt. The left hand side
requires that the center of the dump
be 20 feet from the center Of the
canal and that the top OF dump be
40 feet above low water and that
the right of way be 200 feet wide
to hold all the dirt. If two rows Of
piling, forty feet long, and the rows
sixty feet apart, were driven every
three feet, the work would be more
stable, ten cubic yards of excavation
would be saved for each pile, the
distance out to the center of the
dump would be 70 feet instead of
l06 and the total width of right of
way, 200 feet instead of 290, thus
saving an acre of land for each 484
lineal feet of canal. Estimate this
land at $500 per acre and the saw
ing will be about Is cents per pile.
Hence the saving in land and excava-
ton will amount to between $1.23
and $3.50 per pile. 1t must be re-
membered that piles rot, so, while
piling would be more stable, they
would be less permanent.
1t would require a closer study
and more data than | presently pos
sess to determine just what method
should be adopted. A railroad and a
highway bridge must be provided
for In order that some basis may be
arrived at from which to begin fig
uring, suppose | venture the guess
that that the total cost of the canal
will be between $125, 900 and $780,
coo, with the hope that it can be
worked down to considerably less.
PRACTICABILITY OF MAINTAIN
ING SUFFICIENT CURRENT.
Velocity of current is controlled
by slope, cross section and resistance.
1t varies directly as the square root
of the slope, directly as the cross
section and inversely as the resist
ance. Hence the greater the slope
and cross section the greater the
velocity and the greater the resist
ance the less the velocity. The rela-
tive resistance gets less as the
stream gets deeper because the per-
centage of sides and bottom exposed
to the friction of the water gets
less. For example, stream 100 feet
wide and l foot deep, with square
sides and bottom will have 102 feet
exposed to friction while a stream
25 feet wide and four feet deep,
while having the same cross section,
will have only 33 feet exposed to
friction, hence it's velocity and car
rying capacity will be greater for
the same slope. For the above rea-
son the velocity Of the Mississippi
River is about four times as great
as the same slope would give to
Bayou Teche. From Loreauville to
Morgan City by Bayou Teche is about
II miles, which will make the dis
tance from where the proposed can
al will tap Bayou Portage about 80
miles. From the same point, down
the lakes to Morgan City is about
48 miles. A fall of feet in 81
miles is very trivial slope. The
velocity would be about quarter Of
a foot per second, Is feet minute
or about a mile in six hours. This
would apply about at New Iberia,
down further where the stream gets
larger, it would of course be less.
However, it would be current and