Year: 1873

ing patch of raft, No. 26, about one
eighth of y mile long is the last
solid one left and that will be open
by the 14th Of this month when
boats will be able to 60 from
Shreveport to the head OF Red
bayou, eighteen and one fourth
miles from the foot of the raft, and
avoid Twelve Mile bayou, the lakes
AMI Black bayou-somethlng that
has not been done in thirty years
before. A boat reaching Red
bayou by this route can get about
the floating raft by going down Red
bayou three miles to Stump dam,
thence by the Sale & Murphy route
to Bargctown; or, it can take Post
en- bayou, just above the Red bayou
outlet and follow the Alban route
around the remaining floating raft.
Thus we have already from the
work done, decided improvement
in our communication with the up
per country. A good deal of work
has already been done by shore
party above Red bayou which will
be made more apparent when the
fleet reaches there. This is the
work thus far accomplished.


AT WORK.


A description of the attack to day
made by the feet on the raft or tow
head No. %, one eighth mile long
may not be without interest. There
it lays one solid bed of logs embed
ded in sand upon which live cotton
woods grow and flourish. Capt.
Rogers has examined the map and
formed his plan Of attack. The
signal is sounded by two long whis-
ties, when the steamer Aid with her
steam capstans, and immense pur-
chase power, moves to the attack,
followed at intervals ofonc hundred
yards by one crane boat and two
flats armed with glittering saws.
An old log, perhaps one hundred
feet long, first attracts the attention
of the commanding officer who at
once orders the skiff men in advance
to hitch "onto him." This done
quickly and soon the steam capstan
is tugging away. 1fhe prove re-
fractory and won't yield, another
capstan is called in, when he gen
orally succumbs and is dragged
from his sandy bed with many more
hanging to him, forming quite a
mass of logs, dirt, roots and grow
ing cotton woods. This mass is
pulled to pieces and the logs turned
loose to be picked up by the steam
| saw boats in the rear and cut into
small pieces which are allowed to
float off and eventually find rest
ing place in the lakes, supplied by
Dooley bayou outlet. Sometime two
or three logs are hitched at one
time and the full purchase power of
the Aid applied and then the mass
moved is very large. Sometime
the Aid moves up and bitches on to
three or four different parts of the
raft as she is able to do, having a
front of forty or fifty feet and then
backs out with all her weight and
force. Sometimes she makes three
or four efforts before the mass
moves. Once moved the water
soaks through, the dirt crumbles
and the mass is easily pulled to
pieces and the logs allowed to float
oft. In this way she has been eat
ing into raft No. 25 all day and as
the whistle sounds for the close OF
the days work, the Aid is over half
way through. 1t is in this way
she has worked through twenty
four patches Of solid raft and in
this way will finish the remaining
ones. OF course some ofthem were
much harder to get through than
others, but the Aid has never yet
hitchcd to anything in the raft that
did not respond to her summons.
1t will be seen that the removal of
the raft has been accomplished by
simple but powerful means-indus-
try and main strength. This de-
scription of the removal of raft No.
25 will answer for all, as there has
been little or no variation in the re-
moval or cutting a channel through
the others.


EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS.


AS yet, Lient. Woodruff, has not
been able to do much Of anything
with powder or glycerine in blow
ing up portions of the raft. Powder
was first tried but that did not work
well. Dynamite, better known in
commercial circles as giant powder,
was tried but found to be very un-
certain in its action and not reliable.
Glycerine has not yet had a fair
trial but will in few days be
thoroughly tested. Lieut.. Wood
ruff, has established in the woods
far from any habitation, what he
calls his glycerine camp, and is
daily looking for the chemicals
necessary for its manufacture. This
"Camp in the Woods" is presided
over by competent chemist who
is not troubled with visitors. On
the door of the shanty is painted
the "raw head and bloody bones
and the freedmen give this habita-
ton wide berth. In the event
that glycerinc should prove a success
it will be used to blow off the sharp
corners OH some of the tow heads
and widen the channel in others.
With it he can put the finishing
touch to the channel Of the river
where it is necessary.


Red and Dooley's bayou and
Koun's canal will be kept open and
clear of drift. In case of high
water they will reduce the volume
in the main river and thereby Ere
vent overfows below in the narrow
river. They will also serve to fill
up the lakes above Shreveport and
thus prevent any sudden or very
rapid decline in the river below
Dooley's bayou in this respect
; stands in about the same relation to
the upper river as Tones bayou
does to the river below Shreveport
and together with Red bayou will
carry off more water in time of ar
overflow than the main river.


The navigation Of the river be