INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1876. ccxvii 



and the head of the Pass. Mr. Bowman, commenting upon the results 

 already attained, predicating his statements upon the work accom- 

 plished up to the above-named date, affirms that the action of the 

 jetties has already been sufficient to judge of their final eflect, and 

 to enable those who have staked their professional reputations upon 

 their success to vindicate the soundness of their conclusions. Care- 

 ful soundings made on the 24th of March, 1876, and compared with 

 the official survey made before the commencement of the work, show- 

 ed that 1,815,000 cubic yards of the bar had, up to that time, been 

 removed from between the jetties. The soundings at that time (May 

 26th) revealed the fact that there is a channel nowhere less than 

 twenty-two feet in depth to within 2000 feet of the deep water of 

 the Gulf. On this remaining distance the least channel depth was 

 seventeen feet where the original crest of the bar had been, with 

 onlj^ nine feet of water upon it. Not the least among the favorable 

 results is the fact that, in the deep water in advance of the jetties, 

 instead of any indication of a re-formation of the bar, as it was pre- 

 dicted by the opponents of the jetty system would occur, the sound- 

 ings show that, by some cause or other, the depth of water has been 

 increased. From all published accounts, therefore, it would appear 

 that there is no reasonable doubt, from what has already been ac- 

 complished, of the ultimate success of the Eads' jetty experiment. 

 At the time of this writing, for example, it is reported that the chan- 

 nel between the jetties at average flood-tide has every where a dej)th 

 of not less than twenty feet for a width of 200 feet, and that in the 

 centre of the channel there is a minimum depth of twenty-two and a 

 half to twenty-three feet, and a maximum depth of thirty feet. In 

 consideration of which facts the assertion is made that vessels are 

 now certain of having a much wider channel across the bar than has 

 ever been offered at the Southwest Pass, where for several years 

 dredging operations have been carried on under government direc- 

 tion at an annual expense of several hundred thousand dollars. 



From an elaborate review of the present aspects of the Channel 

 Tunnel project, which lias lately appeared in the London Standard^ 

 we are enabled to glean the following facts bearing on the progress 

 that has been made during the year just passed, viz. : The scheme in 

 question, under Sir John Hawkshaw on the English side, and M. La 

 Valine on the French side, appeared more than a year ago to be 

 making substantial progress. Three railway companies had an- 

 nounced their readiness to contribute their contingents of 20,000 

 each ; and an English company had expressed its willingness to con- 

 tribute the balance of the 80,000, which, according to Sir John 

 Hawkshaw's estimates, were necessary for the trial works then in 

 contemplation, and which were to have been at once proceeded with 

 at St. Margaret's Bay, three or four miles to the east of Dover. The 

 Standard^ replying to the query as to the progress made by the En- 



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