78 HAUPT — METHODS OF IMPROVING OCEAN BAES, [May 8, 



Pass had'failed, and the reaction breakwater was partially built with 

 the results given, the private funds became exhausted and the Gov- 

 ernment was asked to appraise the value of the work done, take over 

 the breakwater and continue it immediately. A Board of Engi- 

 neers reported in 1897, just after the obstructing old Government 

 jetty had been breached, that : 



" There does not seem to be any probability that the jetty as now 

 constructed will of itself secure and maintain any considerable 

 increase of depths in a navigable channel of proper width. The 

 Board is of the opinion that the value to the Government of the 

 works for the improvement of Aransas Pass is nothing." 



The depth was then nine and a quarter feet. It is now fifteen 

 feet, and as yet no work has been done, although Congress made 

 an appropriation more than two years ago of $60,000 to remove the 

 remains of the old jetty built across the channel and on its leeward 

 side. This is now buried, as previously stated, by the action of the 

 breakwater under the bottom of the channel, and is a barrier to its 

 further deepening. 



Finally comes this Report on the Brunswick Bar, which con- 

 demns the theory as well as its application as being erroneous even 

 in the face of the indisputable evidence of nature. 



These statements are made to illustrate the operation of the law 

 of conservatism which ever attends the path of progress to retard 

 her too rapid strides. Its consideration would divert this analy- 

 sis of physical fallacies, facts andjbrces to the [domain of meta- 

 physics and is therefore not pursued further. 



4. Twin Jetties. 



This is the method most generally used in efforts to create chan- 

 nels and the record of their experience is quite suggestive. At the 

 mouths of large sedimentary rivers, emptying into nearly tideless 

 seas, they have been reasonably successful, but for tidal inlets their 

 utility is very limited. The report says: " Apparently the only 

 examples of high tide jetties in the United States are at Sabine 

 Pass, Galveston, and Yakina Bay, Oregon." 



This statement suggests the necessity for greater research on the 

 part of the author, since the well-known jetties at South Pass were 

 built above high water, as are also those at Newburyport, Mass.;. 

 New Haven, Conn.; Manasquan, N. J.; Brazos River, Tex., and 

 at other points, while both jetties at Yakina were originally de- 



