History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 15

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

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" The theory is attractive from its apparent simplicity, and for the same reason is the first to claim the attention of dabblers in hydraulic engineering, who either do not know, or else lose sight of the condition essential to its successful application. The principles of these conditions are two : 1. That the character of the bed and banks of the river at the point of application be such that scouring will be effected in the bed in preference to

1050

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

the banks; in other words, the banks must be firm enough to withstand the action of the current, and the bottom yielding enough to permit scour.

" The second condition is that there shall exist a current (lit- toral), passing the outer extremities of the jetties perpendicular to them, capable of sweeping to one side or the other all deposit made about the jetty-heads and tending to form a new bar out- side.

" No such current has been discovered at the mouth of the Mississippi, although carefully sought. Iu default of it jetties would have to be built farther and farther out, not annually, but steadily every day cach ycar, to keep pace with the advance of the river deposit into the gulf, provided they are attempted, and the attempt warranted by having the relative character of bed and bank favorable.

"For the reasons that these two conditions are not to be found at the mouth of the Mississippi, careful engineers have time and again pronounced the application of jetties at either South- west Pass or Pass à l'Outre not worthy of a trial at government expense. If enthusiastic jetty men wish to pass from theory to practice, they can always gain consent to spend their own money in building jetties at Southwest Pass, and if they succeed in doing good they will have a fair claim on government for recom- pense. . . . Jetties have been attempted there, and not only reported a failure by the inspecting officer, but abandoned by Messrs. Craig & Righter, who made the attempt.1

" The full particulars of this may be found in Ex. Doc. No. 5 H. R., 36th Cong., 2d sess. The practical experience gained by that failure, I presume, will deter the government, though it will not deter adventurous jetty men, from sinking more money in such attempts."

The " adventurous jetty men" were Capt. James B. Eads and his associates, who, as is well known, have made the jetty system a grand success. It is not necessary to recapitulate here the controversy which, in the newspapers as well as in Congress, have agi- tated the whole Mississippi valley concerning this method of deepening the water at the mouth of the great river.

The various modes which have been attempted of increasing the depth of the channel through the Passes have been the following :

1. Dredging. Under instructions of the War Department, Capt. Talcott attempted in 1839 to open the Southwest Pass with the ordinary bucket-drag. The gulf waves in a single storm swept in "twice as much mud" as he had taken out.

2. By rake and harrow. This method was once tried under the direction and at the expense of the government by a tow- boat association, but their efforts were equally fruitless. The channel was temporarily opened to a depth of eighteen feet, but again suddenly closed by a gulf storm.

3. In 1836 the government entered into a contract with Messrs. Craig & Righter to open a channel one thousand feet wide and eighteen feet deep, which was to be executed by closing all the Passes except those designated for navigation. The contract was abandoned.

4. In 1868-70 the government caused to be constructed a

steam propeller dredge, at a cost of three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which was placed under the command of an officer of the navy. This experiment was faithfully made, but it " failed to maintain a much greater depth of water than that which nature has prescribed as the regimen depth of the Pass." The results of this mode were at least but temporary, and to have been of any service would have had to be continued from year to year, while the labors of an entire season were liable to be destroyed at any time by a single storm.

5. By the Fort St. Philip Canal, which was strongly recom- mended by a majority of the board of engineers appointed by the War Department. This canal was proposed as early as 1832, since which time many surveys and reconnoissances have been made as to its proper location, expense, and commercial practicability.

A report of the United States board of engineers in 1874 favored the canal scheme and opposed the jetties, holding that the cost of producing a depth of twenty-seven feet would be twenty-three million dollars.

In February, 1874, James B. Eads proposed to Con- gress to open the mouth of the river, making a depth of twenty-eight feet, for ten million dollars, at the entire risk of himself and his associates, not a dollar to be paid until a depth of twenty feet was secured. The controversy created by Capt. Eads' proposition bc- came quite warm and personal. A committee of civil engineers was appointed to investigate the question, and particularly the European jetties and their ef- fects.

The result of their investigation was favorable to the jetties, and on March 3, 1875, the President signed the bill entering into a contract with Capt. Eads to deepen the mouth of the river. South Pass, which had previously had a depth of nine feet, was chosen, and work begun in June, 1875. By May, 1876, when very little work had been done, it was found that one million nine hundred thousand cubic yards of material liad been scoured out, and that the minimum depth was 16.9 feet. Even with this showing many persons still failed to have confidence in the jetties, and stories of new bars, mud, lumps, etc., were told almost every day in the local press. In November, 1877, the dredge-boat "Bayley" was used in scouring the channel of the jetties.

A survey made Dec. 15, 1877, showed a channel twenty-two fect deep, and more than two hundred feet wide, existing from the deeper water in South Pass to the deeper water in the gulf. On this show- ing the first award of five hundred thousand dollars, under the contract made between Eads and the gov- ernment, was paid over to him. Work was continued on the jetties in 1877 and 1878, in which year it was completed, the concrete and crib-work at the sea ends being erected.

The following table will show the depth in the

1 Craig & Righter built but one jetty, and not jettics, as ap- pears from a foot-note to page 455, stating that "the contrac- tors (Messrs. Craig & Righter) merely built onc insecure jetty of a single row of pile-planks, about a mile long."

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

1051

channel at ten thousand feet from East Point, the worst part of the Pass, at various times :

June, 1875 .. 9.2 feet. February, 1879. 22.2 feet.

May, 1876. 15 66 March, 1879

24.8

August, 1876. 19.8

June, 1879

July, 1877. 20,3 66

June, 1878 21.9

July, 1879

30.5

In the summer of 1881 the least depth in the channel in South Pass, not in the jetties, was 26} feet, 97,000 feet above East Point and at Bayou Grande ; and 29 feet at Picayune Bayou, and at a point 90,000 feet above East Point. At no point in the jetties proper is the depth of channel less than 30} feet.

James B. Eads, whose name is permanently asso- ciated with three gigantic enterprises,-the building of the jetties, the construction of the gunboat fleet at St. Louis during the war, and the crection of the great bridge across the Mississippi,-may justly be regarded as one of the foremost engineers of his day, and it is quite within bounds to say that no man has ever surmounted greater mechanical difficulties or wrested a larger measure of success from doubtful and hostile conditions. Two of the three great ex- periments whose practicability he so signally demon- strated may be classed among the wonders of the age, for it is a matter of history that the construc- tion both of the Mississippi bridge and jetties was regarded by leading engineers and scientific men as impracticable, dangerous, and altogether beyond the limits of reasonable calculation. With that un- bounded faith in the correctness of his own judg- ment and that indomitable courage and endurance which have ever been recognized as the first essen- tials to success in all great undertakings, Capt. Eads maintained his position in the face of criticism, de- traction, personal abuse, and determined professional hostility working through various channels, and at last, by sheer pluck and persistence, fully vindicated the soundness of his views and covered his critics with confusion.

Capt. Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., May 23, 1820, and his early education was acquired in the schools of Louisville and Cincinnati. Before he had succeeded in mastering the rudiments, however, his father experienced reverses which necessitated his withdrawal from school, to which he never returned. At a very early age he developed a taste for mechan- ics and a fondness for experimenting with machinery, which was afterwards to become the ruling passion of his wonderful career. Among the anecdotes related of him is one to the effect that when only nine years old, having embarked on an Ohio River steamboat, he exhibited such an intelligent interest in the engine

that the engineer volunteered to explain to him the de- tails of its mechanism and operation, finding in him an absorbed and quickly responsive pupil. Four years later the boy was able to construct a miniature work- ing steam-engine without assistance.

In September, 1833, when only thirteen years of age, he arrived in St. Louis under very unpropitious circumstances, the steamboat on which his father

Jas. 73. Gads

with his family had embarked to seek a home farther West having been burned, thus rendering the family destitute. In order to contribute something to the common fund, young Eads sold apples on the street, and succeeded not only in providing for his own sup- port but also in assisting his mother. After a while he obtained a position with a mercantile firm, the senior partner of which, Barrett Williams, having discovered his mechanical tastes and aspirations, gave him free access to his library, where he eagerly em- braced the opportunity to study mechanics, machin- ery, and civil engineering. After spending some time in this occupation he obtained a position as clerk on a steamboat, which he retained two years, and during this period obtained a valuable fund of information concerning the great river whose restless current he was afterwards to bridle and control at will. In 1842 he entered into a partnership with Case & Nelson, boat-builders, for the purpose of recovering steam- boats and cargoes which had been wrecked or sunk

1052

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

in the river. At first the operations of the firm were limited, their machinery and appliances being very. primitive and quite inadequate to the work which they undertook to perform. Such were the energy, versatility, and industry of Capt. Eads, however, that the business rapidly expanded, until, in the space of about ten years, it extended the entire length of the Mississippi, and the property of the firm had increased to half a million dollars. In 1845, Capt. Eads sev- ered his relations with Messrs. Case & Nelson and established a factory for the manufacture of glass- ware. To Capt. Eads belongs the credit of having made the first glassware west of the Mississippi. The enterprise not proving remunerative, however, he returned to his old business of recovering steamboat property, etc., from the river.

In the winter of 1855-56, Capt. Eads submitted to Congress a proposition to keep the Western rivers open for a term of years by removing all obstructions and keeping the channels free. A bill embodying his proposal passed the House of Representatives, but was defeated in the Senate. In 1857 he retired from active business on account of ill health, but on the breaking out of the war his large and varicd expe- rience in navigating the Mississippi and its tributaries, his thorough knowledge of those rivers, his immense industry and energy, and his almost intuitively sound judgment were promptly placed at the disposal of the Union government. While a stanch supporter of the war measures of the Lincoln administration, Capt. Eads by no means approved the enforcement of harsh and arbitrary measures of coercion, and, as elsewhere narrated, at a crisis when peculiar courage was re- quired to assume such a position, took strong ground against the levying of contributions on Southern sym- pathizers, and headed a movement for raising a fund to take the place of that which the military authori- ties had determined to exact from alleged friends of the Confederacy in St. Louis. When the government took into consideration the feasibility of forming a gunboat fleet on the Mississippi, Capt. Eads was summoned to Washington for consultation, and in pursuance of his advice the construction of a number of ironclads was undertaken. Capt. Eads received the contract for building the first seven of these ves- sels, and accomplished the gigantic task with con- spicuous ability and success. His labors in this con- nection have already been fully set forth in this work in the chapter on the civil war.

Capt. Eads' next great feat was the construction of the bridge across the Mississippi. He was the origi- nator and creator of this vast enterprise, and as its chief engineer personally superintended the prosecution

of the work,-a work attended by innumerable diffi- culties, delays, and embarrassments,-which he con- ducted to a triumphant consummation by the steady and persistent exercise of his rare energy and in- domitable will.

Even when miost actively engaged with the multi- farious duties of this grave trust, and weighted down with its responsibilities, he found time and thought to give to the important problem of securing a suffi- cient depth of water at the mouth of the Mississippi for vessels of the largest draught. After long and mature deliberation he came to the conclusion that the only practicable method of securing this object was by an elaborate and costly system of jetties, which he defines as being " simply dikes or levees under water, . . . intended to act as banks to the river to prevent its expanding and diffusing itself as it enters the sea. It is a notable fact that where the banks of a river extend boldly out into the sea no bar is formed at the entrance. It is where the banks or fauces terræ (jaws of earth) are absent, as is the case in delta-forming rivers, that the bar is an invariable feature. The bar results from the diffusion of the stream as it spreads out fan-like in entering the sea. The diffusion of the river being the cause, the remedy manifestly lies in contracting it or in preventing the diffusion."

In 1852 a board of engineers composed of Maj. Chase and Capts. Barnard and Beauregard, of the army, and Capt. Latimer, of the navy, recommended that in order to increase the depth of water at the mouth of the Mississippi the process of stirring up the bottom of the river by suitable machinery be tried, and that if this failed, dredging by buckets be employed. If both failed, they recommended that jetties be constructed at the Southwest Pass, to be ex- tended annually into the gulf as experience should show to be necessary. Should it then be needed, they advised that the lateral outlets should be closed, and, finally, if all these expedients failed, that a ship-canal might be resorted to.

Dredging, as we have seen, was tried without suc- cess, and repeated experiments with other plans re- sulted in nothing until, in 1875, Capt. Eads began tlie construction of his jetty works, the contract having been awarded to James Andrews & Co. within two months after the passage by Congress of the act authorizing the experiment. On the 23d of March, 1875, a complimentary banquet in honor of Capt. Eads was given by leading citizens of St. Louis at the Southern Hotel, at which the mayor of the city pre- sided. In the course of an address on this occasion Capt. Eads said,-

1053

THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.

" If the profession of the engineer were not based upon exaet science, I might tremble for the result, in view of the immensity of the interests which are dependent upon my suceess. But every atom that moves onward in the river, from the moment it leaves its home and erystal springs or mountain snows, through- out the fifteen hundred leagues of its devious pathway, until it is finally lost in the vast waters of the gulf, is controlled by laws as fixed and eertain as those which direct the majestic mareh of the heavenly spheres. Every phenomenon and apparent eceentrieity of the river, its seouring and depositing action, its curving banks, the formation of the bars at its mouth, the effeet of the waves and tides of the sea upon its currents and deposits, are controlled by laws as immutable as the Creator, and the engineer needs only to be assured that he does not ignore the existence of any of these laws to feel positively certain of the result he aims at. I therefore undertake the work with a faith based upon the ever constant ordinanees of God himself, and so eertain as He will spare my life and faculties for two years more, I will give to the Mississippi River, through His grace and the application of His laws, a deep, open, safe, and permanent outlet to the sea."

That this prediction of Capt. Eads, so confidently uttered, was no empty boast or over-sanguine declara- tion has been amply demonstrated by the magnificent success which has crowned his labors. At the present time the largest ocean vessels sail in and out the mouth of the river without danger or difficulty, and to the energy, skill, and wonderful prescience of James B. Eads is due the completion of a work of improve- ment which has already contributed immensely to the prosperity of the Mississippi valley.

Capt. Eads' fertile brain is never at rest, and is con- stantly employed in devising great enterprises. Of these the most conspicuous in recent years is a plan for the construction of a railway for the transportation of ships across the isthmus of Panama, thus obviating the necessity for the proposed ship-canal,-a scheme which he has advocated with characteristic ardor and great ability, and which is still fresh in the public mind. In the summer of 1875 the Scientific American sug- gested his name as a candidate for President of the United States, and the nomination was indorsed by a number of leading journals throughout the country as being that of a man whose genius, experience, and wonderful achievements eminently fitted him for so exalted a station. Capt. Eads, however, has no politi- cal aspirations, and can well afford to rest content with the laurels he has earned.

In 1845 he married Martha N., daughter of Patrick M. Dillon, of St. Louis (who died in 1852), and subse- quently his present wife, Mrs. Eunice S. Eads. He has five daughters, three of whom are married respec- tively to John A. Ubsdell, of New York, and Estill McHenry and James F. How, of St. Louis.

In recognition of his achievements in his profession the Missouri State University conferred the degree of

LL.D. on Capt. Eads, and the St. Louis Academy of Sciences twice elected him its president. Besides these positions he has filled many other offices of trust and honor in various important corporations, among which may be mentioned the National Bank of the State of Missouri, the St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway, the St. Charles Bridge Company, and the Third National Bank.

In St. Louis Capt. Eads enjoys the universal respect and esteem of the community, which is justly proud of one whose career has been almost without a parallel in this country, and whose success in the face of herculean difficulties has extorted the admiration of even his opponents.

The Harbor of St. Louis .- Almost coincidently with the arrival of the first steamboat at St. Louis in 1817 a sand-bar formed in the bend at the lower end of the town, which gradually extended up as far as Market Street, making a naked beach at low water. Another bar soon formed in the river at the upper end of the city, west of Bloody Island. Thus, at the very outset of the commercial progress of St. Louis, the current of the Mississippi, cutting deeper and deeper into the American Bottom on the eastern side of Bloody Island, was threatening the city with the diversion of its channel to the east side of the island, leaving St. Louis "high and dry," with a sand-bar in front of it.

In this crisis it was generally predicted that the city would amount to nothing in a commercial point of view, and the timid refused to make investments in real estate, fearing that the town would be left without the facility of availing itself of the benefits which the new steam system of navigation prom- ised.1

1 " Pursuant to the notice given by the Board of Aldermen, November 20th," says the Republican of Dec. 4, 1832, "a large number of our most respected citizens assembled last evening, at an early hour, in the city hall, to consider the propriety of taking measures for the removal of the sand-bar in front of the city. The meeting was ealled to order by Mr. P. Ferguson, and on motion, Thornton Grimsley, Esq., was called to the chair, and Nathan Ranney was appointed seeretary.

"The meeting was addressed in a plain and lucid manner by the following gentlemen : Hon. James H. Peek, P. Ferguson, Mr. Tabor, A. L. Maginnis, Mr. MeKee, J. F. Darby, W. K. Rule, R. Simpson, and Thomas Cohe, when a report of a com- mittee previously appointed by the board of aldermen to examine the channel of the river was ealled for and ordered to be read.

"On motion of J. F. Darby, seconded by R. Simpson, it was resolved that a committee of seven gentlemen be appointed to draft resolutions expressive of the sense of this meeting, where- upon the chair named the following gentlemen to constitute the said committee : A. L. Maginnis, Gen. Bernard Pratte, James Clemens, G. Paul, A. Gamble, G. Morton, and J. F. Darby, Esqs.

1054

HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

In 1833 the city authorities, becoming alarmed for the commercial prosperity of the city, undertook the removal of the sand-bars, and with that view em- ployed John Goodfellow to plow them up with ox-teams and plows, thus loosening the sand, which high water was expected to wash away. The idea was suggested by Col. Thomas F. Riddick, and the means were sup- plied by Gen. Bernard Pratte and some other wealthy citizens. About three thousand dollars was expended in the plowing process without making any impression upon the sand-bar.

Steamboats had grounded, and could not land as high up as Olive Street, and daily indications were given that the river would ultimately sweep around to the eastern side of Bloody Island and leave the Missouri shore.

The mayor of St. Louis in 1835 was John F. Darby, who, fully realizing the danger that threatened the present and future welfare of the city, induced the Board of Aldermen to petition Congress for aid to improve and construct the harbor of St. Louis. The representative of St. Louis in Congress at that time was Gen. William H. Ashley,1 who by constantly urging the committee of the House of Representatives to which the petition was referred, of which Patrick Henry Pope, from the Louisville, Ky., district was chairman, finally secured the reporting of a bill recom- mending the improvement of the harbor, and appro- priating one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for that purpose. Col. Thomas H. Benton, then in the United States Senate, hampered and hindered by his

" After the committee had retired for a short time it returned, and submitted the following resolutions, which were unani- monsly adopted :

"1. Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the in- crease of the sand-bar opposite this city would be alike injuri- ous to its health and commercial prosperity.

"2. Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting the course pursued by the corporate authorities of this city for the removal of the grievance complained of is justly deserving of and hereby receives its decided support, and that this meeting cordially approve of the city authorities effecting said removal by pro- curing funds for such object, whether by loan or otherwise, and that they also concur in requesting the corporate authorities to solicit the aid of the State and general government therefor."

1 Gen. Ashley was warmly attached to the people of St. Louis, where he had lived so long and had so many devoted friends. This circumstance gave great encouragement and hope. His daring adventures, perils, and enterprises in the Rocky Moun- tains, whereby he had accumulated great wealth, the elegance of his entertainments at Washington, and his gentleinanly bear- ing, all had given him a position of commanding influence, and made him one of the most popular men in the House of Repre- sentatives ; and although he was no speaker himself, his pleas- ant demeanor and his genial manner were so winning, that a dozen members of eloquence and ability on the floor were always ready to spring to their feet and advocate his measures.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 15

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358