Summer 2023 - Flipbook - Page 25
Southwest Pass to force more water down South
Pass. Eads constructed the entire project with private
funds furnished by himself and a group of investors.
Only if Eads achieved the channel dimensions
established in the Rivers and Harbors Act would
Congress reimburse him for construction and
maintenance of the jetty works.
Eads' jetties revived the declining Port of New
Orleans and allowed the entire Mississippi Valley
to prosper. In 1875, when Eads began, 6,875 tons
of goods were shipped from St. Louis through New
Orleans to Europe. In 1880, the year after he
completed the jetties, 453,681 tons went by that
route. Commerce in the Port of New Orleans
increased to such an extent that the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers (USACE) proposed a deeper, 35-ft
channel. USACE constructed jetties based on Eads’
model, at Southwest Pass between 1908 and 1923.
Ship traffic in South Pass eventually discontinued in
the 1970s.
To the civil engineering profession, Eads’ South Pass
Navigation Works contributed advancement in
hydraulic engineering with knowledge and control of
large alluvial, deltaic rivers, control of discharges, and
knowledge of bar-formation mechanics. In 1982, the
American Society of Civil Engineers designated Eads’
South Pass Navigation Works as a National Historic
Civil Engineering Landmark.
Join us on March 20-24, 2023 at ASCE
Headquarters in Reston, VA for ASCE
Seminar Week!
Why should you attend?
•
•
•
•
•
Earn up to 39 PDHs in one week!
Network with colleagues
Ethics course
New lower rates
Live streaming option available
25