Drawn by DAVID D. PORTER, Capt. U. S. N., and commanding Mail Steamship Georgia, and published by order of Committee Chamber of Commerce; Caldwell, Stanton, Owen, Skipwith and Sumner. *The Middlesex and cargo got damaged (by collision) on the bar $30,000, and returned to repair. Many other vessels than those above were aground at the same time, awaiting a swell from southeasterly gales. Examined before the Committee on Commerce of the Legislature, in March, 1846, William D. Talbot, a resident of the Balize for twenty-five years, used the following language: Dredging N. E. Pass.. $160,000 210,000 $370,000 with an annual subsequent expenditure of $72,000 more. Closing the Passes.. "The bars at the various Passes change very often. The channels sometimes change two or three times in a season. Occasionally one gale of wind will change" the channel. The bars make to seaward every year. The South-west Pass is now the main outlet. It has been so for only three years, as at that time there was as much water in the North-east Pass as in it. The South-east Pass was the main ship channel twenty years ago; there is only about six feet water in that Pass now, and where it was deepest then, there is only a few inches of water at this time. The visible shores of the river have made out into the Gulf two or three miles within his memory. Besides the deposit of mud and sand, which form the bars, there frequently arise bumps or mounds near the channel, which divert its course. These bumps are supposed 1760 yards to 30 feet water. $214,500 100,000 182,500 30,000 $527,000 The line of the ship canal is proposed from a point two and a quarter miles below Fort Jackson, and extending seven miles to the shore of the Gulf, and thence by a jette, The canal to to be the production of salt springs, and sometimes be 100 feet wide at top, and thirty feet deep. are formed in a very few days. They sometimes rise The cost of this magnificent work is estimated He four or five feet above the surface of the water. thus: doubt. If we are content to leave unimproved the channel of the river, private enterprise will find a harbor for our commerce at some other point than the levee of NewOrleans. Ship Island may afford such a one for the heaviest tonnage, and a railroad locomotive be substituted for the laborious" tow." Lieut. Poole, of the United States En- an annual commerce departing or entering gineers, in his Report of February 8, 1847, the river, now of $100,000,000, is a question remarks: "Great changes have taken place we shall not take time to solve. Of the pracin the last fifteen years in this (the South- ticability of such a canal there can be no east) and the North-east Pass, which has been deepening while this has been filling up." It is stated where the island, shown upon sheet No. 3, now is, there was at that period six fathoms water. The process seems to be still going on; the space between this island and Antonio being nearly covered by a shoal, the centre of which is already above water. Dur- The subject of pilotage over the bars of the ing a few days that two ships were lying river has for a long time excited deserved inaground on the middle bank of the South terest in Louisiana, and also in contiguous west Pass, in eight feet water, a channel states. A history of this question would not formed between them, through which a ship be out of place here, particularly as from late of sixteen feet draught passed out without developments it would hardly seem to be obstruction! settled. The project of deepening or improving At the cession of Louisiana to the United these outlets has been for a long time before States, a monopoly of the pilotage was in the the general government, and special reports hands of one Ronquile, appointed under the upon the subject prepared by the engineer service after extended surveys. Three methods have been principally insisted upon, with different degrees of merit and expense: 1st. To deepen by dredging-machines one or two of the Passes. 2d. To close up all but one of them where they leave the river trunk. 3d. To cut a canal from the river to the gulf. All of these are regarded practicable. Supposing the first and second adopted together, Captain Chase estimates the expense as follows, to give sufficent depth of water: Spanish crown. This man was succeeded by two others, who bought out his establishment, and amassed a fortune in the course of a few years. The duties of these pilots were performed by deputies, common sailors picked up in the city, and the fees allowed were two. dollars a foot with certain other perquisites. The law of 1805 empowered the governor to appoint two or more sufficient persons to be branch pilots. Unlimited competition was the result. The masters and wardens of NewOrleans were constituted a board of examination for pilots. The Act of 1837, now of force, introduced The a revolution in the system. The governor the night. It was a place dangerous to visit: appoints under it not exceeding fifty branch the savageness of man invested the desolation pilots, who are to be citizens of the United of nature with appalling attributes. States, and have resided two years in Louisi- Balize is located upon the margin of the Misana; examined by a board of examiners, and sissippi, a short distance above the North-east recommended by it to the master and wardens Pass; in front the river flows sullenly; all of New-Orleans, and by them to the execu- around is a prairie overgrown with the rank tive. This board of examiners to be from luxuriance of the tropics; the waters of the the pilots themselves, and consist of three gulf in daily tides cover the face of the earth members. Each pilot to give bond in the sum round about, many miles; there is not a tree, of one thousand dollars. Deputy pilots are nor a mound, nor a monument of any sort, forbidden, and none but a branch pilot shall unless placed there by the hand of man, to conduct the business. The rate of pilotage relieve a monotony that oppresses the beupon all vessels indiscriminately is fixed at holder. The land itself is but a recent ac$3.50 per foot, without other charge whatever. quisition from the ocean, wrenched thence by Against this system a protest has been the great father of rivers. This dreary and made by the New-Orleans Chamber of Com- inhospitable vision was the first that greeted merce, and a committee of the Legislature the stranger approaching our shores from the charged during last year with the subject, seaward; and it is appalling to reflect that after severe investigation and examination of the character of the people who dwelt there, a large number of witnesses selected from the pilots, the ship and tow-boat captains, ship owners, and merchants, presented a report which lies before us upon the table. and held appointments from the state, was yet more savage than the scene that surrounded them, and impressed the mind with ideas of our national qualities, as gloomy as the opinions such a spectacle might inspire of the natural features of our country. "It was not surprising that your predecessors endeavored to remodel a system, or systems, under which the vestibule of the state was thronged by the worst description of men. Nor is there wanted a reason why they, who The committee support the present system against those that preceded it or are proposed in its stead, and furnish a beautiful and graphic sketch of the country which has been redeemed under its influence, and of the domestic life and condition of those who are employed in the pilot service. We make no apology for a lengthened extract from the Re-approached our shores to find themselves port, which will give no inadequate notion of the region known as the Balize in the beginning of the present century and now: "Your committee have ascertained to their entire satisfaction, that every system that had ever been in force in this state, from the cession of Louisiana to the passage of the act of March 13th, 1837, had proved a total failure. Whether as regards the interests of commerce, the advancement of social order, or the behests of morals and civilization, they had one and all fallen short of the ends and purposes of their creation. "On this point your committee have taken ample and unbroken testimony, without a dissenting voice. The whole evidence shows that, from the existence of the state as a portion of the confederacy, up to the year 1837, the pilot service was negligently performed, and more especially were the persons engaged in it, as a body, a desperate, worth less, reckless class of men. The Balize, during that period, was a scene of barbarous strife and drunken debauch. amid a class of men more dangerous than the deep they had escaped, made an outcry against the laws that encouraged or could not repress their outrages. Nor was it possible for a service, requiring sober, discreet, and intelligent men, to be conducted properly by such as spent their lives in daily broils and midnight wassail. "The experiments to infuse respectability and character into the pilot service resulted in the act of the 13th March, 1837. The effect of that act the committee will endeavor to explain in as brief a space as possible; and in this connection they will also attempt to point out the peculiar provisions of the law which in their opinion have, more than others, brought about the change that has been so beneficial and apparent. "Shortly after the passage of the act of 1837, the pilots selected under it formed themselves into an association for their better governance, and the more prompt and efficient discharge of their duties. It will be seen that the act provided that there should be no deputy "Your committee have been informed by pilots; every person in the association was, witnesses of unblemished character, who have therefore, a full branch pilot, and the equal of resided at the Balize, both befere and after his compeers. The immediate effect of this the passage of the act of 1837, that anterior provision was the elevation of the character to that law it was a mere mud bank, whose of the pilots as men. There was no inequalnatural loathsomeness was made more in- ity between them-no superiors, no inferiors; tolerable by the beastly scenes enacted there. every man who had heretofore occupied a Riots and broils were daily exhibitions, and subordinate sphere of life was raised in his low revelry and debauches the pastimes of own esteem. He was no longer a menial; his responsibilities were increased, and with it his dignity and self-respect. "The association was founded upon the broadest principles of equal rights. The business of the company was placed under the superintendence and control of a principal and board of directors, or rather executive committee. The by-laws regulating these appointments made them elective by the pilots in commission, and so limited the periods of service, and arranged the terms of reeligibility, as to secure to each, in his turn, a share in the administration of the affairs of the association. The salutary influences of this system were soon manifested, in a total change in the habits, manners, and morals of the Balize; order succeeded confusion; soberness of living followed the scenes of riot and debauchery before prevalent; and the growth of social amenities rooted out the wild and poisonous weeds which had sprung up in that hot-bed of vice and profligacy. "The change in the physical features of the Balize is not greatly less obvious than in its moral qualities. A village of comfortable and convenient houses has sprung up like bright exhalations. A narrow strip of ground, fronting neat dwellings, has been wrested from the returning tides. By small additions, such as could be made in the intervals between the claims of duty, they have formed an embankment for the purposes of horticulture. The earth forming this artificial batture has been taken from the depths of the river. It is the product of years of labor. Each residence has a parterre before it; and here the matrons of the Balize and their daughters spend their leisure in beautifying the blasted desolation of nature. A more imposing instance of the power of law, when exerted for the dignity of man-for his protection, for the conservative instincts of our species-can nowhere be found. That there should be now a wellordered society in this once sink of iniquity; that domestic virtues should hallow the abode of profligacy; that children should be pointed the ways of wisdom, where yet a little while the stern and formed character of men could not resist the force of abasing example; that flowers should be taught to grow upon a waste, where lately a vertical sun and the waters of the ocean held alternate dominion; that religion, peace and order should reign over a spot cursed with inhospitalities, and terrible from the depravity of its inhabitants, is a triumph which the law may boast, which civilization may rejoice over, which the state may claim as all her own. "In the benefits of these ameliorations, commerce has also participated, for a more intelligent class of persons are brought to its assistance. It is in proof that the pilot service has been better conducted since 1837 than it ever was before-a proposition which scarcely required proof, unless it were doubtful whether sober, industrious, competent and respectable men are more capable of discharging responsible duties than sots and sealoafers." "Another change more remarkable, but perhaps equally natural, was wrought by the act, in the domestic relations of the pilots. It was a rare thing to see a married woman at the Balize during the existence of the ancient systems, which were overthrown in 1837. Upon the disappearance of stews, lewd resorts, and places of public drinking, more sedate and rational views of life supplanted the savage and guilty notions that had so long swayed the conduct of the pilots; and that provision of the law which made members of their own body a board of examiners, giving to them the right to select their own associates, and in a good measure to purge the Balize of the worthless characters who might otherwise infest it, emboldened them to take wives to themselves, and perfect the reform by adding the claims of domestic connections to the induce ment to a well-regulated social organization. "The change produced by these combined influences upon the morals of the Balize is scarcely credible. It has been snatched like a brand from the burning-a diviner spirit has breathed upon it—a more exalting appreciation of the duties of citizenship has pos- The following facts were elicited from witsessed its inhabitants. They have become nesses in the course of examination before fathers of families; children have grown up the committee:-There are forty-seven pilots around them, whose prattle awakens other now enrolled. The full complement of fifty emotions than those that night revels and has almost always been secured. A pilotbrawdy songs once stirred within them. Nor boat is ever stationed at the South-west Pass, do they stop here. They have established a and cruises southward and eastward; the public school to educate these children for the South-west Pass came into use in 1830, preduties of republicans. They have built up a viously the South-east was the main channel; reading room for the improvement of them-four other boats cruise from the North-east selves as well. They have established a po- Pass. Boats with five or six pilots remain at lice there, too, to suppress disorder. The cha-sea until they have all taken ships. The gulf racteristics of the place are peace, order, coast is extensive and complicated; sun often progress. The abode of vice, lawlessness and seen only through fogs faintly for months at profligacy, has been redeemed, and conse- a time; pilots guide then by soundings and crated to the humanizing influences of the age-education, moral culture, and habits of industry, sobriety, and economy. their knowledge of bottoms. The population of the Balize is 300 to 350. There are at the South-west Pass 60 or 70 more. Mortality from various causes very great. In eleven towns and cities at present upon its banks, e commercial interests are directly conyears seventy or eighty boat-keepers or pilots have been drowned, killed, or have died. nected with its waters, it is not a hundred th Within thirty-one years every man at the Ba- part of what it is one day destined to become; lize has died-every human being, pilot or not and vast as is the amount of produce from pilot. The Association of Pilots have in their the interior which now descends, and of imemploy ten apprentices, receiving each from ports that ascends that river, they are really twenty-five to thirty dollars per month. The inconsiderable when compared with the most average annual distributable share of each moderate estimate of the amount that must pilot, for the last six or seven years, has been $1,634 90. The salaries of tow-boat captains reach as high as $2,000. at some future day find a way to their respective markets along its channel. Being the outlet of an immense valley, and the travelThe evidence for the good order, faithful- ling and commercial thoroughfare of a populaness, decorum, and entire efficiency of the tion increasing beyond all ordinary calculapilot service is unanimous. The Vice Presi- tion, whatever affects the permanency of its dent of the Chamber of Commerce, W. L. channel, or general character as a navigable Hodge, Esq., declared that he was not aware stream, must excite an interest in the minds of any neglect, as represented in certain pe- of all who reside sufficiently near its waters titions, and that he had refused such petitions to have their property affected by its overwhen presented to him. The objections of flows, or a change in its channel. These overwitnesses go to other matters-to the con- flows have been of such a character for the stitution of the Board of Examiners, to the last few years, as to spread consternation alleged monopoly and excessive rate of charges. The evidence on the last point is various. Some are for maintaining the system as it is, many for a very considerable reduction; nearly all would advocate a reduction on vessels drawing less than ten or twelve feet. The pilots themselves admit the propriety of this last reduction, and advocate it as being more beneficial to themselves as well as to trade. Doubtless the proper modification will be made. among those whose agricultural interests lie |