But I was able to secure the passage of one very interesting and important measure.

James B.Eads, the famous engineer, architect of the great St.Louis bridge, had a plan for opening to commerce the mouth of the Mississippi River by a system of jetties.
He had submitted his plan to the Board of Engineers appointed by the War Department.

But he could get no encouragement, and of the twenty members of that Board, only one, General Barnard, the President, looked with any approval upon his scheme.

The Board thought that a very long and costly canal was the only method of securing a water-way which would enable ocean steamers to reach New Orleans, and the product of the Mississippi valley to be carried to Europe that way.

Captain Eads appeared before the Committee on Railroads and Canals and urged his scheme in a speech of great interest and ability.
The Committee adjourned for a week.