SNAG-FIGHTERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 453, 3 April 1912, Page 7

SNAG-FIGHTERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

Most of us have at some time 01 another seen a tree which has been torn up by floods roiling over and over down a swollen stream, and, in watching it, we may have observed the beginning of a snag when part of the wreckage caught on the bottom and hung quivering there with its upper portions just awash. But in this country we see the process only upon a small scale ; (says the "Weekly Telegraph,) the largest trunk borne down the wildest of Highland rivers would be a mere sappling in comparison with the forest giants held in the clutches of the Mississippi. The relatively modern growths there are huge, but the remains of the patriarchs of primaeval forests are even larger. They have remained buried in the mud of the river bed, which in the course of ages may have be-come dry land, until another change in the course of the erratic stream, wrenches the ancient trunks from their graves, and starts them afresh on their long journey towards the Gulf of Mexico. The curio'.is thing is that although a stretch of the river may be definitely cleared of such risky relics one day, on the next, the same area may be full of them again. The size and weight of these masses are almost unbelievable. Trunks only without reckoning limbs, have been known to reach 170 feet in length, and to weigh upwards of 150 tons, whilst lengths of 100 feet and almost 100 tons are common. Imagine one of these giants embedded for perhaps forty feet in adhesive mud with its upper section slanted, spear-like, to within a few inches of the water surface, and you will gain some idea of the tremendous power required to move, it, as well as of the danger which exists to navigation whilst it remains unextraeted. A steamer running on this fang will have its bottom ripped open from bow to stern and will sink like a stone, nor is this the worst, because the fang remains set for the next comer which is caught on it, as well as on the sunken wreck, and goes down in turn. A third, and even a fourth, have been known to go the same way, one on top of another. From St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico, a distance of 1,200 miles, the Mississippi has wrecks of this character at almost every turn ; their total runs up to many thousands. Moreover the fixed snag is not always the most dangerous. There are others whicb lurk loose near the bottom until disturbed by the passage above them of a steamer, when they dart upwards, usually on end, and pierce the bottom plating of the vessel as though it were paper.

It is in order to combat these enemies that a flotilla, of Government snag-fighters is maintained at a tcost running far into six figures ir English pounds annually. The vessels are of various sizes from forty tons upwards, the largest being great double-hulled fabrics equipped svith a small forest of cranes and full of , ingenious machinery designed tc attack the snags under a ll likely conditions. Sifter the snags have been located, if necessary by "sweeping" the river bed, the. usual procedure, provided the obstacle is above or sufficiently; near the surface, is tc tmtt the snag boat against it in order to loosen its hold on the bottom. After that its extraction is a mattei of sheer force. Loops of huge chains are lowered into the water and pushed forward by the snag-fighter unti they are tangled in the snag. Wher :his has been accomplished the chains ivhich are connected with powerful steam derricks, are drawn upwards, and either the snag comes out. or it, or the' chain gives way. In the- lat:er case another chain is adjusted and :he operation is repeated until the trunk yields, after which it is drawn on bcrard a nd cut into pieces. Another method involves the use of dynamite. It is used chiefly in waters sufficiently shallow to enable the snags to be located by sight, or by the aid of sounding poles. A boat carrying the explosive and electric firing arrangements is sent out from the snag-fighter to the space tc be cleared. A wire girdle hung with dynamite is slipped loosely over tin top. of a snag which is to be destroyed, and is allowed to slip downwards as far as it will go. From a detonator on the ring a wire leads to the electric battery in the boat which retires to a safe distance before firing the charge. The explosion usually brings the snag to the surface in fragments amidst a mountain of foam. Incidentally such shocks also kill numbers of fish, to the great delight of the negro population living in the neighbourhood of the scene of operations. The snag-boats have their work besides direct attacks upon snags. They, or their crews, are detailed tc prevent the formation of such dan gers by cutting down trees which threaten to fall into the river, sometimes along many miles of bank. The boats are also employed to retrieve wrecks after the treacherous snag has got its blow home, and it give; some idea of the enormous power o the vessels employed to know that as salvage craft, they are able tc raise from the river bottom, by derrick strength alone, one of the large steamers employed on the Mississippi.