Eads Jetties

Eads sold Congress a risky bet. He would build the South Pass jetties at his own expense and be paid in stages, only as the channel reached set depths, with 30 feet the target. Willow trunks were bound into mattresses, stacked and weighted with stone and concrete, and river silt filled the gaps, so the current scoured its own channel. The Army Corps chief, Andrew Humphreys, doubted Eads's methods, and the Corps favored a canal around the bars. The jetties were finished in 1879, and the channel reached the target.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Bayou Mardi Gras — steps away
• Fort Jackson — 0.3 mi
• The 1893 Hurricane — 0.8 mi
• Port Sulphur — 16 mi