It appears that work will begin soon on the dredging of our channel. The previous dredge was done with a large backhoe-dragline operation that directly excavated about a cubic yard at a time and deposited it on the barge. This is known in the trade as a mechanical method. I understand this latest operation will involve a vacuum tube that pulls up the sediment and carries it though tubes to the drop site. The tubes can be seen in the picture with floats to keep them suspended. This is called an hydraulic method.