The channel for light-draft steamboats, as improved in past years, deteriorated somewhat during the past fiscal year, due to snags, logs, etc., being brought into the stream by freshets. The channel dredged at the mouth of the river in October-December, 1899, also shoaled slightly. It is estimated that in addition to the small balance available July 1, 1901, $1,500 will be required to restore the channel by removing snags, logs, etc., and dredging the bar at the mouth of the river. It is also estimated that the sum of $1,500 will be required to remove snags, logs, etc., which may be brought into the stream between the present time and June 30, 1903. Accordingly the sum of $3,000 is named in the appended money statement as the amount that can be profitably expended for maintenance of improvement in fiscal year ending June 30, 1903. Money statement. July 1, 1900, balance unexpended.. June 30, 1901, amount expended during fiscal year. July 1, 1901, balance unexpended. (Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, for maintenance of improvement, in addition to the balance unexpended July 1, 1901.. Submitted in compliance with requirements of sundry civil act of June 4, 1897, and of section 7 of the river and harbor act of 1899. $142.08 47.25 94.83 000.00 The traffic carried on Coos River during the year ending December 31, 1900, was as follows: a Stone for Government jetty at entrance to Coos Bay, Oregon. Passengers carried on the river by the boats, 9,850. The traffic on Coos River during the year ending December 31, 1900, was handled principally by the following-named steam craft: In addition to the above-named craft there are several gasoline boats and launches in the stream owned and operated by farmers living in the valley. Owing to the formation of the country, transportation other than by water is at present impracticable. The stream is therefore used as a highway for transportating practically all the commerce and passengers of the region. V V 6. IMPROVEMENT OF MOUTH OF SIUSLAW RIVER, OREGON. Information concerning the project for the construction of two hightide rubblestone jetties at the mouth of Siuslaw River, in the Pacific Ocean, to prevent the channel at the mouth of the stream from shifting up and down the coast, and to maintain a permanent channel 8 feet deep at low tide (equivalent to 13 to 14 feet at high tide) through the bar in the ocean opposite the mouth of the stream, and the result of operations under the project for improvement in former years are cited in the summary of this report. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, the work of extending the north jetty seaward was continued under contract with Hale & Smith, of Portland, Oreg., dated August 15, 1899. (Operations under this contract were commenced in October, 1899, and for information concerning the general requirements of the contract and the result of operations under it from October, 1899, to June 30, 1900, attention is invited to the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1900, pp. 4286-4288.) The work required under this contract was completed on November 30, 1900. Between July 1 and November 30, 1900, the contractors furnished and placed the following-named quantities of materials in the portions of the work named: North jetty. Brush mattresses, 120.67 cubic yards, at 90 cents. Gross amount earned by contractors Less deductions for rent of Government plant, 5 months, at $100 per month... Less deduction made for value of Government plant which contractors failed to return upon completion of the contract..... Less deduction made in accordance with the terms of supplementary contract dated February 25, 1901... 625.00 1, 142.86 Net amount paid contractors for materials furnished and placed 14,768. 87 The placing of the above-named materials resulted in extending the north jetty tramway from bent No. 271 to bent No. 276, inclusive, or 90 feet (the distance between bents being 15 feet), in raising the crest of the north jetty up to its completed height from tramway bent No. 260 to No. 270, in completing the jetty entire from tramway bent No. 270 to bent No. 273, and in partially enrocking the line of the jetty from tramway bent No. 273 to a point a short distance seaward of the sea end bent (No. 276). The projected length of the north jetty, including the tramway approach at the shore end, 3,000 feet long, is 7,500 feet. Up to June 30, 1901, the north jetty, including the tramway approach, had been completed for the distance of about 4,090 feet (counting tramway bent No. 273 as the point to which the jetty has been fully completed). Between tramway bents 270 and 272 a foundation of small stone was placed, and between bents 272 and 276 center mattresses of brush were placed as a foundation for the jetty. The stone placed in the north jetty during the past year was taken by the contractors from the Point Terrace quarry, now owned by the United States, about 16 miles up the river from the wharf. The stone was loaded on scows at the quarry and towed to the wharf at the shore end of the jetty, where it was transferred by derrick to dump cars. The loaded cars were then hauled out on the tramway to the proper point over the jetty by a small locomotive and the stone. dumped in place in the jetty below. During the night of October 14, 1900, a landslide occurred in the portion of the Point Terrace quarry that was being used by the contractors. This slide filled that portion of the quarry with a mass of débris extending from the bank of the river (which latter the quarry faces) up to a point 60 or 70 feet high on the face of the quarry. The contractors abandoned that portion of the quarry and quarried the remainder of the stone required under their contract from another portion of the quarry. The contractors did not clear the quarry of the débris brought into it by the landslide. The sum of $625 was accordingly deducted from the final payment made under the contract. This deduction was made in accordance with the terms of a supplementary contract entered into with the contractors February 25, 1901, which was approved by the Chief of Engineers March 22, 1901. As was the case during the previous year, the work during the past year of extending the tramway, sinking brush mattresses for foundation for the jetty, and extending the jetty seaward was very slow, owing to the great depths of water (50 to 55 feet) where the work was done. These depths are due to the fact that the curved portion of the jetty (see map following page 4290 of the annual report for 1900) has been extended westerly into the channel to a point where, with the channel in its northerly position, the bottom of the river immediately beyond the end of the jetty is scoured out. It is believed that the river bottom will continue to scour out in advance of the end of the jetty as the latter is extended seaward until the structure has been built sufficiently far seaward to force the channel at the mouth of the river to take up permanently a more southerly course. The extension made to the jetty during the past fiscal year was too limited to have any appreciable effect on the channel at the mouth of the river, either in its position or its depth. The low-tide depth which prevailed in the bar channel during the year was about 74 feet, which is equivalent to about 13 feet at high tide. The authorization by the Secretary of War, in June, 1899, of the purchase of the Point Terrace stone quarry was mentioned on page 4289 of the last annual report. This quarry was purchased during the past year of the estate of Josephine R. Stiles, payment for same, $700, being made on December 13, 1900. The following is a description of the boundaries of the land: Beginning at a rock marked "U. S." on the south bank of the Siuslaw River and distant 830 feet south 64 degrees west from the meander corner on section line between sections 8 and 17, 17.50 chains west of corner to sections 8, 9, 16, and 17, township 18 south of range 10 west, Willamette meridian, running thence from said beginning point south 15 degrees 35 minutes west 600 feet to a point; thence north 74 degrees 25 minutes west 1,520 feet to a point; thence north 15 degrees 35 minutes east 553 feet to a stake on the section line between sections 8 and 17; thence east along said section line 175 feet to the meander corner on the south bank of Siuslaw River; thence along the south bank of Siuslaw River south 74 degrees 25 minutes east 1,351 feet to the point of beginning; containing 20.75 acres of land, more or less, in Lane County, Oreg. The authorization by the Secretary of War, in April, 1900, of the purchase of certain land needed in connection with the construction of the north jetty was also mentioned on page 4289 of the last annual report. This land was purchased during the past year of Charlotte J. Cox, payment for same, $500, being made on December 21, 1900. The following is a description of the boundaries of this land: Beginning at a point at ordinary high-water line on the shore of the right bank of the Siuslaw River, which point is 170 feet west and 600 feet south of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey station at Cannery Hill; thence north 1,317.13 feet to a point marked by an iron pipe; thence north 8 degrees 36 minutes east 1,133.38 feet to a point also marked by an iron pipe; thence north 10 degrees 22 minutes west 675.22 feet to a point marked by an iron pipe; thence north 504.41 feet to the north boundary of section 16, township 18 south, range 12 west, Willamette meridian, marked by an iron pipe, said last-mentioned point being 414.3 feet west of the corner to sections 9, 10, 15, and 16, township 18 south, range 12 west, Willamette meridian; thence west along the north boundary of said section 16 to the shore of the Pacific Ocean; thence along the shore of the Pacific Ocean and the mouth of the Siuslaw River, in a southerly and southeasterly direction, to the point of beginning, containing 4.09 acres, more or less, and being parts of lots 1, 2, and 3 of section 16, township 18 south, range 12 west, Willamette meridian, together with all the tide lands adjacent to the part in lot 3 of said section 16, township 18 south, range 12 west, Willamette meridian, being all situated in Lane County, Oreg. Mr. George E. Bingham, inspector, was in immediate charge of the jetty construction during the past fiscal year. It is estimated that with the small balance available July 1, 1901, together with the $60,000 named in the appended money statement as the amount in addition to the balance available July 1, 1901, that can be profitably expended for works of improvement in fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, the north jetty tramway and the north jetty may be extended seaward for the distance of 400 or 500 feet. It is also estimated that, in addition, the sum of $5,000 will be required for maintenance of improvement, the work of maintenance to consist of repairing portions of the north jetty tramway built in former years, which have deteriorated through natural decay (estimated cost of these repairs, $2,500), and to repairing damage to the tramway and placing additional rubblestone in the jetty to compensate for settlement, which damage and settlement, it is anticipated, will occur during the period July 1, 1901-June 30, 1903 ($2,500). The necessity for renewing portions of the north jetty tramway built in former years before the jetty can be extended farther seaward, and the great depth of water through which the jetty must necessarily be extended, at least for several hundred feet beyond its present sea end, are conditions which render it inadvisable to provide a sum less than $65,000 for this work at this time. (Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project 548,000.00 For works of improvement.... $60,000.00 For maintenance of improvement.. 5,000.00 65,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sundry civil act of June 4, 1897, and of section 7 of the river and harbor act of 1899. Abstract of contract in force during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, for constructing jetty, etc., at mouth of Siuslaw River, Oregon. This contract was completed November 30, 1900, the date of its expiration having been extended beyond September 2, 1900, to cover the time lost by the contractors on account of storms during the winter of 1899–1900. The rates paid for materials furnished and placed in the work by the contractors were printed in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1900 (p. 4290). |