Operations during the last fiscal year have included work related to the several features above referred to, as follows: Charts. The following statement shows the number received and disposed of at this office: Description. On hand July 1, 1900 Received during the year. Total on hand and received Sold at 31 cents each.. Sold at 304 cents each.. Sold at 30 cents each. Sold at 5 cents each.. Issued to United States vessels and for official use.. Total disposed of.. On hand July 1, 1901 Number. Total. 5,464 10,610 16,04 34 25 91 330 141 55 378 98 823 4. 70 6,861 1,404 995 9.20 6.814 The total number of charts sold during the year was 6,861, the total amount received from these sales being $1,445.49, which was duly deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States. The total number of charts that have been sold and issued through this office to June 30, 1901, is 240,241. Extensive corrections and additions were made to old charts in this office during the year, as follows: Lake Superior No. 1. Lake Superior No. 2. Lake Superior No. 3. Ontonagon Harbor, Lake Superior. Copper Harbor, Lake Superior. Portage Lake and River, Lake Superior. L'Anse and Keweenaw Bay, Lake Supe- Grand Island, Lake Superior. North end of Lake Michigan. Beaver Island group, Lake Michigan. Coast chart No. 1, Lake Michigan. Coast chart No. 7, Lake Michigan. Lake Huron. St. Clair River. Lake Erie. Coast chart No. 1, Lake Erie. Coast chart No. 2, Lake Erie. Coast chart No. 3, Lake Erie. Coast chart No. 1, Lake Ontario. These corrections and additions included changes in aids to navigation, modifications due to river and harbor improvements, latest magnetic determinations, additional and corrected sailing courses, and the most prominent topographic or hydrographic changes developed by commercial and industrial enterprise on the shores of the lakes and their tributary and connecting rivers. Much office work was applied to incidental changes of individual charts by hand, preparatory to sale or issue, in cases where the last edition as printed did not supply the latest authentic information. In addition to correcting old charts new ones were prepared and issued, as follows: 1. Lake Front, Chicago, Ill., including Calumet Harbor (in colors). Drawing, scale 1:24000, photolithographed and printed on scale of 1:30000. 2. Buffalo Harbor and Niagara River to the Falls (in colors). Drawing, scale 1: 25000, photolithographed and printed in this office on scale of 1: 30000. 3. Dunkirk Harbor, New York (in colors). Drawing, scale 1: 6000, photolithographed and printed on scale of 1:8000. 4. Erie Harbor and Presque Isle, Pennsylvania (in colors). Drawing, scale 1: 10000, photolithographed and printed in this office on scale of 1: 15000. 5. Agate and Burlington bays, Minnesota (in colors). Scale 1:6000, the first of the charts engraved directly on stone. 6. Sturgeon Bay, Canal, and Harbor of Refuge (in colors). Scale 1:25000, the second of the charts engraved directly on stone, and the entire work, including printing, done in this office. 7. Shoal at head of Russell Island, St. Clair River. Small sketch, scale 1:10000, engraved on stone and printed for free distribution. Prepared, but not yet issued: 1. Apostle Island No. 2. Drawing, scale 1: 40000, completed and held awaiting data from survey now in progress. Prepared and just ready for issue (will be out by August 15): 1. Maumee Bay and Maumee River, including city of Toledo, Ohio. Scale 1:25000, engraved on stone and will be printed in colors in this office. 2. Harbor at Duluth, Minn., and Superior, Wis. Scale 1:18000, engraved on stone and will be printed in colors. 3. Cleveland Harbor, Ohio. Drawing, scale 1:10000; will be photolithographed on scale 1: 15000 and printed in colors. Charts well under way: 1. Muskegon Harbor, Lake Michigan, including Muskegon Lake. engraved on stone. 2. Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio. Scale 1:5000, engraved on stone. Scale 1: 15000, 3. Milwaukee Harbor, Wisconsin. Drawing, scale 1: 10000, to be photolithographed to scale 1: 15000. Reductions are in progress for the following: 1. New chart of Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay. Scale 1:400000, to be engraved on stone. 2. Conneaut Harbor, Ohio. Scale 1:5000, to be engraved on stone. 3. Fairport Harbor, Ohio. Scale 1:8000, to be engraved on stone. 4. Marquette Harbor, including Presque Isle and Middle Island. Scale probably 1:15000, to be engraved on stone. Experiments have been in progress during the last half of the year with a view to developing a cheaper and more rapid method of getting out charts than by ordinary photolithography. The method under trial has been to engrave the original directly upon the lithograph stone on the scale desired for publication, instead of making the original a drawing on paper on an enlarged scale for reduction and reproduction by photolithography on the desired publication scale. The new method, so far as tried, seems to possess many advantages over the old, some of which are as follows: The fine lines of the chart, upon which its appearance so greatly depends, are preserved in a manner practically equal to the best copperplate work, while they are more or less blurred in the best photolithograph work. The cost of engraving the stone original is less than that of preparing a paper original which will reproduce properly. The charts are far more accurate in scale than copperplate or photolithograph work. Corrections and additions can be better and more easily made on the stone than on paper original. The reduction by photography is entirely eliminated, a saving in both accuracy and expense of issue. There are also minor advantages in the method which it is unnecesary to mention, as the foregoing are believed to furnish ample reason for further experiment in this line. Numerous grades of paper are being tried with a view to finding something that will wear better than that ordinarily used in lithograph work, and the colors used on the charts are likewise not yet regarded as standard. The reduction, preparation, and reproduction of charts in this office has continued, as heretofore, under the immediate supervision and direction of Mr. Edward Molitor, and the trial of the new method is at his suggestion. The new charts are all printed in colors, and the substitution of such charts for those formerly issued continues to be highly satisfactory to vessel masters, for they show at a glance the characteristic depths of water areas as respects safe or unsafe navigation for vessels of light or deep draft. It is desirable that all charts issued be of this character and that the changes be brought about as rapidly as practicable. Surveys. The approved project for the expenditure of available funds includes a resurvey of the vicinity of the Apostle Islands, Lake Superior; resurvey of the northern end of Lake Michigan, and of the Straits of Mackinac; sufficient work to bring the St. Lawrence River charts up to date, to be done by the party making discharge measurements of the St. Lawrence River; completion of the St. Clair River resurvey and a partial resurvey of Detroit River to bring charts up to date, this work to be done by the party making discharge measurements of Detroit River; also a precise-level party to connect Lake Erie at Buffalo with Lake Ontario at Olcott, N. Y., extend precise levels from Fort Gratiot lighthouse to Lexington, on Lake Huron, and then rerun the unsatisfactory level line connecting Lake Huron at Detour with Lake Superior at Point Iroquois. The precise-level party was organized with little difficulty and took the field under charge of Mr. W. S. Williams May 7, having been delayed a few days because the utter failure of a prominent firm in attempting to regraduate the Lake Survey precise-level rods rendered it necessary to borrow a set from the Mississippi River Commission. The party was at Buffalo and upon receipt of the borrowed rods, May 9. at once commenced work on the Buffalo-Olcott line, completing it June 22, having in that time run in duplicate 50.01 miles of main line and 5.55 miles of side lines to connect with various bench marks and gauges. The party was then transferred to Port Huron, Mich., for the Fort Gratiot-Lexington work, arriving there June 23, and on June 30 had completed, in duplicate, 5.6 miles of this line. The Apostle Islands party, in charge of Mr. F. G. Ray, was a much more difficult organization to complete satisfactorily in the minor positions and took the field somewhat short of men on May 28, as early as settled weather could be expected in that locality. The party is now about complete and has made very satisfactory progress with the help of the steamer Vidette, kindly loaned for this work from the Duluth district. ed with my annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30th 1901. W.B. Frisk. Major Corps of Engrs. 6ft. Eng 57 1 |