There were no proposals called for during the fiscal year, and no con At the close of the year ending June 30, 1871, Mr. Ferris, of Brooklyn, was engaged in dredging, under a contract dated April 26, 1871. The appropriation was exhausted about the end of August, 1871, when the work of dredging came to a close. A channel 100 feet in width and 9 feet in depth at low water, was made from the Choptank River to the mouth of the creek leading into the inner basin. A channel of the same depth and 50 feet in width was carried into the inner basin, and some excavation of the same depth was done in the inner basin, to facilitate the use of the railroad-wharf. The remainder of the appropriation was expended in improving the facilities for the use of the steamboat-wharf in the outer harbor and in bettering the entrance to the inner basin. An appropriation of $10,000 having been made by the act approved June 10, 1872, it is proposed to expend it in improving the outer harbor and inner basin, the entrance to the former, and the channel between them. The improvement will probably be completed in 1872. Cambridge is situated in the collection-district of Baltimore, which is the nearest port of entry. The revenue at Baltimore was nearly $9,000,000 in coin. For a description of the harbor, as well as for indications of its present and prospective commercial importance, reference is requested to the reports printed on pages 615-620 of the annual report of the Chief of Engineers, 1871. There were no proposals called for during the fiscal year, and no contracts made. Expended during the year ending June 30, 1872. Required for year ending June 30, 1874 $7,602 43 9,923 00 Q 8. IMPROVEMENT OF THE POTOMAC RIVER. At the close of the year ending June 30, 1871, Mr. N. G. Dodge, under a contract dated December 6, 1870, was engaged in dredging in the Virginia Channel, between the Long Bridge and Georgetown, with the object of making a channel 200 feet in width and 15 feet in depth at low water. The material removed was required to be deposited near the causeway behind Aualostan Island, with a view of preventing its return into the channel. The work was completed about the middle of December, 1871. The examination of this channel, made in April, 1872, by Captain C. B. Phillips, Corps of Engineers, indicated that up to that time it continued in good condition. Having been informed that, under authority of an act of Congress, a commission have under consideration the subject of the further improvement of the river, it seems unbecoming in me to discuss it further than to call attention to my report printed in the annual report of the Chief of Engineers, 1871, pages 591 to 595, and to quote from it a single paragraph: It would seem proper to turn attention now to the improvement of the Washington Channel below Long Bridge, for which an appropriation of $50,000 is recommended. The opening of the cut proposed from Marylaud draw of Long Bridge to Easby's wharf, will cost not less than $100,000. For the removal of rocks near Georgetown $10,000 is needed. Expended in year ending June 30, 1872. $22,880 34 550 62 160,000 00 Q 9. IMPROVEMENT OF ACCOTINK CREEK, VIRGINIA. A survey of this creek was directed in the appropriation bill of March 3, 1871, and was executed in June and July, 1871, under the immediate supervision of Captain C. B. Phillips, Corps of Engineers. A report was made January 22, 1872. An estimate was submitted amounting to $19,000 for giving a channel up to the village of Accotink, 40 feet wide at bottom and 5 feet deep at mean low water. An appropriation of $5,000 was made June 10, 1872, which it is proposed to expend in 1872 in making a channel to the town of Accotink, about 2 feet deep at mean low water, and as wide as the funds will permit. Accotink is in the collection district of Alexandria. For a description of the locality, as well as for indications of its present and prospective commercial importance, reference is requested to the report of January 22, 1872, which was printed in Ex. Doc. No. 35, Senate, Forty-second Congress, second session. There were no proposals called for during the fiscal year, and no contracts made. Expended during year ending June 30, 1872. $5,000 00 14,000 00 Q 10. IMPROVEMENT OF AQUIA CREEK, VIRGINIA. A survey of this creek was directed in the appropriation bill of March, 1871, and was executed June and July, 1871, under the immediate supervision of Captain C. B. Phillips, Corps of Engineers. A report was made January 22, 1872, and an estimate was submitted, amounting to $18,000, for giving a channel from the 6-foot water near the mouth of the creek to the " narrows," about 40 feet in width at bottom and 6 feet deep at mean low water. An appropriation of $1,500 was made June 10, 1872, which it is pro posed to expend in 1872 in making a channel from the draw in the railroad-bridge up toward the "narrows" as far as practicable, 20 feet wide at bottom and 4 feet deep at mean low water. Aquia is in the collection-district of Alexandria. For a description of this locality, as well as for indications of its present and prospective commercial importance, reference is requested to the report of January 22, 1872, which was printed in Ex. Doc. No. 35, Senate, Forty-second Congress, second session. There were no proposals called for during the fiscal year, and no contracts made. Expended during year ending June 30, 1872.... year ending June 30, 1874.. Available for year ending June 30, 1872.. 1,500 00 16,500 00 Q II. IMPROVEMENT OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER BELOW FREDERICKS BURG. At the close of the year ending June 30, 1871, Mr. G. H. Ferris, under a contract dated May 9, 1871, was engaged in dredging on the Spottswood Bar. Dredging was continued until its suspension by ice about the middle of December, 1871. Channels had been opened through the Spottswood and Fredericksburg Bars, each 70 feet in width, and 8 feet deep at low water. This improvement gave at once the obvious advantage of admitting to the wharves of the town of Fredericksburg vessels of greater draught of water, while permitting the regular steamers already plying to arrive and depart at any stage of the tide, instead of being restricted to doing so at the variable hour of high water. Several wrecks, obstructions to navigation, and injuriously affecting the regimen of the river, have also been removed. One, near the wharves of the city of Fredericksburg, under a contract with Mr. R.D. Minor, of Richmond, Virginia; one at Spottswood Bar, under an agreement with Mr. B. Maillefert, of New York. The following, under a contract with Hebrew & Asserson, of Norfolk, Virginia: one schooner at Piscatwa Creek; one schooner at Urbana; two steamers at Mill Creek; one light-ship at Lowrie's Point. A report on the improvement of the river was made January 26, 1871, which was printed in Ex. Doc. No. 60, part 3, House of Representatives, Forty-first Congress, third session. This report indicated that the principal obstructions to navigation consisted of bars, formed by alluvial deposits, and, in a few cases, the remains of wrecks sunk for military purposes during the war. It was proposed therein to excavate a channel 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep at low water, by dredging through the shoals; to remove the wrecks by blasting; and to add to the permanence of the work by training dikes at various points. The esti mated cost of the whole was $83,360. By the act of March 3, 1871, the sum of $15,000 was appropriated for the river. Owing to the limited amount of the appropriation, the work was confined to the operations indicated above, which have given good results, but they will not be permanent without the application of an additional sum, in conformity with the plan and estimate already referred to. It is believed that if that plan be carried out, an annual appropriation of $5,000 will be sufficient to keep the improvement in good condition. By the act of June 10, 1872, an additional appropriation of $15,000 was made for the Rappahannock, which it is proposed to apply, in connection with the balance from the previous appropriation, to extending, by dredging, the channels already excavated near the city of Freder icksburg; to building dikes in the same vicinity, with the double object of contracting the water-way and increasing the flow through the dredged channel, and providing a receptacle behind which to deposit material removed from the channel; to rectifying the mouths of Deep and Hazel Runs, in order to give them a better entrance into the river, and to prevent hurtful deposition from them in the channel; and probably to the removal of some other wrecks near the city. It will require about $65,000 to complete the whole work as originally intended, and that amount could be profitably expended next season. The trade and commerce to be benefited by this improvement embrace the coastwise and foreign trade in grain, tobacco, and cotton and woolen manufactured goods. The river drains a large and fertile section of country, and a slackwater navigation and canal make it the proper outlet for one of the richest farming regions of Virginia. The work is located in the collection-district of Tappahannock. It extends from Fredericksburg, at the head of navigation on the Rappahannock, to Tappahannock, about sixty miles below. On the 30th of June, 1871, Mr. Maillefert was engaged, under a second contract, in removing additional wrecks and obstructions from the river, his only compensation being the proceeds of his operations. The removals were as follows: At Drury's Bluff part of the steamer Jamestown, part of the ironclad steamer Virginia, iron-clad steamer Fredericksburgh, steamer Beaufort, schooner Wythe, brig Marcus, and parts of three cribs filled with stone. At Wilton 40 to 60 piles, remains of a bridge, and part of a steamer. Mr. Maillefert's operations have been very successful, and have resulted in restoring the fiue chamuel existing by nature at Drury's Bluff. The Dutch Gap Cut-off was opened to the use of navigators early in January, 1872, its width being about 135 feet at the water-line, and its depth sufficient for vessels of the largest class trading to Richmond. A land-slide on the southern bank of the cut-off occurred in March, 1872, with reference to which a special report was made March 25, 1872, as follows: Brigadier-General A. A. HUMPHREYS, UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE. Chief of Engineers, Washington, D. C.: GENERAL: In order to avoid misapprehension which might arise, from information derived from unofficial sources, I have the honor to report that a slide in the southern bank of the Dutch Gap Cut-off took place last week. It is not of great extent nor likely to impede navigation seriously, or involve the United States in much, if any, additional expense. In justice to myself, I will simply say that the slide occurred at a place which I considered dangerous, but it was left standing at the request of the city engineer for the James River. He now comes forward very frankly and admits his error of judgment, and proposes to remove the débris at the expense of the city, to which I shall, of course, make no objection. It is not improbable other slides of small extent may occur, but I believe the cheapest and best course will be to leave the slopes to be regulated by the hand of nature, and remove the material when necessary, as it falls into the cut. The city engineer's opinion as to the expected stability of the slope which has fallen, was founded upon a consideration of the fact that it has been standing since the operations of General Butler at that point in the late war of the rebellion, (nearly ten years,) and was not steeper than natural slopes on the river in the vicinity, the materials being apparently the same. The winter on the James River has been an unusually severe one, subjecting this slope to an extraordinary trial, but its yielding is possibly to be accounted for by supposing that its integrity was injured by the explosion of blasts of powder, freely used (I am informed) in the operations of General Butler, already referred to. No further slides have since occurred, and although the debris is not yet removed, (but soon will be,) the cut-off' is still the main thoroughfare, and capable of use readily by the largest steamers and sailing-vessels on the river. Under their contract for opening a channel through the Rocketts Reef, near the city of Richmond, 125 feet wide and 18 feet deep at high water, Kalmback & Barton continued their operations until the latter part of February, but in a feeble and entirely unsatisfactory manner. No useful result was attained by them, and it became necessary to annul the contract on the 23d of February, 1872. Arrangements were at once made for procuring the necessary machinery and apparatus for executing the work under the immediate supervision of the resident engineer. On the 30th of June, 1872, the work was progressing satisfactorily, with every prospect of speedily opening the channel through this reef, which has been the most dangerous natural obstruction to the navigation of the river since Richmond has had any commercial importance. The committee on the part of the city have zealously co-operated with the United States engineer in the improvement of the river. A very important change for the better in their mode of disposing of material dredged from the channel has been made at the suggestion of the United States engineer. This change consisted in giving up the course hitherto pursued of dumping the dredged material on flats and shoals near the banks of the stream, from which much or all of it found its way back into the channel. Now, substantial but cheap dikes are built at suitable points, behind which the dredged material is placed. Besides affording excellent receptacles for this material, the dikes permit the advantageous rectification of the banks and the contraction of the water-way in some places where such modifications were needed. Examinations were made last winter of Harrison's Bar and the Goose Hill Flats. Ultimately some dredging will be needed at both these points, to give the depth of 15 feet at low water which is aimed to be carried to Richmond. These bars have now more water upon them than some of the others nearer the city. Appropriated June 10, 1872 ... $50,000 00 42, 417 64 75, 413 74 100,000 00 |