feet, and in deepening and enlarging the existing channels in both branches, and at the entrance below Crane Point, to full 300 feet, affording 6 feet, mean low water The benefits arising from these improvements will be the better maintenance of the channels and a more convenient navigation of the river for the steadily increasing commerce which is attracted there by the prosperous growth of the country tributary to the Shrewsbury River. The annual tonnage of the river is estimated at over 500,000 tons, with an estimated valuation of $3,000,000. The estimated valuation of improved property affected by the improvement is over $6,000,000. Four steamboats and 1,300 sailing vessels do the carrying trade. July 1, 1884, amount available July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1884.... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.. (See Appendix F 9.) $587 81 10 61 577 20 50,000 00 50,000 00 10. Rahway River, New Jersey. The present project was adopted in 1878, and contemplates a channel 8 feet deep at high water, and varying in width from 125 to 100 feet from Bricktown up to Main Street Bridge, in the town of Rahway, a distance of 5 miles from the mouth. The original depth in shoalest places before improvement was 4 feet, mean high water. The range of tides is 4 feet at Milton Avenue Bridge. The estimated cost of improvement was $66,250. The amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, was $36,799.30. that date the improved channel, having 7 to 8 feet depth at mean high water, was carried from Edgar's Dock to Milton Avenue Bridge, 2,900 feet long and 50 to 100 feet wide, and thence, through both draws, 50 to 100 feet wide and 850 feet long, to Chamberlain's Dock. No work of improvement was done during the year. At The commerce of the river has not increased over that of last year, when the imports and exports were estimated at 50,000 tons. The town of Rahway, at the head of navigation, is an important manafacturing town of 8,000 inhabitants. Manufactures and trade are now much depressed. As the stream affords ample depths of water for the few vessels which use it, no appropriation is asked for continuing the improvement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887. July 1, 1884, amount available...... July 1, 1885, amount available.. $200 70 200 70 ... 29,250 0) Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.. harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix F 10.) 11. Elizabeth River, New Jersey.-The improvement of this river was commenced in 1879, in accordance with the authorized project, which contemplates the formation of a channel 60 feet wide and 7 feet deep at mean high water from the mouth of the river to the head of navigation at Stone Bridge, at the Broad Street Crossing, a distance of 23 miles. The original depth in shoalest part before improvement was 3 feet, approximately, mean high water. The range of tides is 3 feet, approximately, at Stone Bridge. The amount expended up to close of fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, was $26,398.36, and the improved channel, 7,200 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 7 feet deep, mean high water, was carried to near Bridge Street Bridge in the town of Elizabeth. No work of improvement was done during the year. The stream has all required navigable facilities for small sailing vessels and canal barges which use it. The annual tonnage of the river is 30,000 tons. No appropriation is asked for continuing the improvement during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887. July 1, 1884, amount available... July 1, 1885, amount available... $601 64 601 64 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. 16, 160 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix F 11.) 12. Woodbridge Creek, New Jersey.-The project for this improvement, adopted in 1878, provides for dredging a channel 80 feet wide, 12 feet deep, mean high water, and 4,800 feet long from the entrance to Town Dock, a distance of 2 miles, and for the construction of a timber dike on left bank below Town Dock 516 feet long. The original depth at the entranee was 9 feet, mean high water, and at Town Dock 6 feet. The range of tides is 5 feet, approximately. The amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, was $19,000, and the improved channel had been carried, 50 to 80 feet wide and 12 feet deep, mean high water, to Cutter's Clay Dock; and thence to Valentine's Dock it has a width of 25 feet only. No work was done during the year. The practical result of the improvement is a navigable channel from the entrance to Cutter's Dock 50 to 80 feet wide, 2,800 feet long, and 12 feet deep at mean high water; and thence to Valentine's Dock 25 feet wide, 800 feet long, and 12 feet deep, and thence to above Town Dock 80 feet wide, 1,200 feet long, and 9 feet deep, mean high water. The timber dike on left bank below Town Dock, 516 feet long, was also built. The amount that can be profitably expended during the year ending June 30, 1887, if appropriated, will be applied in making the improved channel uniformly 80 feet wide and 12 feet deep, mean high water, from below Valentine's Dock to Town Dock. The advantages to be expected from the improvement are increased facilities for the navigation of the upper reach of the river, where extensive manufactories of clay products are located. The average tonnage of the creek for a series of years is 120,000 tons, which has an estimated annual valuation of $1,000,000. The vessels which use the river number 1,200, and have a maximum draught of 10 feet. $10,000 00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project... (See Appendix F 12.) 13. Manasquan River, New Jersey.-The present project was adopted in 1879, and has for its object the opening of a direct channel-way across the beach, and protecting the same from the flow of the tidal currents between the river and the ocean, so as to obtain and maintain a suitable depth for the passage of vessels similar to those now employed on the basins of the river above its mouth, and for coasters of light draught, the original depth on the outer bar varying from 1 foot to 14 feet, mean low water. The original project contemplates the construction of a north jetty 1,600 to 2,000 feet long, a south jetty 500 to 1,000 feet long, and the dredging of the inner basin 2,000 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, mean low water, at an estimated cost of $72,000. The range of tides is 3 feet, approximately. The amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, was $39,000. At that date the improvement consisted of a north jetty, built of creosoted timber, 1,515 feet long, and of a south jetty 475 feet long. The channel embraced between the jetties was 200 feet wide and 6 feet deep, mean low water. The least water on the outer bar was 3 to 3 feet, mean low water, and in the inner harbor 4 to 6 feet, mean low water. No work of improvement was done during the year. The amount expended during the year ending June 30, 1885, was nothing. The amount that can be profitably expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, if appropriated, will be applied towards the removal of the shoal at the mouth of the inner harbor, and the extension of both jetties 300 feet each. By this improvement it is expected that the depth of water on the bar will be increased to 4 feet, mean low water, and that the local commerce will be developed. The country drained by the Manasquan is estimated at 80 square miles; the farms are fertile and productive, and the commerce is and has been small only because producers have no convenient port for shipments. Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..., (See Appendix F 13.) $33,000 25,000 14. Raritan Bay, New Jersey.-The present project was adopted in 1880, and provides for the opening by dredging of a channel through the shoal to the eastward of Seguine Point, Staten Island, 8,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 21 feet deep, mean low water. It was revised in 1884 so as to provide for a channel 4,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 21 feet deep, around Ward's Point, leading to Perth Amboy, and again in 1885 so as to give 15 feet, mean low water, to South Amboy in a channel 4,500 feet long and 300 feet in width. The least depth on the shoal east of Seguine Point before the improvement began was only 141 feet, mean low water, and the existing depths over the shoals in the channel leading to Perth Amboy and South Amboy are 19 feet and 12 feet, respectively. The range of tides at Perth Amboy is 5.1 feet. The amount expended to June 30, 1884, was $98,308.84. At that date the improved channel across the shoal east of Seguine Point was 8,000 feet long, 21 feet deep, mean low water, and 240 feet wide, except at the western end, for the last 2,000 feet, where it was only 200 feet wide. The depth was sufficient for vessels drawing 20 feet at all stages of the tide, but was not wide enough for convenient navigation by sailing vessels. The amount available July 1, 1884, was $1,691.16. By act of July 5, 1884, $20,000 were appropriated for continuing the improvement. During the fiscal year 112,657 cubic yards of material were removed (of this amount 2,403 cubic yards were illegally dumped by contractor and not paid for), by which the original project was completed. A survey made in May, 1885, showed that the full depth of 21 feet, mean low water, existed everywhere for a width of 200 feet. Along the axis, but beyond that width, near the center of the cut, the channel had been narrowed by the leveling of the sides of the cut by the action of tidal currents. At the entrance the width of 300 feet was well maintained, but the average width of channel across the shoal was only about 250 feet. The amount that can be profitably expended during the year, if appropriated, will be applied in removing the shoals in the improved channel due to tidal action; in opening a channel 4,000 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 21 feet deep, mean low water, around Ward's Point on the approach to Perth Amboy; and in opening a channel from Great Beds Light to South Amboy, 4,500 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 15 feet deep, mean low water. These improvements, supplementary to the original project, are rendered necessary for the accommodation of the large and increasing traffic through the main channel in Raritan Bay, and in the two branches leading to the Amboys, both for the local commerce of the bay and for that which goes south through the Raritan River, and the Delaware and Raritan Canal, which starts at New Brunswick and connects with the Delaware River at Trenton. The annual tonnage of the Raritan Bay Channel to the Amboys, and the Delaware and Raritan Canal, for freight actually carried, is over 7,000,000 tons, and has an estimated valuation of $37,627,332. The improvements will give greatly increased facilities to deep-draught vessels for reaching the wharves at the Amboys, and to light-draught vessels and steamers for entering the Raritan River. The number of vessels engaged in this commerce is estimated at 16,000. July 1, 1884, amount available.... $1,691 16 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884 20,000 00 21,691 16 July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1884 ... 20,966 46 July 1, 1885, amount available .... 724 70 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing revised project. 114, 000 00 (See Appendix F 14.) 15. Raritan River, New Jersey.-The project originally adopted in 1874 had for its object to dike and dredge at the Stakes and Middle Ground and to remove other shoals up to New Brunswick, so as to make a channel 200 feet wide, affording 10 feet depth at mean low water, from the mouth to New Brunswick, a distance of 12 miles. It was modified in 1881 so as to provide, in addition, the opening of South Channel 13,000 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 54 feet deep, mean low water, starting near Kearney's lower dock, south of the "Stakes," following the right bank closely to Whitehead's lower dock, and thence passing to the main channel through an opening in the dike at the lower end of Crab Island. The original condition of the navigation was an intricate channel at the Stakes of 7 feet at mean low water and of 6.1 feet on the Middle Ground, and of 7 to 8 feet at mean low water upon the other shoals as far up as New Brunswick. The range of tides at New Brunswick is 5.56 feet. The total amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, was $429,922.99. The work of improvement had been carried progressively up-stream from the mouth, and at that date the dredged channel at the "Stakes,', 27 miles from South Amboy, was 4,000 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, mean low water, except for a short distance at the lower end, where the depth was only 9 feet; and the protecting dike on the left bank had been built for a length of 4,097 feet. At the "Middle Ground," 2 miles above, the dredged channel was 5,300 feet long, 130 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, mean low water, and the projected dike on the right bank had a completed length of 10,595 feet, and on the left bank 2,600 feet. By the construction of these dikes the river, which was originally 1,600 to 3,400 feet wide, was contracted to a width of 800 feet; the alignment of the deep water channel was made direct, and the formation of shoals was prevented by the protection given to the banks. At Rocky Reach, near Whitehead's Sand Dock, where the obstructions consisted originally of a rocky ledge covered with bowlders, clay, gravel, and sand, the improved channel, opened by drilling, blasting, and dredging, was 1,000 to 1,100 feet long, 160 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, and the south channel had been opened 4,000 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 5 feet deep. The work of improvement had not been carried above Rocky Reach further than to remove loose bowlders from different parts of the channel from Rocky Reach to the canal entrance, of which the estimate to May, 1880, was 38,406 cubic yards. So far as improved the channel meets the wants of the large commerce of the river, but in the upper reach, near New Brunswick, shipping experiences many delays on account of shoal water. By act of July 5, 1884, the sum of $35,000 was appropriated to continue the improvement. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885, was $20,482.87, and was applied in opening a channel from Acken's Wharf behind the dike at the "Stakes" 500 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, mean low water, to the main channel; in opening channel 100 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 9 feet deep across shoal, which had formed during the winter opposite Bishop's dock, and in the continuation of the improvement at Rocky Reach by drilling, blasting, and dredging the reef, by which the improved channel was made 1,000 to 1,100 feet long, 180 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, mean low water. Three hundred feet of the tenth or last cut was also excavated, and when carried across the reef will complete the project there. The dikes at the "Stakes" and at the middle ground were injured by floating ice during the early spring. Estimates for the repairs were approved but no work was done. The amount that can be profitably expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, if appropriated, will be applied, in accordance with project, in dredging 100,000 cubic yards of material from the shoals from Martin's Creek to above Martin's Dock, and in blasting and dredging 5,000 cubic yards of solid rock from the channel above Martin's Dock. These improvements will extend deep navigation a distance of 2 miles, and diminish existing delays at the shoals at low tide. The annual tonnage of the river which passes through the canal is 3,955,318 tous, and of the river proper is 9,264,637 tons. The money value of the commerce benefited by the improvement is estimated at $40,000,000. The benefit to be expected from the improvement is that accruing to a large local commerce between New Jersey and New York, and to that extensive inter-State commerce which exists between New York and the States to the southward which are reached by the Delaware and Raritan Canal. |