APPENDIX No. 4.

ENGINEER DEPOT AND POST OF WILLETS POINT.

ANNUAL REPORT OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL H. L. ABBOT, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, BVT. BRIG. GEN., U. S. A., OFFICER IN COMMAND, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 20, 1885.

ENGINEER DEPOT AT WILLETS POINT,

July 1, 1885. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following as my annual report upon the Engineer Depot and Post at Willets Point for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1885.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

The only new construction during the past year has been the building for instructing the enlisted men of the Battalion of Engineers in practically loading and testing submarine mines, junction boxes, &c., and in the other shore duties of the service. It has two stories, with a cellar and attic, and will accommodate from 80 to 100 men with all the needful material. It was begun this spring, and is well advanced toward completion. The cost will be about $6,000.

As usual, the repair of the garrison buildings and roads, and the general police of the post, have been done by the Engineer troops.

PROPERTY IN STORE.

The property in depot includes the bridge equipage and various tools in reserve for Engineer field service, the geodetic, astronomical, and surveying instruments not actually in use by officers of the corps; the delicate electrical apparatus, insulated cable, &c., for submarine mining, and much other property of like character. It is all received, guarded, cared for, and issued by the troops.

The air of the two brick fire-proof store-rooms containing the most valuable apparatus has been kept dry for several years by the use of crude calcium chloride. During the past year about 37,000 cubic feet of space has thus been rendered fit for storage by the removal of about 107 gallons of water from the air, as shown by the following table:

The printing of confidential Engineer documents, and the drafting, photographing, lithographing, and binding, connected therewith, have been done by Engineer soldiers as heretofore, at a total cost of $826.15, for extra-duty pay. The School of Application, and especially the branch devoted to submarine mining, derives special benefit from this work, which is also of general utility to the corps.

The receipts and issues of instruments during the past year, for the use of officers engaged in surveys and works of construction, are reported in the following table. This labor is performed entirely by the soldiers without extra compensation.

These instruments, when returned to the depot from field service, usually require repairs before they are fit for reissue, and for several years past the appropriations for such repairs have been inadequate. The results are an accumulation of unserviceable instruments, and the necessity of purchasing new instruments from funds intended by Congress for actual work. An appropriation of $2,000 is needed to correct this waste of public funds; and, to enable small instruments to be supplied in case of necessity, it should be worded to include purchase as well as repair.

STATEMENT OF FUNDS.

Congress appropriated the sum of $4,000 for the post and depot during the past fiscal year. Of this, $3,000 was for current expenses, and $1,000 for the purchase of materials to instruct the Engineer troops in their special duties.

The following is a summary statement of funds:

Expended and pledged in fiscal year 1884-'85

Available for fiscal year 1885-'86..

Desired for fiscal year 1886-87....

$4,000

6,000

19,000

In explanation of the last item I would submit the following detailed statement:

I. For the usual annual appropriation for incidental expenses of the depot, such as fuel, chemicals, stationery, extra-duty pay for soldiers employed in wheelwright work, engine driving, drafting, printing, binding, photographing, and lithographing Engineer documents, repairs of public buildings, &c., $3,000.

II. For the usual annual appropriation for the purchase of materials for the instruction of the three companies of engineer troops at Willets Point in their special duties as sappers, miners, and pontoniers, $1,000. III. For the library of the Engineer School of Application, to be expended for professional works of recent date, treating of military and civil engineering, $1,000.

IV. For repairs of instruments for the general use of the Corps of Engineers, and for the purchase of small instruments needed to fill frequent requisitions, $2,000.

V. For the construction of a new building to replace a temporary structure in use as the officers' mess, but now in a dangerous condition from decay, the new building to contain the officers' mess, and the library, drafting rooms, &c., of the School of Application, $12,000.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Brig. Gen. JOHN NEWTON,

HENRY L. ABBOT, Lieutenant-Colonel of Engineers.

Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.