1

ing had been carried on by private parties up to 1870, and from 1870 to: 1880 by the Government; small jetties and wing-dams had also been built between Hartford and Middletown, and at the bar at the mouth of the river. No permanent benefit was derived from this work.

In 1880 a project for the permanent improvement of this part of the river was approved, which provided for obtaining a channel 200 feet wide and 9 feet deep at low water, from Hartford to Long Island Sound, by

, the rectification and protection of the banks between Hartford and Middletown (a distance of 20 miles), by the construction of permanent works, by confining the current with training-walls, and by such additions to the jetties at Saybrook and such annual dredging as might become necessary, the cost of which could not then be determined.

The estimated cost of this permanent improvement from Hartford to Dividend Bar, 12 miles below Hartford, in which distance the worst shoals occurred, was $330,000, of which $135,000 have been appropri. ated. Only two permanent works have been built, a training wall at Hartford Bar and another at Dividend Bar, the cost being $37,500.

At Saybrook the eastern jetty has been carried out to the full length proposed, and the western jetty completed.

Amounts varying from $5,000 to $10,000 have been annually spent in dredging between Hartford and Middletown.

During the past fiscal year a channel 120 feet wide and 12 feet deep, at low water, has been dredged between the jetties at Saybrook.

The west jetty at Saybrook has been extended 270 feet, and 100,936 cabic yards of material have been dredged from the bars between Hartford and Pistol Point, a distance of 14 miles; the channels dredged are 75 feet wide and 9 feet deep.

The protection of the caving banks of this river is a work of great and immediate importance; and for its rapid prosecution, and for such dredging as may be necessary, it is recommended that the sum of $100,000 be appropriated. July 1, 1884, amount available.....

$2,896 55 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884.

35, 000 00

37,896 55

July 1, 1385, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of

outstanding liabilities July 1, 1884. July 1, 1885, outstanding liabilities.

July 1, 1885, amount available

5,813 51 (Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... 195, 000 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30,1887 100, 000 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix D 1.) 2. Thames River, Connecticut. - This river extends from the city of Norwich 15 miles south to Long Island Sound and is a tidal stream.

For the first 10 miles above its mouth the river has a depth of from 16 to 50 feet. The only troublesome bars are within 5 miles of Norwich and are all contained in a stretch of the river about 3 miles long. Over these bars there was, in 1829, a channel depth of about 6 feet of water at low tide where there is now a depth of nearly 12 feet.

The work of improvement has been virtually confined to this stretch of 3 miles.

These bars have been repeatedly dredged to a depth of 11 feet at low water.

The present project for the improvement of this river, adopted in 1882, provides for the construction of five dikes or training.walls along the outer curves of the river within 5 miles of Norwich and for such dredging as may be needed to secure a channel 200 feet wide and 14 feet deep at low water. The estimated cost of the project was $208,080, of wbich amount there lid been appropriated up to June 30, 1885, $80,000.

With this money one training-wall, 2,988 feet long, was completed at Mohegan, 34 miles below Norwich, in 1883; a second, 2,370 feet long, was completed at Trading Cove, 24 miles below Norwich, in 1882; a third, at Long Rock, 2 miles beloir Norwich, was completed August of this year. There will be a small balance left to commence the next training. wall above at the Rolling Mill, 14 miles below Norwich. Operations during the fiscal year have been confined to the construction of the Long Rock dike.

Dredging was carried on between the dikes in 1882, 1883, and 1884.

The present available low-water depth to Norwich is between 11 and 12 feet.

The estimated amount required for the completion of the project is $128,080.

One hundred thousand dollars could be advantageously expended during a single year in building the two training.walls and in dredging. July 1, 1884, amount available.....

$8, 108 94 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884

25, 000 00

33, 108 94

July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1884.

$12,592 50 July 1, 1885, outstanding liabilities..

3, 264 14

15, 856 64

July 1, 1885, amount available.....

17, 252 30 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. 128, 080 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30,1887 100, 000 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix D 2.)

3. New London Harbor, Connecticut.- This harbor is situated on the west branch of the Thames River, 1 mile above its mouth.

It is one of the best natural harbors on the Atlantic coast. The scheme for its improvement, approved in 1880, was modified in 1882. It now provides for removing to a uniform depth of 16 feet at low water the southerly part of a shoal of gravel and bowlders lying east of the New London Northern Railroad Wharf, on which there was originally a depth of from 6 to 14 feet. Seventeen thousand eight hundred dol. lars have been appropriated for and applied to this work, and it is esti. mated that $6,200 will be required for its completion.

During the past year 2,725 cubic yards of sand and gravel and 1311 cubic yards of large bowlders have been removed from this shoal, which exhausts the appropriation.

About seven-eighths of the project has been completed. July 1, 1884, amount available.....

$83 88 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884

2,000 00

July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding

: 2,083 88 liabilities July 1, 1884.

(Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... $6, 200 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30,1987 6, 200 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix D 3.) 4. Clinton Harbor, Connecticut.—This harbor lies 10 miles west of the mouth of the Connecticut River. Its channel runs for nearly a mile inside of a beach through which a breach was made nearly forty years ago

. As a consequence of this breach, the channel shoaled from 4 to Sfeet in depth.

In 1882 a project of improvement was adopted which provided for the closing of this breach by riprap, and for some dredging, should the channel not clear itself. The amount of dredging that might be required being uncertain, no estimate of its cost could be made.

The total amount appropriated for this harbor is $3,000, which was expended in 1883 in closing the breach with riprip. The effect of this dike in strengthening the current and scouring the shoals will be better shown in another year, when it can be determined whether dredging must be resorted to, and the amount, if any, that must be done.

No appropriation is asked for at present. Jaly 1, 1834, amount available

$339 04 July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1881....

32 31 July 1, 1885, amount available

306 73 (See Appendix D 4.) 5. New Haven Harbor, Connecticut.-The original available low-water depth in the channel of this harbor was about 9 feet. Previous to 1878 a channel 13 feet deep had been obtained, mainly by dredging, but in 1878 it was decided to provide for a channel 16 feet deep and not less than 400 feet wide.

The total amount appropriated for this harbor up to July 1, 1885, was $241,000, with which the required depth and width have been nearly obtained, excepting across the Fort Hale Bar, where the depth is 13 feet

. The channel is, however, still too narrow for convenient use, as the great number of vessels which anchor in it make it at times almost impassable for the tugs, steamers, sailing vessels, and barges which move up and down it, and it ought to be widened to 700 or 800 feet in its upper part, which alteration would cost not less than

The deepening of the channel over the Fort Hale Bar is to be accomplished by the aid of a dike, running from Sandy Point, on the west shore

, out into the harbor, and then parallel with the channel, which will cost

, according to the 'estimate, $100,000. The shore arm of this dike and 254 feet of the part parallel to the channel have been built at a cost of about $30,000. About 3,000 feet of the dike remain to be built, which will cost, according to the original to widen the channel in the upper part of the harbor.

An appropriation of $100,000 is asked for to complete the dike and dike, under the appropriation of July 5, 1884, but the prices were so Proposals were invited during the fiscal year for the extension of the It is proposed to apply the available funds to dredging in the harbor.

$50,000

estimate, $70,000.

July 1, 1884, amount available....

8503 18 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884.

10, 000 00

10,503 18 July 1. 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities, July 1, 1884

226 36 July 1, 1885, amount available..

10, 276 82 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project... 100,000 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30,1887 100,000 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix D 5.)

6. Breakwater at New Haven Harbor, Connecticut.-In 1879 a project was adopted for making a large and convenient harbor of refuge by the construction of two riprap breakwaters at the entrance of New Haven Harbor, their estimated cost being $1,311,134. The total amount appro. priated for this purpose up to July 1, 1885, was $220,000, and with it a length of 2,147 linear feet of the east breakwater has been constructed, containing 189,898 tons of granite.

The length built during the past fiscal year is 330 feet, 28,006 tons of granite being used. The Board of Engineers, in recommending the project, advised that after the completion of a certain portion of the easterly breakwater, the westerly should be commenced,” and it would seem advisable to commence its construction and push it as rapidly as possible as soon as the necessary funds can be procured; $500,000 could be profitably expended on the two breakwaters during the ensuing year. July 1, 1884, amount available ...

$608 08 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884..

40,000 00

40, 608 08 July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1884..

37,575 59 July 1, 1885, amount available...

3, 032 49 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project......1,091, 134 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1837 500,000 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

barbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix D 6.)

7. Milford Harbor, Connecticut.—This is a broad open bay, terminating in a narrow tidal stream, which extends about three-fourths of a mile to the Milford wharves. The original depth over the bar was about 2 feet at mean low water. Between the bar and Milford the channel ran nearly bare.

Under the original project of improvement, adopted in 1872, a chan. nel 4 feet deep and 100 feet wide had been excavated from the bay to Merwin's Wharf, and thence 60 feet wide to the village wharves; the erosion of the blaft's east of the harbor had been checked by smalí jetties, and two jetties had been built for preserving the channel on the outer bar, the total cost being $34,600.

In 1881 a project was adopted for making a channel over the bar 8 feet deep and 100 feet wide, the estimated cost of which was $11,000. Five thousand dollars only have been appropriated for this work, with which a channel 8 feet deep and 65 feet wide has been obtained.

This project would be satisfactorily completed in one year at the estimated cost of $6,000.

No funds have been available for the present fiscal year and no work has been done. July 1, 1884, amount available

$383 50 July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1834....

114 21 July 1, 1885, amount available ....

269 29 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... 6, 000 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal yearending June 30, 1887 6, 000 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

barbor acts of 1866 and 1807. (See Appendix D 7.)

8. Housatonic River, Connecticut.—The navigable part of this river, extending from Derby to Long Island Sound-a distance of 13 mileswas originally obstructed by several bars, over which there was a depth of from 3 feet to 5 feet at mean low water.

In 1871 a project was adopted for making and maintaining a channel 100 feet wide and 7 feet deep at low water throughout this distance. Besides the necessary dredging, a breakwater across the east side of the bar at the mouth of the river was projected.

The amount appropriated ap to July 1, 1885, is $68,500, with which a channel of the desired depth and about 60 feet wide has been made and generally maintained, excepting over the bar at the mouth, where no work has yet been done.

During the past fiscal year no work has been done.

The removal of Drew's Rock, 3 miles below Derby, is recommended as being more economical in the end than the frequent dredging of the shoal which forms below it.

It is proposed to expend the money available to the removal of part of this rock during the coming fiscal year.

It seems likely that the channel over the bar will be opened without espense to the Government by persons interested in oyster growing during the coming year, they receiving the material excavated in payment for the work.

The estimated cost of removing Drew's Rock, maintaining a channel 100 feet wide, and building the breakwater is $30,000. July 1, 1884, amount available

$1,995 85 Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884.

2, 500 00

4,495 85 Joly 1, 1885, amount available.....

4,495 85 Amount (estimated) reqnired for completion of existing project.... 30, 000 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal yearending June 30, 1887 30, 000 00 Sabmitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and

harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix D 8.) 9. Bridgeport Harbor, Connecticut.—The available low-water depth at this harbor was originally but 5 feet. Under a former project, completed in 1882, a jetty had been built on the east shore, at the mouth of the barbor, to arrest the influx of sand, and a channel 200 feet wide anıl 12 feet deep at low water had been made froin Long Island Sound to the Lower Bridge.

A project submitted in 1881 proposed to widen the channel from the inner beacon to the Naugatuck Railroad Dock to 600 feet, in order to prevent the crowding of the main channel by vessels running in for shelter.