(d1) White River Front.-Upon the White River Front at the beginning of the year a levee extended southward from Helena a distance of about 15 miles, and another extended northward from Laconia Circle, leaving a gap between them of about 30 miles, in which there was no levee except the old and badly broken-up State Levee. During the yearthe Helena Levee was extended southward 28,338 feet, of which 5,000 feet was enlargement of an old levee and the balance new work. It was built with a crown of 8 feet, side slopes 1 on 3, and grade 3 feet above highest known water (1890.) The Laconia section was extended northward 4,240 feet, with crown 8 feet, side slopes 1 on 3, and grade 4 feet above highest water of 1890.

(d2) Upper Mississippi Levee District.-Upon the Yazoo Front the work consisted in enlarging the existing levee above Hushpuckena (352 L) to a height of from 3 to 4 feet above highest water, with a crown of 10 feet and land slope of 1 on 3. In addition to this much work was done by the local authorities, the amount and location of which has not been reported to the Commission. Allotments have been made to this

district under the title Upper Mississippi Levee District.

THIRD DISTICT.

(Mouth of White River to Warrenton, Miss., 220 miles.)

(a) Lake Bolivar Front, 417 miles below Cairo.-Nothing was done here during the year. The work has accomplished the object for which it was built and remains in good condition, except that additional stone ballast is required above the water surface, which it is intended to supply at an early day. See Annual Report for 1891.

(b) Ashbrook Neck, 446 miles below Cairo.-As explained in the last Annual Report, the protection of the upstream side of Ashbrook Neck had become necessary in order to prevent a cut-off. The work was begun in 1890. At the beginning of the present year 2,820 linear feet of revetment had been placed at the narrowest part of the neck, but the lower 500 feet of it having been constructed during a high and rising river, was of insufficient width and had suffered some damage. Operations were resumed in August and continued until January, when they were suspended on account of high water. The old work was repaired and was then extended downstream a distance of 2,500 feet. An extension upstream was begun and was carried a distance of 1,300 feet. Further extension in that direction is contemplated. To prevent flow across the neck at high water a levee was constructed near the axis of the neck. It has suffered material injury during the present high

water.

(c) Greenville, Miss., 478 miles below Cairo.-The work at this place, begun in 1887, had for its object the protection of the bank in front of the town, which was caving rapidly. A sketch of the operations to the beginning of the present year is given in the last Annual Report. At that date the original protection of the town front had been taken in flank by the continuous caving of the bend above, and the upstream end of it had been destroyed. The necessity of protecting the bank just above the town was urgent. It was undertaken as soon as the stage of the river would permit. Operations were resumed in August and continued until January, when the project for the year was com pleted. A continuous revetment 6,600 feet long was placed, extending upstream from the upper end of the portion of the original work, which remained intact. As was stated last year, the certain way to protect Greenville is to protect the bend above throughout its whole length.

The amount of funds required for that have not been available. The work done this year should afford relief from immediate danger. It seems probable that further extensions of the revetment may be necessary in the future.

(d) Lake Providence Reach, 517 to 552 miles below Cairo.-A brief sketch of the operations in this reach, from the time when they were begun in 1882, was given in the last Annual Report. It then appeared that, for reasons beyond the control of the Commission, the earlier works had either been destroyed or had become uncertain in their action, and that although the beneficial results obtained by them still remained, the river throughout the reach was not under control, and there was no certainty that the results were permanent. A systematic and permanent improvement involved the construction of a new series of works, beginning with Louisiana Bend, at the head of the reach. A new protection of this bend was begun in 1889 and completed for a length of 6,024 feet. At the beginning of the present year this work was in good condition, except about 200 linear feet at the downstream end which had been injured by the erosion of the bank below it. Operations were resumed in September and continued until the latter part of January. The damaged lower end of the old work was replaced and the revetment extended 5,000 feet, making 5,224 linear feet of revetment placed this year. The total length of revetment in Louisiana bend is 11,024 feet, all of it standing intact. It is proposed to extend the work during the coming year.

(e) Vicksburg, 599 miles below Cairo.-The works for the maintenance and improvement of Vicksburg Harbor consist, first, of the revetment of Delta Point, to prevent its further recession, which would allow the river to abandon the present Vicksburg front entirely instead of partly, as is now the case; and, second, of a dredged canal leading to a dredged basin at the upstream part of the city front.

The Delta Point revetment, covering 10,700 linear feet of bank, was constructed between 1878 and 1884. It has required no repairs for several years. The subaqueous portion is still in good condition, but the upper bank portion is in places in need of stone ballast to replace the brush which has rotted. It is proposed to place the necessary stone during the coming year. Higher upstream the bank continues to cave slowly, and it will probably be necessary to extend the revetment in that direction in the future, but it is not evident that that will be required during the coming year.

At the beginning of the year the canal had been excavated approximately to the plane +8 feet on the Vicksburg gauge and dredging was in progress. It was continued until September 7, when it was suspended on account of low water. At that time the canal had been excavated to a plane between +5 and +6 feet on the Vicksburg gauge. A greater depth had been anticipated from the season's operations, but a heavy deposit from the river occurred during the high water of the previous spring and summer, against which the dredge had to work. Dredging was resumed February 8, 1892, and on the 15th of May was still in progress. At the latter date one cut 40 feet wide through the canal had been excavated to a plane zero on the gauge and another cut to the same depth partly through. The amount of material excavated during the year was 315,079 cubic yards. The amount previously excavated in canal and basin was 954,514, making the total amount of excavation since 1888, when the work was begun, 1,269,593 cubic yards, measured in the scow. The excavated prism now existing should have involved the excavation of 1,020,800 cubic yards, measured in the scow, had there been no fill from deposits by the river. The dif

ference, or 248,793 cubic yards, measures the amount of the deposits in four years.

(f) Surveys, gauges, and observations.-Discharge observations during the low water of 1891 were made at Wilsons Point in October, and during the high water of 1892 at Arkansas City and Wilsons Point. Surveys were made near Ashbrook Neck, Greenville, and Louisiana Bend while the works were in progress. In October a hydrographic survey was made of Lake Providence Reach and one in the vicinity of Pecan Grove, to note the changes, if any, due to the Raleigh crevasse of 1890, (g) Levees, east bank Lower Mississippi levee district.-On the cast, or left, bank of the river the levees in the third district extend from opposite the mouth of White River to Eagle Lake, covering the lower half of the Yazoo Basin, a distance by river of about 190 miles. The length of the levee line is much shorter, being about 167 miles. It covers the local organization known in the allotments as the Lower Mississippi levee district, and overlaps for 28 miles upon the local Upper Mississippi levee district. The small amount available for levee construction was devoted to strengthening the levee at Catfish Point (423 L) and building loops to cover breaks in the line at Greenville (478 L), Stella (502 L.), and Shipland (543 L). The total yardage placed by the Government was 288,072 cubic yards. The local authorities, the Lower Mississippi levee board, placed during the year 1,896,518 cubic yards at various points not reported to the Commission. An estimate was given last, year of the yardage required to raise the levees in this district to a height 3 feet above the calculated high water of 1890. It is possible that the experience of this year may cause the standard to be changed. The State authorities have made strenuous efforts to strengthen their line. Their levees have generally a width of crown of 8 feet, with crests at least 2 feet above the flood of 1890.

(h) Levees, west bank.-On the west, or right, bank of the river the levees in the third district extend from Amos Bayou, about 17 miles north of Arkansas City, along Cypress Creek, to Lucca Landing, on the Mississippi, and thence to the southern limit of the district, covering the upper half of the Tensas Basin, a distance by river of about 181 miles. The length of the levee line is about 173 miles, of which 84.8 miles is in the State of Arkansas and the remainder in Louisiana. The local levee organizations are the Desha County levee board, the Chicot County levee board, both in Arkansas, and the Fifth Louisiana levee district. The Tensas Basin levee district, a Louisiana organization, is authorized by the law of its State to expend money in Arkansas Tensas Basin. Allotments for levees on this bank have been made under the titles "Levees Tensas Basin, Arkansas," and "Levees Tensas Basin, Louisiana, third district.

(h 1) Tensas Basin, Arkansas.-The old levees of Arkansas are generally of flimsy character, the prevailing type through the district having a crown of about 4 feet and height about that of the flood of 1890. The local boards have barely sufficient revenue to keep them in repair. Most of the efficient work done of late years in the district has been done by the United States or the State of Louisiana. At the beginning of the present year the extension of the Lucca loop (428 R) was under construction. It was duly completed. With the small amount available for levee construction this year the levee at Opossum Fork (427 R) was enlarged, and loops were built at Sunnyside (491 R), Cracraft (513 R), a spur constructed on Leland short line (470 R), and the enlargement of the levee below Lower Boggy Bayou (445 R) was begun. The total yardage placed by the United States was 270,377 cubic yards. The Desha County levee board enlarged the levee in

front of Arkansas City, placing 19,235 cubic yards. The Chicot County levee board constructed levees at Luna (467 R), Leland (483 R), and enlarged those at Bellevue front (466 R) and at Sterling (515 R), the yardage not being reported to the Commission. The Louisiana authorities, compelled for their own protection to go beyond the limits of their State, enlarged the levee from Chicot (432 R) to Arkansas City, placing 148,638 cubic yards. They also contributed 45,611 cubic yards to the Lucca loop (428 R), built mainly by the United States.

(h 2) Tensas Basin, Louisiana, third district.-With this year's allotment for this subdistrict a levee was built at Illawara (562 R), containing 349,241 cubic yards.

For details of the operations in the third district see report of Capt. C. McD. Townsend, hereto appended, Appendix 6.

FOURTH DISTRICT.

(Warrenton, Miss., to Head of Passes, 484 miles.)

(a) Natchez and Vidalia, 700 miles below Cairo.-A history of Congres sional and executive action with reference to this locality was given in the last Annual Report. Nothing was done here during the year.

(b) Rectification of the Red and Atchafalaya rivers, 764 miles below Cairo. The project adopted for this locality has for its object (1) to limit the outlet capacity of the Atchafalaya, and (2) to improve the lowwater navigation from the Mississippi into the Atchafalaya, and also into the Red River.

The first of these objects is to be accomplished by the construction of a series of dams in the Atchafalaya, submerged sufficiently to permit navigation over them. At the date of the last Annual Report two of the projected dams, Nos. 1 and 3, built in 1888 and 1889, had been constructed near Simmesport, in the Atchafalaya, about 5 miles below its head. They remain in good condition. Nothing further was done here during the year.

The second object is to be accomplished by replacing the present single channel between the Mississippi and the Red-Atchafalaya, through which the flow is sometimes in one direction, sometimes in the other, and sometimes does not exist at all, by two channels, one for the inflow from the Red to the Mississippi, and the other for the outflow from the Mississippi to the Atchafalaya, and to prevent the Red River, at low water, from wasting itself down the Atchafalaya, by a dam which shall separate it from that stream at low and medium stages. One of these channels is furnished by the present single channel, called Lower Old River, south of Turnbull Island. The other is to be created by the enlargement of Upper Old River, north of Turnbull Island, for the greater part of its length, until it reaches the vicinity of Carrs Point, and then continuing it to a junction with the Mississippi by excavation through Carrs Point.

The difficult part of this project is the excavation of the channel north of Turnbull Island. The old waterway has much diminished in size in the last few years until now a narrow chute, which is dry in places at a 12-foot stage, is all that remains of it. Several million cubic yards of material must be removed. The material is soft mud, in which a trench is difficult to maintain, the semifluid sides flowing into it with great facility. A small amount of dredging was done last year, as noted in the last Annual Report, and operations of that kind were resumed in the early part of the present year; but a very brief experi ence was sufficient to demonstrate that the appliances at the disposal of the Commission were not adapted to the circumstances of this case. ENG 92182

Dredges of much greater capacity were required. Operations were promptly suspended, and an investigation of the resources of the country in dredging appliances was entered upon, with a view to procuring the most efficient one for this purpose which exists or can be constructed. Specifications were finally prepared, and proposals for furnishing an efficient apparatus were invited by public advertisement dated June 1, proposals to be opened on the 1st of August next. aid in the excavation of this channel it is very desirable that a current from Red River be forced through it as soon as practicable. This could be accomplished by building to a sufficient height the dam designed to separate the Red River from the Atchafalaya, known in this project as the Red River Dam. But the Commission did not feel at liberty to obstruct the navigation which now passes over the site of that dam before providing a new channel. The dam was begun in 1889 and at the beginning of the present year it had been built up until its crest was from about 1 to 3 feet below low water. It was the intention up to the time when dredging in Upper Old River was suspended to continue the construction of the dam to a moderate height above low water, so as to obtain some assistance from it if possible in the way of a current through the new channel, but at the same time to keep it so low that in case of a very low-water season a portion of it could be cut down, and a channel through it preserved, without too great a loss of material. The work of construction was continued in the early part of the present year. When dredging was suspended orders were given to suspend work upon the dam also, as soon as convenient, but to use up such material as had been accumulated. Its crest when work was suspended was about 3 feet above low water. The river subsequently fell to a very low stage and a portion of the dam was removed in compliance with orders given before it was built, in anticipation of such a contingency. There is now an opening through it about 450 feet wide and 5 feet deep at low water. Otherwise it is in good condition.

It is evident that the execution of this project is much hampered by the necessity of not obstructing the use of the stream by navigation. The navigation interest has this spring very generously come to the aid of the Commission. In a communication signed by all, or nearly all, the masters, owners, mates, and pilots of boats engaged in trade to the Atchafalaya, Red, and Ouachita rivers, they have urged that the approved project be pushed to completion, that the Red River Dam be raised so as to force the Red River to flow north of Turnbull Island and of itself create that channel, and have voluntarily offered to relinquish the use of the old channel thus obstructed. The Commission has not thought it best to accept this offer at this time, believing that both dredging and a current are necessary. It is proposed to resume operations when a satisfactory dredging outfit is secured, and sufficient funds are available, and then to take advantage of this offer.

The usual difficulties were experienced in maintaining a navigable channel through Lower Old River during the low-water period. Dredg ing was begun as soon as the water had fallen sufficiently to permit the dredges to work and was continued until the water was too low to float them. By October 6 the channel had become impassable for the regular steamboats, though small light draft boats continued to go through and transfer freight until October 30. At that time all navigation was suspended and it so remained until November 27, when both the Red and the Mississippi rose rapidly and navigation was restored. The telephone line, 30 miles long, to connect with West Melville, the nearest railway station, the construction of which was begun last year, was completed.