the river, taking as full notes of the physical features of the valley and the difficulties to be overcome as was possible under the circumstances. Accordingly, I left St. Louis on the same day, and have since been over the entire length of the river. I now have the honor to present my report.

The Osage River takes it rise in the plains between the Arkansas and Kansas rivers, in the easterly part of Kansas, and flows east-northeast for a general direction, crossing nearly the whole breadth of the State of Missouri, and emptying into the Missouri River eight miles below Jefferson City and about four hundred and fifty from its source. It is the most important tributary that the Missouri River receives in this State. The drainage area occupied by the Osage amounts to about thirteen thousand six hundred square miles, or nearly one thirty-sixth of the whole Missouri basin.

Near the Kansas border the Osage receives its water from two branches, the Marais de Cygnes and the Little Osage, of which the former is the larger, although at this point they are neither of them much more than good-sized creeks. Three miles above their junction and on the Marais de Cygnes there is a small town named Papinsville, which is located on the maps as the head of navigation. To this place we proceeded on the 3d by way of Sedalia. The town has about 500 inhabitants, and is twenty miles distant from the Kansas border and about thirty-five miles from Fort Scott. Boats very rarely run up as far as this point, and no dependence for freights is placed upon them.

For more than a year previous to my examination, there had been an unusually dry season and the river was very low.

At Papinsville there was a small running stream with about six inches of water in the rapids below the town. In times of great freshet, however, they have some 20 feet of water, and then if a boat is sufficiently venturesome to run the risk of being left by the sudden falling of the river, it can come up as far as the town. A bridge of 90 feet span crosses the river at this place.

On the 4th I procured a skiff and started from Papinsville on my way down the river. Three miles below town the Little Osage empties in, and for several miles there is a fine pool of clear water, with no perceptible current, averaging 150 feet in width, and 5 feet in depth. For the next sixty or seventy miles the river is one succession of pools and shoals, some of the latter a mile in length and most of them, in extreme low water, have but from 3 to 6 inches of water. In this distance there are two small towns, Belvoir and Taberville. Twelve miles below the former we found a bridge in course of construction on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway. There is to be a draw in the bridge 60 feet span in the clear. The only other bridge across the river is at Osage City, at the mouth, on the Missouri Pacific Railroad. This bridge is 1,120 feet long, composed of seven spans of 160 feet each, with a draw-span of the same length with the others, leaving 65 feet in the clear on each side of the draw-pier.

On the 7th we reached the mouth of the Sac River, which flows in from the south. It is nearly as large a river as the Osage itself. Some nine miles above its mouth is Roscoe, a flourishing little town of 500 people; and below the Sac, three miles, is Osceola, the county seat of St. Clair County, with some 600 inhabitants. As this point of the river seems to be the practical head of navigation, and as no improvements will probably ever extend above here, I have made my map only from the mouth of the Sac to the Missouri River. Between Roscoe and Osceola there cannot be more than 6 feet fall in the river.

After receiving the waters of the Sac, the Osage is about 350 feet wide between banks. On one side is a perpendicular bluff, on the other a timbered bottom with a soft bank of sandy loam some 15 feet in height.

From Osceola to the mouth I made a more particular examination, taking sketches of nearly all the shoals, noting the course of every bend and stretch in the river, and checking the distances as given me by the pilot, by the intersection of the section lines. By this means I have been able to make an approximate map, sufficiently accurate to show the course of the river and the location of the shoals.

Before we reached Linn Creek we were overtaken by a sudden rise of 8 feet, and for particulars of the shoals below that point I was obliged to rely upon the description of the pilot.

We reached the mouth of the river during the first of November, having been engaged in the examination a little more than a month.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

The valley. The Osage Valley may be described as a very fertile country, capable of high cultivation, but now almost wholly undeveloped. The farmers, having no certain outlet for their crops, have little stimulus to raise more than is needed for their own

use.

Counties. The counties touching directly upon the river from Roscoe to the Missouri, not including those lying on its tributaries, are St. Clair, Henry, Benton, Morgan,

Camden, Miller, Cole, and Osage. The taxable wealth of these counties has been estimated at $22,947,892. The following table will show their area, resources, &c.

The soil. The soil of the valley is rich and may be depended upon to produce large crops of corn, wheat, oats, tobacco, hay, &c. The banks of the river are heavily timbered; a number of saw-mills have been erected, and more are building. I noticed a great quantity of very fine white oak, black walnut, and cedar, enough to supply any market.

Sulphur springs.-Between Osceola and Warsaw there are a number of very fine mineral springs; some of them have attained a wide reputation. As many as a hundred persons have been seen camping in their neighborhood at one time, for the benefit of the water. I was informed that in the Sulphur Creek bend there was one spot where there were at least one hundred different kinds of water, all of them highly charged with medicinal properties.

Minerals. The principal minerals are lead and iron. The lead deposits are very rich, and, although mined in a crude way by the farmers, already form quite an item of freight. If there were any certain means of transporting the ore to market, there is little doubt that it would form a leading source of wealth to the valley and State. Towns. The principal points of business on the Osage below Roscoe are, Osceola, Warsaw, Linn Creek, Tuscumbia, Castle Rock, and Osage City. The amount of all kinds of business done in the most important of these towns amounts to from $300,000 to $500,000 in each town, in the course of the year.

The Osage River.—The Osage River, for nearly its whole course, passes from one rocky bluff to another, leaving a bottom on one side and a high bluff on the other. The principal geological formations are solid strata of carboniferous and silurian limestone and sandstone. The second and third magnesium limestones are very plentiful, as also the second and third sandstones.

After leaving Osceola, the river runs for some distance through St. Clair County, touches a corner of Henry County, and runs through the whole breadth of Benton County. Warsaw, the county seat, is situated on the river.

After touching, next, a corner of Morgan County, the Osage passes southeast into Camden County to its county seat, Linn Creek. From here. the river passes again through a portion of Morgan and then through Miller County, whose county seat, Tuscumbia, is on the banks. The river then becomes the boundary line between Cole and Osage Counties, and flowing past Osage City, a small town at the mouth, loses itself in the waters of the Missouri.

The following will show the distances between different points of the river and St. Louis:

Between Osceola and Warsaw, a distance of fifty-four miles, there are thirty-eight shoals. These I have divided into four classes, according to the amount of fall and

the difficulties which boats have in making a passage over them at low water. Those in class 1 have a fall of from 2 to 3 feet; class 2, about 1.5 feet, and so on, those in class 4 having a fall of only a few inches. This is an approximate classification, as I was able to take instrumental observations at but few of them.

Between Warsaw and Linn Creek, a distance of 59.5 miles, there are thirty-eight

Between Linn Creek and Tuscumbia, forty-eight miles, there are twenty-six shoals.

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

6 shoals.

6 shoals.

.12 shoals.

Between Tuscumbia and the mouth, 59.5 miles, there are twenty-four shoals.

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

2 shoals.

6 shoals. .10 shoals. 6 shoals.

2 shoals.

At extreme low water nearly all the fall of the river is concentrated at the shoals, while between them the water stands at nearly a dead level. They differ very little in their general characteristics. Their fall is on an average about 1.25 feet, and their length from 1 to 800 feet.

From Osceola to Osage, a distance of two hundred and twenty-one miles, there are twenty-one hundred and six shoals, making an average of one shoal to every 1.75 miles. The materials of which they are composed are gravel, loose rock, and sand.

The water on the shoals between Osceola and Tuscumbia was generally from 10 to 14 inches in depth, while on the shoals in the lower portion of the river the water was from 14 to 17 inches deep.

The pools have always enough water. They are the basins of the river. At the lowest stages the water runs from 6 to 20 feet deep, and they occur in some cases in stretches of several miles without any shoal.

At Osceola the width of the river is 400 feet; at Osage City 1,000 feet, varying between the two at intermediate points.

I refrain from a detailed description of the topography or course of the river, as the map will show both, together with the location of the shoals.

The river is remarkably free from snags. It was only occasionally that we came across one which was in the way of navigation.

Efforts have been made in previous years to improve the Osage River. I counted more than a hundred brush-wing dams; some still in good order, but most of them, more or less, sunken and injured by the ice. Owing to their location and the way in which they were built, they have done very little permanent good, while they are the frequent source of cross-currents.

There seems to be but two methods which present themselves for the improvement of the Osage in view of the above facts:

"First. By locking and damming the river.

Second. By dredging the shoals.

I have made no estimate for the former, deeming that the advantages would not warrant the enormous expenditure which would be required.

By dredging, I have estimated that the removal of 210,000 cubic yards of material, at 75 cents per yard, $157,500, will improve the river from the Missouri River to Roscoe so as to give nine months' navigation on 3 feet of water.

As it will be necessary to build a dredge-boat for the work, the additional sum of $16,500 will be required, making in all $174,000, and including engineering, superintendence, laying out of work, &c., $180,000.

In the expenditure of this sum I would recommend that the portion of the river lying between Osage City and Tuscumbia be first improved by the removal of 38,000 cubic yards, at an expense of $28,500, and including the dredge-boat, $16,500, and $5,000 for engineering-$50,000. It will be necessary to have a competent engineer and assistant stationed on the work to take accurate notes of the cross-sections of water on the shoals as the dredging proceeds, and regulate the work as his observations may dictate.

Number.

Estimate for the improvement of the river from the mouth to Roscoe, a distance of two hundred and thirty-three miles.

Estimate for the improvement of the lower portion of the river only, from Osage City to Tus

cumbia, 59.5 miles.

I have mentioned nothing of the Government lands in the Osage valley, which have been estimated by other parties at half a million acres. These lands would undoubtedly find a more ready market and an enhanced value if the improvements proposed are carried out on the part of the Government.

I subjoin a list of the shoals, showing their names and order of location from Osceola to the mouth of the river.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, yours,

Lieutenant Colonel W. F. RAYNOLDS,

United States Corps of Engineers.

DESMOND FITZGERALD.

Table of shoals from Osceola to the mouth of the Osage River.

Name of shoal.

1

2,3

Osceola Shoal

Crow Island Shoal

OFFICE WESTERN RIVER IMPROVEMENTS,

1122 Pine Street, St. Louis, Missouri, October 14, 1871. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit my annual report of operations upon the "Improvement of the Osage River in Missouri."

A report forwarded to the Bureau on the 28th of December last contained estimates of the cost of the improvement of this stream from Roscoe to its mouth, a distance of two hundred and thirty-three miles, of $180,000, and also separate estimates of the cost of improving the lower section from Tuscumbia to the mouth, of $50,000; and the appropriation of the last-named sum was recommended.

The act of Congress approved March 3, 1871, made an appropriation for the "Improvement of Osage River, Missouri," of $25,000.

The estimate of $50,000 for the improvement to Tuscumbia contained the item of $16,500 for the construction of a dredge-boat for doing the work. As the cost of a dredge would be so large a proportion of the amount appropriated that, if one was procured, there would be no hope of rendering any material aid to navigation without another appropriation, I recommended an attempt should be made to open a channel by means of scrapers. This recommendation was approved by the Bureau. A competent superintendent was employed in the month of July, and a careful examination of the lower portion of the stream commenced. At first, the stage of water rendered the use of scrapers impracticable; authority was then asked, and given, to hire a dredge. But after careful inquiries this was found impossible. Fortunately, while efforts were making to hire a dredge, the stream fell to its lowest stage. Scrapers were at once purchased and the work commenced. The low stage of water still continues, and the work is still going on. A full report will be given hereafter; but it must be remembered that we are liable at any time to have the work cut short by a rise in the stream. The only