2.15+; but this last weight should be placed only on a burden-car, and not upon the floor. The inshore piles which are not braced with longitudinal under-water ties will be prepared with necks, so that in the event of the beach cutting out, collars and braces may be applied to them. The work should be executed by successive steps, beginning at the shore end and advancing bay by bay to the outer end. The accuracy of the dimensions, and their being fixed beforehand within narrow limit, requires this. In this way the structure will serve, too, as its own staging for the greater part. This determines the rate of progress of the construction. In light-house work from two to seventeen hours are required to set a pile, after it has been adjusted over its place. In pier-work two 5-inch piles a day is an average day's work. Many of the piles in the present project being of large dimensions and weight, it is estimated that the shore-end, may be executed at the rate of three piles per day, and the outer end at the rate of two piles per day. Two hundred and fifty piles, at three per day, gives eighty-three and one-third days. Two hundred and fifty-four, at two per day, gives one hundred and twenty-seven days; together, two hundred and ten working-days. Add for non-working days, two-fifths, or eighty-four days, the total is two hundred and ninetyfour days' time, being from nine to ten months. This is the greater part of two working-seasons, which time the work will probably require. The materials can be procured from the manufacturers of iron and the dealers in lumber, by contract, with due provision for inspection of them while in preparation. It is recommended that the workmanship be by days' labor, under careful and intelligent supervision. The work is novel in its character, and of a kind of which little is known in this country by the class of persons undertaking contract-work. It will be to some extent tentative in the process employed, and will require exactness of adjustment of parts and careful check of errors at their beginning. Experience has shown that the contract method is not advantageous in several sorts of work, and leads to the conclusion that it should not be employed in such work as that now under discussion. The principal recommendations of this report are the following: 1st. That the pier be placed at the position marked in the chart by the letters E E1. 2d. That the material be wrought iron. 3d. That the superstructure be of wood. 4th. That materials may be procured by contract. 5th. That the workmanship should be executed by days' labor. An estimate of the cost of the work is transmitted with the report. It is believed that the amount of the estimate will construct the pier of the dimensions and in the position proposed. Four sheets of drawings illustrating the project are transmitted by express, as follows: 1st. Plan and sections Delaware Breakwater Harbor. 2d. Plan and elevation of proposed iron landing-pier. 3d. Plan and section of outer end of pier-head. 4th. Ditto, ditto. (Iron superstructure.) Respectfully submitted. J. D. KURTZ, Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers. Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., Washington, D. C. Estimate of probable cost of an iron landing-pier at the harbor of the Delaware Breakwater. 52, 724 24, 750 80 long'l braces, 28 feet by 3 inches, (80 by 28 by 23.56)..pounds.. 692 Cost of an iron landing-pier at the harbor of the Delaware Breakwater—Continued. Proceedings of a board of engineer officers, convened at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by virtue of the following order: [Special Orders No. 42-Extract.] HEADQUARTERS CORPS OF ENGINEERS, # 3. A board of engineer officers, to consist of Lieutenant Colonel I. C. Woodruff, Lieutenant Colonel John Newton, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Kurtz, with First Lieutenant M. R. Brown as recorder, will assemble in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 18th instant, or as soon thereafter as practicable, to consider and report upon the plan submitted by Lieutenant Colonel Kurtz April 5, 1871, for a pier at Lewes, Delaware, its proper location, and mode of construction. * * By command of Brigadier General Humphreys. THOS. LINCOLN CASEY, UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, 1330 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 18, 1871. The board met pursuant to the above order at 10 a. m.; present, all the members. Sections 12 and 13, of the act of Congress of July 15, 1870, "making appropriations for sundry civil expenses," were read, and the board proceeded to the consideration of the project submitted to the Chief of Engineers by Lieutenant Colonel Kurtz, Corps of Engineers, bearing date April 5, 1871, for the pier at Lewes, Delaware, provided for in the above-designated sections. Mr. J. S. Gibbons, president of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad Company, was present during the reading and discussion of the project, and afterward gave his own views concerning the best location of the pier, stating that he would shortly present his opinions on this subject more formally and in writing, for the consideration of the board. A copy of a letter from Mr. Gibbons to the Chief of Engineers is herewith submitted as part of the record: NEW YORK, April 13, 1871. DEAR SIR: I learned from Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Kurtz, yesterday, in Philadelphia, that a board of officers would meet in that city on Tuesday next, the 18th instant, to examine his charts on the survey of the harbor of the Delaware Breakwater, in pursuance of the plan of constructing the pier, &c. As president of the Junction and Breakwater Railroad Company, which, as provided by law, has the right to occupy the said pier with its tracks, I respectfully ask you that I may have the opportunity of presenting to the board some considerations with respect to the location of the pier in connection with the road. I would like also to be accompanied by one or two of the residents of Lewes, who have long been familiar with the shores and currents of the harbor. I presume that the board will or may get some valuable hints from such persons. If you have no objection to my proposition, I beg that you will address me a note signifying as much, at Lewes, Delaware, care of Jas. A. Chase, superintendent Junction and Breakwater Railroad. Very respectfully, J. S. GIBBONS, President of Junction and Breakwater Railroad Company. Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, Chief of Engineers, Washington, D. C. His letter bore the following endorsement from the Chief of Engi neers: OFFICE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, Respectfully referred to Colonel I. C. Woodruff, Corps of Engineers. No objection exists here to the board of engineers inviting any one interested in the subject to appear before them and present his views. By command of General Humphreys. J. B. WHEELER, The board adjourned at 5.45 p. m., to meet at 9 a. m. to-morrow. The board met pursuant to adjournment. The board proceeded to the further discussion of the project, and, after mature deliberations, arrived at the following conclusions: First. The pier at Lewes should be adapted to the probable wants of the Government and to the general convenience of commerce; and the arrangement thereof should permit the extension upon it of railroad tracks, and its use by the Junction and Breakwater Railroad Company. Second. The project submitted for the consideration of the board presents a structure conforming in every feature to the requirements of the act of Congress of "a good and substantial pier." The iron screwpile foundation is peculiarly suited to the locality of the capes of the Delaware, where the shifting character of the bottom would be likely to threaten the stability of a more solid structure, if expensive precau tions were not taken against such action. Third. The position of the pier is well selected, having in view the present and prospective wants of commerce; but it opens the question of an extension of the breakwater towards the cape, as well as the closing of the opening between the breakwater and ice-breaker, or the covering that opening by a detached breakwater. Before a decision upon such modification of the existing work, a careful series of obser vations of tidal currents and velocities should be undertaken, and the general direction of the sea-waves observed. The board perceive the importance of the suggestions set forth in the project of the necessity of an enlarged capacity of the anchorage, and earnestly recommend the above investigations to be made by the 'officer in charge, that the question of the relative bearing of the pier and breakwater be now definitely determined. Fourth. While the board, having reference to the views above expressed, hesitates to define, at this time, the precise location of the pier, no objection is perceived to the necessary preliminary measures for the procuring of materials by the officer in charge, if it be deemed advisable. I. C. WOODRUFF, Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers. Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers. Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers. The board having no other business before it, adjourned at 2 p. m., to meet subject to the call of the president. I. C. WOODRUFF, Lieutenant Colonel of Engineers. M. R. BROWN, First Lieutenant Corps of Engineers, Recorder. SIR: Congress, by act of July 15, 1870, (Publie No. 183,) made an appropriation of $225,000 for the construction of a "good and substautial pier of stone or iron in the Delaware Bay, at or near Lewes," &c.. and the work was assigned to Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Kurtz, of the Corps of Engineers, who submitted a report, and plan, with estimate, on the 5th of April, 1871. The construction by the United States of the Delaware Breakwater, and the use of the harbor made by it, rendered it necessary that there |