LETTER OF THE WAR DEPARTMENT TO C. H. HUDSON, ESQ.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington City, July 12, 1888.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith for retention by your company a copy of an instrument, duly executed by the Secretary of War, approving the plan and location of a proposed bridge over the Tennessee River at or near Chattanooga, Tenn., to be constructed by the Memphis and Charleston Railroad Company in accordance with the act of Congress approved February 28, 1887.

BRIDGE OF THE KANSAS CITY AND MEMPHIS RAILWAY AND BRIDGE COMPANY ACROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE, AUTHORIZED BY ACT OF CONGRESS OF APRIL 24, 1888.

[Morison & Cortbell, consulting and constructing engineers.]

CHICAGO, May 5, 1888.

SIR: In accordance with the request of Mr. Geo. H. Nettleton, president Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company, we present in person, by the hands of our Mr. Corthell, for your approval, the maps, plans, and papers relating to a proposed bridge over the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tenn.

These documents are as follows:

(1) Articles of incorporation of the Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company.

(2) Copy of minutes of a meeting of incorporators and directors of the Kausas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company.

(3) Extract from the minutes of a meeting of the incorporators and directors of the Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company, showing the officers of said

company.

(4) Copy of proceedings of the board of directors of the Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company, accepting the provisions of the act of Congress entitled An act to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee," approved April 24, 1888.

(5) Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company submitting to the honorable Secretary of War, map, designs, and papers as required by rule established by the honorable Secretary of War July 31, 1880.

(6) Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company authorizing Messrs. Morison & Corthell to present plans and papers to the honorable Secretary of War. (7) A map, in duplicate, of the river at the location of the proposed bridge, with soundings, current-lines, shore-lines, topography, etc., as required by the act of Congress.

(8) A plan, elevation, and sections, in duplicate, of the proposed bridge, showing the clear width of spans and the clear height of the superstructure above high water, as required by the act of Congress.

We desire to call your attention to the fact that the act of Congress requires three spans of certain minimum lengths. These three spans occupy the entire width of the river. The order of these three spaus is also definitely determined as we understand it. We have therefore

had no choice in making the arrangement and lengths of spans, but have conformed the plans submitted to the exact requirements of the act of Congress, no other design being admissible.

As it will require considerable time to perfect the plans of the superstructure of this bridge, which will be one of the largest in some respects in the world, with peculiar and somewhat difficult conditions imposed by the act of Congress, we respectfully request the privilege of revising the superstructure design should further study show it to be necessary in order to comply with the requirements of economy and stability, it being understood, however, that the clear width and clear height as shown on the plans now submitted shall not in any case be changed.

We present these plans at this early date as it is of great importance to commence the work of construction at once in order to take advan. tage of the next season of low water in the river. It will require some little time to obtain the material for the foundations, and we wish to have the orders for it given as soon as possible. This we can not do until you have approved the plans now submitted.

We therefore respectfully request that your approval be given as soon as practicable.

Respectfully returned to the Secretary of War. The within plans appear to be, upon examination, in accordance with the requirements of "An act to authorize the construction of a bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee," approved April 24, 1888, and with the view to further compliance with its provisions, it is recommended that they be referred for consideration of a Board of Engineers, to consist of the following named officers: Lieut. Col. W. E. Merrill, Maj. O. H. Ernst, Capt. D. C. Kingman, with Lieut. C. E. Gillette as recorder; the Board to meet at Memphis, Tenn., upon the call of the senior member, as soon as practicable, due notice being given through the public press of the time and place of the meeting. With the sanction of the Secretary the order convening the board will be issued from this office.

The recommendation of the Chief of Engineers is approved. The Board will be instructed to require that all objections be presented in writing.

By order of the Secretary of War.

SAMUEL HODGKINS,

Acting Chief Clerk.

[Third indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT,
July 10, 1888.

A majority of the Board of Engineers reports that the main span of the bridge on the Memphis side of the river should be 1,000 feet in length; that the other two spans should be 600 feet in length, and the whole structure should be 75 feet above high water.

Upon a careful examination of the evidence in this case, and the pe culiar methods of navigation by tows, it appears that the minimum width of 700 feet for the main span named in the act of Congress is more than ample and sufficient for all kinds of navigation on the river except the tows, which, of different lengths varying from 660 to 900 feet, pass down the main channel controlled by a single steam-boat.

The usual length of these tows is 780 feet and the width 205 feet, and in one instance a tow of 1,032 feet in length is reported.

When these tows are in line and under control they would have no difficulty in passing a bridge much less than 700 feet in width; but occasionally, under existing methods, they can not be thus controlled, and may float down side on or, in other words, lengthwise across the stream. In this condition guidance is impossible, and it is difficult to see how any practicable length of span could insure safety. The obvious provision against such an accident is to increase the controlling power and insure safe guidance from the start, or to reduce the length and size of the tows. It may also be observed that a tow, thus floating helplessly down at right angles to the current, would be a serious and dangerous obstruction to all other methods of river navigation.

While the rights of navigation in navigable rivers are to be jealously guarded and protected, the right to cross such streams by bridges to transport freight and passengers can not be disregarded. There must in such cases be mutual concession and such adjustments in the methods of transportation on the stream and in the construction of bridges over it, that the privileges of both may be enjoyed and preserved.

To require such extreme length of bridge on the one hand as would permit navigation by tows in the same manner as if there was no bridge, would be as unreasonable as to construct the bridge in such a manner as practically to destroy all transportation by tows.

I am unable, therefore, to approve this report so far as the width of the main channel-span is concerned.

It appears that the width of the river at the site selected and ap proved by the Board is 1,970 feet at low water. The width of the proposed piers is about 20 feet each. The minimum length of the main channel-span is fixed by law at 700 feet and the other two spans at 600 feet each, to which add 40 feet for the width of the two piers, we have 1,940 feet, or 30 feet less than the width of the river at low water. One span 730 feet long and two spans 600 feet long in the clear will make, with 40 feet for the width of two piers, a bridge 1,970 feet long. It is better to add the 30 feet to the main span, rather than divide it between the shorter spaus.

Plans may be submitted by the railway and bridge company giving a main channel-span on the Memphis side of the river 730 feet long in the clear at low water, and two other spans 600 feet long in the clear at low water, the end piers to be placed at low water on either shore, so that the three spans will cover the entire width of the river at low water. All the necessary aids to navigation in passing under the bridge can not now be determined, but the railway and bridge company

may consider the question of a guiding pier, with proper guards to the bridge pier on the Memphis side, for protection to navigation, or that of placing the pier on the Memphis side in 9 feet of water at the highest stage, making the long span 770 feet.

The law requires that the bridge shall be so constructed as to provide for the passage of wagons and vehicles of all kinds and for the transit of animals.

Drawings must be submitted in compliance with the law, showing a cross-section of the bridge and the roadways proposed. WILLIAM C. ENDICOTT,

Secretary of War.

REPORT OF BOARD OF ENGINEERS.

MEMPHIS, TENN., May 26, 1888.

SIR: The Board of Officers of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, convened by Special Orders No. 26, dated Headquarters Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C., May 10, 1888, to examine and report upon the plans of the proposed bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tenn., submitted by the Kansas City and Memphis Railway and Bridge Company, would respectfully submit the following report:

Before entering upon the details of the proposed bridge it is advisable to describe the locality.

The city of Memphis is situated on a bluff on the left bank of the Mississippi River, at the confluence of Wolf River, and has a waterfront on the Mississippi of about 3 miles, beginning at the mouth of Wolf River and extending to near the head of President's Island. At this island the river divides into two channels of nearly equal size. The western channel was the main channel until within the last two years, since which time the best water has been found in the eastern channel, though the difference between the two in navigability is not great.

On the shore opposite Memphis is the small village of Hopefield, mainly occupied by persons employed at the railroad transter boats.

Above the city there is a sharp bend in the river whose apex is about 4 miles above Wolf River. From this bend the current sets directly towards the Memphis shore, with a strong scour against the upper side of the Hopefield peninsula. Since 1877 half a mile in width of the point of this peninsula has washed away, and the present point is about a mile further down-stream than was the case eleven years ago. Formerly the current struck the left bank above the mouth of Wolf River, and followed the Memphis front tangentially. As the point of impact moved down-stream the angle of the current with the Memphis shore became more nearly a right angle, and the scouring effect on the bank became so great that expensive works of protection had to be built along a large part of the city front. To prevent this condition from getting worse it was also necessary to revet the upper side of the Hopefield peninsula. The Memphis revetment extends over about 2 miles of the city front, and has been very successful, but should be continued to the lower end of the bluffs. The Hopefield revetment extends over a distance of about 24 miles, and ought to have been carried to the point, a further distance of about a mile, but it was necessarily stopped by lack of funds.

In passing the front of Memphis a floating object comes out of the Hopefield Bend heading straight for the upper end of the city wharf;

it is then deflected to the right by the current, turning an angle of 100 degrees while passing the main part of the city, and turning another angle of about 25 degrees to the left while passing into the eastern or Tennessee chute of President's Island. Should it, however, be drawn into the western or Arkansas chute, it would turn an angle to the right of about 90 degrees.

This is the course that all river craft must follow as they pass the city of Memphis, and the excessive curvature in a short distance, with its accompanying whirls and boils, is the reason why this part of the river is always dreaded by navigators. We have been informed that coal tows never attempt to run Memphis at night, and we know that the only tow of coal that passed Memphis while the Board was in session, towed by the W. W. O'Neil, laid up all night at a point above the mouth of Wolf River, although the stage of the river was only about 23 feet on the gauge, high water being 35.3 feet on the same gauge. On the other hand, we are informed by Captain Haarstick, president of the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company, that his tows, which are chiefly used to carry grain, flour, and merchandise, are forced by competition to run night and day, and that their pilots have standing orders to "flank" all sharp bends of the river, in which class the bend at Memphis is one of the chief.

Accompanying this report are two diagrams, showing the actual positions at short intervals of several tows while passing the Memphis Bend, which indicate the method of "flanking" bends more clearly than can be described in words. These diagrams were furnished by officers of the Mississippi River Commission. It will be noted, however, that they refer to stages below high water, at which times the current of the river is considerably reduced, and the difficulty of flanking the bends is proportionately lessened.

In accordance with the requirements of the acts of Congress authorizing the construction of this bridge, the engineers of the bridge company made current observations at the proposed site, and found the following velocities in the part of the river to be covered by the eastern or Tennessee span of the proposed bridge:

The reading on the Memphis gauge of local highest water is 35.3 feet. The Board met at Memphis on the 24th instant, and on that day and the 25th held public sessions in the United States Engineer Office, and heard all parties who desired to present their views. They also inspected the entire front of Memphis from the head of the Hopefield revetment to the head of President's Island, and floated along the city front with the boat in the position occupied by tows in flanking the Memphis Bend, the boat being under the control of one of the pilots of the Mississippi Valley Transportation Company.

In accordance with the special instructions to the Board, all parties who presented themselves were requested to give their views in writing, and all such statements and all letters received are appended to this report. No communication was received from the Coal Exchange of Pittsburgh, or from any coal operator. The only representations of the Ohio River coal interests who put in an appearance were two pilots, who belonged to a tow returning up-stream, which happened to reach Memphis while the Board was in session.