List of steamboat wrecks on the Missouri River, from the beginning of steamboat navigation to the present time-Continued. William Baird.. Stern-wheel. Missouri River trade....... Zephyr .do Apr. 19, 1858 1 mile below and op. Snag Rocks Remarks. The West Wind had brought troops down the river Bound from St. Louis to Sioux City with a large and James E. Rankin Stern-wheel Yellowstone River trade.. Oct. 5, 1877 Unknown Yellowstone .do .do 1877 Buffalo Rapids, in Rapids Yellowstone River. Osceola .do Government work 1877 The Rankin had been lying on a bar in the Yellowstone for some time. She was pulled off and then sank. Boat was being pulled over rapids by line when the line parted and boat was carried down on the rocks and sunk. A little above Glen Cyclone..... The cylone tore off everything down to the hull. The dive. wreck was was abandoned. Cargo mostly a loss. APPENDIX E. REPORT ON BRIDGES OVER MISSOURI RIVER, BY A. H. BLAISDELL, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, St. Louis, Mo., June 16, 1897. CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit herewith, at your request, a list of bridges over the Missouri River, with some comments upon them as obstructions to naviga tion. MISSOURI RIVER BRIDGES. Any bridge built over a river with its piers in the waterway is to a greater or less degree an obstruction to navigation. In selecting the site for a bridge crossing, the construction company is guided by consideration of economies in location, approaches, grades, and curvature, but little regard being paid to any other interests than their own, and in consequence many of the Missouri River bridges have been located at points not favorable to the interests of navigation, such, for instance, as the foot of a caving bend, or in a very changeable reach of the river. Notwithstanding the clause in their charters "that the piers of the bridge shall be built parallel with the current," in an alluvial river like the Missouri, the channel is constantly varying on account of caving banks, and perhaps on no bridge over the Missouri River has the current for any length of time maintained itself in the precise direction it occupied at the time the bridge plans were submitted to the Secretary of War for approval. There are a number of instances in the localities of Missouri River drawbridges where the steamboat channel has entirely left the drawspans and gone under one of the fixed spans, thus making the bridge, for the time being, the head of navigation of the river. In the autumn of 1886 for over two months the United States towboat Wm. Stone could not pass above the Kansas City Bridge, and in 1888 the Atchison Bridge was impassable from the same cause during a time when the United States were engaged in improving the river at points above; the plant for which had to be passed by hand between towboats on either side of the bridge. In September, 1888, the Missouri River Commission recommended by resolution "that all bridges over the Missouri River shall be high bridges with continuous and unbroken spans," etc., but since that date four drawbridges have been built across the river under charters granted by Congress, notwithstanding this recommendation. The piers of bridges, on account of their nonparallelism with the current, give rise to cross currents, and by obstructing the waterway produce increased local velocities, the effects of which on his boat's course the most experienced pilot can not with certainty foretell, and these difficulties are always increased by wind. The occasion is rare indeed when a long-distance packet has not been subjected to expensive delays near a bridge waiting for a favorable condition of wind and current to make the run through it. It is thought no Missouri River bridge can make the claim that no accident to water craft has resulted from its construction; the only difference appears to be that the loss on some has exceeded that on others. The Boonville, Glasgow, and Omaha bridges can each be credited with the total loss of one steamboat by collision with their piers, while the St. Charles Bridge can be credited with two. Many other accidents involving partial loss of steamers and barges, or total loss of the latter, are on record. Details of measurements of the bridges across the Missouri River between its mouth and Fort Benton, Mont., as shown in the appended list, are published in the reports of the Missouri River Commission for the years 1893, 1894, and 1896. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Capt. H. M. CHITTENDEN, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., A. H. BLAISDELL, Assistant Engineer. Secretary Missouri River Commission. Missouri River bridges between the mouth and Fort Benton, Mont. Do... Bellefontaine, Mo...... St. Louis, Kansas and Northwest December, 1892 ... St. Charles, Mo Boonville, Mo Randolph Bluffs, Mo... Kansas City, Mo Do......... Fort Leavenworth, Atchison, Kans. Nebraska City, Nebr... Do........ Blair, Nebr Sioux City, Iowa.. Do... 1884. April, 1896 151.2 Draw. 1874; rebuilt 1896 1888.. 1887... Piers only built... 390.2 Lift. July, 1869; rebuilt 390.7 Draw. 421.7 Do. September, 1875. 1887.. 537.5 High. ANNUAL REPORT OF SAMUEL H. YONGE, DIVISION ENGINEER, OMAHA AND COUNCIL BLUFFS. MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION, OFFICE OF DIVISION ENGINEER, Nebraska City, Nebr., June 10, 1897. CAPTAIN: I have the honor to submit my report of the operations conducted under my charge on the work of improving the Missouri River in the vicinity of Omaha, Nebr., and Council Bluffs, Iowa, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1897, as follows: Shortly after the close of the last fiscal year I was assigned by the president of the Commission to the charge of improvements to be conducted under your direction on Omaha division. The improvements projected comprised completing the system of dikes begun in the spring of 1895, and making repairs to revetment in the vicinity of Omaha, Nebr., and Council Bluffs, Iowa; also the construction of new works near Nebraska City, Nebr., Atchison, Kans., and Leavenworth, Kans. In accordance with instructions of the president of the Commission, the necessary plant for carrying on work at the above-named points was transferred from Osage division of first reach. It was forwarded August 22 to Council Bluffs, Iowa, in tow of the United States towboat Alert, the United States steam tender Atalanta, and the chartered towboat John R. Hugo. It consisted of the Atalanta, four 64-foot barges, two 100-foot barges, two small quarter boats, one Vulcan steam hammer driver, one hydraulic pile-sinker pump boat, and one office boat; also a complement of tools and mess utensils for a small working party. The towboats reached Charleston bar September 4, where, on account of the draft of the Alert, 43 inches, being 6 inches greater than the depth of water on the cross ing, the boat was recalled. Her tow was subsequently taken as far as Plattsmouth by the other boats, near which point the Atalanta was disabled by having her boiler burned. This made it necessary for the Hugo to complete the towing of plant to Council Bluffs, which was accomplished September 20. As soon as the plant reached Council Bluffs a party was organized and sent about 10 miles up the river on the two quarter boats to procure a supply of brush and poles. The party remained in the field until November 14 and procured 2,227 cords. The brush was towed an average distance of 8 miles. Its cost per cord, including all expenses except towing, amounted to $1.77+. There were also procured, by days' labor, from near the mouth of Boyer Creek, 235 cottonwood piles, the cost of which per linear foot, including all expenses except towing, amounted to $0.117+. Other materials required for the work were purchased under ten days' advertisement, as follows: 970 cubic yards of stone, at $1.17 per yard; 65 long leaf yellow-pine piles, at 17% cents per linear foot, and 4,160 feet B. M. yellow-pine lumber, at $14 per 1,000 feet B. M., all delivered on the river bank at the boat yard. The towing of plant and construction material incidental to carrying on work was done by the steamer John R. Hugo, which was chartered with a crew, at the rate of $40 per day. The operations conducted in the vicinity of Omaha and Council Bluffs covered two periods, the fall and early winter of 1896 and the spring of 1897. During the former the training dike, its adjacent cross dikes, Nos. 2, 3, and 4, and the detached dikes, Nos. 5 and 6, were completed, and repairs made to the revetment of 1892. Incidental to carrying on improvement work during the fall, the old launching ways at the Council Bluffs boat yard were reconstructed for storing plant during the winter, a low-water survey of the reach between the mouth of Pigeon Creek and the Union Pacific Railway Bridge made, and, on the suspension of field work for the winter, the fleet of 12 boats taken out of the river and stored on the ways. Spring operations comprised the launching of the fleet, the construction of Dike No. 7, the dismantling of the boat yard, and the loading on barges of material and property for shipment down the river to other points where work was projected. DIKE CONSTRUCTION. Pile driving was begun September 24 on the training dike at the stream end of Cross Dike No. 2, with the Vulcan steam hammer. This machine was used on dike work until October 8, when the pile driving for the training dike, with the exception of about 150 feet at its lower end, was completed. On October 6 arrangements were made for hiring a pile driver with water-jet attachments, which had been used on the work in 1895. The apparatus, being dismantled, had to be assembled and installed on a barge. It was not ready for service until October 21. The machine proved to be inefficient, and as the other branches of dike work could not be proceeded with in advance of the pile driving the progress of work was delayed and its cost increased. Pile driving on the training dike was completed October 27; that for Dikes Nos. 5 and 6 was then taken up and was completed November 20. The total number of dike piles placed during the fall and early winter amounted to 382, with an average penetration of 25.82 feet. The design of the training dike included a woven mattress apron 120 feet wide in front of the stream line of piling. About 1,100 feet of the apron had been placed when work was suspended in 1895. This left still to be constructed about 1,600 feet, in two sections - one about 300 feet long opposite Dike No. 2, the other about 1,300 feet long, extending from about 250 feet above Dike No. 3 to the lower end of the training dike. The weaving of the upper section was begun September 28 and completed October 2. The weaving of the lower section was begun October 12 and completed October 28. The new sections of mattress overlap the adjacent old ones. The weaving of foot mat for Dike No. 5 was begun November 2 and completed November 9. That for Dike No. 6 was begun November 10 and completed November 22. The river being frozen at Dike No. 6 during the last few days of mat weaving, the mat was woven on top of the ice without a mattress boat. When work on the training dike was suspended in 1895, 94 of the piles were left standing unbraced. During the ensuing high water these piles were bent over by the current to a greater or less extent. As the bracing could not be properly applied to the piles without straightening them, they were drawn back to their original position as nearly as possible. This was accomplished by using the capstan of the bydraulic pile-sinker pump boat, a water jet supplied from the same boat being used simultaneously for loosening and washing away the sand from around the pile. The training dike and Dikes Nos. 5 and 6 were completed November 6, 13, and 30, respectively. It was not considered advisable to construct Dike No. 7 in the fall and early winter of 1896, as it would thereby have been exposed to the full force of moving ice the following spring, before any backing of accretions could have been formed by it. The necessary piling was procured during the winter and it was expected to con struct the dike during the low-water period, which generally follows the breaking up of the ice in the early spring. A late opening of the river and stormy weather delayed launching the plant, so that preparations for beginning work were not completed until April 6. Although the river was then at a flood stage and above the proposed grade of the dike, considerable expense having been incurred in making preparations and organizing the working crews, the work was proceeded with. On April 12, a general overflow of the river banks being imminent, work was suspended and was not resumed until April 21. The construction of the outer half of the dike was attended with unusual difficulties, on account of the prevailing flood stage and floating driftwood; also on account of being situated directly in the channel, 30 to 40 feet deep, and receiving the full impact of the current, sometimes having velocities as high as 8 to 10 feet per second. The pile structure is 150 feet long with a 60-foot "L." It consists of three lines of piling, 17 feet between centers, braced in the manner shown on Plate II. The upper line of piling is reenforced at the outer bent with two piles, forming a cluster, and at each of the next nine bents with one pile, the contiguous piles being bolted together. With the exception of ten piles near the shore end of the dike, these members are long-leaf pine. The piles are braced by the usual top system of bracing, consisting of transverse direct braces, top diagonals, and wales. They are also braced by vertical diagonal braces between the top of the front and middle, and the bottom of the middle and back rows, respectively. The lower end of each brace is hinged to its pile by a 14-inch eyebolt (fig. 2, Pl. II), the body of the bolt passing through the pile with its eye in the brace, the end of the brace being gained out to receive it. A 14-inch bolt through the brace and the eye of the eyebolt completes the hinge. The lower end of the brace is shaped so as to allow it to revolve between a vertical and its final inclined position against the top of the pile ahead, into which it is gained 3 inches, and fastened with by 10 inch spikes. A wooden angle block is gained into the pile below the heel of each brace to receive the thrust, if from any cause the brace should settle. Each brace was attached to its pile before the latter was placed in the leads, and was held erect during the driving of the pile by being fastened to it. Each pile bent is also braced by a double -inch wire cable stay extending from the front pile at the ground to the back pile at its head. The cable is made of 49 No. 15 galvanized Bessemer steel wires, in seven strands, one of which serves as a core. The attaching of the stays to the front piles was done by giving each stay a complete turn around its pile and spiking it with four by 8 inch spikes. The tightening of the stays in their final positions on the back piles was accomplished by means of a jackscrew supported by an angle block suspended from the head of the back pile (fig. 3, Pl. II), the ends of the stay being passed through an iron plate attached to the head of the jackscrew and clamped to prevent slipping. After giving the stay the necessary tension with the jack, it was stapled against each side of the pile or direct brace by two by 10 inch spikes, and the free ends turned twice around the pile and fastened with by 8 inch spikes. The dike foot mat extends 12 feet beyond the stream bent, and was successfully ballasted and sunk. An apron was subsequently woven outside the stream end of the dike and, to insure its successful sinking to the bottom, every possible precaution taken. The attempt, however, failed, the mat being rolled up and torn by the current before reaching the bottom, breaking down a cluster of three piles to which it was moored by 8-inch wire strand. After frequent interruptions from stormy weather the dike was completed May 5. In accordance with the instructions of the president of the Commission, no screen was placed on the dike. The dike piles have an average penetration of 26.44 feet; those in the "L" of 16.1 feet. The details of extent and net cost of dike work are given in Exhibit A. The positions of the dikes are indicated on the accompanying map of survey of the fall of 1896. Through the agency of the training and cross dikes, an almost unbroken batture, having about their same general elevation, has been formed between the training dike and the old river bank, thus making a new shore line on the line of the train. |