Three tracings accompany this report, showing the general course of the river to New Berne, the blockades, and the lower river. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Brig. Gen. A. A. HUMPHREYS,

Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.

S. T. ABERT,

United States Civil Engineer.

G 16.

EXAMINATION OF CATAWBA RIVER, FROM SOUTH CAROLINA LINE TO OLD FORT, NORTH CAROLINA.

UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, Washington, D. C., December 23, 1875. GENERAL: In the act of appropriation approved March 3, 1875, provision is made for an examination or survey of Catawba River, from South Carolina line to Old Fort, N. C. This duty was assigned to me by your letter of March 22, 1875, and I have now the honor to report the result of a personal examination made in September, 1875.

Proceeding by way of Lynchburg and Danville to Salisbury, N. C., I took the Western North Carolina Railroad, which follows the valley of the Catawba to Old Fort, its present terminus. This road has been graded beyond that point and along the valley of the French Broad, as far as the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad; the viaducts and tunnels were nearly completed when the work was suspended for want of funds. This portion of the road (west of Old Fort) passes through a region which is regarded as the most salubrious and picturesque in the States east of the Mississippi. When the graded portion of the road is completed, New Orleans will be connected by rail with Beaufort, N. C., and several important through lines.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION.

The sources of the Catawba River are to be found along the foot of the Blue Ridge, in McDowell County, North Carolina. One of its little tributaries rises at the base of Mount Mitchell, which dominates the subjacent valley from an altitude of 6,582 feet. The river descends to the level of 1,300 feet above tide by a series of beautiful cascades, and flows

thence through the counties of McDowell and Burke, and forms t boundary-line of seven others, viz, Caldwell, Alexander, Iredell, a Mecklenburgh, lying north or east of it, and Catawba, Lincoln, a Gaston, to the south or west. After passing the State line the Cataw becomes the Wateree, then the Santee, and terminates its tortu course in the Atlantic between Georgetown and Charleston, S. C. The present report is limited by the act of appropriation to the p of the river lying between Old Fort and the South Carolina line.

At Old Fort the river has reached the base of the so-called Piedm region, at an altitude of 1,274 feet above mean tide. From thence course is north of west to the great bend between Morganton and Sta ville, where, 75 miles east of Old Fort, it turns south ward, and contin its course to the State line, a distance of 75 miles farther, or 145 m in all.

From Old Fort to the great bend the fall, according to Profes Kerr, is a little over 500 feet, and from there to the State line 300 f or a total of 800 feet. According to the levels of Hamilton Fulton, difference of elevation between Old Fort and the State line is 789 f Besides the great bend already mentioned, another and smaller b occurs between Rozzel's Ferry and Abernethy's Island. This bend the shape of the letter A, and is 71⁄2 miles around and 1 acr Throughout the bend the river is characterized by deep natural p or reaches, extending along the convex sides of the bends. The grea low-water depth occurs at these places, and is 18 feet at Tuckase Shoals. Fulton's profile represents the depth of water on the sh and bar as greater than might be expected, on account of the la average fall per mile. Four of these shoals have but 6 inches of de at low-water, several not more than 3. The greatest descent is at L out Shoal, where the fall is 3.51 feet in 111 feet, or at the rate of feet per mile. At other points the rate per mile is 82 feet, 78 feet feet; two rapids have 40 feet each, others have 34 feet, 33 feet, and have 30 feet; the rest vary from 6 to 26 feet per mile.

Hamilton Fulton, an intelligent engineer, made, in 1824, under authority of the State of North Carolina, a survey from Moore's Sho 10 miles below Morgantown, to the State line. Unfortunately Mr. ton's report is not to be found in the archives of the capitol at Rale A portion of his map and profile are, however, extant, and to t data I am indebted for the material which has been condensed in following tabular statement. Mr. Fulton's map-so much of it as now be found-extends from Sherrill's Ford to the State line, a dista of 483 miles; the profile extends from Moore's Shoal to the State a distance of 92 miles. Following the order of the columns, the in mation is condensed under the heads of "Names of localities at tin survey;" "Distance from Moore's Shoals;"" Length of each shoa reach;""Difference of level referred to Moore's Shoals;" under head of "Descent of the river" are given the total fall and average per mile of each pool and shoal, and the maximum fall in the shor distance observed, and the corresponding rate per mile; the next umn gives the ranges of low-water depths between named points; tenth column gives the height above mean tide, computed from rail surveys; and under the column of "Remarks" are stated the din sions of the mill-wheels existing at time of the survey. The na belong to the period of survey, (about 1824.)