6. Removing obstructions in East River and Hell Gate, New York.Hell Gate is the worst obstruction in the narrow strait connecting Long Island Sound with New York Harbor, known as the East River. At this point the channel turns at right angles around Halletts Point, opposite the mouth of the Harlem River, and the current runs with a velocity varying at different stages of the tide from 3 to 10 miles an hour over or around Way Reef, Pot Rock, Shell Drake, Frying Pan, Halletts Point, Negro Point, Holmes Rock, Hogs Back, Heel Tap, Flood Rock, Hen and Chickens, Gridiron, Mill Rocks, the Negro Heads, Rhinelander Reef, and Bread and Cheese. Besides these most serious obstructions there are many other rocks and reefs in the East River, especially those off the Battery, off Thirtythird Street, Charlotte Rock, Shell Reef, off Tenth Street, and Middle Ground, off Sunken Meadows, which are dangerous to its crowded navigation, and which ought to be removed. Originally the channel of East River and Hell Gate contained many large and dangerous rocky obstructions to navigation. The depth over Diamond Reef at mean low water was 173 feet; over Coenties Reef, 14.3 feet; over Frying Pan, 11 feet; over Pot Rock, 20 feet; over Heel Tap, 12.1 feet, and over reef at North Brothers Island, 16 feet. Halletts Point projected from the shore at Astoria under water 325 feet to the contour of 26 feet at mean low water and embraced an area of about 3 acres. The Middle Reef, with an area of about 9 acres, lay in the middle of the channels at Hell Gate. It had a small backbone projecting above high water, called Flood Rock, upon which vessels were stranded when driven there by the ebb currents which swept directly over the rock. The project originally adopted in 1867 provided for the removal of the rocks and reefs that lay directly in the channel at Hell Gate to a depth of 26 feet at mean low water, and for the building of sea walls and dikes upon others that lay near the edge of the channel. The cost of the project was estimated at $8,692,645.15 (Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1868, page 741); this estimate was revised in 1870 and the cost placed at $4,689,820. The estimate was again revised in 1874 to include the removal of Diamond and Coenties reefs, and the total cost fixed at $5,139,120 (Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1874, Part II, page 164). It provided for the removal at Hell Gate to a depth of 26 feet mean low water, of the reef at Halletts Point, Way Reef, Shell Drake, Pot Rock, Frying Pan, Heel Tap, Negro Point, and Flood Rock, including the Gridiron, Hen and Chickens, and Negro Heads, and for the construction of a dike to connect the Mill Rocks, and sea walls upon Hogs Back and Holmes Rock; and in other parts of the East River for the removal of Diamond and North Brothers Island reefs to a depth of 26 feet; Coenties Reef to a depth of 25 feet; and the small rocks known as Scaly Rock, Blackwell Rock, and rock off Woolsey's bath house. The project was enlarged in 1884 to include the removal of Pilgrim Rock, off Nineteenth street, and again in 1889 to include the removal of the reef off Diamond Reef, reef off Thirty-third street, and Charlotte Rock, northwest of entrance to Newtown Creek, and in 1890, to include the removal of Shell Reef off Ninth street, and Middle Ground opposite Sunken Meadows. The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $3,814,644.84. At that date Halletts Point, covering 3 acres, Way Reef, Shell Drake, Diamond Reef, North Brother's Island Reef, Coenties Reef, and Scaly Rock had been removed to the depth contemplated in the project. Pilgrim Rock had been reduced to a least depth of 24 feet; Heel Tap had been broken to 26 feet and dredged to 20.5 feet, and the least depths on Frying Pan and Pot Rock were 18 feet and 22.8 feet at mean low water, respectively; the reef off Thirty-third street had been lowered. from a least depth of 7.1 feet to a least depth of 19 feet, and 1,744 tons of rock had been removed from reef off Diamond Reef. Flood Rock and connecting reefs, covering 9 acres, had been broken to 30 feet, and 132,464 tons of the débris had been removed; the Negro Heads and Hen and Chickens had been reduced to 18 feet, mean low water, and a new 18 foot channel, 500 feet wide, had been opened across the reef Sea walls had been built by the Government to connect Great and Little Mill Rocks, and by the city authorities on Bread and Cheese. These results have been of the greatest value to navigation. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $100,064.30, and was applied in removing, by hired labor, 24,040 tons of broken stone from Flood Rock, by the use of the two United States engineer dredges, in removing 2,737 tons of rock by use of the United States steam drill scow from reef off Diamond Reef, and in removing under contract 3,435 cubic yards of material and 960 tons of bowlders from Shell Reef off Ninth street. July 1, 1890, balance unexpended Amount appropriated by act approved September 19, 1890 $95, 286. 28 200,000.00 295, 286. 28 91,708. 39 203,577.89 June 30, 1891, amount expended during fiscal year.... July 1, 1891, balance unexpended July 1, 1891, outstanding liabilities $8,355.91 July 1, 1891, amount covered by uncompleted contracts..... 55, 528.57 63, 884.48 139, 693. 41 July 1, 1891, balance available..... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... 1,038.840.67 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1893... 200,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix E 6.) 7. Newtown Creek, New York.-This is a tidal stream about 4 miles long, running through the eastern part of Brooklyn, and emptying into the East River opposite Thirty-fourth street, New York City. It had formerly a depth of 12 feet, mean low water, at the mouth, gradually decreasing to 4 feet at the head. The original project for its improvement, adopted in 1880, but modified in 1883, provided for a channel 200 feet wide and 21 to 22 feet deep, mean low water, extending from the mouth up to Vernon Avenue Bridge, and from that point up to the head of navigation on both branches, a channel decreasing from 175 feet to 100 feet in width, and from 18 feet to 10 feet in depth, at an estimated cost of $255,569. The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $101,965.52. At that date the channel below Vernon Avenue Bridge was 60 feet wide and 21 feet deep, mean low water; from Vernon Avenue Bridge to Central Oil Works the channel was 80 feet wide and 18 feet deep, mean low water, and the shoal opposite Queens County Oil Works had been removed to a depth of 10 feet, mean low water. At the head of navigation both branches had shoaled 34 feet, approximately, reducing the depth in the channels there to 6 feet, mean low water. The intermediate section had slightly deepened, though no work had ever been done there. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, was $35,799.05, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, and was applied in dredging 121,908 cubic yards of material from various reaches of the creek. At the close of the year the channel from the entrance to Vernon Avenue Bridge is 175 feet wide at the entrance and 150 feet wide near the bridge, and is 21 feet deep. The channel from Vernon Avenue Bridge to Central Oil Works is 80 feet wide and 18 feet deep; from Central Oil Works to Queens County Oil Works, 50 feet wide and 15 feet deep; from Queens County Oil Works to Penny Bridge, 50 feet wide and 12 feet deep. The channel from Maspeth avenue to Metropolitan avenue is 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep, mean low water. In the English Kills branch the channel is 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep from Nichols' Chemical Works to a point 700 feet to the eastward. The existing channel is not adequate in width or depth to the demands of commerce, and the adopted project for improvement should be completed as early as practicable by methods which will carry the improvement progressively from the mouth to the head of navigation. From information gained in regard to the necessities of this stream, it is believed that the depth from the entrance to Vernon Avenue Bridge may be properly increased to 23 feet, mean low water; thence to Penny Bridge to 20 feet, and thence to Metropolitan avenue, 12 feet. July 1, 1890, balance unexpended... Amount appropriated by act approved September 19, 1890.. $7,272.98 35,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... (See Appendix E 7.) 113,000.00 75,000.00 8. Buttermilk Channel, New York Harbor.-Buttermilk Channel lies between the city of Brooklyn, N. Y., and Governor Island, New York Harbor, and is obstructed at its upper end, where it joins the East River, by a shoal, over which there was formerly a least depth of 91 feet at mean low water. The crest of this shoal lay about 800 feet distant from the line of the Brooklyn wharves. The original project of improvement adopted in 1881 provided for the removal to a depth of 26 feet, mean low water, of such parts of the shoal as came within 850 feet of the Brooklyn wharves, which would take off the crest of the shoal and give elsewhere a depth of not less than 15 feet, mean low water. The estimated cost of the improvement was $210,000. In view of the increasing importance of the wharves on the Brooklyn shores and the difficulty experienced by deep-draft vessels in getting up to them by reason of this shoal, the project of improvement was modified in 1885 so as to provide for the removal of the entire shoal to a depth of 26 feet, mean low water, at an estimated additional cost of $150,000, making the total estimated cost of the project $360,000. The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $281,612.15. At that time the southern end of the shoal had been lowered to 26 feet, mean low water, and a north and south cut 450 feet wide had been excavated along the whole of the shoal. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $48,946.30, and was applied in dredging 189,540 cubic yards of material from the shoal. The shoal has been, it is believed, entirely removed to a depth of 26 feet, mean low water. There is a balance under the contract of $5,000 available for application towards the further improvement of Buttermilk Channel by excavation from the shoal opposite Red Hook Point. This latter shoal containing, it is estimated, 1,681,439 cubic yards, approximately, obstructs the southern entrance to the channel, but its removal was not included in the project for the removal of Buttermilk Shoal now completed. It is important that the Red Hook Shoal should be removed so as to give along the Atlantic Basin the full depth of 26 feet, mean low water, which is projected for other points in the harbor, and to facilitate communication with the East River through the improved Buttermilk Channel. July 1, 1891, amount covered by uncompleted contracts.. 19, 288.24 31,760.03 July 1, 1891, balance available 5, 135. 20 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1893 200,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix E 8.) 9. Gowanus Bay, New York.-Gowanus Bay is a part of New York Harbor, lying at the mouth of Gowanus Creek, in the southwestern part of the city of Brooklyn. The depth of water in the channel of Gowanus Creek and Bay was originally only from 7 to 12 feet at mean low water, which was wholly insufficient for the passage of vessels employed in the commerce of the district. The plan of improvement adopted in 1881 provided for a depth of 18 feet to the channels in the bay leading up to the mouth of the creek on both the north and south sides, and for carrying the improvement with. the same depth up the creek to Hamilton Avenue Bridge, a distance of 1 mile. The channel widths were to be 200 feet, except for the last few hundred feet up to the bridge, in which distance the width would gradually decrease. The estimated cost of this improvement was $192,564.90. The project of 1881 was modified in 1888 by increasing the depth to 21 feet, and the width to 400 feet, while to facilitate the handling of vessels in the contracted space near the mouth of Gowanus Creek more room was provided for by cutting away the angle on the south side at an estimated total cost of $600,000. The amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1890, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $107,430.42. At that date the Red Hook and Gowanus Creek Channels, under the modified project of 1888, had been carried 75 feet wide and from 19 to 21 feet deep, mean low water, from the entrance to Erie Basin to the foot of Percival street, Brooklyn, and the triangular slip at the foot of Bryant street had been dredged to 21 feet, mean low water. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $52,216.37, and was applied in removing 267,544 cubic yards of material from the Red Hook and Gowanus Creek Channel. At that date this channel, from the entrance to Erie Basin to Twenty-eighth street, was 150 feet wide and 21 feet deep, mean low water, thence to the foot of Percival street, 100 feet wide and 21 feet deep, and the triangular slips at the foot of Court, Bryant, and Smith streets had been dredged to 21 feet. The improvement of Bay Ridge Channel extending from Twentyeighth street south and west to Sixtieth street, south shore, which, under the project of 1881 was suspended in 1884, was resumed in May, 1891, under a specific appropriation of $100,000 contained in the river and harbor act of September 19, 1890, which provided for a channel 400 feet wide and 21 feet deep. At the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1891, the sum of $18,450.15, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, had been expended under contract. At that date 84,815 cubic yards had been removed, and the improved channel, beginning at Forty-second street, had been carried north a distance of 1,800 feet, 30 feet wide and 21 feet deep, and south a distance of 650 feet, 35 feet wide and 21 feet deep. July 1, 1890, balance unexpended. Amount appropriated by act approved September 19, 1890.. June 30, 1891, amount expended during fiscal year July 1, 1891, balance unexpended. 136, 058. 10 July 1, 1891, outstanding liabilities $17,013. 21 July 1, 1891, amount covered by uncompleted contracts... July 1, 1891, balance available.............. 9,515.70 SA 480,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... (See Appendix E 9.) 10. New York Harbor, New York.- Before the improvement of the main entrance into New York Harbor was undertaken by the United States, the least depth in mid-channel on the bar was 23.7 feet at mean low water, and the same depth could be carried across three other shoals between the bar and deep water in the harbor. A large proportion of the vast commerce of the port which is carried on in vessels of great draft could only cross these shoals at or near high water. The project for the improvement of Gedney Channel was approved by the Secretary of War in December, 1884, and its extension to cover the whole of the main entrance to the harbor received his approval De |