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Oswego monthly means below plane of reference for Lake Ontario water levels.

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The gauge at Charlotte Harbor was established by the Lake Survey, and is described in the Report of 1876 and in Professional Papers No. 24. The zero was lowered 4.5 feet in 1883 to coincide with the zero of the Oswego gauge, at plane of extreme low water, and since that date all readings have given heights above extreme low-water level.

The zero is referred to a bench mark on the upper side of the water table of the old (now disused) light-house at Charlotte at the southsoutheast angle east of the south window, which bench mark is at 283.23 feet above mean tide at New York, and 39.02 feet above the zero of the gauge, which zero is 244.21 feet above mean tide at New York. The gauge is cut in feet and tenths in a wrought-iron plate, and is bolted to an oak pile at the northeast angle of the west abutments of the R., W. and O. R. R. drawbridge at Charlotte.

Readings are taken daily at 7 a. m., 1 p. m., and 7 p. m., with observation of direction and force of wind.

The daily means were taken and a mean of these as the monthly mean.

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Charlotte monthly means below plane of reference for Lake Ontario water levels.

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Feet.

1.29

1.51

1.88

1.95

2.12

2.59

Feet.

3.69

3.47

3. 10

3.03

2.87

2.39

APPENDIX E E E.

CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS AND BRIDGES IN THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK.

REPORT OF MAJ. WILLIAM A. JONES, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1894.

UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE,

St. Paul, Minn., July 10, 1894.

GENERAL: I have the honor to submit herewith my report, in duplicate, of operations for the improvement of Yellowstone National Park during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Brig. Gen. THOMAS L. CASEY,

Chief of Engineers, U. S. A.

W. A. JONES,

Major, Corps of Engineers.

The project for this work was adopted in 1883, when the control was placed in the hands of officers of the Corps of Engineers, and consists in the construction and maintenance of about 225 miles of road, with the necessary bridges, culverts, etc. The roads embraced in the project commence at Gardiner, at the north boundary line of the Park, thence to Mammoth Hot Springs; thence to upper Geyser Basin, passing through Norris Geyser and Lower Geyser Basins; thence to the outlet of Yellowstone Lake via Shoshone Lake and the west arm of Yellowstone Lake, crossing the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains twice; thence to Yanceys via the Falls and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River; thence to Mammoth Hot Springs, completing the so-called belt road, with a circuit of about 145 miles. In addition, there are projected a road from the west boundary line of the Park, passing through Lower Geyser Basin and continued easterly to intersect the road along the Yellowstone River to the Falls; a road from Norris Geyser Basin to the Falls of the Yellowstone; a road from Yanceys to the east boundary line of the Park, and a number of short branch roads and trails from the above-named roads to objects of interest off the main line of travel; in all, 225 miles of new road, about 20 large and 50 small bridges, with many culverts, etc. Estimated cost, as revised in 1889 by my predecessor, $444,779.42.

The act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, changed the project of the part of the belt line between Lower Geyser Basin and Yellowstone

Lake by requiring the road to be built "by the shortest practicable route" from Fountain Geyser to the Thumb of the Yellowstone Lake. This change did not materially affect the cost.

The act of Congress approved August 5, 1892, appropriated $45,000, and provided "that $15,000 of this amount, or so much thereof as may be necessary, may be expended, in the discretion of the Secretary of War, for the construction of a road from the Upper Geyser Basin to a point on Snake River where it crosses the southern boundary of the Park."

Construing this act as the wish of Congress to modify the project by adding thereto some 331⁄2 miles of projected road, the estimated cost of my predecessor will be considerably increased.

A new estimate of the cost of completing the project was submitted January 25, 1894.

Total amount expended to June 30, 1893, including outstanding liabilities, $379,779.42.

PROGRESS OF THE WORK.

At the commencement of work upon the project about 160 miles of wagon track had been cleared, over which vehicles could, with difficulty, reach the principal objects of interest in the Park.

This project has now been carried forward to the point that good, graded and well-drained, roads have been substantially completed over the following lines:

(1) From the north entrance at Gardiner via Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Basin to Upper and Lower Geyser basins.

(2) From Norris Basin via the Grand Canyon to Yellowstone Lake outlet.

(3) From Upper Geyser Basin via the Thumb to Yellowstone Lake outlet. Total, 127.5 miles.

Besides this there have been abandoned the following short stretches for better locations:

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In addition to the above-mentioned completed mileage, the following mileage of wagon trail (line opened to admit the passage of vehicles, but not graded and but slightly drained) has been in use and kept in tolerable repair:

Mammoth Hot Springs to east boundary.
Lower Firehole to west boundary

Total mileage operated....

Miles.

52

33

212.5

In order that the whole situation may be presented in compact shape I will prelude a recital of the operations for the season of 1893 with a general statement of conditions and project, taken from my report of operations for the month of November, 1892.

A map is submitted herewith showing:

(1) The location of the various points of interest in the Park which are to be reached by roads under the approved project.

(2) The various stages of completion of these roads.

(3) The work done during the present season.

(4) The work under the project which remains to be done.

[For the part of this report here omitted, see report of the Chief of Engineers for the year 1893, pp. 4393–9543.]

SEASON OF 1893.

The following is a résumé, showing the operations for the season of 1893:

In the month of April, having sufficient funds in hand for placing the roads in readiness for the traffic which commences in June, I placed a small party at work upon repair in Gardiner Canyon. At this point heavy slides from the mountain wall of the canyon come upon the road in the spring, making the cost of maintenance excessive. At this time the only portion of the system sufficiently free from snow to permit operations was at this point.

Beyond Golden Gate there was generally a depth of at least 5 feet of

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About the middle of May I sent out Mr. Charles A. Hunt, United States overseer, to take local charge of the work during the season, with instructions to place repair parties upon the roads as rapidly as the disappearing snows would permit.

In the meantime Mr. A. E. Burns, one of the watchmen, had been dispatched upon a snowshoe expedition to cover the whole system of ads, and report upon the conditions then existing. His report is as ollows:

With the exception of a few drifts there is but very little snow between here and Golden Gate. The grade around the hill approaching the trestle there is covered with slide rock, but no snow, as the wind sweeps it bare. At the upper end of the restle is a large drift, another much larger at the Falls; the latter extends from the ammit of the cliff on the west clear over the road, and falls for a distance of 50 eet. The first bridge on the flat is entirely buried, with the snow lying level away p above the rails. Across the flat the snow is from 2 to 4 feet; on Indian Creek ridge it is just 4 feet 6 inches, but has blown off considerably on Willow Creek ridge. All across the Willow Park the road lies under 4 to 5 feet of snow. From there on to Norris the snow is not deeper than usual at this season, 4 feet. Much of the new road around Norris Hill is covered with drifts which will probably ave the road bed very soft; but about one-third of it is entirely bare, owing to the arm ground. It appeared to me that the approaches to the new bridge at Norris had settled to a considerable extent; if as much as I think, I'm afraid they will wash ut at high water; but in this I may be mistaken, as it is hard to tell under so much now. From Norris to the Virginia Cascade the snow's depth will average about 4 feet; from there to the canyon, about 5 feet. The Gibbon River is all open, so that I do hot apprehend any danger to the road below the Upper Falls from the ice damming ip as last spring. I arranged with the care-taker at the Canyon Hotel to watch the mow on the retaining wall round the road above the canyon, and to cut it off if it threatens the road at all. There is no ice at all in the rapids above the Upper Yellowstone Falls; large snow banks are along the shores and on the larger rocks, but the water, which is rising rapidly, is fast cutting it away. The bridge over the dry draw at the foot of the Canyon Hill is supporting snow 2 feet above the top of the side tails. On the new road across Hayden Valley the snow is of course very deep, the bridges over Alum and Trout creeks are covered level with the rails, and the grade hp from Trout Creek is one huge drift. On the Continental Divide the snow is so deep that it is impossible for me to form any idea of the roads there. Most of the signboards we put up from Old Faithful to the West Thumb are under the snow, at least I could only find two, and they were but a few inches above the snow. Spring Creek is open most of its length, snow fell there heavily last fall, before there was much frost, thus preventing the creek freezing, and with the little warm weather we have had, the snow over the creek has melted, leaving an open channel. This is very fortunate, as I believe the washouts there last spring were mostly caused by ice dams, which are not likely to occur this time. Between the first bridge on the Firehole River (from Spring Creek) and the second the snow is from 20 to 30 feet deep, making the river, which is open, look as though it is flowing through a canyon. I don't think it will be possible to get a team through there before July, unless it is shoveled, or an exceptional period of warm weather arrives.

ENG 94216

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