LETTER FROM HON. WILLIAM P. FRYE, UNITED STATES SENATOR, TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. SENATE CHAMBER, Washington, D. C., March 3, 1888. SIR: It is represented to the Committee on Commerce that on account of a developing business at Norwalk Harbor, in Connecticut, there is urgent need for a considerable appropriation for its immediate improvement. If practicable, the committee desires that a special examination of the harbor with reference to the necessity and cost of such improvement be made with as little delay as may be, and the result communicated to the committee, or to the Senate. Very respectfully, yours, etc., Hon. Wм. C. ENDICOTT, Secretary of War. [First indorsement.] WM. P. FRYE. Respectfully referred to Lieut. Col. D. C. Houston, Corps of Engineers, for report. To be returned. By command of Brig. Gen. Duane. JAS. C. POST, Major of Engineers. [Second indorsement.] ENGINEER OFFICE, U. S. ARMY, Respectfully returned to the Chief of Engineers. The present approved project for the improvement of Norwalk Harbor provides for dredging a channel from Long Island Sound to the wharves at Norwalk 100 feet wide, the depth to be 8 feet below South Norwalk, and 6 feet above that point. The estimate of $7,000 submitted in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1887 is for the completion of that project. It appears from personal interviews with citizens of Norwalk that no further improvement of Norwalk Harbor than this is desired at present. I am informed, however, that a petition has been sent to Congress asking for certain improvements at Wilson's Point on Long Island Sound, about 1 miles west of the entrance to Norwalk Harbor. This point is a terminus of the Housatonic Railroad, and it appears from surveys by the Coast Survey (1885 and 1886) that a depth of 7 feet can be carried up to the railroad wharves. The parties interested desire a depth of 15 feet. This can be accomplished by extending the wharves out to that depth, or by excavating a channel about one-half a mile in length to a depth of 15 feet at mean low water from the wharf to the 15-foot curve. The surveys do not show any material that can not be removed by dredging. The approximate cost of excavating such a channel to the desired width of 300 feet would be as follows: 230,000 cubic yards, at 20 cents Contingencies, 15 per cent... $46,000 6,900 The location is partially protected by the Norwalk Islands, but not sufficiently to prevent the channel from filling by the action of storms. Periodical expenditures would be required for its maintenance. There does not seem to be any objection to extending the wharves out to the 15-foot curve, as above suggested. This would obviate the necessity of other improvements. The commerce at this locality is confined to that connected with the railroad. The petition also asked for a breakwater on Green's Ledge, to protect the channels and wharves at Wilson's Point and afford incidental protection to passing vessels, but it seems that this idea has been abandoned for the present. The cost of such a work would be about $260,000, but there does not appear to be a necessity for it. D. C. HOUSTON, Lieut. Col. of Engineers. D 12. IMPROVEMENT OF FIVE MILE RIVER HARBOR, CONNECTICUT. This harbor is an inlet on the north shore of Long Island Sound, about 2 miles west of the mouth of Norwalk Harbor, Connecticut. It is about one mile long and from three hundred to eight hundred feet wide; about three quarters of a mile above its mouth it runs bare at low tide, at the mouth the depth is about 3 feet, increasing to 9 feet at a point about 750 feet out into the Sound. The mean rise of tide is about 7 feet. Since 1848 Five Mile River has been largely engaged in oyster grow. ing, and in this business now employs about one hundred and twenty vessels. These vessels can only enter or leave the harbor at high tide; consequently during their busy seasons they are obliged to lay up for the night at other and less convenient harbors. PROJECT FOR IMPROVEMENT. By act of Congress approved August 5, 1886, a survey or examination of this harbor was ordered, which was made in the following fall and reported on under date of December 7, 1886, and printed in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1886, Part I, page 639. In this report a project for improvement was proposed, which consisted in dredging a channel 8 feet deep at mean low water and 100 feet wide, to extend up the harbor and to be about 6,000 feet long; the esti mated cost was $25,000. This project was adopted in 1888, when work under it was ordered by the appropriation of $5,000 made by act of Congress of August 11, 1888. OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1889. Under the appropriation mentioned above proposals for dredging by the cubic yard were duly advertised for, and at the time of opening, December 13, 1888, but one proposal had been received. The price of fered was considered altogether too large and the proposal was rejected. Advertisement was made for hire of dredging plant by the hour, and proposals were opened March 13, 1889. A contract for this work was entered into under date of April 9, 1889, with Richard Parrolt, of Newburgh, N. Y., at the rate of $8.50 per hour, with a guaranty of at least 50 cubic yards per hour in ordinary depth and material. Work was begun May 22, and up to the close of the fiscal year the dredge had worked 207 hours, removing 10,976 cubic yards and making an 8-foot channel 40 feet wide and 750 feet long. The contract is still in progress. PRESENT CONDITION OF IMPROVEMENT. The work now under way is the first that has been done in this harbor, and its condition is as stated above. PROPOSED OPERATIONS. Under the present contract the channel will be extended as far up the harbor as practicable. With future appropriations it is proposed to complete the channel as projected, and for this work $10,000 could be profitably expended during the ensuing fiscal year. The only appropriation made for this harbor is the one of $5,000 by act of Congress of August 11, 1888, which is now being expended. Five Mile River is in the Fairfield collection district, and is about 13 miles west of Bridgeport, the port of entry. The nearest light-house is on Sheffield's Island, nearly 2 miles from the mouth of the harbor. The nearest work of defense is Fort Schuyler, at the head of Long Island Sound, 27 miles southwest. Money statement. Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1888... July 1, 1889, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888. July 1, 1889, outstanding liabilities. July 1, 1889, amount covered by existing contracts.. $5,000.00 $283.53 1,859.50 2,756.97 5,000.00 20,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project... Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1891 10,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. Abstract of proposals for dredging in Five Mile River Harbor, Connecticut, opened December 13, 1888, by Col. D. C. Houston Corps of Engineers. Abstract of proposals for hire of dredging plant for improving Five Mile River Harbor, Connecticut, opened March 13, 1889, by Col. D. C. Houston, Corps of Engineers. This is a small harbor on the north shore of Long Island Sound, about 6 miles east of the New York State line. The harbor consists of a bay about a mile long and a mile broad and of the mouth of Mill River, a small stream, which is dammed at Oliver Street Bridge at the head of the harbor. The original low-water depth for a mile below the bridge was from 1 to 3 feet in a crooked channel, and the 6-foot curve in the bay was about 6,600 feet below the bridge; the wharves are all in the upper half of this distance. The mean rise of tides is 7.9 feet. PROJECTS FOR IMPROVEMENT. By act of March 2, 1829, Congress appropriated $100 for "making a survey of the harbor of Stamford, Conn., with a view to its improvement." The survey was made by Capt. Hartman Bache, U. S. Engineers, in 1829; in his report on the same, dated May 10, 1830, Captain Bache recommends excavating the channel (proposing to build a steam dredge for the purpose), to cost: For a channel 12 feet deep at ordinary high water (about 4 feet at mean low water).. For a channel 10 feet deep at ordinary high water. $13, 250.00 11,035.20 No money was appropriated for carrying out this plan. The river and harbor bill of 1882 authorized a survey of this harbor, which was made in the following year. In his report on this survey dated December 12, 1883, printed in Senate Ex. Doc. No. 50, Fortyeighth Congress, first session; also in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1884, Part I, page 672, Colonel McFarland, U. S. Engi neers, submitted a project for dredging a channel 80 feet wide and 5 feet deep at mean low water from deep water in the bay up to Oliver Street Bridge, estimated to cost as follows: Dredging 80,000 cubic yards of mud, at 20 cents.... Total........ $16,000 4,000 20,000 It was not intended to include the removal of the ledge under and just below the bridge. The beginning of work under this project was approved by the Secretary of War August 30, 1886, after the first appropriation for improving the harbor had been made. Up to July 1, 1888, the channel had been dredged 5 feet deep at mean low water, with width of 75 feet for the lower half of its projected length and 50 feet wide above. OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1889. An appropriation of $5,600 was made by act of Congress of August 11, 1888, for continuing this improvement, and under date of February 4, 1889, a contract was entered into with the Hartford Dredging Company, of Hartford, Conn., for dredging, to widen the channel, at the rate of 18 cents per cubic yard. Work under this contract was begun March 8, and completed April 15, 1889, 22,504 cubic yards of mud, sand, and gravel being removed. The channel was widened to the full width required for a distance of 4,700 feet, about three-quarters its projected length, width 25 to 50 feet; greater width at the sharpest bends. PRESENT CONDITION OF IMPROVEMENT. From the bend below Flint Rock up to within 1,200 feet of Oliver Street Bridge, the 5-foot channel is from 80 to 100 feet wide; above that point it is 50 feet wide; the width at the bends is somewhat greater. For about 500 feet below Flint Rock, at the entrance of the dredged channel, the natural depth is from 1 to 5 inches short of 5 feet, and the bottom very soft. Here the channel has not been dredged yet. PROPOSED OPERATIONS. Future appropriations will be applied to completing the project; $5,000, the remainder of the original estimate, could be profitably ex pended for this purpose during the next fiscal year. Appropriations for improving Stamford Harbor have been made as follows, viz: Stamford Harbor is in the Fairfield collection district of which Bridgeport is the port of entry. There is a light-house on the Middle Ground at the harbor entrance. The nearest work of defense is Fort Schuyler, Throg's Neck, N. Y., 20 miles to the southwest. |