A. Statement of merchandise received at the port of Bridgeport during nine months ending Febraary 12, 1870, in sail-vessels, barges, and canal-boats. Also, not included in the above: 221 cargoes assorted merchandise per sailing-vessels; 397 cargoes assorted merchandise per steam-vessels. B. Statement of the number of arrivals and departures (steam and sail) at port of Bridgeport, for the nine months ending February 12, 1870. C. Statement of the number of arrivals from foreign countries, and the amount of duties collected from all sources at port of Bridgeport, for the ten fiscal years from July 1, 1859, to June 30, 1869. Years. July 1, 1859, to June 30, 1860 EVIDENCE BEFORE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE. John Brooks.-Had been acquainted with harbor sixty years. Business had increased rapidly the last ten years; 13 feet is the greatest depth of high water; 6 to 7 feet, average depth at low water on the bar, and it runs shoal all the way up to the docks. There is an outer and inner bar. Thinks it necessary to dredge from the outer to the inner bar. It is soft mud. Harbor is as good as it was in 1837, but we want it better, so that a larger class of vessels can come into the harbor. Captain John McNeal, of steamboat line.—Has been acquainted with the harbor for many years; running vessels since he was a young man. At lowest tides there is not over 54 to 6 feet on the bar. There are deeper places in the bed of the river. Steamboats drawing 6 feet drag on the bar at low water. The water is too shoal to accommodate as large a class of steamboats as the business of the place requires. Plaster and foreign coal vessels cannot get into the harbor without lightering. Ex-Mayor Hawley.-Was formerly engaged in importing sugar and molasses, but owing to the light draught of water was obliged to give the business up. It was in contemplation to build a large steam sugar-refinery if any improvement can be made in the harbor. The commerce of the city would be very much improved if the harbor were deepened as contemplated. E. F. Bishop, President of Steamboat Company and Naugatuck Railroad.—In 1860 we had about 12,500 inhabitants; we have now, (March, 1870,) about 22,000. BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT, January 5, 1871. DEAR SIR: Since writing you yesterday, I have received a report, of which inclosed is a copy, of the number of vessels arriving and departing from this port for the year 1870. I forward it as an item showing the importance of the port, which may have bearing favorable to our application, &c. Respectfully, yours, some General WARREN. F. HURD, Secretary of Committee. Report of J. G. Hanover, (collector Bridgeport district,) for year 1870. The number of vessels which have arrived at the port of Bridgeport from January 1 to December 31, 1870— CUSTOM-HOUSE, BRIDGEPORT, September 24, 1870. SIR: Your favor of the 23d instant is received, and contents noted. The receipts at this port for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1870, were as follows: I may here add that the coastwise trade of this port is constantly on the increase, as you will observe by the following account of arrivals for the first year for which I had the honor to be collector, commencing May 13, 1869, and ending May 13, 1870. The whole number of arrivals for this period was as follows: It will be noticed, therefore, that the arrivals and departures from this port number 5,018. The number of foreign arrivals for the year was about 60, which, deducted from the above, will leave the coastwise arrivals and departures 4,898. If there is any other information which you may need in regard to this port, it will afford me pleasure to comply with any request you may make, so far as it is in my power to do so. Very respectfully, yours, &c., Major General G. K. WARREN, Newport, Rhode Island. J. G. HANOVER, Collector. T 17. IMPROVEMENT OF WESTPORT HARBOR, CONNECTICUT. The condition of this work on the 30th of September, 1870, is given in my last annual report, published with the report of the Chief of Engineers. There was then available an appropriation of $2,500, made in the act approved July 11, 1870, but the last Congress made no additional appropriation. During last autumn repairs were made to the sea-wall on Cedar Point, to protect the entrance to the Sangatuck River, on which Westport is situated, and about $1,913 was thus exhausted, leaving a balance now on hand of $587. It has so far seemed improbable that anything could be done with this small remainder, other than to make additional surveys. These seem especially desirable, not merely on account of the use they may be in continuing further improvements, but to enable us to see the effect of former works, built at this place by the United States many years ago, and which may afford valuable experience. It is my design to give the place a more careful personal examination than I have yet been able to make, and I will then submit a project of what I deem the most profitable way to employ the $587 now available. I append to this report a report made to me by my assistant, Mr. H. N. Babcock, who superintended the work last year. In 1827 a survey of the mouth of the Saugatuck River was made by Lieutenant Colonel John Anderson, of the Topographical Engineers. He recommended the straightening and deepening of the channel inside the bar, and the construction of a canal across the Great Marsh, on the west side of the river, so as to give an outlet to the Sound more direct than the natural channel. For doing all the work he recommended, he made an estimate of $6,128 65. In H. Ex. Doc. No. 18, second session Thirty-ninth Congress, a statement is made of the following appropriations for this locality: In 1827, removing obstructions at Saugatuck Harbor $1,500 00 3,000 00 3,734 00 4, 782 00 13, 016 00 Captain W. H. Swift, Topographical Engineers, on September 26, 1838, states that the sea-wall on Cedar Point was completed in 1837, at a cost of $1,000. Captain Swift, in this report, states that the canal had nearly been excavated down to a depth of 2 feet at mean low water, and that a contract was about to be made to carry the excavation down to 4 feet below mean low. It had been found necessary to build a sea-wall on the east side of the Sound entrance to the canal, about 300 feet long, to prevent the sand from the beach closing the entrance up, and this, at that time, was nearly complete. He says the unexpended balance on the 1st of September, 1838, was $6,234, and that the United States agents then thought that this would be sufficient "to complete the works, including the removal of the two rocks." The foregoing is all the information in my possession in regard to the progress of the work. The present condition of the canal is given in detail in Mr. Babcock's report, hereto annexed. The canal is in a very bad condition, and is practically dry at low water. Mr. Babcock's estimate for putting everything in order is about $30,000. This place is in the Fairfield collection district. Nearest port of entry is Bridgeport. Revenue collected there in fiscal year ending June 30, 1871, was $7,193 96. 51 E ENGINEER OFFICE UNITED STATES ARMY, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on the construction of a breakwater on Cedar Point, included in the plan for the improvement of the navigation of Westport Harbor, Connecticut. This duty was intrusted to me by instructions dated October 28, 1870, and the work carried on in accordance with the following plan. Arriving on the ground, I found at the end of Cedar Point the old breakwater in a tolerable state of repair, while at the north or shore side of the point the wall was washed down to a level with the ground. Beyond this old wall, toward the shore, the sea had cut a gulley about 40 feet wide. Beginning with the north side of this gulley, where the ground was higher, the work of rebuilding was to be carried as far into the old wall as it was tumbled down, a distance of 130 feet. I reached Saugatuck, the nearest railway station, Friday, October 28, and after looking over the ground prepared to make a survey of the point. The contractor had left one load of stone, but had not sent on his workmen, so the first few days were devoted to the survey, including cross-sections showing the rise of the land, and the size and condition of the old wall. On the 10th of November I finished and sent to the office a tracing of this survey. Sunday, the 6th of November, the second load of stone and the men arrived, and on the following day I staked ont the work. The stone being laid too far below high water to be reached at all times of the tide, the pit for the foundation was first excavated, and with the first low tide the derrick raised. The wall is built of split granite blocks, the foundation course being headers the full width of the wall, & feet, and weighing an average of 23 to 3 tons each. The upper course was of stretchers, divided in most parts to a double course and averaging a ton each, except where smaller stones were required for filling and leveling. The stones were all bonded carefully, with a lap of 6 inches or over. The entire work of construction, including the raising and repairing of the derrick. occupied thirty-eight days. The derrick used was an old one, and in quite bad condition, the mast being cracked and weak, and one of the wheels worn so as to slip, and finally the ends of three spurs broke. I then reversed the wheel end for end, and it lasted for the remainder of the work. When the work was nearly completed, the mast of the derrick broke by falling. I finished the wall, as far as our stone went, by hand-tackle, and after filling up a few spots in the old wall, dismissed the men. rough batter is broken on the wall, as nearly as may be to 3 inches to the foot. The height of the wall is 5 feet, making the top width 54 feet, though, on account of the difficulty of breaking, it often exceeded it. Ꭺ The weather was almost uniformly pleasant, a day and a half being all the time lost from unpleasant weather. West winds prevailed during all the work, frequently quite strong and cold, and, toward the close of the work, occasional squalls of snow, but not enough to seriously interfere with the progress. The length of wall laid is 108 feet, amounting to 130 cubic yards. The new wall is 10 inches higher than the highest part of the old wall, and extends 43 feet 9 inches farther to the north toward the main land. The north end is 1 foot 9 inches above the sand, and the south end 3 feet 5 inches. The difference of level from high-water mark to the top of the wall is 5 feet 9 inches. The weight of the full length of wall is 284 tons; and this, with an anchorage of 1 foot 7 inches at the minimum below the sand, is more than sufficient to hold its place. What has most injured the old wall is the cutting out of the sand on which it is based. The foundation-stone average only 24 feet in length, and have no level face for the upper course to rest on. Hence a trifling settling on one side pitches the upper courses over. The depth of anchorage, with the length of the foundation-stones and regular bonding of the joints, I consider an ample precaution against a like result in the new wall. During my stay at Saugatuck, besides the survey of Cedar Point, I also made surveys, one locating the New York and New Haven Railroad bridge, and a bridge known as "the new bridge," and one showing the length and breadth of the canal through the Great Marsh. These I have plotted and drawn in the following manner: A topographical map of Cedar Point on a scale of 250 feet to the inch, with the highwater line plotted first and low-water laid off by offsets. This map extends back as far as the Point is likely to be overflowed by highest water and shows the breakwater, the old part shaded and the new left blank, and the line of highest ground along the point. I have added to this a longitudinal section of the point extending along the line of highest ground and around the breakwater wall, to the end of the Point ; also a section at the north end of the new wall perpendicular to its course. In these sections the horizontal scale remains the same, (250 feet to the inch,) and the vertical is exaggerated fifty times, (5 feet to the inch) To illustrate better the construction of the wall. I have made a side and end elevation and cross-section on a scale of 4, showing the bounding of the courses and the batter. |