The following statement shows the amount received and expended during the year: R. S. WILLIAMSON, Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, August 3, 1871. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations, under the appropriation for "surveys of military defenses," for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871: The work of reducing meteorological observations has been continued from time to time during the year; the computer, however, was employed during most of the time on other work, which was paid for out of other appropriations. Finally he resigned, on the 31st of May last, and his place has not been filled. A quantity of observations are still uncomputed. The following are the amounts received and expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871: On hand July 1, 1870... Received during the year.. Total..... Expended during the year.... Balance on hand June 30, 1871..... Respectfully submitted. $563 85 600 00 1,163 85 1, 103 34 60 51 R. S. WILLIAMSON, Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, August 3, 1871. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations, under the appropriation for "surveys and examinations on the Pacific coast," for fiscal year ending June 30, 1871: No field work has been done under this appropriation during the past fiscal year. I am directed by the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, to make examinations of Eureka and Santa Cruz Harbors during the present fiscal year, and to pay for the same out of this appropria tion, which will be done. The following statement exhibits the amounts on hand, received, and expended during the past year: On hand July 1, 1870.... Received during the year.. Total on hand and received... Expended during the year.. Balance on hand June 30, 1871..... Respectfully submitted. $4,473 40 0.00 4,473 40 694 82 3,778 58 R. S. WILLIAMSON, Major, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, August 3, 1871. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations under the appropriation for "improvement of Willamette River at Portland, and mouth of river Oregon," for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871. This work has been carried on under the immediate charge of my assistant, Lieutenant W. H. Heuer, Corps of Engineers, United States Army. The operations on this river during the past fiscal year have been confined to dredging on Swan Island Bar. Work was recommenced on the 8th of August, 1870, and continued uninterruptedly until the 24th of December, 1870. During this time, 23,765 cubic yards of material (clay and sand) were excavated, and 1,594 linear feet of channel of 17 feet deep made. This makes a channel of 17 feet in depth by 100 feet in width at the bottom, for a length of 2,299 feet. There yet remains to be cut through about 1,500 linear feet of channel, as above, which now contains 15 feet of water. The cost of the dredging this year has been 95.5 cents per cubic yard. The following is a statement of funds received and expended during the year: On hand July 1, 1870.... Received during the year.. Expended during the year.. $0.00 11,000 00 10, 746 34 Balance on hand July 1, 1871..... 253 66 The balance has been turned over to Major H. M. Robert, Corps of Engineers, who, by direction of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, relieved me from duty, under this appropriation, on the 31st of March, 1871. Respectfully submitted. R. S. WILLIAMSON, Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following report of operations under the appropriation for "repairs, &c., of works on harbors and rivers" for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1870.. The only operations carried on under this appropriation during the past fiscal. year was the removal of the Blossom Rock. The contractor, Mr. A. W. Von Schmidt, by surface-blasting, dredging, and raking, succeeded in obtaining the depth of water required by his contract. A careful survey to ascertain these facts was made by my assistant, Lieutenant W. H. Heuer, Corps of Engineers, United States Army. The work was accepted by me on behalf of the Government on the 8th of December last, and the contract money ($75,000) was paid to Mr. Von Schmidt, the contractor. A full and detailed report of the operations for removing this rock from their commencement until the acceptance of the work by me has been sent to the Chief of Engineers, to which I respectfully refer you. The following statement exhibits the amounts received and expended by me during the year: R. S. WILLIAMSON, Major Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, W 3. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, GENERAL: I have the honor to forward herewith a report of a survey of the Willamette River, above Oregon City, Oregon, by my assistant, Lieutenant W. H. Heuer, United States Engineers. The object of the survey being to afford data to determine the nature of the obstructions to the navigation of the river, and the probable cost of its improvement, it was evidently not necessary to make a minute survey except of those portions of it where obstacles exist. The portions of the river examined extended from Corvallis to the falls at Oregon City; the obstacles above Corvallis are so numerous at the low stages of the river, and so difficult of removal, that I did not think it necessary to extend the survey above that place. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brigadier General A. A. HUMPHREYS, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, December 23, 1870. MAJOR: In accordance with your order of September 7, 1870, I left Portland, Oregon, with my party, on September 8, and proceeded up the Willamette River by steamboat to Salem, Oregon. This was done to see the obstructions to the navigation of the river, as well as what had been done toward improving it by the Steamboat Company. After leaving Oregon City we steamed up the river for about five miles and arrived at Rock Island, where the river widens and the channel becomes tortuous. During high water the river rushes down the channel, which contains points of rocks and rocky reefs, under which eddies are formed, rendering navigation difficult; but during ordinary stages of the river, steamboatmen consider it perfectly safe. They do not, therefore, deem any immediate improvement necessary. After leaving Rock Island the river contains a good depth of water, until we arrive opposite the mouth of Molalla River, one of the tributaries of the Willamette, ten miles above Oregon City, where a shoal is formed consisting of small gravel and boulders. As the boats cross the shoal without difficulty, no improvement is deemed necessary here. Proceeding farther up the river, we find deep water, until arriving just below the mouth of the Yamhill River, another tributary, about thirty-five miles above Oregon City. Here a shoal extends entirely across the river, carrying about three feet of water. The river is about 1,000 feet wide, the channel narrow, and the current rapid. The shoal is gravel, which vary in size, but averaging about four inches in length, nearly flat, with rounded edges, This shoal is probably due to the increased width of the river, as well as to the gravel brought down by the Yamhill River during its annual freshets. The river might be temporarily improved here by a system of wing-dams, but the boatmen say that other bars higher up the river are so much worse than this one that they do not consider the Yamhill Bar à serious obstacle to navigation. Between Yamhill Bar and Salem are numerous shoals, covered by 24 to 30 inches depth of water, with deep water between them. The names of the bars are Runaway Bar, Bennett's Dread, Five Islands, Tow Head, Matheney's, Beaver and Lone Tree Rapids, McCloskey's Chute, and Chitwood Bar. Each of these shoals are of the same nature. Of the bars just mentioned, Matheney's, Beaver, and Lone Tree Rapids and Chitwood Bar are the worst, on account of the channel being less wide and more tortuous than on the other bars. The depth of water is about the same on each of these bars. Steamboats navigate the river between Oregon City and Salem (sixty-five miles) during the entire year, and as far as Corvallis, forty-two miles above Salem, during nine months of the year. During a high-water stage of the river, they run up as far as Eugene City, about eighty miles above Salem. From the 1st of October to the 1st of August the river is said to be high, and the boats make their trips regularly, transporting heavy loads of freight; after that navigation above Salem ceases, and all towns above Salem either have to wagon their grain and supplies to or from Salem or stow them away until navigation reopens. The bars between Salem and Corvallis are not very numerous. They are of a similar nature to those below, but have a few inches less depth of water, and the boulders become larger as we go higher up the river. Above Salem we surveyed Humphrey's Rapid and Bowers Bar. They are considered the worst bars in the whole river, and if they were improved, it is thought navigation would open to Corvallis during the entire year. The names of the other bars above Salem are Eola Bar, Rocky Rapids, Independence Bar, Buena Vista Bar, Luckamute Bar, and Long Crossing. None of these, however, are considered serious obstacles to navigation. The upper Willamette River varies in width from 300 to 1,000 feet; its average width from Albany to Oregon City is probably 500 feet. At every shoal on the river it is wider than it is immediately above or below the shoal. The difference between the highest water and low water of this river varies at different places. Where the banks are high it is said to be as much as 60 feet; at Salem it is about 40 feet. The banks of the river generally are low, and heavily timbered for a distance of about half a mile in width; beyond that is fine prairie land, forming by far the most valuable farming land in the State. During the year, October 1, 1869, to October 1, 1870, 51, 437 tons of freight were carried by the boats navigating the river. The People's Transportation Company monopolize the carrying trade of the river. They run seven steamboats above the falls at Oregon City and two below. Within the last few years this company has improved the navigation at Chitwood, Matheney's and Runaway Bars by building wing-dams in the river, thereby contracting its width and causing the increased current to wash the finer gravel from the shoals into deeper water below the dams. The results in some cases were satisfactory, and would have been better had the dams been better constructed and placed in more favorable localities. As a rule, they were roughly constructed, and consisted of a log being thrown into the stream, making an angle of about 135° with the current. Willow bushes and gravel were then thrown in on the up-stream side of the log. The log, being aground, would remain in place until the water raised, when it would be carried away. In a few instances the dams were constructed by driving light piles into the gravelly bed of the river, then placing the logs against the piles, and brush and gravel against the legs. The danis so constructed are still standing. The danger to be apprehended in building wing-dams in the river is, that the current striking the dam is deflected to the opposite shore, which, if it be of a soft character, is gradually washed away, leaving the river as wide as before the dam was constructed. When the banks are washing away, the trees fall into the river, ground, and offer a partial protection to further wash until the river rises and floats them off. The current then carries them off until they lodge on some gravel-bar, where they form a wing-dam, and sometimes produce a bad effect. The river pilots say that at nearly every bar the channel changes from year to year; it is, therefore, probable that any change which a wing-dam will produce on a bar will be temporary. It will produce an increased depth of water, but the gravel which it scours out will be deposited below, and may make another shoal as bad as the original. Surveys were made of the following-named bars of the river, viz: Bower's Bar, Humphrey's Rapid, Chitwood Bar, Beaver and Lone Tree Rapids, and Matheney's Bar. Maps of each of these bars accompany this report. They will now be described in the above order, commencing at BOWER'S BAR. This obstruction is three miles above Albany. The river suddenly widens from 225 feet to 400 feet, where the shoal is found. The distance from 3 feet depth of water above, to the same depth below the shoal, is 150 feet. Average depth of water on the shoal is 2 feet. The current flows nearly west, with a velocity of 400 feet per minute. Immediately above the shoal the current is less rapid. The bed of the river is gravel, averaging about 2 pounds in weight; some of them, however, weigh as much as 20 pounds. Near the shoal are three bare gravel-bars, two of them on the north side of the channel, the other near the mouth of the creek on the south side of the channel. The lower of these bars is gradually washing away on the channel side. The south bank of the river is clay, stands nearly vertically, and is also gradually wearing away. The north bank is a gravelly shore, having a gradual slope from the water's edge for a distance of about 200 feet. Beyond that we find timber. The river can be improved here by building a wing-dam from the foot of the northerly gravel-bar to the head of the lower bar. This would be 325 feet long, would concentrate the current, and cause it to scour the shoal, but would also undermine the south bank and cause it to wash. This can be remedied by piling close to shore, and then throwing in logs and brush behind the piles; 500 linear feet of piling would probably suffice. The estimated cost of the wing-dam is $900; that of the bulk-head for shore protection, $2,600, making a total estimated cost of this improvement, $3,500. After leaving Bower's Bar, we pass down the river without meeting with any serious obstacles until we arrive at HUMPHREY'S RAPID. This obstruction is about twenty miles, by river, above Salem. The bed of the river is gravel, like that on the other shoals, but the obstruction consists of two rocky reefs, nearly parallel to each other, about 150 feet apart, putting out from opposite sides of the channel. The lower one projects from the south shore, and is 125 feet in length, by an average width of 75 feet. The upper reef puts out from an island on the north side of the channel for a distance of 250 feet, and has an average width of 100 feet. These two obstacles cause the boat, in ascending or descending, to make two sharp turns in contrary directions, (like the letter S,) and the current being rapid, (nearly 400 feet per minute,) has a tendency to throw a boat, in crossing, broadside on the lower reef, which is covered by about 2 feet of water. The upper one is barely covered. A channel can be made by blasting through either of these ledges of rock, but the work would be very expensive. An equally good channel, at a small cost, can be made between the island and the north shore. This chute contains an average depth of 15 feet of water, except at its upper end, and for a distance of 300 feet, where there is less than 3 feet of water. This shoal, however, is all small gravel, none of it any larger than an egg; and if a wing-dam 220 feet long was constructed diagonally across the current, its lower end abutting against the head of the small gravel bar near the head of the island, the increased current would soon scour out the small gravelly shoal, and give a channel 75 feet wide in its narrowest part. At the end of the island was an immense accumulation of drift, probably 20 feet high, which lodges there during every freshet. This was set fire to and burned out in a few days. The only objection to building a dam at the head of this bar is, that it might catch the drift and choke any channel which it might form. This is not probable, because the gravel-bar against which the dam would abut is about 3 feet high, whereas the top of the dam would be but a few inches above the water surface. The estimated cost of building this dam-220 feet in length-is $700. The next important obstruction below this is called |