IMPROVEMENT OF HARBOR AT PLATTSBURGH, NEW YORK. The act of March 3, 1881, contained no item for the improvement of this harbor. The balance on hand from previous appropriations at the opening of the fiscal year was $1,772.33, and as the project adopted in 1870 for the extension of the breakwater, 400 feet, was completed in 1873-74, it was expected that this balance would be applied during the year in deepening the shoal areas between the breakwaters and the city wharves. The only available dredges on the lake, however, were so much needed, during the year for the improvements at Ticonderoga River and Otter Creek that it was thought advisable to defer the Plattsburgh improvement until after the close of the contract for that at Otter Creek. The breakwater sustained no damage during the winter, and the only expenditure required in the near future for maintaining the harbor for all the wants of shipping will be occasional dredging. The amount available for the necessary dredging is insufficient to meet the present wants of the harbor, and an estimate for additional funds for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, is embodied in this report. Plattsburgh is in the collection district of Champlain, and is a port of entry; nearest light-house, Cumberland Head. Beacon lights are maintained upon either end of the breakwater in this harbor. Fort Montgomery, Rouse's Point, N. Y., is the nearest fort. Original estimate for this improvement.... $65,000 00 Amount appropriated from July 11, 1870, to June 14, 1880, both inclusive.. 53,000 00 Amount expended.... 51,371 00 Money statement. July 1, 1881, amount available.. July 1, 1882, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1881 $1,772 33 143 33 July 1, 1882, amount available 1,629 00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... 12,000 00 5,000 00 E 12. IMPROVEMENT OF HARBOR AT BURLINGTON, VERMONT. The amount on hand at the close of last fiscal year was $13,791.34. During August and September the 70-foot crib was covered with superstructure and ballasted, and in November the hemlock timber required for a 59-foot crib extension was purchased and the delivery commenced early in December. It was desired to have this crib built and sunk in place before the severities of winter came on, but in this I was disappointed. After the winter broke up the framing was continued, and the crib, which consisted of thirty-seven courses, was completed May 31. It will be sunk just as soon as the necessary quantity of stone is delivered. Bids were invited by public advertisement, April 3, for the delivery of 3,000 cubic yards of rubble-stone for this improvement. The bids were opened May 5, and Messrs. Dellaback & Murphy being the lowest responsible bidders, the contract was awarded to them at 70 cents per cubic yard, deposited in place. They have delivered under their contract, at a convenient point for handling, about 300 cubic yards, and will soon have on hand a sufficient quantity for sinking the crib. The highest gauge reading of the lake was 33 feet above extreme low-water. The breakwater was not damaged by ice-floes during the winter. The present project was adopted in 1874, and provides for an extension of 2,000 feet. At the close of the last fiscal year 586 linear feet of extension had been built, leaving 1,414 feet yet to be added. It is expected that the superstructure will not be built over the crib now ready for sinking until after another crib shall have been framed and sunk in place. This work is in the collection district of Vermont. Burlington is a port of entry. Nearest light-house, Juniper Island; beacon lights are also maintained on either end of the breakwater in this harbor. Original estimate. $340,000 00 Amounts appropriated from March 3, 1875, to March 3, 1851, both inclusive. 100, 000 00 Amount expended 97,126 28 Money statement. July 1, 1881, amount available.. July 1, 1882, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1881. July 1, 1882, outstanding liabilities.. July 1, 1882, amount available... Amount appropriated by act passed August 2, 1882. Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1883 $13,791 34 $10,917 62 70 46 10,988 08 2,803 26 12,000 00 14,803 26 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... 238, 000 00 25,000 00 Abstract of proposals for delivering rubble-stone for Burlington and Swanton harbors, Vermont, opened May 5, 1882, by Maj. G. L. Gillespie, Corps of Engineers. Contract awarded Dellaback & Murphy, the lowest bidders, with the approval of the Chief of Engineers. Lowest bid for Burlington Harbor. 900 900 $0.89 900 83 Lowest bid for Swanton Harbor. E 13. IMPROVEMENT OF SWANTON HARBOR, VERMONT. The amount on hand at the close of the last fiscal year was $6,348.26. Timber and stone for the construction of a 78-foot crib to repair a breach in the breakwater were purchased and delivered during the months of August and September, and in November the crib was sunk in place, with a ballast of 337 cubic yards of stone. Work was then suspended, and was not resumed until May. On the 3d of April sealed proposals were solicited by public advertisement for the delivery of 900 cubic yards of rubble-stone for completing the filling of the crib. The proposals were opened May 5, and the contract was awarded to Nelson W. Fisk, the lowest responsible bidder, at 83 cents per cubic yard, deposited in place. He has delivered, up to date, 648.3 cubic yards. The project of 1873 calls for a break water 1,900 feet long. Three cribs have been sunk in place, aggregating a length of 249 feet, and a fourth crib, 78 feet long, was inserted during the past year between the second and third cribs, which had been separated by ice pressure, making a total constructed length of 327 feet. When the site for this breakwater was selected, in 1872, it was alleged by the Portland and Ogdensburgh Railroad Company that their depot buildings and wharves would be located in the upper part of the harbor, and it was with the view of protecting their projected buildings that the breakwater was designed. For reasons not known, the buildings and wharves were located, at the time of the railroad's extension to the harbor, in 1877, in the lower part of the harbor, far removed from any possible protection by the breakwater, unless extended northward a great distance. This change in the location of the improvements to be protected makes the continuance at this time of the break water construction a questionable matter. Should the few houses now constituting the terminus of the railroad develop into a large town, with an expansion in the direction of the breakwater, additional wharves to accommodate the increased commerce will doubtless be built, which will need the protection to be afforded by the breakwater. This prospective increase of population and commercial wealth must be the factors which will determine the necessity for the continuance of the improvement. This work is in the collection district of Vermont. Nearest port of entry, Alburgh, Vt. Fort Montgomery is the nearest fort. The nearest light-house, Isle La Motte, Vermont. Original estimate, 1,900 linear feet of breakwater. Amounts appropriated from March 3, 1873, to March 3, 1881, both inclusive Amount expended.. $240,000 00 66,000 00 64, 065 11 Money statement. July 1, 1881, amount available. July 1, 1882, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1881.. July 1, 1882, outstanding liabilities. July 1, 1882, amount available... Amount appropriated by act passed August 2, 1882. Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1883. 170,000 00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... Abstract of proposals for delivering rubble-stone for Burlington and Swanton Harbors, Vermont, opened May 5, 1882, by Maj. G. L. Gillespie, Corps of Engineers. Contract awarded Nelson W. Fisk, with the approval of the Chief of Engineers. E 14. IMPROVEMENT OF OTTER CREEK, VERMONT. The amount available at the close of the last fiscal year was $8,430.91. The act of March 3, 1881, appropriated $2,000 for deepening the channel to 8 feet over the several bars between Vergennes Basin and the mouth of the creek. Sealed proposals were invited by public advertisement May 31, 1881, for the dredging, but when the proposals were opened, June 30, it was found that only one bid was presented. The price was deemed exorbitant by the officer then in charge, and the bid was rejected. Subsequently a proposition from the contractor was received to dredge the creek at 30 cents per cubic yard, in accordance with the previous specifications, and under authority of the Chief of Engineers a contract was entered into at that price. Work commenced under this contract in November, but the severities of winter compelled a suspension after a small excavation of only 1,616 cubic yards had been made at Deadman's and Brickyard bends. Work was resumed in May, at which time the dredger was transferred to Vergennes Basin, under instructions to open a channel 100 feet wide with 63 feet at low-water, the average depth of the shoal at Steamboat Landing. The amount dredged to date is 6,219.5 cubic yards. In April and May an examination was made of the bars throughout the entire creek, and a special survey of the shoal at Steamboat Landing, near the town of Vergennes. The latter shoal, instead of being a sand and gravel shoal, as represented upon the last survey of the river, upon which the project of improvement was based, was found to be a reef of solid limestone, extending from bank to bank, with only a slight depth of sand covering. The opening of a channel through the reef only 50 feet wide, the least available width, with 8 feet at low-water, will require the excavation of 1,773 cubic yards of rock. The accompanying report of Assistant Engineer J. A. Gillespie shows the necessity for cutting a channel through the rock, so that vessels drawing 8 feet may reach the wharves in the basin at Vergennes. The depth reached in the basin under the present contract is only 63 feet, as has been stated, but after the removal of the shoal at the Steamboat Landing it will be advisable to increase the depth every where to 8 feet. The project of improvement adopted in 1871 contemplates only the dredging of bars usually found in sediment-bearing streams, and the consequent estimate is therefore only approximate. Thie work is in the collection district of Vermont. Nearest port of entry, Burlington, Vt. Nearest light-house, Split Rock. Fort Montgomery, Rouse's Point, N. Y., is the nearest fort. Original estimate Supplementary estimate for rock removal at Steamboat Landing $58,146 00 Amounts appropriated from June 10, 1872, to March 3, 1881, both inclusive. Money statement. July 1, 1881, amount available.. July 1, 1882, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1881.. July 1, 1882, outstanding liabilities.. July 1, 1882, amount available.... Amount appropriated by act passed August 2, 1882 Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1883...... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1884.. 20,000 00 $8,430 91 $2,463 98 186 59 2,650 57 5,780 34 2,000 00 7,780 34 39 748 40 Abstract of proposals for dredging in Otter Creek, Vermont, opened by Lieut. Col. N. Michler on the 30th of June, 1881. This bid being considered too high, no award of contract was made. Subsequently Mr. Whitney made a proposition to Col. John Newton, Corps of Engineers, the officer then in charge, to do the dredging at 30 cents per cubic yard. This price being considered reasonable, his proposition was accepted, with the approval of the Chief of Engineers. REPORT OF MR. J. A. GILLESPIE, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. UNITED STATES ENGINEER Office, SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on survey and examination of Vergennes Reef, Otter Creek, called for in your letter of April 15, 1882: By examining the general chart of the creek from surveys in 1871, by Assistant Engineer D. White, the position of the reef can be accurately determined, as it forms the entire bottom of the section designated as "Steamboat Landing." As stated on ac companying chart, it defines the lower limit of Vergennes Basin, while the falls, disdistant 2,200 feet, mark its upper limit. From the 8-foot contour on downstream side to same contour on upstream side is 525 feet, between which the depth varies, reaching its minimum about mid-way, at which point it shoals to 5 feet. These notes refer to that part of the reef included between the red lines limiting proposed channel. Aside from the natural advantages, in the sense of economy, it is desirable to locate the channel as near the left bank as practicable on account of existing wharves. Soundings were made and located with precision by stretching taut a line from shore |