All classes of vessels frequent the port. Their average draught is 10 feet. A low estimate of the value of vessels using the harbor for shelter during the year is $60,000,000. B 16. REMOVAL OF SUNKEN VESSELS OR CRAFT ENDANGERING OR OBSTRUCTING NAVIGATION. On November 14, 1888, report was made that the schooners Mary and Goldsmith Maid had been wrecked in Boston Harbor, and formed obstructions to navigation. It was recommended that they be removed under authority of section 4, river and harbor act of June 14, 1880. This was approved by the Secretary of War November 24, 1888. Public notice was issued to the owner or owners of the vessels on November 30, 1888. Specifications and advertisement for the removal of these wrecks were prepared and issued, and the bids received were opened January 4, 1889. A copy of the proposals received will be found in the annexed table. On January 14, 1889, a contract was entered into with Messrs. L. E. Lunt & Co. to completely remove the wrecks at a cost of $1,925. The Mary was to be raised and put alongside of the Fort Winthrop Wharf, and the Goldsmith Maid dropped in deep water outside of the harbor. Operations were commenced under the contract on January 23, 1889, and after the site of the wrecks had been swept and examined by a diver, and the contract found to have been completed in a satisfactory manner, final payment was made April 9, 1889. On April 9, 1889, specifications and advertisement were prepared and issued, calling for proposals for the purchase of the wreck of schooner Mary. А сору of the propos The bids received were opened May 15, 1889. als received will be found in the annexed table. On May 15, 1889, it was recommended that the highest bid be accepted, and this recommendation was approved May 20, 1889. Payment was made May 24, 1889, and the wreck was delivered, Abstract of proposals for the removal of wrecks of schooners Mary and Goldsmith Maid, opened January 4, 1889, by Lieut. Col. S. M. Mansfield, Corps of Engineers. Contract awarded to L. E. Lunt & Co., with the approval of the Chief of Engi neers. Abstract of proposals for the purchase of the wreck of the schooner Mary, Boston Harbor, Mass., opened May 15, 1889, by Lieut. Col. S. M. Mansfield, Corps of Engineers. Wreck sold to James Kerrigan with the approval of the Chief of Engineers, ENG 89-38 B 17. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF MALDEN RIVER, MASSACHUSETTS, AS TO STRAIGHTENING, WIDENING, AND DEEPENING THE CHANNEL. UNITED STATES ENGINEER'S OFFICE, Boston, Mass., October 27, 1888. GENERAL: In compliance with instructions contained in your circular letter of August 28, 1888, I have the honor to submit this my report of the preliminary examination of Malden River as to straightening, widening and deepening the chanuel, provided for in the river and harbor act of August 11, 1888. The Malden River is a tidal tributary of the Mystic River, Massachusetts, into which it empties about 3 miles above its mouth at the navy-yard, Boston. The river is about 2 miles long, and its bed is bare at low tide, except where it has been deepened artificially by the Government or by pri vate individuals. The natural banks of the river are high salt marshes, rising 10 feet above mean low water, which are overflowed for the greater part at extreme high tides. The mean range of the tides is 9.8 feet. The bed of the channel is soft mud, 3 to 7 feet in depth. The river is crossed near its confluence with the Mystic River by the Eastern Railroad Bridge, and the Somerville and Malden highway bridge, and near its source at Malden by two highway bridges. All these bridges have draws except the latter. (Commercial statistics are given in Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1881, Part I, page 534.) The river and harbor act June 10, 1880, provided for a survey of the river. The survey was made September, 1880, and a report embodying four projects for improvement, two of which provided for straightening and deepening the channel, was submitted to the Department December 1, 1880. (Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1881, Part I, page 532.) This survey showed a navigable depth of barely 7 feet at mean high water, the range of tides being 9.8 feet. The project for improvement recommended by the local officer called for a channel to the second bridge, affording 12 feet mean high water, and straightening by cutting across bends at two points, at an estimated cost of $35,000. The project finally adopted rejected the improvement by cut-offs, and provided for a channel following the natural bed of the river, 12 feet deep mean high water, and 100 feet wide up to the draw-bridge near Malden, and thence 75 feet wide to the next bridge, at an estimated cost of $35,000, and increased in 1883 to $47,000. The river and harbor act of August 2, 1882, appropriated $10,000, which were applied in accordance with the adopted project, and resulted, 1884, in improving the natural channel for 14 miles from its mouth with a least width of 50 feet, increased to 70 feet at the turns, and 12 feet deep mean high water. No further appropriations have been made, and no work has been done since suspension of operations in 1884. The commerce of the insignificant tidal stream is carried in about twenty light scows, and consists principally of coal, lumber, and wood in limited quantities for the supply of a small manufacturing area. The cost of straightening and deepening the stream to admit of even 12 feet at high water range of tides 9.8 feet has been estimated at $37,000. I do not think the tidal water-course, which heads at Malden and traverses wide marsh areas, overflowed at high tides, "worthy of improvement," and as existing charts already give every requisite information, I do not submit any estimate of the cost of a new survey. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. A. G. L. GILLESPIE, Lieut. Col. of Engineers. B 18. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF COHASSET HARBOR, MASSACHUSETTS. UNITED STATES ENGINEER'S OFFICE, Boston, Mass., October 27, 1888. GENERAL: In compliance with instructions contained in your circu lar letter of August 28, 1888, I have the honor to submit this my report of the preliminary examination of Cohasset Harbor, provided for in the river and harbor act of August 11, 1888. Cohasset Harbor is a small shallow cove of irregular shape which makes into the shore on the western side of Strawberry Point, 5 miles southeast of the entrance to Boston Harbor, Mass. The entrance is obstructed seaward by numerous detached rocks and sunken ledges, usually awash at low tide; among the latter is the outer Minot Ledge, the site of the famous Minot's Ledge light-house. There are three channels, all indifferent, which lead to the harbor, the principal one being the western channel east of Brush Island, which has a width at the entrance of one quarter of a mile and a depth of 13 feet, mean low water. It leads to the outer harbor, inclosed by White Head Sutton Rocks, and Sheppard Ledge, in which the depth is reduced to 8 feet, mean low water, in a small area (Coast Survey Chart, 1878). The inner harbor is practically dry at low tide, and is connected with the outer harbor by a narrow strait containing about 4 feet, mean low water. Owing to the rocks at the entrance and the narrowness and shoalness of the channels, it is not safe to try to make the harbor except when the sea is calm, and only possible when the tide is high. The range of tides is 10 feet, approximately. These conditions therefore seriously restrict the usefulness of the harbor. The fishing trade once centered there made it a place of common resort for about fifty sail of slight draught; this interest has declined to almost extinction, and the harbor is now used by only a few vessels which come at wide intervals and bear no commerce of any importance. Two wharves in good repair, and others in a declining condition, are located upon the inner harbor for the service of such vessels as enter at high tide. A personal examination of the harbor has been made, and nothing was observed which indicated that degree of prosperity, existent or prospective, which would recommend any work of improvement by the Government. The special improvement which the ship-owners desire is the opening of a channel from the outer harbor to the wharves of the inner harbor, affording 10 feet depth, mean low water. This would involve an improved channel 1 mile long with a least width of 50 feet and would cost, it is estimated, for dredging 70,000 cubic yards sand and gravel, free from bowlders or ledges, the sum of $20,000. The mere opening of a straight channel through the inner harbor, affording 4 to 5 feet depth, mean low water, would give no special relief in entering the harbor, for the reason that the flats seaward of White Head Cliff have less than 2 feet depth at low water, though it can not be doubted that such an improvement would be a convenience at low tide to such vessels as had entered at high tide. I do not think the harbor "worthy of improvement," and therefore do not submit any estimate of cost for a survey. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. A. G. L. GILLESPIE, Lieut. Col. of Engineers. B 19. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF GOOSE POINT CHANNEL, PLYMOUTH HARBOR, MASSACHUSETTS, TO PUBLIC WHARF AT KINGSTON. UNITED STATES ENGINEER'S OFFICE, Boston, Mass., October 27, 1888. GENERAL: In compliance with instructions contained in your circular letter of August 28, 1888, I have the honor to submit this my report of the preliminary examination of Goose Point Channel, Plymouth Harbor, to public wharf at Kingston, provided for in the river and harbor act of August 11, 1888. Plymouth Harbor is practically composed of three different bays, Duxbury Bay on the north, Kingston Bay on the west, and Plymouth Bay and Harbor on the south. These three bays have a common anchorage at the outer entrance, called the Cow-Yard, from which diverge distinct channels leading to their respective local wharves. Goose Point Channel is a small depression in the Plymouth Flats, and forms the western branch of the Plymouth Harbor main channel. It is somewhat over a mile long, has a width of 180 feet, and a depth at mean low water of 12 feet. It may be regarded as a blind flood-channel, leading nowhere in particular except toward a shoal beach, and is only used at high water by vessels which may desire to go by a direct course to the wharf belonging to the Plymouth Cordage Company, in North Plymouth. The There are only four wharves between Plymouth and Kingston: Robins Wharf and wharf of the Plymouth Cordage Company, North Plymouth; wharf at Rocky Neck, 4,000 feet to the westward, and one inside of Johns River. All of these wharves have a limited use. first three are on the south shore, and are separated from the deepwater channel of the adjacent bay by wide flats, bare at low water. The Goose Point Channel does not give access to any one of them at any stage of the tide except to small vessels, and to make a communication with one or all of them by a water-way excavated from the terminus of the Goose Point Channel would be to dig a channel along a sloping beach where the existing depth is nowhere greater than 14 feet at mean low water, and across which the ebb tides would race almost at right angles in their course to the deep water outlet located at the foot of the fore-shore of the beach. It is apparent that such a chan |