APPENDIX E. IMPROVEMENT OF HUDSON RIVER AND NEW YORK HARBOR AND OF RIVERS AND HARBORS IN THEIR VICINITY, NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY. REPORT OF LIEUT. COL. G. L. GILLESPIE, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1893, WITH OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE WORKS. ENGINEER OFFICE, U. S. ARMY, GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit herewith annual reports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, upon the works of river and har bor improvement under my charge. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. L. GILLESPIE, Lieut. Col., Corps of Engineers. Brig. Gen. THOMAS L. CASEY, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A. E 1. IMPROVEMENT OF HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK. The Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1885. Part I., p. 677, contains a history of this improvement accompanied by original reports and two sketches showing its condition at that time. The only part of the Hudson River which has been improved by the General Government is a stretch about 20 miles long, beginning at the head of navigation at Troy, N. Y., about 6 miles above Albany, and extending down the river to New Baltimore, about 14 miles below Albany. While there has always been enough water below New Baltimore for navigation, this upper section of the river, so far as its history is known to us, has always been obstructed by bars and shoals, due to the exist ence of numerous islands and sloughs and the consequent diversion of the river's waters through too many channels. Prior to 1831, when the jurisdiction of the Federal Government over these waters was confirmed by judicial decision, the State of New York had made efforts to improve the navigation of this part of the river. Since 1831 the improvement of the Hudson River has been conducted both by the State of New York and by the General Government, both building and repairing dikes and doing such dredging as seemed necessary. In the last few years, however, the dike work has been left almost exclusively to the General Government and the dredging to the State of New York. The general system of improvement has been the same throughout, the contraction of the channels by the construction of jetties and dikes intended to deepen them by means of the scour so produced, and also the lowering of the bed by dredging where such work was indispensable. But up to 1831 the work, which had consisted almost entirely of the construction of spur dikes and dredging, had produced very little permanent improvement. After 1831, however, the United States began the present general system of improvement, which consists of contracting the channel by means of longitudinal dikes intended to aid in scouring the bars and shoals, instead of which spur jetties had formerly been used. Under this system the United States constructed two dikes in 1835, 1836, 1837, and 1838. Then followed a long interval of time in which nothing was done by the United States except in 1852; but in 1863 the State of New York took up the improvement on the general plan adopted by the United States in 1831, viz, substituting a system of longitudinal dikes instead of the jetty system, and between 1863 and 1867, built six important longitudinal dikes of this kind. (Annual Report of 1885, p. 678.) The work was again taken up by the United States in 1864, when, out of the general sum appropriated for river and harbor improvements, $33,000 was allotted for the Hudson River improvement, and this was followed by the act of June 13, 1866, which appropriated $50,000 for the same work. The plan of improvement adopted in 1867 provided for securing a navigable channel 11 feet deep at mean low water from New Baltimore up to Albany and 9 feet deep at mean low water from Albany up to Troy. The following is a description of the plan: First. A system of longitudinal dikes to confine the current suffi ciently to allow the ebb and flow of the tidal current to keep the channel clear. These dikes to be gradually brought nearer together from New Baltimore towards Troy, so as to assist the entrance of the flood current and increase its height, their height to be kept approximately at the level of the tidal high water, so as not to confine the freshets; the exact level, however, being left to be determined by experience as the work progresses. Second. That the dredge be used so far as necessary to open the channels above described, which the current should not be allowed to do, except very gradually, lest accumulations dangerous to navigation bé formed below. Third. Keeping, as far as practicable, the side reservoirs open to the passage of tidal currents by gaps at their lower extremities, in order to increase the tidal flow. Fourth. Dumping all dredged material in secure places, where it can not be moved back again into the channel by the current. Fifth. Constructing the dikes of timber and stone, in a manner to secure their permanency, at a minimum cost, the details, varying with the locality, to be left to the discretion of the local engineer, to be so designed as to admit of having an increased height given to the dikes, if necessary. Sixth. To protect, when necessary, the banks and islands against the abrading action of the currents by revetments. Seventh. That limits, beyond which no encroachments upon the channel should be made, be prescribed, and that any such encroachments be reported to the engineer in charge. The cost of the improvement, according to the estimate of 1867, was $1,000,000, but the amount which had been actually spent upon the project up to June 30, 1892, the date of its practical completion, was $1,247,940.29. From the nature of the materials which enter into the construction of the dikes and from the limited sums which are applied annually to renew the parts which become unserviceable, whether by natural decay or otherwise, it can be well understood that the estimates prepared from time to time for the completion of the project must be accepted as approximately accurate for only a short period of time. This statement is necessary for a correct understanding of the apparent discrepancy between the estimated and the actual cost of the project. A new project was adopted in 1891, which provided for maintaining old improvements and constructing new regulating works along 8 additional miles of the river below New Baltimore, and also for deepening the entire reach of the river under improvement, so as to afford a channel 400 feet wide and 12 feet deep at mean low water, from Coxsackie to the foot of Broadway, Troy, N. Y., and thence 300 feet wide and 12 feet deep to the State Dam. The estimated cost of the project is $2,500,000, provided the entire work be completed within five years. The sanction of Congress to the project was given by the river and harbor act approved July 13, 1892, with the proviso that contracts might be entered into by the Secretary of War for such materials and work as might be necessary to carry out the plan, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to time be made by law, not to exceed in the aggregate the sum of $2,447,906. The State of New York makes an appropriation at every session of its legislature for the improvement of the Hudson River, and prior to 1867 the money was applied to the construction of dikes on the left bank of the river from Houghtailing Island to Albany, to jetties, dams, and to temporary measures of relief, and also to dredging at the points where shoals were discovered after spring freshets. In the last few years, however, the dike work has been left almost exclusively to the General Government and the dredging to the State. Sections 6 and 7 of the river and harbor act of September 19, 1890, make it unlawful to dump into the navigable waters of the United States any materials which shall tend to impede or obstruct navigation, or to excavate or fill, or in any manner to alter or modify the course, location, condition, or capacity of the channel of said navigable waters, unless approved and authorized by the Secretary of War. These are wise provisions for the protection of the navigable waters of the United States, and it is hoped that a considerate enforcement of the law will serve hereafter to protect the channel of the river by maintaining its regimen, and at the same time to allow material to be taken freely from the river for private and public uses. Section 3 of the river and harbor act of July 13, 1892, amendatory of section 7 of the act of 1890, referring to structures which may be authorized in navigable waters, is so important that a copy is here inserted for the information of the public: That it shall not be lawful to build any wharf, pier, dolphin, boom, dam, weir, breakwater, bulkhead, jetty, or structure of any kind outside established harbor lines, or in any navigable waters of the United States where no harbor lines are or may be established, without the permission of the Secretary of War, in any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, navigable river, or other waters of the United States, in such manner as shall obstruct or impair navigation, commerce, or anchorage of said waters; and it shall not be lawful hereafter to commence the construction of any bridge, bridge draw, bridge piers and abutments, causeway, or other works over or in any port, road, roadstead, haven, harbor, navigable river, or navigable waters of the United States, under any act of the legislative assembly of any State, antil the location and plan of such bridge or other works have been submitted to and approved by the Secretary of War, or to excavate or fill, or in any manner to alter or modify the course, location, condition, or capacity of any port, roadstead, haven, harbor, harbor of refuge, or inclosure within the limits of any breakwater, or of the channel of any navigable water of the United States unless approved and authorized by the Secretary of War. Provided, That this section shall not apply to any bridge, bridge draw, bridge piers and abutments the construction of which has been heretofore duly authorized by law, or be so construed as to authorize the construction of any bridge, drawbridge, bridge piers and abutments or other works under an act of the legislature of any State, over or in any stream, port, roadstead, haven, or harbor or other navigable water not wholly within the limits of such State. The average rainfall covering the past sixty-three years, from observations recorded in the report of the water commissioner of Troy, N. Y., for 1889, is 36.55 inches. The greatest rainfall in any year was recorded in 1878, when 49.23 inches fell; the least rainfall in any year occurred in 1839, when 18.32 inches fell. The greatest known rainfall in any one month occurred in October, 1869, when 13.8 inches fell; the least known rainfall in any one month was in May, 1840, when only 0.2 of an inch fell. At times during the dry season of most every year, for a month at least, no water flows over the State Dam at Troy, and excepting what comes in through the lockage of the canals there is, during that period, little apparent fresh-water supply to the flow of the river. From this and the fact that the tide rises and falls at the State Dam, it is evident that the navigation of the Hudson River at the low stage is dependent in a large degree upon the tidal prism of the river. |