Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project....... $10, 080.00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 10, 080.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix J 8.) 9. York River, Virginia.-The Pamunkey and Mattaponi rivers unite at West Point, Va., to form the York River, which is 41 miles in length and empties into Chesapeake Bay about 16 miles above Old Point, Va. Prior to the commencement of the improvement navigation was ob structed by Potopotank Bar, 9 miles below West Point, on which the ruling depth was 18.5 feet; by West Point Bar, extending about 2 miles below West Point and having a ruling depth of 15.5 feet; and by shoal water in front of the West Point wharves, at the mouth of the Pamunkey. The original project provided for a channel 22 feet deep and 200 feet wide through these bars, with an increased width at the wharves. In 1884 the proposed channel width was increased to 400 feet, and in 1887 the project was amended so as to include the construction of a dike along the flats on the right of the channel to contract the waterway and maintain the depth dredged, which had decreased from continued silting. Up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, $145,924.18 had been expended in the following work: A channel 105 feet wide and 22 feet deep was dredged in 1880-'81 through Potopotank Bar, which had, however, shoaled in 1890 to from 20.8 to 21.7 feet. A channel 22 feet deep and from 161 to 257 feet wide, with a center cut 24 feet deep and 40 feet wide, had been dredged at West Point Bar below the wharves, but this channel has shoaled to such an extent that much redredging has been necessary. The channel in front of the West Point wharves has been dredged to a width of 160 feet and a depth of 22 feet, the length being 2,700 feet. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, the construction of the dike at West Point Bar was commenced and at the close of the year was still in progress. Great difficulty has been experienced in finding suitable dumping grounds on the York River. The flats on either side of the channel are largely occupied by oyster beds, whose owners object to the dumping of material or the construction of dikes. July 1, 1893, amount covered by uncompleted contracts...... 37,630.00 37, 780.00 7,692.40 July 1, 1893, balance available...... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project...... can ending 30, 1895 100,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix J 9.) 10. Mattaponi River, Virginia.-The Mattaponi River is navigable for small steamers from its mouth, at West Point, Va., to Ayletts, Va., a distance of about 52 miles, and can be made navigable for barges for about 26 miles above Ayletts to Munday Bridge. The obstructions to 5.5-foot navigation are five bars below Ayletts, having ruling depths of from 2.5 to 3.6 feet, and wrecks, snags, logs, and overhanging trees. There were eight bars reported above Ayletts, but no improvement of them is proposed. The approved project adopted in 1880 provides for a channel 40 feet wide and 5.5 feet deep through the bars below Ayletts and the removal of logs, snags, overhanging trees, wrecks, etc., as far up as Munday Bridge. The river and harbor act of July 13, 1892, directed the expenditure of $1,500 in improvement of the river between Ayletts and Guinea Bridge, near Milford Station, on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad. Up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, $19,167.39 had been expended in removing snags, wrecks, logs, and other obstructions between Robinson Bar and Munday Bridge, a distance of 34 miles, and in building 2,226 linear feet of dike at Robinson Bar, and in the construction of the plant necessary for these operations. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, the removal of snags was in progress under the appropriation of $1,060, made July 13, 1892. July 1, 1892, balance unexpended .... Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892. June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year..... July 1, 1893, balance unexpended July 1, 1893, outstanding liabilities $132.61 4,000.00 4, 132. 61 930.91 3, 201. 70 336.00 July 1, 1893, balance available.... 2,865.70 48,800.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 10,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix J 10.) 11. Pamunkey River, Virginia.-The Pamunkey River has a naviga ble length of 59 miles, and empties into the York River at West Point, Va. Navigation was originally obstructed by five bars in the upper part of the river and by snags, logs, and overhanging trees. The project was adopted in 1880 and amended in 1885, and provides. for channels 100 feet wide and 7 feet deep through Spring Bar and Skidmore Bar, or to a distance of 47 miles above West Point, and channels 40 feet wide and from 3 to 5 feet deep through the bars above, together with the removal of logs, wrecks, snags, and overhanging trees. The amount expended to June 30, 1892, was $18,446.66. Snags, logs, and overhanging trees had then several times been removed from 22.5 miles of the river between Garlick Ferry and Hanovertown; dikes had been built at Spring Bar and Skidmore Bar, and a channel 95 feet wide and from 6 to 7 feet deep had been dredged through Skidmore Bar. The plant necessary for snagging operations, pile driving, etc., had been constructed, being paid for in part from appropriations for this river. No work has been done during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, the plant being engaged on the Rappahannock River and the Mattaponi River, and not available for the Pamunkey. Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project........ Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix J 11.) 53.34 3,000.00 7,000.00 7,000.00 EXAMINATIONS MADE IN COMPLIANCE WITH RIVER AND HARBOR ACT APPROVED JULY 13, 1892. The preliminary examinations of the following localities, required by act of July 13, 1892, were made by the local engineer, Maj. Charles E. L. B. Davis, Corps of Engineers, and reports thereon submitted through the division engineer, Col. William P. Craighill, Corps of Engineers. 1. Mouth of Parish Creek, Maryland.-Maj. Davis submitted report of examination under date of November 30, 1892. It is his opinion and that of the division engineer, concurred in by this office, that the locality is not worthy of improvement by the United States. The report was transmitted to Congress and printed as House Ex. Doc. No. 106, Fiftysecond Congress, second session. (See also Appendix J 12.) 2. Wicomico River, Western Shore of Maryland.-Maj. Davis submitted report of examination under date of November 25, 1892. It is his opinion and that of the division engineer, concurred in by this office, that this river is not worthy of improvement by the General Government. The report was transmitted to Congress and printed as House Ex. Doc. No. 63, Fifty-second Congress, second session. (See also Appendix J 13.) 3. Obstruction at mouth of Little Wicomico River, Virginia.-Maj. Davis submitted report of examination under date of December 14, 1892. It is his opinion and that of the division engineer, concurred in by this office, that the locality is not worthy of improvement by the General Government. The report was transmitted to Congress and printed as House Ex. Doc. No. 137, Fifty-second Congress, second session. (See also Appendix J 14.) 4. Obstruction at mouth of Morattico Creek, Virginia.-Maj. Davis submitted report of examination under date of November 30, 1892. It is his opinion and that of the division engineer, concurred in by this office, that the creek is not worthy of improvement by the General Government. The report was transmitted to Congress and printed as House Ex. Doc. No. 62, Fifty-second Congress, second session. (Sce also Appendix J 15.) 5. Bar at mouth of Milford Haven, Virginia.-Maj. Davis submitted report of examination under date of November 29, 1892. It is his opinion and that of the division engineer, concurred in by this office, that the locality is worthy of improvement. The cost of a survey necessary for preparation of project and estimate of cost of improvement is estimated at $600. The report was transmitted to Congress and printed as House Ex. Doc. No. 59, Fifty-second Congress, second session. (See also Appendix J 16.) IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS AND HARBORS IN SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA AND NORTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA. This district was in the charge of Lieut. Edward Burr, Corps of Engineers; Division Engineer, Col. William P. Craighill, Corps of Engineers. 1. Harbor of Norfolk and its approaches, Virginia.-In 1877, previous to the commencement of the present improvement, the harbor of Norfolk was obstructed by shoals at the mouths of the Eastern and Southern branches, the shoal in the Eastern Branch being about one-third of a mile long, with a low-water depth of 15 to 16 feet, and the shoal in the Southern Branch being short and with a depth of 22 to 23 feet. The approaches to the harbor were obstructed by shoals at Sewall Point 3 miles long, with a low water depth of 20 feet, and at the mouth of the Western Branch 1 mile long, with a low-water depth of 19 feet. The depths on these shoals and the widths of the channels, particularly in the inner harbor where encroached upon by the Portsmouth and Berkley flats, were insufficient for the requirements of the port. The plan of improvement adopted in 1878 was to deepen and widen the channels at the mouth of the Southern Branch and along Portsmouth and Berkley flats in the harbor proper, and to improve the approaches to the harbor by dredging a channel 500 feet wide and 25 feet deep at ordinary low water through the shoals at Sewall Point and at the mouth of the Western Branch. The revised project of 1885 is as follows: (1) To dredge a channel, not less than 500 feet wide and 25 feet deep at ordinary low water, from the deep water in Hampton Roads to Norfolk and the United States navy-yard, on the Southern Brauch, and also to dredge a channel in the Eastern Branch not less than 22 feet deep at ordinary low water, with a width of 700 feet at its mouth and of not less than 300 feet at the Norfolk and Western Railroad Bridge; (2) to ultimately dredge the entire area bounded by lines parallel to and 75 feet from the port-warden lines to a depth not less than 25 feet from Fort Norfolk to the United States navy yard, and not less than 22 feet from the mouth of the Eastern Branch to Campostella Bridge, and to build a bulkhead at Berkley Flats. To the project of 1885 there was added, in 1890, the dredging of an anchorage at the mouth of the Western Branch, with a depth of not less than 25 feet at ordinary low water, at an estimated cost of $150,000, which amount was added to the original estimate. With slight modifications all operations have been conducted in accordance with the adopted projects. The amount expended on this improvement to June 30, 1892, was $629,242.99, from which resulted a channel, not less than 500 feet wide and 25 feet deep at ordinary low water, from Hampton Roads to Norfolk Harbor, a channel of the same depth and from 125 feet to 500 feet wide in the Southern Branch to the United States navy-yard, and a channel not less than 22 feet deep at ordinary low water and from 300 feet to 500 feet wide in the Eastern Branch to the Norfolk and Western Railroad Bridge. The channels thus dredged were in good condition, with the excep tion of the bar at the mouth of the Southern Branch, which by 1889 had shoaled to 22 feet and had not been redredged. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars was appropriated for this improvement by act of July 13, 1892, and a contract was made with the Morris and Cumings,Dredging Company of New York, N. Y., to remove about 1,000,000 Cubic yards of material, the contract to be com pleted by December 31, 1893. Dredging was commenced under this contract in November, 1892, and continued to the end of the fiscal year, 917,170 cubic yards of material being removed and redeposited on Walloughby Bank to the eastward of the Ripraps in Hampton Roads. Of this amount 142,282 cubic yards was removed from Berkley Flats, at and above the mouth of the Eastern Branch; 93,088 cubic yards was removed from Portsmouth Flats and the bar, at the mouth of the Southern Branch; 170,572 cubic yards was removed from the flat opposite Atlantic City, and 383,019 cubic yards was removed from the anchorage at the mouth of the Western Branch. A portion of Berkley Flats, 4,000 feet long and of a maximum width of 400 feet, was dredged to a depth of not less than 22 feet at ordinary low water, increasing the width of the channel in the Eastern Branch to 1,050 feet at the mouth and to 500 feet nearly to the Norfolk and Western Bridge. The bar at the mouth of the Southern Branch and a portion of Portsmouth Flats were dredged to a depth of not less than 25 feet at ordinary low water, giving a channel from 400 feet to 650 feet wide in the Southern Branch to the United States Navy-yard. A portion of the flat opposite Atlantic City, 3,400 feet long and with a maximum width of 450 feet, was dredged to a depth of not less than 25 feet at ordinary low water, increasing the width of the channel at this point to 700 feet. The dredging at the mouth of the Western Branch produced 24 acres of the proposed anchorage with a depth of not less than 25 feet at ordinary low water, excepting over a number of old wrecks that were uncovered by the dredging and have not yet been removed. As the result of the operations of the past two years 56 acres of the proposed anchorage has been dredged and 17 acres requiring no dredg ing has been made available. The amount expended during the fiscal year on this improvement was applied to payments on contract, repairs to plant, office, and operating expenses, etc. 307,744.56 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 200, 000. 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix K 1.) 2. Approach to Norfolk Harbor and the United States (Norfolk) navy yard, between Lambert Point and Fort Norfolk.-In its original condition this portion of the approach to Norfolk Harbor was obstructed by a shoal at the mouth of the Western Branch, about 1 mile long, with a depth of 19 feet at ordinary low water. The project of 1878 was to dredge through this shoal a channel 500 feet wide with a depth of not less than 25 feet at ordinary low water. The revised project of 1886 is (1) to secure a channel not less than 500 feet wide and 25 feet deep at ordinary low water from Lambert |