5. Cedar Bayou, Texas.-The navigation on this stream was obstructed by a bar which had formed at the mouth of the bayou where it emptied into Galveston Bay. The depth of water in the bayou above the bar was 7 feet, and in the bay beyond the bar 5 feet, whereas the natural depth on the bar between the two was but 3 feet.

The project adopted for this improvement consisted in the construction of two stone and brush jetties, about 250 feet apart where they crossed the bar, and extending from the mainland to the 5-foot contour in Galveston Bay. These jetties were to protect a channel having a depth of 5 feet and a width of about 100 feet, which was to be dredged, connecting the 5-foot curve in the bayou with the 5-foot curve in the bay.

The amount expended to June 30, 1892, was $13,258.22, which was applied to dredging a channel on the bar and protecting it by jetties, resulting in a channel 1,840 feet long by 64 feet wide, and having a ruling depth of 5 feet.

The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, was $11,220.23 and was used in extending the jetties already built. The total amount of jetty constructed was 842 feet; the south jetty having been extended 517 feet and the north jetty 325 feet. Dredging had not been commenced up to the close of the fiscal year. This work has been successful in maintaining the channel previously dredged, and has also slightly increased its depth as well as that on the bar just beyond.

The officer in charge states that the revised estimate of the cost of this work made in 1891 was too small, as proved by experience, and that it will require the further sum of $6,500 to complete it, making the total estimated cost of the work $38,750.

July 1, 1892, balance unexpended...............

Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892

June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year........

$4, 891.78 14,000.00

18, 891.78 11, 220.23

July 1, 1893, balance unexpended...............

Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project....... Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867.

(See Appendix U 5.)

7,671.55

6,500.00

6. Buffalo Bayou, Texas.-The channel of this stream between the city of Houston and Simms Bayou, a distance of 11 miles, was, in its natural condition, narrow and tortuous, and the natural depth in many places was not more than 5 feet. Below Simms Bayou it is wide and deep.

The project for its improvement was adopted in 1881, the object being to straighten the channel, widen it to 100 feet, and deepen it to 12 feet; also to remove such snags, stumps, and overhanging trees as were obstructions to navigation.

The amount expended to June 30, 1892, was $165,803.99. It has resulted in clearing the channel of the most prominent stumps, snags, and overhanging trees, in easing most of the bends, and in removing such shoals as obstructed a 7-foot navigation. The amount expended during the past fiscal year was $7,413.99, and has resulted in a further easement of bends and deepening of the bayou, so that a 10-foot channel is now available in the portion of the bayou worked over this year. Obstructions were also removed from the bed and banks of the stream.

These obstructions are renewed in more or less degree every year through action of floods. The project is not capable of permanent completion.

July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.......

Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892

$2,946. 01 25,000.00

27,946. 01

June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year

July 1, 1893, outstanding liabilities..

July 1, 1893, balance unexpended.

July 1, 1893, amount covered by uncompleted contracts

July 1, 1893, balance available.............

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 U 6.)

191, 549. 75 50,000.00

7. Harbor at Brazos Santiago, Tex.-In its natural state the channel over this bar was shifting and its depth varied from 6 to 8 feet. The present (original) project for its improvement was adopted in 1881, the object being to fix the position of the channel over the bar at the extrance and to deepen it. The total amount expended to June 30, 1891, was $189,608.59, besides an appropriation of $6.000 in 1878 applied to removing a wreck. It has resulted in no useful effect upon the bar, and the works heretofore constructed have practically disappeared. The amount expended during the past fiscal year was $60. It was applied to the keeping of a record of commercial statistics.

July 1, 1892, balance unexpended

June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year....

July 1, 1893, balance unexpended

July 1, 1893, outstanding liabilities

July 1, 1893, balance available

Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867.

(See Appendix U 7.)

$57, 701. 41 60.00

57, 641. 41 15.00

57, 626. 41

1,071, 090. 22

EXAMINATION MADE IN COMPLIANCE WITH RIVER AND HARBOR ACT APPROVED JULY 13, 1892.

The preliminary examination of Brazos River, Texas, from its mouth to the town of Richmond, required by act of July 13, 1892, was made by the local engineer, Maj. Charles J. Allen, Corps of Engineers, and his report thereon, dated December 7, 1892, was submitted through the division engineer, Col. C. B. Comstock, Corps of Engineers. Maj. Allen considers that Brazos River is worthy of improvement by the General Government from Richmond downstream to the point near the mouth to which the Brazos River Channel and Dock Company intends to extend its works, provided the cost of improvement, to be determined by a survey, the cost of which is estimated at $2,500, be not out of proportion to the commerce to be benefited. It is the opinion of the division engineer, concurred in by this office, that below Richmond the river is worthy of some degree of improvement by the United States. ENG 93-17

The report was transmitted to Congress and printed as House Ex. Doc. No. 136, Fifty-second Congress, second session. (See also Appendix U 8.)

WESTERN RIVERS.

IMPROVEMENT OF CERTAIN RIVERS AND WATERWAYS IN LOUISIANA, TEXAS, ARKANSAS, MISSISSIPPI, AND TENNESSEE, TRIBUTARY TO MISSISSIPPI RIVER; WATER GAUGES ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND PRINCIPAL TRIBUTARIES.

This district was in the charge of Capt. J. H. Willard, Corps of Engineers; Division Engineer, Col. C. B. Comstock, Corps of Engineers. 1. Red River, Louisiana and Arkansas.-This improvement was begun in 1828, and appropriations aggregating $535,765.50 were made between 1828 and 1852. Between 1841 and 1852 no appropriation was made, and a longer interval elapsed between 1852 and 1872, during which the results of former work were lost.

The present improvement commenced in 1872, at which time the upper river was closed by the great raft, extending from Carolina Bluffs, 33 miles above Shreveport, La., upstream 32 miles to within 4 miles of the Louisiana and Arkansas line, and added to by each flood. The falls at Alexandria were impassable at low stages. Navigation was affected seriously by the gradual enlargement of Tones Bayou Outlet, 19 miles below Shreveport, which depleted the main channel; and the river was obstructed by snags, sunken logs, wrecks, and leaning trees throughout its entire length.

The project of 1872 contemplated removing the great raft and closing Tones Bayou. Subsequently it was enlarged to include the removal of jams, snags, wrecks, leaning timber, etc.; opening and enlarging the channel through the falls at Alexandria, La.; deepening shoal places, and closing outlets and constructing and repairing levees to confine the river to the adopted channel, in order to improve and keep navigation open from Fulton, Ark., to the head of Atchafalaya River, Louisiana, a distance of 507 miles. Also to protect the banks at Alexandria and Shreveport from erosion, and to make a thorough and comprehensive survey on which to base plans and estimates for permanent improvement.

The amount expended from 1872 to June 30, 1892, was $987,413.99 (including outstanding liabilities of $107.12), resulting in great benefit to navigation. A channel was cleared through the great raft in 1873, opening to navigation 188 miles of river between Shreveport and Fulton, and, at high stages, about 138 miles above Fulton, and subsequent operations, aided by the current, secured a greater width and depth throughout the raft region, with a channel way constantly widening and scouring, from which little water is diverted except at flood stages; the low-water line having fallen more than 15 feet at head of the raft, diminishing to about 3 feet at Shreveport, while a similar reduction has been going on in the river below. Moderate estimates, made in 1872, showed that the removal of the raft alone resulted in an annual saving of at least $150,000 to the planting interest above, besides relieving to a great extent not less than 25,000 acres of productive lands from overflow. The removal of obstructions from the channel, clearing the banks, and prompt breaking of all jams and keeping the drift in motion during high water, have prevented renewal of the raft. Νο work for the closure of Tones Bayou has been done since 1882, when

the dam under construction was destroyed. That outlet, however, is filling up gradually with drift, which, in connection with the work done in the old raft region above and in the narrow river below, has caused the main channel to widen and scour until not less than two-thirds of the flood water is carried by Red River, where twenty years ago threequarters escaped through Tones Bayou or over the banks into Bayou Pierre. The rock excavation and dam at the falls of Alexandria, completed in 1885, increased the period of navigation about two months, and as a general thing permitted boats to pass the falls the year round, though with difficulty at low stages. The dam and training wall, built in 1884-'85, for protecting the bank at Alexandria, accomplished the purpose for which intended. The removal of snags and clearing the banks for the general improvement of the river were not begun until 1878, but since 1885 operations were confined chiefly to that class of work, reducing the danger of navigation from an average of about four steamboat wrecks a year to one in over three years. The Sale and Murphy Outlet, at head of the old raft, was closed in 1891 with a heavy earthen dam, which resisted the unprecedented flood of 1892 without sustaining serious damage and caused the channel of the river through the old raft region to scour rapidly. The survey of the river was carried from Fulton, Ark., to the mouth, and checked by a line of precise level from Delta to Shreveport, La., connecting it with the Mississippi and continuing down Red River from Shreveport to the mouth.

In the past fiscal year the removal of obstructions by means of snagboats was continued with benefit to navigation at all stages, and especially at seasons of low water. The river from Fulton, Ark., to mouth of Black River was worked over thoroughly twice, and the most obstructed portions were worked over after each rise and fall, reducing the risks to a minimum and enabling steamboats to make regular trips without hindrance. At Alexandria, La., 10,242 cubic yards of rock was dredged from the channel at the Upper Falls, improving that dif ficult piece of navigation and leaving only a small amount of dredging to be done to make it safe. The material excavated was transported to Alexandria, and the greater portion used in revetting the caving bank at the town front, which had been graded in advance; the remainder of the material was used in strengthening the crib dike built in 1884-'85 and for commencing a dike at foot of Beauregard street. For confining the river to the adopted channel, 273,385 cubic yards of levees was built by the United States during the year, which incidentally will protect valuable lands from overflow, in conjunction with a much larger amount of levee work done by the State of Louisiana and parish levee boards. Field work of the survey was limited to connecting high-water marks with the main line of levels and established benches, gauge observations, and examinations of local obstructions, cut-offs, outlets, levees, etc. At the office the construction of maps from information already obtained was continued during the year. The amounts expended during the year were:

July 1, 1893, balance unexpended....
July 1, 1893, outstanding liabilities..

July 1, 1893, amount covered by uncompleted contracts...

4, 979.30

6,655. $2

July 1, 1893, balance available

90, 416.42

Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 800, 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 V 1.)

2. Red River above Fulton, Ark.—The project for this improvement, adopted in 1886, contemplated removing snags, drift, etc., above Fulton, Ark., to the mouth of Kiamichi River, Indian Territory, about 138 miles to, give reasonably safe navigation at high and medium stages.

The amount expended to June 30, 1892, was $11,779.26, with which a small hand-propelled snag boat was built and employed in the fiscal years 1888 and 1889 in removing obstructions. In the fiscal year 1891 the snag boat was sold to the work of improving Red River, Louisiana, and Arkansas, for $1,500, and the proceeds of the sale, with the appropriation of 1890, were applied to going over the work and removing snags, drift, and leaning trees, practically completing the project for safe navigation at high stages.

Under the act of 1892 the largest snag boat belonging to the improvement of Red River, Louisiana and Arkansas, was employed in removing obstructions to navigation from January 1 to March 11, 1893. It was found that great improvement in depth of channel had obtained by scour since the last work was done in February, 1891, and, although the stages were near extreme low water, the snag boat, 36 feet beam and drawing 30 inches, crossed the bars without difficulty. Work was carried from Fulton to the mouth of Kiamichi River, and consisted of clearing a safe low-water channel for the passage of the snag boat, which will widen and scour, that being all that could be done with the amount available.

Unless a single appropriation of $10,000 is granted for this part of Red River, to permit the systematic clearing of the banks and channel without interruption, no further work is recommended for the present. This amount could be expended advantageously for clearing banks of caving and sliding trees, to stop accumulations of drift, and in continuing the removal of sunken logs to permit the bottom to scour, and such work would benefit navigation below Fulton also by lessening the source of drift.