received high commendation. During three years, 24,044 miles of reconnaissance have been made and the results mapped by these enlisted men of engineers. The officers serving with the companies have opportunities not only to learn their military duties in the field, and in planting and operating the torpedo defenses of the coast, but also to acquire familiarity with many other duties of the corps, such as astronomy, hypsometry, current measurements, surveying, &c. In fine, service with the battalion is made to take the place of the more formal schools of application common with other nations in fitting officers for the wide range of duties assigned to the Corps of Engineers. In our service, as in that of Great Britain and other nations, the duty of devising and perfecting a system of torpedo-defense to be used in combination with the forts, and of practically applying it in case of war, has been assigned to the engineer troops. The legal organization of the battalion, 752 enlisted men, is sufficient to warrant a reasonable expectation that, with the needful material in store, this highly important duty will be satisfactorily performed. Under existing orders issued at the recent reduction of the Army, the force authorized to be kept in service is fixed at 200 men, a number quite insufficient to afford any proper grounds for believing that even our more important sea-ports could be properly protected by torpedoes in time to prevent their destruction. Every effort is now making to thoroughly prepare the men for these duties, which involve long training and higher intelligence than it is common to find in the ranks. Individual records are kept showing the qualifications of each man as determined by his instructors from his regular drills and exercises. But still the fact remains that the force is too small to perform the responsible duties assigned to it, and I therefore feel it my duty to urge that the organization may be reeruited to 520 men, the number judged to be the minimum consistent with a reasonable state of preparation for unexpected hostilities. This number is but little more than two-thirds of the maximum fixed by law, and no increase in the legal organization is, therefore, needed. Engineer post and depot at Willet's Point, New York Harbor, commanded by Maj. Henry L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers.-Willet's Point is the principal engineer-depot of the Army, where are stored, ready for issue, the torpedo-material for the defense of our coast; the bridge-trains and equipage of the Army; siege and mining tools; surveying and astronomical instruments for works of internal improvement and military reconnaissance; and, in general, all reserve supplies for the use of the engineer service. This property is stored in suitable buildings, and is guarded and issued as required, by engineer troops. The post has become a useful school of application, where officers and men have the needed facilities for learning the practical details of the torpedo service as applied to the defense of harbors and rivers; the ordinary duties of engineer troops in campaign, including militarybridge-making, field fortifications, military reconnaissance, field photography, and infantry tactics, and also many of the civil duties of the corps, such as field astronomy, the measurement of currents, barometric hypsometry, the use of surveying instruments, etc., etc. The general post and depot buildings are completed, but a fire-proof building for use as a torpedo-laboratory is greatly needed. The importance of an economical use of the funds appropriated for the torpedo service has been steadily kept in view, and the money has been stricty applied to the investigations needful for perfecting the details of the apparatus and to the purchase of the most essential articles for storage in case of war. An old wooden carpenter's shop was fitted up as a temporary laboratory; and, in fine, no expenditures on buildings for purposes of instruction or of convenient manipulation have been made. Much valuable apparatus has thus accumulated, where it is in constant danger of destruction by fire. Winter instruction is restricted on account of deficient accommodations, and the time has come when ordinary prudence requires that a suitable building should be provided. The project includes an electrical laboratory, a chemical laboratory, a library-room, a galvanometer-room, a model operating room, two torpedo-museum rooms, one public and the other confidential, and a cellar for storage of acids, &c. The estimated cost is $20,000; and I urgently request that this amount may be appropriated. To continue the torpedo trials, inaugurated to perfect the details of this most important branch of sea-coast defense, and for training the engineer troops in practically applying it, an appropriation of $10,000 is asked. For the purchase of materials for instructing the engineer troops in field engineering, the usual appropriation of $1,000 is asked. For the incidental expenses of the depot, such as remodeling pontontrains, repairing instruments, purchasing fuel, forage, stationery, chemicals, extra-duty pay for soldiers engaged in special skilled labor, such as wheelwright work, printing, binding, photographing, and lithographing engineer documents, &c., an appropriation of $3,000 is needed. Estimate of funds required for Battalion of Engineers and engineer depot at Willet's Point N. Y., for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878. For purchase of engineer-materials to continue the present course of instruc- To continue the torpedo trials, inaugurated to perfect the details of this most $1,000 3,000 10,000 For a fire-proof building for an electrical laboratory, library-room, galvanometer-room, model-torpedo operating-room, confidential torpedo-museum, public torpedo-museum, chemical laboratory, and cellar for storage of acids, &c.... 20,000 Total..... RIVER AND HARBOR IMPROVEMENT. 34,000 The "act making appropriations for the repair, preservation, and completion of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes," approved March 3, 1875, (Statutes at Large, vol. 18, part 3, page 456,) provided for 156 works of improvement, in sums varying from $1,000 to $500,000, and amounting in the aggregate to more than $6,500,000. Including the balance of previous appropriations, the sum available on the 1st of July, 1875, for the several works was $8,661,575.52. And during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876, 86,271,009.19 were expended. A brief account of each work, together with a money statement giv ing an estimate of the probable amount required for completion of project, and also the amount that can be profitably expended upon the work during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1878, is given below; but for a more detailed account I beg to refer to the reports of the officers in charge, to be found in the appendix. Section 2 of the act required that examinations or surveys, or both, be made at forty-six specified points and localities. Owing to the lim ited amount of funds it was not practicable to make in all cases such surveys as are necessary for the preparation of projects of improvement with detailed estimates of cost, but in each case an examination or general survey has been made and the results, as far as received, were submitted during the last session of Congress. Some of these reports were printed, but for convenience of reference all are again submitted, and may be found in the appendix. The act approved March 3, 1875, (Statutes at Large, vol. 18, part 3, page 510,) for the further security of navigation on the Mississippi River, directed that an inquiry be made— Into the expediency of causing shear-booms to be placed on the upper end of all or any bridge-piers on the Mississippi River, for the better security and convenience of the navigation of said river for rafts of logs and timber, with specific report in each case. A board of officers of the Corps of Engineers has been constituted and is now engaged upon the consideration of the subject. It is expected that the report will be submitted during the next session of Congress. Of the amounts appropriated for public works on rivers and harbors by the act approved August 14, 1876, certain allotments have been made in compliance with the instructions of the Secretary of War of September 4, limiting the expenditures under the act to $2,000,000, and directing that no new work of improvement should be begun. The following statement exhibits these allotments in detail: In determining the amounts to be allotted to each work named, reference has been had to the balances on hand of previous appropriations for the works specified. All these improvements, for the continuance of which parts of the appropriations have been allotted, are, in my judgment, clearly national. The allotments to the improvements of lesser magnitude and conse quence are indispensably necessary to protect work already done. The officers in charge of the improvements were notified of the amounts allotted, and the works are now being conducted on this basis. Operations have not been commenced upon the new works of improvement provided for in the last river and harbor act. ATLANTIC COAST. IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS AND HARBORS IN THE STATES OF MAINE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, AND MASSACHUSETTS. Officer in charge, Lieut. Col. George Thom, Corps of Engineers. 1. Saint Croix River, above the "Ledge," Maine.-The following appropriations have been made by Congress for the improvement of this river, viz: By act approved March 2, 1867. By act approved March 3, 1873. By act approved June 23, 1874........ Total... The act of March 2, 1867, contained the proviso that $15,000 10,000 10,000 35,000 The province of New Brunswick contribute and pay to the proper disbursing officer a like sum for said purpose; said payment being made on condition that in no event shall the province of New Brunswick be called upon for more than half the sum actually expended for said purpose. An accurate survey was made of this river, under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Thom, in 1873, from the "Ledge" up to the toll-gate, between Calais and Saint Stephens, the head of navigation, and a project, with an estimate for its improvement, was submitted by him to both governments; but, owing to the fact that the obstructions to its navigation have been caused by the deposit of the "waste" from the |