The work, during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, consisted in dredging on the lower half of Goose Rapids and in completing excavation of bars for 62 miles north of Grand Forks. Expended during the past fiscal year $13,552.56, resulting in 3-foot channels at ordinarily low water on the portion of rapids worked over, and betterment of the channels below Grand Forks for 62 miles. Remaining to be done: Excavation of bars between Breckenridge and Fargo; from a point 10 miles above the rapids to the middle of the latter; a small amount of excavation from the foot of the rapids to a point 62 miles north of Grand Forks; dredging at the Pelican Bars, 115 miles north of the Forks, and removal of overhanging trees, snags, and bowlders at a number of points. The sum of $40,000 estimated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, to be applied, generally, towards completion of the improvement. July 1, 1888, amount available Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1888. $9,735. 13 20,000.00 July 1, 1889, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888. 29, 735. 13 July 1, 1889, outstanding liabilities $11, 679. 42 13,552.56 July 1, 1889, balance available 16, 182.57 59,598.37 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. (See Appendix B B 6.) 7. Surveys for reservoirs at the sources of the Mississippi, St. Croix, Chippewa, and Wisconsin Rivers.-Nothing was done under this head during the past fiscal year, no funds having been available for such work. Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project .... $50,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix B B 7.) 8. Yellowstone River, Montana and Dakota.-The project for improvement is to work down the river from Glendive, building wing-dams and dams to close island chutes where necessary in order to confine the water generally to one channel, and to thereby increase the depth on the rapids and shoal places; also, to remove rocks and bowlders from the channels. The original condition of the navigable channel was bad and unsafe, due to the existence of numerous swift rapids, to crooked and shallow channel at low water, and to the presence of rocks and loose bowlders. By removing the latter at the worst places and by confining the water to one channel so as to increase the depth on the rapids, the river has been considerably improved for purposes of navigation. No work other than repairs to and care of the plant has been done since 1885, owing to insufficiency of funds. At present the stream is not navigated by steamers. Expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, $106,808.29. Expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, including outstanding liabilities, $1,319.27. July 1, 1888, amount available... July 1, 1889, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888. July 1, 1889, balance available...... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... (See Appendix B B 8.) $13, 260.98 1,319 27 11,941.71 106,000.00 25, 000, 00 EXAMINATION FOR IMPROVEMENT, TO COMPLY WITH REQUIREMENTS OF THE RIVER AND HARBOR ACT OF AUGUST 11, 1888. The required preliminary examination of Ice-harbor at or near Bismarck, Dakota, on the Upper Missouri River, was made by the local engi neer in charge, Major Allen, and reported by him as not worthy of improvement, with facts and reasons for such opinion. The Chief of Engineers, concurring in the conclusion reached in this instance, has given no instructions to make further survey with the view to its improvement. (See Appendix B B 9.) IMPROVEMENT OF TENNESSEE AND CUMBERLAND RIVERS, AND OF CERTAIN RIVERS IN EASTERN TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY. Officer in charge, Lieut. Col. J. W. Barlow, Corps of Engineers, with Lieut. H. E. Waterman, Corps of Engineers, under his immediate orders. 1. Tennessee River.-(a) Above Chattanooga.-The examinations of this section of the river in 1830 and 1871, show the principal obstructions to be reefs, gravel-bars, and a few snags, brought down by the annual floods, but that the bed and banks of the river are subject to only slight changes; improvements when made are therefore practically permanent. The present project is to blast a channel through reefs, reduce sand and gravel bars, and to build up riprap dams to contract the waterway so as to obtain a safe navigable channel depth of 3 feet at low water. The amount expended to June 30, 1888, was $225,947.70, which has secured for commerce a lengthened season of navigation for steamboats, and an improved channel for the passage of rafts and flat boats. Of the forty-three obstructions work has been done upon at least twenty-nine of them, partially removing some and more or less improv ing others. A snag and tow boat was built for use upon the Tennessee and its tributaries. In October last work was resumed at Soddy Shoals and continued at that point and White Creek Shoal until December. The snag-boat Weitzel was employed in December in clearing the channel of snags, overhanging trees, etc., between Chattanooga and White Creek, about 114 miles. Amount expended during fiscal year, including outstanding liabilities, was $5,135.87. July 1, 1888, amount available Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1888. July 1, 1889, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888 July 1, 1889, outstanding liabilities.. $72.30 15,000.00 15,052,:0 $5,027.36 5,090.76 July 1, 1889, balance available ENG 89-16 9,961.54 $59,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix C C 1.) (b) Below Chattanooga.-The original condition of the section of the river from Chattanooga, Tenn., to Brown's Ferry, Ala., was found when examined in 1867, and subsequently, to be obstructed by reefs, bars, etc., and had about 3 feet of water in the channel for eight or nine months in each year. From Brown's Ferry to Florence it was not navigable, the Muscle Shoals forming an absolute barrier, excepting when the river was at an unusually high stage. From Florence to mouth of the river the usual surface obstructions were found, with many shoals, having deep water between them. The present project consists in building around the Big Muscle Shoals a canal 14 miles long, 70 to 120 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, having nine locks, each 300 feet between gates and 60 feet wide, and an aqueduct over Shoal Creek 900 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 5 feet deep; in constructing a canal around the Elk River Shoals, 14 miles long, with two locks; and in blasting a channel through the bed rock and building wing-dams at Little Muscle Shoals, a modification of the original plan for a system of lockage; and in improving the most troublesome places above Decatur and below Florence. The total amount expended to June 30, 1888, including outstanding liabilities, is $2,957,377.28, which has resulted in the improvement of the river, as follows: The practical completion, as modified, of the Little Muscle Shoals, at a cost of about $126,180, by cutting a channel through the bed-rock, 23 miles long, and building about 3 miles of stone dams. It is very probable that these dams will be modified in the future, or that locks will be built as originally projected and estimated for. At Big Muscle Shoals and Elk River Shoals the eleven locks were built and miter-gates placed in position. The five lower locks are to have drop gates, and one of these-at lock 5-was hung. The aqueduct over Shoal Creek was erected, but considerable remained to be done to put it in an actually finished condition. Widening and straightening of canal trunk was effected. The permanent dams at Bluewater Creek and Six-Mile Creek and the Douglas Branch Bridge were constructed. The dredge Harwood and its service dump-scows were built for use in dredging canal-trunk and its approaches. The amount expended during the fiscal year, including outstanding indebtedness, was $110,112.88, with the following results: Three waste-weirs were constructed in the levels between locks 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6, respectively, to protect the tow-path, and a drift-sluice was placed at the head of lock 6 to carry off the drift, logs, etc., in times of flood. At the Shoal Creek Aqueduct the masonry was cut to receive iron work to strengthen piers; braces and connecting plates were put on, and iron work, etc., painted; a culvert was also built to drain the level above lock 7. The break in the embankment above Lock A, caused by the heavy storms of January last, was closed by a permanent crib-dam filled with stone and clay, and the embankment raised. The United States dredge Harwood was employed in dredging below Lock B, removing stone from cross-dam at Milton's Bluff, excavating two cuts from cross-dam to and through first tow head, etc.; slope-wall finished below Lock B; also, the culvert behind crib work at Lock A. Locks A and B are ready for use, with hand maneuvering appliances complete; but it is proposed to test at Lock A certain hydraulic machinery, as to efficiency and practicability for general use at each of the locks of the canal. This machinery will be built and tested early in the next fiscal year. In April the United States steamer Weitzel passed through the two locks of the upper division, and six of the lower division, the gate machinery working very satisfactorily. Work of channel excavation was begun at Nance's Reef at the close of the year. The building of a small tug-boat for use in the canal-trunk was begun; the boat will be finished in July. The United States snag-boat Weitzel was employed snagging during May; clearing the channel of snags in a stretch of river-119 milesfrom 20 miles below Bridgeport to 6 miles below Decatur. Sites for lock-keepers' houses and repair shops, etc., needed in operating and maintaining the canal, have been selected at the several locks, and necessary action is being taken to purchase the same, and procure cession of jurisdiction from the State of Alabama. Straightening the upper channel entrance to the Elk River Shoals Canal, and raising the walls of Lock A to the level of its upper bay has been recommended and will be carried into execution during the next fiscal year. The plans for the radical improvement of the Colbert Shoals and Bee Tree Shoals by locks and dams have been submitted, and the necessity of the work in connection with the opening of the Muscle Shoals Canal is urgently recommended. Attention is also invited to the pressing need of improvements at the several obstructions existing in the mountain gorge immediately below Chattanooga, and commonly known as the "Suck," requiring the removal of large bowlders, gravel-bars, and projecting shore points. July 1, 1888, amount available.... Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1888. 622.72 250,000.00 250, 622, 72 July 1, 1889, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888....... $80, 341.01 July 1, 1889, outstanding liabilities... 26, 392. 22 106,733. 23 July 1, 1889, balance available....... 143, 889. 49 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project...... 1,848,000. 00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1891.... Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix C C 1.) 1, 000, 000, 00 2. French Broad River, Tennessee. This river has a course in Tennessee of about 121 miles. It joins the Holston about 5 miles above Knoxville, thus forming the Tennessee. Examinations were made in 1871 and 1875. The obstructions were of the character of those usually found in mountain streams-rockreefs, gravel and sand bars, snags, etc. The present project consists in removing surface obstructions, reducing ledges and bars, building wing-dams to contract the water-way, where necessary, so as to obtain a channel depth of 24 feet at ordinary low water to Leadvale, about 90 miles from mouth of river. Above the mouth of Nolichucky River (Leadvale) to the boundary line of Tennessee and North Carolina, a system of locks and dams is the only feasible means of navigation, but the amount of commerce does not warrant the heavy expenditure. The total amount expended to June 30, 1888, was $28,000, which has resulted in obtaining an improved channel, and an increased depth of from 6 to 10 inches over several of the worst obstructions. During the fiscal year work was carried on at Seven Island Shoals by clearing the channel of bowlders, snags, etc., and reducing the velocity of the current by the construction of seven or more new dams and modifying old ones. The amount expended in this work, including outstanding liabilities, was $6,646.61. Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1858.. $10,000,00 July 1, 1859, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888 July 1, 1889, outstanding liabilities.. $5,034.81 July 1, 1889, balance available... 6, 602.17 3,397.83 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. 112,000.00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30,1891 20,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix C C 2.) 3. Hiawassee River, Tennessee.-This stream is an affluent of the Tennessee, which it enters about 38 miles above Chattanooga, Tenn. An examination was made in 1875, when it was found that the river was greatly obstructed by reefs, gravel-bars, snags, and overhanging trees. The project provides for the reduction of the reefs and bars, the removal of surface obstructions, and the building of wing-dams to contract the water-way, so as to secure a navigable channel about 40 feet wide, and 2 feet deep at the average low-water stage, to head of navigation, Savannah Ford, about 43 miles. The amount expended to June 30, 1888, was $34,000, which has resulted in clearing and improving the channel in the lower river, by removing surface obstructions to a limited degree from time to time during twelve years from 1876 to 1888. No expenditures were made during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889. Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1888 $1,000.00 21.9 July 1, 1889, balance available...... (Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1891 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. 978.11 1,500.00 1,500.00 (See Appendix C C 3.) 4. Clinch River, Tennessee.-This stream rises in Virginia, and is an affluent of the Tennessee River. It is about 400 miles long, 230 miles of which are in Tennessee. An examination was made in 1875, when it was found to be ob structed by ledges, gravel-bars, snags, overhanging trees, and a nar. row crooked channel in many places. The project for the improve. |