The decrease in registered tonnage is caused partly by the withdrawal of the Collingwood line of steamers, but more particularly by the deductions from the gross tonnage of vessels under act of August 5, 182, it being from 20 per cent. to 50 per cent. on steam vessels and 5 per cent. on sailing vessels. NOTE.The "in-transit trade" of the port of Duluth for the year ending December 31, 1883, is as follow: Value of merchandise Estimated duties thereon $50,377 00 15,010 40 S'atement of freights forwarded and received by railroads at Duluth for the year 1883. COMMODITIES FORWARDED. Receipts and shipments by lake during the year 1883 at the port of Duluth, Minn. RECEIPTS OF COAL. The great increase in Duluth's lake commerce may be well illustrated by a comparison of the total receipts of coal for 1883 with the total for 1882 and 1881: The above figures show not only a large increase in the total receipts, but also that boats of greater carrying capacity engaged in the Duluth trade last season, being enabled to do so by the further improvement of this harbor and the Sault Canal. It will be seen, also, that the receipts in 1883 were more than the receipts in 1882 and 1881 together. Arrival and clearance of vessels from opening of navigation, 1884, to June 30, 1884. September 25 NE. 28 12. 15 NE. 44 12.00 36 This storm raised a very heavy sea. S Very heavy snowfall during the storm and the sea was heavy, crushing the ice against the piers. Heavy sea. The sea was terrific: a schooner went ashore on Minnesota Point, but got off without much damage. The sea in the bay was heavy. Very heavy rainfall accompanied this storm. The amount was 2.54 inches. This storm was accompanied by a heavy thunder-storm. Heavy sea raised. NE. 40 62.30 Thirteen heavy storms reported for this month. Terrific sea raised by this storm and damage reported. Heavy sea all day. No vessels went out. 5.45 No damage reported from this storm. REPORT OF MR. GUY WELLS, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, SIR: I have the honor of submitting the following report of work done at Duluth Harbor, Minnesota, and Superior Bay, Wisconsin, from June 30, 1883, to June 30, 1884: DREDGING IN DULUTH HARBOR. Messrs. Williams and Upham continued their dredging, under their contract of date September 19, 18-2, from June 30 to November 5, 1883, at which time they completed their contract. During this period they dredged 91,832.64 cubic yards, amounting to $14,693.22. Of this amount 85,248.96 cubic yards was done in removing shoals and in deepening the dredged area of the harbor, and 6,583.63 cubic yards was done in enlarging the harbor on the south side thereof near the Northern Pacific and the Ohio Coal and Barge Company's coal docks. On the opening of navigation this spring it was found that shoals had formed during the winter inside the harbor near the caual, which precluded large boats from entering the harbor. The allotment of money for dredging having all been expended in 1883, permission was asked and obtained to use a small balance that was reserved for the preservation of the canal piers for the removal of these shoals. Seventeen thousand one hundred and eighty-five and twenty-hundredths cubic yards were removed at a cost of $3,437.04. This work enabled vessels to enter the harbor, but as the water both in the lake and harbor was from the opening of navigation to the 20th of May from 0.8 to 1 foot below normal, i. e., below the low water of 1873, vessels had some difficulty in reaching their docks. Since the 20th of May no vessel drawing 14.8 feet has grounded in the harbor within the limit dredged by the United States. About threefourths of the dredged area of the harbor has now a depth of water varying from 16 feet and upwards, and in the other one-fourth the water is from 13 to 16 feet deep. The whole harbor should be deepened so as to have a uniform depth of at least 18 feet. This will enable vessels drawing 16 feet to pass around within the harbor without disturbing the fine sand of which the bed of the harbor is composed, thereby securing a level bottom, free from humps thrown up by the wheels of the boats, as is now the case. The Blast-Furnace Channel, which was excavated in 1880-'81, is 100 feet wide and 2,800 feet long. It has now a depth of 14 feet of water. The chanuel on the east side of Rice's Point is 50 feet wide and 7,500 feet long, extending from the Blast-Furnace Channel down to an intersection with the Saint Louis Channel, a short distance below the upper end of Connor's Point. Between the Blast-Furnace Channel and the old dike the water in this channel is only 12 feet deep, and between the dike and the Saint Louis Channel it is 14.5 feet deep. This work was done in the summer of 1881, and was originally dug to a uniform depth of 16 feet. The shoaling between the Blast-Furnace Channel and the old dike was caused by the working of the steam-tugs in getting logs into the booming-grounds of the adjacent saw-mills. This channel will always be subject to the same shoaling from the same cause. This dock-line and channel was located in shoal water and too near Rice's Point. Another serious objection to it is the sharp angle where it intersects the Blast-Furnace Channel. In my opinion it will be cheaper and a great deal better for the purposes of navigation to abandon it before any more work is done and have the dockline located further out, in deeper water; that is, establish a new line, starting from the corner of the Northern Pacific coal dock and extending it in a straight line to Pugh's Dock, on Connor's Point, crossing the present channel at or near the old dike. The advantages of a change are: It would make a straight channel and avoid the angle opposite the blast furnace; it would give room for booming logs without interfering with the channel; it would be in deeper water, consequently save excavation, and it would save cutting an independent channel across the bar below Rice's Point to the entrance of Saint Louis Bay. DULUTH CANAL PIERS. No work has been done on the canal piers during the present fiscal year. They are in the same condition that they were at the date of my last report, usual wear and decay alone excepted. Superior Bay, Wisconsin.-Williams and Upham continued dredging under their contract, dated September 19, 1882, from June 30 to October 6, 1883, at which time they completed their contract. During this time they dredged 72,842 cubic yards, at a cost of $12,383.14. Of this amount 680 cubic yards were dredged between the piers in the entry and 72,162 cubic yards in the Quebec and Northern Pacific channels. In May, 1884, the citizens of Superior City made an application to have a portion of the money reserved for the preservation of the piers expended in dredging in the entry, which application was granted. Williams and Upham made a proposition to do said dredging, which proposition was accepted, and they commenced the work on the 26th of May and completed it on the 28th of June, 1884. During this time they dredged 17,831.90 cubic yards, amounting to $4,279.65. This work consisted in cleaning out the 100-foot wide channel that was excavated last season, which had shoaled from the lake end of the piers up, a distance of 350 feet. Also in widening the channel 75 feet from the entrance up, a distance of 550 feet, and 25 feet the whole length of the channel. Five hundred and fifty feet of the outer end of the channel is now 175 feet wide, and the remainder of it is not less than 125 feet wide, with not less than 16 feet depth of water, the average depth being over 17 feet. Quebec and Northern Pacific channels.-The Northern Pacific dock channel is 300 feet wide, and the Quebec dock channel is 400 feet wide at each end and 190 feet wide in the center. When work was suspended, in October, 1883, there was not less than 16 feet of water in them. By soundings taken May 19, 1884, several places were found where there is only 13 feet of water, others where it is from 14 to 15.5 feet. This shoaling mostly occurred near the center of the channels, leaving deep water on both sides of the shoals. PIERS AT NATURAL ENTRY. There has been no work done on these piers since the date of my last report. They are substantially in the same condition now that they were then. Very respectfully submitted. CHARLES J. ALLEN, Major of Engineers, U. S. A. EE 2. GUY WELLS, Assistant Engineer. DREDGING SUPERIOR BAY, WISCONSIN. The present plan of improvement is based upon the report of a Board of Engineers convened in January, 1881, and contemplates 1. Deepening and enlarging the channel between the piers at the entry. 2. Dredging a channel from the entry past the mouth of the Nemadji River around and parallel to the shore of Superior Bay to Quebec Wharf. 3. Thence from Quebec Wharf along the west side of the bay to an intersection with the channel of the Saint Louis River opposite Connor's Point. 4. Up the Nemadji River for about half a mile. The preservation, by deepening and enlarging, of the old Quebec Wharf Channel was afterwards added. The dredging to afford 16 feet depth. The cost of preservation of the piers at the entry placed at $25,000. Total estimated cost, $312,080. For the history of the work for improvements in the Bay of Superior to close of fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, see pages 1470–1475, Appendix Y, Annual Report 1879. For account of improvements since 1879 see Annual Reports to date. Under the appropriation of $40,000 by act of Congress passed August 2, 1882, a contract was entered into September 19, 1882, with Williams & Upham, of Duluth, for dredging. This contract was extended, as to time, to November 15, 1883. (See last Annual Report.) The dredging continued until October 6, 1883, when the contract was completed. Quantity of material removed during the fiscal year, 72,842 cubic yards, and as follows: Between the piers at the entry, 680 cubic yards; in the Quebec Channel, 43,899.62 cubic yards; and in the channel in front of the Northern Pacific Railroad Dock, 28,262.38 cubic yards. Examinations made in May, 1884, showed more or less of shoaling in the channels dredged in 1883 and years preceding. In the entry, near the lake ends of the piers, the shoaling was from 1 to 2 feet in depth. A dredge was set at work May 26 to deepen the entry, under an agreement with Williams & Upham, of Duluth, at 24 cents per cubic yard. Quantity of material removed under this agreement, 17,831.90 cubic yards. Some slight repairs were made to the sand-fence at the "Opening." This work was by hired labor. The condition of the harbor and its works June 30 may be stated as follows: A least depth of 16 feet throughout the entry; from the entry to the Connor's Point Docks, least depth, 143 feet, nearly; and in the Quebec and Northern Pacific Dock Channel, generally 16 feet depth and upwards, excepting some few points where it has shoaled to 13 feet, and a shoal in the middle of the channel that has formed since October, 1883. It should be added here that no dredging was done between the |