APPENDIX Y Y. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1898. OFFICE MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION, St. Louis, Mo., July 12, 1898. SIR: The Missouri River Commission beg leave to submit herewith their annual report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1898. ORGANIZATION AND MEETINGS OF THE COMMISSION. The personnel of the commission during the year has been as follows: Lieut. Col. Amos Stickney, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., president. Mr. Garland C. Broadhead. Mr. Richard S. Berlin, to July 5 (inclusive), 1897. Maj. Thomas H. Handbury, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. Maj. William H. Heuer, Corps of Engineers, to November, 1897. Maj. William L. Marshall, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., from November, 1897. Capt. Hiram M. Chittenden, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., remained on duty as secretary of the commission until May 31, 1898, when he was relieved by virtue of Special Orders No. 126, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, D. C., dated May 30, 1898, assigning him to duty with the Fourth Army Corps under his commission of lieutenant-colonel and chief engineer, United States Volunteers. Under the same orders Lieutenant-Colonel Stickney was directed to assume the duties heretofore devolving on the secretary, and the transfer of the works in the secretary's charge was made May 31, 1898. The commission held four meetings during the year, viz: July 6-8, and July 31, 1897, and January 27, and March 14, 1898.' APPROPRIATION AND ALLOTMENTS. In the approved allotments from the appropriation of June 4, 1897, (sundry civil bill) there has been no change. In the approved allotments from the appropriation of June 3, 1896 (river and harbor act), a transfer of $14,000 was made from the allotment for work at Atchison, Kans., to other works, as follows: For local works below Kansas City, Mo.... $5,000 5,000 4,000 This transfer and reallotments were approved by the Secretary of War, February 11, 1898. The sundry civil act, approved July 1, 1898, contained the following item: Improving Missouri River from mouth to Sioux City, Iowa: For continuing improvement of Missouri River from its mouth to Sioux City, Iowa, including salaries, clerical, office, traveling, and miscellaneous expenses of the Missouri River Commission, surveys, permanent bench marks, and gauges, three hundred thousand dollars, of which the sum of fifty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary in the discretion of the Secretary of War, shall be expended in protecting the bank in Pelican Bend, Missouri River, and improvement of river in that vicinity, to be immediately available; the sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary in the discretion of the Secretary of War, shall be expended in improving the river and protecting the north bank thereof from erosion at and near Huntsdale, in Boone County, Missouri; the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary in the discretion of the Secretary of War, shall be expended in protecting the channel and the shore line above Glasgow, from the foot of Bowling Green Bend to the head of Harrison Island; the sum of thirty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary in the discretion of the Secretary of War, shall be expended in protecting the banks and existing Government works at and near the city of Saint Joseph, Missouri, and the sum of ten thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary shall, in the discretion of the Secretary of War, be expended in protecting the right bank of said river at and near the mouth of the Little Blue, in Jackson County, Missouri; and in the discretion of the Secretary of War, the further sum of twenty thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, shall be expended in widening and cleaning out the mouth of the Kaw River, where it empties into the Missouri River, at Kansas City. The following allotments of the amount appropriated are recommended: For work in the vicinity of St. Joseph, Mo...... For work at mouth of Kaw River For work on right bank above mouth of Little Blue River. For work above Glasgow, Mo For work near Huntsdale, Mo.. For work in Pelican Bend and vicinity. Of the above allotments a fair proportion to be expended on general office expenses. For work opposite Leavenworth, Kans For local works below Kansas City, not yet completed.... For work on First Reach.. For operating snag boat For surveys, gauges, physical data, etc.. For salaries of the commission, travel and general office expenses not otherwise provided for.. For repairs to works and contingencies.. $30,000 5,000 10,000 15, 000 10,000 50,000 5,000 30,000 75,000 20,000 10, 500 20,000 19, 500 SURVEYS AND EXAMINATIONS. 300,000 Under a project for a topographical survey of the Missouri River Valley between bluff lines from the mouth to Sioux City, Iowa, adopted by the commission September 6, 1894, this survey was resumed at 14 miles below Lexington, Mo., to which point it had been completed during the last fiscal year and was carried up to 14 miles above Quindaro, a river distance of 80 miles. In addition to this regular work it became necessary on account of complaints against some contraction works placed in the river by private interests on the north bank of the river opposite the lower portion of Kansas City, Mo., to reestablish in detail the harbor lines on the river fronts of Kansas City, Mo. and Kans., which had been established by the Missouri River Commission and approved by the Secretary of War in 1893. The survey on which the original harbor line was based was found defective in not being sufficiently tied to the secondary triangulation system of the Missouri River Valley, and was also not carried suffi ciently far downstream to accurately define that part of the river in relation to which the question of undue contraction arose. This new survey was mapped on a scale of 1 inch equals 250 feet, and a line defining the limits of allowable contraction was located on the north side. |