Bill of expenditures on account of new junction of Ossage and Missouri rivers, etc.—Cont'd. Classification and extent. Cost in Total. Excavating through accretions below Dike 19 A, initial v-shaped ditch, 8,679 cubic yards of earth (slip scrapeis): Labor... Total cost of excavating 8,679 cubic yards of earth, hauled 125 feet, at $0.2232 per cubic yard....... Woven mattress for protection of embankment: $1, 694. 41 $1,936. 91 Total cost of mattress in place, 100 linear feet, at $1.0388 per linear foot.. Ballasting mattress: 109.85 Total cost of ballasting........ 57.96 Miscellaneous, handling materials and supplies and towage of plant, materials, and supplies 856, 53 Intercepting levee (wheel scrapers): Total cost of 2,100 cubic yards of earth in place, at $0.1811 per cubic yard. Protection of embankment in Dike 19) A: Labor. Materials Towage.... Total cost of protection of embankment in Dike 19 A...................... EXHIBIT C. 380.33 288.00 1,234. 46 10. 25 45.00 1,577.71 43, 189.95 Consolidated bill of expenditures on account of dikes, Gasconade Division, during fiscal Consolidated bill of expenditures on account of dikes, Gasconade Division, etc.—Cont'd. Bill of cost of extending bankhead, in Chamois Bend, during fiscal year ending June Bill of expenditures on account of procuring willow brush during fiscal year ending June 30, 1898. EXHIBIT F. Bill of expenditures on account of procuring rock ballast at Little Tavern Quarry during fiscal year ending June 30, 1898. Expenditure on account of plant during fiscal year ending June 30, 1898. Expenditure on account of plant during fiscal year ending June 30, 1898—Continued. NOTES OF LIEUT. COL. H. M. CHITTENDEN, UNITED STATES VOLUNTEERS, CAPTAIN, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, ON OSAGE AND GASCONADE RIVERS. * Commercial importance and navigable condition.-The Osage and Gasconade rivers in Missouri are two of the few remaining navigable streams in the United States whose tributary country is still practically without railroads. Between Osceola, the head of navigation on the Osage, and the mouth of the river, a distance of 228 miles, branch lines of the Missouri Pacific Railroad touch the river at two points, viz, at Bagnell and Warsaw, distant, respectively, 70 and 172 miles from the mouth. Between Arlington, the head of navigation on the Gasconade, and the mouth of the river, a distance of 108 miles, there are no railroads whatever. Not only have no railroads yet been built in these valleys, but there very likely will not be. The extraordinary sinuosity of these streams will always be a serious obstacle to railroad construction. These bends are of an entirely different origin from those in a stream like the Missouri. They are in no sense caused by the wanderings of the streams back and forth across broad alluvial bottoms, but are the permanent course of the streams as defined by the bluffs, which crowd close up to the river even in the most acute angles. A railroad could hardly follow these streams, the Osage particularly, except at great expense for cuts and tunnels, and great loss of distance. But for the streams themselves, considered solely as outlets for the local commerce of the country, their sinuosity is a great advantage. It gives a much flatter slope to the river, and at the same time is closely accessible to a much larger extent of country. These rivers are, then, not only important present lines of communication with the neighboring country, but they are likely to remain the only ones for a long time to come. They are of more than ordinary importance in this connection because of the topographical features of the country. It is one of the most difficult regions in the United States in which to construct good roads, owing to the extremely rugged character of its topography. Long hauls of produce to the railroads are in many cases out of the question. The natural roads lead to the river, and it is here only that can be found any practicable outlet to market. The principal products of the country are grain, live stock, and ties. The following table, made up from the report of the labor commissioner of Missouri for 1896, will give an idea of the annual product from the section of country immediately tributary to these two streams: One of the bends on the Osage River is 31 miles around, while the distance across the neck is only 1 miles. On the Gasconade there is a bend 8 miles around to 1 across. The commercial statements show the amounts actually carried. The period during which the river was navigable covered only about six months of the year. Had the river been in a fair navigable condition at all times these figures would probably have been quadrupled during the year. On the Osage River the following boats do a regular business on the stream: The Frederick, J. R. Wells, Romania, L B +. On the Gasconade there are the Jack Rabbit and Peerless. Navigable conditions.—The geological character of the country through which these rivers flow, for at least the lower 100 miles of their course, is that of a limestone formation which from the hills overspread nearly everywhere by a reddish gravelly drift of a composition entirely unlike that of the subjacent rock. The limestone is constantly in evidence along the river bluffs and give a scenic effect of great beauty. The bluffs, when not too abrupt, are generally clothed with growths of oak, walnut, cedar, and other shrubbery, while the immediate river banks are lined with cottonwood and sycamore, some of the trees attaining enormous size. These riparian forests will always be the source of one of the principal obstructions to the navigation of these streams, on account of the immense number of snags with which they fill the bed of the stream. The rock which composes the river banks extends, of course, underneath the bed of the stream, but only in very rare instances does the river flow directly upon it. The original bed, carved out from the rock, has become filled with the gravel already described, and the gravel determines the character of the river bed. It forms all of the bars, has considerable stability under the action of the current, lends itself readily to works of improvement, and has considerable commercial value as an excellent gravel for a great variety of uses. Both rivers in their natural low-water condition consist of a series of pools separated by shoals. In the Osage these pools are very long, often 3 or 4 miles, without a perceptible current. Those in the Gasconade are shorter, and they generally have an appreciable current even in low water. On both rivers these pools generally have ample navigable depth, the real obstacles to navigation being concentrated at the shoals. The problem of securing a good navigable depth over these shoals is therefore the whole problem of the improvement of these streams. Before considering it in detail, the characteristics peculiar to each stream will be noted. The Osage River has a drainage area of 14,814 square miles. Its flood discharge near the mouth has been as high as 158,000 second-feet. Its low-water discharge does not much exceed 540 second-feet. The total fall from Osceola to the mouth is 168 feet, or an average of 0.74 feet per mile. In low water this slope is mainly concentrated at the shoals, of which there are 104 in which the fall, between pools, is more than 6 inches. By far the worst of these shoals is located just above the site of Lock No. 1, now in course of construction, and will soon be eliminated from the problem altogether. The minimum depth in very low water, over the other shoals, varies from 1 to 2 feet. The Gasconade River has a drainage area of about 3,478 square miles. As 2,744 square miles of this is above Arlington, it is seen that the discharge of this river is nearly constant over its entire navigable length. The flood discharge has never been measured. The low water discharge is about 570 second-feet, or about 6 per cent more than the Osage with four and one-fourth times as large a drainage area. The fall of the river from Arlington to the mouth is 172 feet, or an average of 1.52 feet per mile. The pools are shorter and the bars more frequent and numerous than on the Osage. There are sixty of these shoals between Indianford and the mouth, a distance of 78 miles, in which the total fall is 108 feet. The total length of these bars is about 12 miles. The total fall at the shoals is about 76 feet, and the maximum fall at any one shoal is about 3 feet. The average slope of the pools is probably 0.5 feet per mile, and there is a very perceptible pool current. The most troublesome of the bars is that at Stake shoal, 8 miles above the mouth. Method of improvement.-On both streams the snags in the river bed and the defi. cient depth on the shoals are the two important obstacles to navigation. Both rivers can be kept free from snags, at an annual outlay not exceeding $2,500 for each. In regard to the shoals, it has been held in previous reports that canalization is the only satisfactory way to get rid of these obstacles. But a personal examination of both streams convinces me that it can easily be accomplished at a far less cost by simple contracting works such as have already been built on the Osage. These works, as the accompanying photographs will show, have remarkable stability. In fact, I could not see that the action of the river, in the great majority of cases, had injured them at all. By a further extension of the system and a better adaptation of the cross section of the contracted channel at least a 2-foot depth can be maintained on both rivers. The works ought, of course, to be studied in their actual effects and modified as experience might indicate, and they would probably have to be supplemented by a limited amount of dredging. |