With dredging, to make and maintain a permanent channel. The project did not provide for extension and repair of the Saybrook jetties, nor did the estimate include any amount for annual dredging to maintain channels, nor for dredging between the jetties at Saybrook, nor for any work whatever at Pistol Point, Mouse Island, Haddam Island, and Calves Island bais, where dredging has since been required; all of these have consumed a large part of the appropriations made since. Under this project, extended as above up to the close of the last fiscal year, a training wall of riprap, 3,689 feet long, had been built at Hartford Bar (instead of the proposed wing dam), and a riprap wing. dam 5,300 feet long had been built at Glastonbury Bar, both to the height of 3 feet above low water; part of the Hartford training wall was subsequently built to 4 feet above low water; the west jetty at Saybrook had been extended to the 16-foot curve, the east jetty to the 12-foot curve, and a channel 120 feet wide and 12 feet deep at mean low water had been dredged between them, besides maintaining the required depth in the upper half of this part of the river by annual dredg ing at a cost of from $5,000 to $10,000 each year. In 1887 it had become evident that the proposed plan of permanent improvement would not materially reduce the amount of dredging annually required, and that no effectual substitute could be recommended which would not be very expensive; and in December, 1887, a new project was adopted, under which future operations were to be confined to completing the jetties at the mouth of the river to a height of 5 feet above high water, with a top width of 6 feet, widening the channel between the jetties to 400 feet width with a depth of 12 feet at mean low water, and annual dredging to maintain the channel from Hartford to Long Island Sound at an estimated cost, as follows: For completing jetties...... For dredging between jetties $60,000 20,000 80,000 For average annual maintenance of channel from Hartford to Long Island Sound $10,000. The reasons for this change of project are fully given in a letter printed in the annual report of the Chief of Engineers for 1888, Part I, pages 536-538. OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1889. At the close of the last fiscal year dredging was in progress under an open market transaction with Mr. C. C. Goodrich, of Hartford, Conn., the rate of payment being 10 cents per cubic yard of material dredged from the river, and for work between the jetties at the mouth of the river a rate per day equal to the average per diem earning in the river. Under this transaction 15,130 cubic yards had been dredged from bars in the river up to July 1, 1888, making depths of 9 feet at low water. Work was continued until December 8, 1888, and channels of the required depth were made through all the shoals in the river, and the channel between the jetties at the river's mouth was widened to 130 feet, with depth of 12 feet at low tide. The following table shows the amount of work done under this ar rangement, both before and after July 1, 1888. By act of Congress of August 11, 1888, $10,000 was appropriated for .continuing the improvement of the river; the amount estimated for an nual maintenance of depth. The advantageous rates of the previous year's open market transac tion could not be renewed in 1889, and as it was impracticable to specify with any accuracy and in advance what work would be required, pro posals were advertised for and opened March 13, 1889, for hire of dredg ing plant by the hour, and a contract dated April 23, 1889, was entered into with J. . Fenner, of Jersey City, N. J., to furnish the required plant at the rate of $8.45 per working hour. Under this contract work was begun May 20, and up to the close of the fiscal year the plant had worked 372 hours, dredging 22,233 cubic yards, as follows: From Hartford Bar.. From Glastonbury Bar Cubic yards 13,97 4,112 4,134 The total amount dredged from the river, including Saybrook Bar, during the past fiscal year, is 98,511 cubic yards. PRESENT CONDITION OF IMPROVEMENT. At the close of the fiscal year dredging was in progress upon the shoals which had formed during the winter and spring. These shoals were in rather worse than an average condition, due to the long and unusual freshets of the late fall and winter; the spring freshets of 1889 were not as high as ordinary. Under the contract now in force the depth of 9 feet has been partly restored on the bars at Hartford, Glastonbury, and Dividend. The channel between the Saybrook jetties is as left last fall, 12 feet deep and 130 feet wide. The Hartford Dike is in good condition; the Glastonbury Dike, built on a convex bank, is now nearly covered by the advance of the bank. Both jetties at Saybrook are in fair condition. They should be built up to the dimensions provided for in the project to make them permanent. The length of the dikes and jetties is as follows: With the funds available, the 9-foot depth on the bars between Hartford and Long Island Sound will be restored. The object of first importance will always be the annual maintenance of this 9-foot depth; so much of future appropriations as is not needed for this purpose should be applied to enlarging the Saybrook jetties and to widening the channel between them, as provided in the project. About $3,700 was expended on the channel at Saybrook last year. The appropriation of August 11, 1888, being applied to annual maintenance of channels, does not reduce the amount of estimate for completion. Appropriations for the improvement of the Connecticut River below Hartford have been made as follows: Application. Date. Amount. Dredging at Saybrook Bar Dredging at Saybrook Bar (the unexpended balance of 1836 was reappropriated). Balance due contractors under previous appropriations... Mar. 1, 1843 Survey.. Mar. 2, 1867 Dredging at Pratt's Ferry, Pistol Point, Mouse Island; piling at Hart. July 11, 1870 3,471. 57 3,995. 22 20,000.00 ford. Dredging at Hartford, Clay Banks, Pier I, Pier J, Pratt's Ferry, Glas- Dredging at Pratt's Ferry and Pistol Point; Saybrook jetty..... Compensation for previous dredging Saybrook jetties; survey from Hartford to Rocky Hill. Dredging at Hartford and Glastonbury; Saybrook jetties. Dredging at Hartford, Pratt's Ferry, Glastonbury; Glastonbury wingdam and Saybrook jetties. Dredging at Hartford, Clay Banks, Pratt's Ferry, Press Barn, Glaston bury, Dividend, Pistol Point, and Salmon River; Hartford Dike. Dredging at Hartford, Clay Banks, Pratt's Ferry, Press Barn, Glaston bury, Dividend, Pistol Point, Mouse Island, and between Saybrook jetties; extending west jetty at Saybrook. 45,000.00 Dredging at Hartford, Clay Banks, Naubac, Press Barn, Glastonbury, Aug. 5, 1886 Compensation for previous dredging Annual dredging, in progress 26, 250.00 Total.. 407, 665, 22 The Connecticut River is in the collection district of Hartford. By course of river the distance from Holyoke, Mass., to Hartford, Conn., is about 34 miles, and from Hartford to Long Island Sound, about 50 miles. There is a light-house on Saybrook Point, on the west shore of the river, at its mouth, and another at the end of the west jetty, besides which there are three small beacon lights in the lower part of the river which are maintained by the United States. Fort Trumbull, New London Harbor, Connecticut, about 16 miles east from Saybrook Point, is the nearest work of defense. July 1, 1889, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1888 $3,744.37 10,000.00 13,744.37 $4, 154.52 2, 336. 17 3,000.00 9,488.69 4, 255.68 $80,000.00 10,000,00 (Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... Amount (estimated) required for annual maintenance of channel Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1891 90,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. Abstract of contract for improving Connecticut River, in force during the fiscal year ending Abstract of proposals for hire of dredging plant for improving Connecticut River, Connecticut, opened March 13, 1889, by Col. D. C. Houston, Corps of Engineers. D 4. IMPROVEMENT OF CLINTON HARBOR, CONNECTICUT. Clinton Harbor is on the north shore of Long Island Sound, about 10 miles west of the mouth of the Connecticut River. It consists of an open, shallow bay, and of the mouth of the Hammonasset River, a small stream which flows easterly in front of the town wharves and empties into the bay. For three quarters of a mile above its mouth the river is separated from the bay by a narrow strip of sand and marsh. About 1840 a breach was made through this strip a half a mile above the mouth of the river, which diverted a considerable part of the tidal flow, and since then two shoals have formed, one just inside the river's mouth, with 4.5 feet of water, and one out in the bay shortly before reaching deep water in the sound, with a depth of 4 feet. It is said that formerly there were depths of from 8 to 12 feet on both these bars, and that shoaling occurred soon after the breach was made. PROJECT FOR IMPROVEMENT. By act approved March 3, 1881, Congress authorized a survey of the harbor, which was made the same year. In his report on the survey, dated January 17, 1882, and printed in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1882, part 1, page 630, Colonel Barlow, Corps of Engineers, submitted a project for restoring the original condition of the channel by closing the breach and by subsequently, should the increased tidal current not produce the deepening desired, dredging through the shoals, making a channel 100 feet wide and 6 feet deep at mean low water. The cost of a dike to close the breach was estimated at $3,000, and the cost of the whole project, including the dredging, at $10,000. OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1888. Nothing was done; the available funds were not sufficient for continuing the improvement. PRESENT CONDITION OF IMPROVEMENT. The dike was built in 1883, using 1,574 tons of riprap granite, and costing, exclusive of superintendence, $2,219.34. An examination made in 1885 showed that it had settled about 2 feet and would require 500 tons of stone to build it up to full height; also that no material change in the channel had taken place since the dike was built. It seems established that the increase of tidal flow will not, of itself, deepen the channel as desired. PROPOSED OPERATIONS. It is proposed to complete the project by dredging channels 100 feet wide and 6 feet deep at mean low water through the two shoals in the harbor when the estimated funds, $7,000, are appropriated. The only appropriation made for improvement of this harbor is the one of $3,000 in 1882, expended in construction of dike. Clinton Harbor is in the collection district of Hartford. The nearest light-house is on Falkner's Island, 8 miles southwest. Fort Hale, New Haven Harbor, 22 miles west, is the nearest work of defense. |