July 1, 1884, amount available.. Money statement. Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. $106 93 106 93 33,000 00 10, 000 00 F 5. IMPROVEMENT OF CHEESEQUAKES CREEK, NEW JERSEY. The project for this improvement, adopted in 1879, provides for changing the outlet into a direction at right angles with the beach, closing the old outlet by a sheet-pile dike 532 feet long, dredging channel through the beach 1,600 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, mean low water, and constructing lateral stone jetties to confine the new channel, each 1,500 feet long; for constructing timber dike at mouth of Buck Creek, 200 feet long; for dredging from New Landing to Furman's Dock a channel 400 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 4 feet deep, cutting through meadow 1,050 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 4 feet deep, and building timber dike 1,000 feet long; for dredging above Furman's Dock a channel 400 feet long, 100 feet wide, 4 feet deep, cutting through meadow 650 feet long, 100 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and building timber dike 300 feet long; and for dredging a channel to Whitehead's Dock 1,500 feet long, 50 to 100 feet wide, and 4 feet deep. The distance from mouth to head of navigation, to which project extends, is 33 miles. The range of tides at the entrance is 5.1 feet. The amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, was $39,968.73. All improvements have been made at the entrance, and, at that date, the old outlet was closed by the sheet-pile dike, the new outlet was dredged 1,600 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 5 feet deep, and the two confining jetties had been built-the eastern jetty being 925 feet long, and the western 995 feet. No work of improvement was done during the year, as there were no funds. A recent examination was made of the harbor, and it was found that the improvement had been in nowise impaired since work was suspended. The channel still maintains its depth of 5 feet, mean low water, and the sheet-pile dike which closes the original entrance was not injured by ice. The stone jetties are well consolidated by shell-fish. The improved channel and entrance affords ample facilities for the existing commerce of the creek, and no appropriation is needed at this time to continue the improvement. An appropriation of $5,000 is recommended to provide means for repairing damages to existing im provement by collisions with vessels or by the action of ice. The exports of the creek consist principally of potter's clay and molding-sand, oysters, fish, and vegetables, and the imports of general merchandise, lime, and compost. The annual tonnage is 50,000 tons. It is stated that about five hundred vessels, with an average draught of 5 feet, use the harbor during the year. The annual value of the commerce is estimated at $200,000, approximately. This work is in the collection district of Amboy, N. J.; nearest port of entry, Perth Amboy, N. J.; nearest light-house, Prince's Bay; nearest fort is fort at Sandy Hook, N. J. Amount of revenue collected during the fiscal year was $57, 800.65. July 1, 1884, amount available Money statement. July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of outstanding liabilities July 1, 1884. July 1, 1885, amount available........ $31 27 29.75 1 52 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. 50,000 00 5,000 00 F 6. IMPROVEMENT OF THE PASSAIC RIVER ABOVE NEWARK, NEW JERSEY. The proposed improvement was adopted in 1872, and provides for the formation and maintenance by means of dredging and training-dikes of a channel 100 feet wide and 6 feet deep at low water, from Clark's Spool Factory Dock, Newark, to the head of navigation, a distance of 7 miles. The project was modified in 1884 so as to extend the improvement to Centre Street Bridge to connect with the improvement of the lower river, the original navigable depth being 23 feet, approximately, low stage. The obstructing bars are known as Belville, Rutherford Park, and Holzman's bars, and the character and extent of the works of im provement for the securing of a navigable channel through them affording 6 feet depth at low stage are described in detail, page 538, Annual Report of Chief of Engineers, 1880, Part I. It may be stated generally that the bars are from 1,300 to 3,000 feet feet long, measured along the channel, and the width of improved channels are from 60 to 75 feet. At Belville Bar a great part of the material was composed of indurated sandstone and shale, and when removed was formed into a training-dike 2,000 feet long, rising to high water. On the left bank, just above Midland Railroad Bridge, similar material was encountered at Rutherford Park Bar, and it was likewise used, when removed, to form a training-dike on the left bank 2,850 feet long and part of another on the right bank, the projected length of which was 1,950 feet, although only about 500 feet was completed. The river embraced by these two dikes is 240 feet wide. The material at Holzman's Bar was bowlders, overlying sand, and gravel, and when removed was deposited above high water, on the left bank. The improved channel is here 1,350 feet long, 50 to 60 feet wide and 6 feet deep. In 1883, the channels over the foregoing bars being free from bowlders and dan gerous obstructions, the improvement of the bar below Midland Railroad (now Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railroad) was begun. This bar is 1 miles above Center street, Newark. In this reach there are really two shoals, separated by deep pools, one just above Clark's Spool Fac tory Dock, known as Middle Bar, and the other just below the Midland Railroad Bridge, known as Lime Kiln Bar. At the first, the improved channel was opened 1.400 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 73 feet deep, low water, and at the second, 2,370 feet long, 60 to 75 feet wide, and 7 feet deep. The material was sand and gravel and bowlders, and when removed was deposited behind the Belleville Dike. The 3,150 feet of diking on the right bank appearing in the project for improving these shoals has not been begun. The amount expended to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1884, was $120,428.16. Sealed proposals, in vited by public advertisement, were opened September 18, 1884, and the contract was awarded to Richard Parrott, the lowest bidder, at 49 cents per cubic yard. Owing to the lateness of the season and the inclement weather which prevailed during the early winter and late spring, work was not commenced till June 10, 1885. The channel at Lime Kiln Bar was widened to 75 feet, and that at Middle Bar will also be widened to 75 feet under the existing contract. The amount of material removed was 1,945 cubic yards, all of which was deposited behind the Belleville Dike. The improved depths over all the shoals improved have been well maintained, and no complaints have been heard from the captains of the boats. The depth in the pools varies from 9 to 10 feet, low stage. The estimate for "limited improvements," under the plan of 1872, was $123,924. The plans have been executed and the desired results have been attained at a cost of $120,774.69. The diking projected in the estimate for Middle Bar was not built, as has been stated, but an equivalent diking, included in the estimate of 1872 for "extended improvements," was built, as herein stated, at Belleville and Rutherford Park bars. Since 1872, the Lime Kiln and Middle bars, adjacent to Newark, have grown slightly, and commerce has demanded, owing to the growth of the city of Newark, a greater depth than 6 feet low water to the old Midland Railroad Bridge. The channel through these two last bars has in consequence been given a depth of 7 feet, low stage, and it is advisable and recommended that the channel with this increased depth be extended 1,500 feet to the Erie Railroad Bridge at Fourth avenue, Newark. This will require the excavation of 10,000 cubic yards of material at a cost of $5,000, and the estimate of 1872 for limited improvements will be increased to $129,000. The extension of the city's bulkheads for solid filling seems to render unnecessary the construction of the dike projected for Middle Bar. No action, so far as known, has been taken toward the erection of a dam across the river at Belleville to protect the interests of water-supply at Jersey City, nor has anything definite been determined by the court relative to the obligation of the Dundee Canal Company to open the navigation of the river above Dundee Dam by the construction of the canal around the dam. The country along this river is largely devoted to manufacturing purposes. It is progressively improving in popula tion and vested properties, and the principal towns where manufactories are located are Newark, Belleville, Passaic, Dundee, and Paterson. The money invested is estimated at $20,000,000. The range of tides at Passaic is 3 feet approximately, and the latest examinations show that the foundation of Dundee Dam is 6.3 feet above the level of mean high water. The amount recommended for continuing the improvement for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, is $5,000, and will be applied towards the opening of a channel 75 feet wide and 74 feet deep, low stage, from Erie Railroad Bridge, at Fourth avenue, Newark, to connection with the improved channel through Middle Bar, a distance of 1,500 feet. This improvement is in the collection district of Newark, which is the nearest port of entry. Nearest light-house Passaic Light. Fort Tompkins is the nearest fort. Amount of revenue collected during the year ending June 30, 1885, was $5,664. Original estimate for limited improvements, 1872. $123,924 00 Original estimate (revised).... 129,000 00 Estimate for extended improvements, 1872 Amount expended to June 30, 1885, exclusive of outstanding liabilities.. 120,774 69 Order of open Money statement. July 1, 1884, amount available... Amount appropriated by act approved July 5, 1884. $571 84 3,000 00 July 1, 1885, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of 3,571 84 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1887 Submitted in compliance with requirements of section 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. 5,000 00 Abstract of proposals for improving Passaic River, New Jersey, above Newark, opened September 18, 1884, by Maj. G. L. Gillespie, Corps of Engineers. ing bids. Names of bidders. Prices bid for Date of commence- Date of completion. ter commencing. June 30, 1885. 1 J. H. Staats $0.55 Within two weeks af Three weeks af Omitted 3 Morris and Cumings Dredging 54 Omitted Thirty days after Company. 4 Richard Parrott t... 5 Frank Pidgeon commencing. Omitted. Omitted. *Justification of guarantor irregular $5 per ton for bowlders weighing over one-half ton. Lowest bidder. Contract awarded to Richard Parrott, with the approval of the Chief of Engineers. COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. Trade has been much depressed for the past year, but the commerce of the river has remained practically the same as stated in last year's report. Reference is invited to statistics on page 739, Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1884, Part I. F 7. IMPROVEMENT OF PASSAIC RIVER, BELOW NEWARK, AND REMOVING SHOALS IN NEWARK BAY, NEW JERSEY. The project for this improvement was adopted in 1880, and provides for the formation and maintenance, by means of dredging and a system of training-dikes, of a channel 200 feet in width and 10 feet in depth at mean low water from the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, Center street, Newark, to Newark Bay, the original navigable depth being 74 feet at mean low water. The range of tides at Newark is 4.7 feet, approximately. The project was revised in 1884, so as to extend the improvement southward into Newark Bay, by the construction of 8,000 feet of diking in extension of the existing dike at the mouth of the river and the opening of a channel 2,000 feet long, 200 feet wide, and 10 feet deep, low stage, through the shoal in Newark Bay, abreast of Passaic Light. Up to June 30, 1884, the amount expended on the project was $122,991.47. Sealed proposals, invited by public advertisement, were opened September 17, 1884, and the contract was awarded to Messrs. H. Du Bois's Sons, the lowest bidders, for building 700 feet, more or less, of diking in Newark Bay, at $18 per linear foot, and for dredging 70,000 cubic yards, more or less, of material from the bay, at 10 cents per cubic yard. Work under the contract was begun November 13, 1884, and by the 15th of May, 1885, 699 feet of the diking were completed and filled with stone, making the aggregate length of the dike extending from the mouth of the river into Newark Bay, abreast of Elbow Beacon, 4,705 feet. Work under the contract for dredging was extended to September 1, 1885. Upto June 30, 1885, 34,509 cubic yards of material were removed from the shoal in Newark Bay, immediately south and east of Passaic Light, making the channel 2,000 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 10 feet deep, mean low water. All the material removed will be deposited behind the dike. The dike, at a point about 2,000 feet from the shore end, was injured by ice-jams early in the spring of 1885. The repairs, which will be made under a written agreement with the present contractors, will include 6,000 feet B. M. of oak sheathing, furnishing and driving 50 piles, pulling into place and bolting 250 piles, replacing 800 feet B. M. of pine walling timbers, and supplying 400 cubic yards of stone. The commerce of the river is now so large that it has been found imperative to provide 10 feet depth, mean low water, in a narrow channel, as early as possible, from the lower Newark Bay to the city wharves at Newark. The small appropriations available have not been sufficient to give everywhere the full channel width of 200 feet required by the project, nor to begin any of the diking projected for the protection of the banks or the contraction of the channel, except at the entrance. The small width of 100 feet to which the channel has necessarily been limited in places has caused a slight deterioration of depths by the leveling and wearing of the banks of the cuts, which would have been avoided had the cuts been made wider, and the total cost of execution of the original project would have been reduced. Now that 10 feet at low stage can be carried to the city, it will be advisable to begin some of the dikework for the better maintenance of the improved channel. The dike at the entrance should be extended south through Newark Bay, beyond Passaic Light, a distance of 4,000 feet, and northward at the shore-end, by a light structure to protect the banks, for a distance of 1,000 feet. Four thousand feet of the dike projected for the left bank between zine works and the toll bridge (page 537, Annual Report Chief of Engineers, 1880, Part I), opposite Point No Point, should also be built, and the channel along its front should be widened 50 feet and deepened 2 or 3 feet. The estimated cost of these necessary improvements is $125,000. An appropriation of $125,000 is recommended. The river is used principally by vessels drawing over 10 feet. Twenty-two thousand vessels passed the draw of the New York and Newark Railroad Bridge during the year. The city of Newark has a population of over 150,000 souls, 1,400 manufacturing establishments, employing 40,000 hands, and the total annual product of the diversified industries is estimated at $70,000,000. The annual tonnage of the river is estimated at 1,200,000 tons. It is apparent from these figures that the river is an essential route for the |