REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS. It is confidently believed that an appropriation of that amount made so as to be available with the opening of the working season, in March, 1875, will lead to the completion of the work in the course of that year. Financial statement. Balance in Treasury of the United States July 1, 1873.. Amount in hands of officer and subject to his check, (including $18,230.12 percentage due on contracts not yet completed).. Amount appropriated by act approved June 23, 1874.. Amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874. Amount available July 1, 1874.. Amount required for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1876. $400,000 00 66,300 88 400, 000 00 344,987 18 505, 807 10 480,000 00 Report of Capt. Amos Stickney, Corps of Engineers. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, COLONEL: I have the honor to make the following report of the operations on the work of the improvement of the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi River, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874. On the 1st July, 1873, there remained on hand from the last year's appropriation, $66,300.88. The amount appropriated by act of Congress approved March 3, 1873, was $400,000. The project for carrying on the work during the year was as follows: To finish the masonry of the middle and lower locks; to build and bail by hired labor the necessary coffer-dams at both ends of the canal, to facilitate the excavation of the channel at the entrance; to construct by hired labor sluices at the middle and lower locks, purchasing the necessary material in open market; to complete by contract labor, as near as possible, the earth and rock excavation of the canal, and channel at entrances, and build as much of the riprap wall as could be done with the suitable stone taken from the excavations. The work in progress at the beginning of the year was the construction of the middle lock, lower lock, and delivering of stone and cement for same. The work on the middle lock was being performed under the contract of Willard Johnson, and was continued up to August 25, 1873, at which time the masonry of the lock was finished, the excavation in the prism of the canal above the lock, in the lock-section, completed, and all the slopewall laid within the lock-section where the embankment had settled and was sufficiently firm to receive it. The stone for completing the lock and slope-wall was furnished under the contract of Messrs. Wells, Timberman & Co., of Keokuk, Iowa, dated September 4, 1872. This stone was furnished from the Sonora Quarry, and is much superior to either the Ballinger or Tobie Quarry stone. stone required for the lock-walls was all dimension-stone and main-wall coping. MagThere was an unavoidable delay in the delivery, as the nesian-limestone quarries will not yield stone of a special size without much waste, and consequent delay. The cement was furnished under the contract of Mr. James Clark, of Utica, Ill., dated September 25, 1872, a sufficient quantity of which had been delivered prior to June 30, 1873, to complete the work, so no deliveries were made during the present year under his contract. The project having been approved, and authority granted to construct a sluice for wasting the surplus water discharged during heavy rains, into the canal between the middle and guard locks, the work was undertaken and prosecuted entirely by labor employed by the United States. The location of the sluice required the removal of nearly all the stone remaining over from constructing the lock before any excavation could be made. This was done during the winter of 1873-74. The necessary force was employed. Excavation for the sluice and dressing stone began in March, and on the 23d of March laying of the sluice-wall commenced, and the work progressed favorably. There has been employed in connection with the sluice-work, a force of laborers completing the slope-wall about the lock, grading, and macadamizing the space between the sluice-wall and lock-wall, and between the lock-wall and canal-embankment on the outside. The stone to complete the sluice and vertical walls, in excess of that remaining on hand, was purchased from Messrs. Wells, Timberman & Co., of Keokuk, Iowa, in open market, and was delivered by them from their quarry at Sonora, and a commendable degree of energy and promptness was displayed in the delivery. The work on the lower lock was in progress under the contract of Dull & Williams, and the final estimate was given the contractors August 23, 1873. The work consisted in breaking a small amount of macadam, laying flagging around the gate recesses, and coping on the upper vertical walls. This finished the masonry of the lower lock, and left at this point only a small amount of work in finishing slopes, grades, &c., which could not well be done at this time. In November began the work of excavating for the sluice by hired labor. This work was carried on with a small force until March, 1874, when work was stopped a few days because of a sudden rise in the river. In May it became necessary to place a steam-pump at the upper end of the sluice, so great was the seepage of water through the banks. Since the erection of the pump there has been no interruption to the work. On account of difficulty in finding room for the deposit of material excavated, a little more time and some additional expense has been incurred in this part of the work. At the end of the year about three-fourths of the excavation was completed, and as the delivery of stone commenced a small force began cutting. The laying of stone in the sluice-walls began on the 15th of June, and has continued satisfactorily without interruption. The present season has been unusually favorable, and if nothing serious happens to interrupt the work for a few weeks longer the sluice-walls will be completed, and all work remaining to be done to complete the lock-banks and grounds, such as building a few yards of slope-wall and breaking macadam, will be done this season. On the 21st of July, 1873, proposals were opened for performing the labor on “guard. lock, section work, and channel excavations." Proposals were received from J. K. Hornish, 1. {John Adair McDowell. 2. Guy Wells. 3. L. L. Hine. 4. Samuel G. Bridges. 5. J. W. Kittle & Co. 7. Willard Johnson. J. W. Kittle & Co. being the lowest responsible bidders, the work was awarded to them, but owing to the strong opposition made by competing bidders, the contract was not awarded to them till August 22, and they were unable to get to work until the 2d of September. In the mean time, a force of Government laborers were engaged in building a coffer-dam around the proposed channel excavations at the head of guardlock, and another force in stopping the leak through the bed-rock of the river under the embankment at station 66.50, and opening the drains and cross-banks through the prism of canal from Nashville to Price's Creek, to facilitate the drainage of the work, and if possible avoid the expense of pumping. These side operations by Government laborers were all finished before the contractors were ready to begin their work, so that by the 2d of September the coffer-dam was finished and pumped, and there was nothing to delay Messrs. Kittle & Co. going to work at once. During the months of September and October, 1873, the contractors succeeded in getting fairly to work; their plant of two narrow-gauge locomotives and fifty cars, rails, ties, &c., was received, and the work of excavation in the channel above guardlock proceeded, but not as rapidly as it should. Strong hopes were entertained that the work on that particular portion of the improvement would be finished by the end of November, so that the pumping machinery and contractor's force could be moved to the coffer-dam at lower end of canal, and finish that excavation before the spring floods. But the work did not progress with the rapidity that could have been desired, and, on the 15th of November, 1873, orders were received from Washington to widen the excavation 40 feet at the lower end of the new channel, and continue the same up to the guide-pier at the head of the channel. This necessarily delayed the completion of the work, but the contractors placed all the men they could work upon this new excava-` tion, and removed the material as fast as possible. During this time, more men being available than could work to advantage in the channel, a force was placed at Price's Creek, at Sandusky Pit, and upon a couple of cross-banks, so as to push the whole work toward completion wherever possible. During the following month of December, 1873, work progressed fairly until about the middle of the month, when a severe storm flooded the coffer-dam and canal prism, stopping all operations for a week, and it was not until the 12th of January, 1874, that the excavation of the new channel was completed, the pumps stopped, and the coffer-dam flooded. During the balance of the month of January, 1874, the contractors were engaged in removing their plant from Nashville to the coffer-dam at lower lock, the Government having already transferred the pumps to that dam, and being engaged in pumping it out. By the 28th they were enabled to get to work with a small force, and this they gradually increased as the dam became drier, and during the month of February, 1874, they did some very good work. March 2, however, their men struck for higher wages, and March 4 the river rose so high that in order to save the coffer-dam it was found necessary to cut it and allow it to fill. This, of course, stopped all operations in channel excavation for the time being, and the dam is still flooded. By the 11th of March the contractors, with commendable energy, had organized another force, and removing half of their machinery to Sandusky Pit, (the other half being taken to the guard-lock,) they resumed work in that pit energetically. During the months of April, May, and June the contractors have worked steadily with a fair force in the Sandusky pit, and give evidence that in a few weeks that portion of the improvement will be finished. While the excavation proper was being pushed through this pit, a drain 2 feet below grade and 12 feet wide was excavated through the center of the prism, greatly facilitating the drainage of the whole upper part of the canal as well as Sandusky Pit itself. During the latter part of the month of May one of the pumps from the lower cofferdam was set up in the Ballinger Rock pit, which it soon pumped dry, and the contractors, upen the completion of the work at the guard-lock, were able to place their force at work at Ballinger's without any delay. To facilitate these operations, a force of Government laborers were kept constantly at work bailing, digging drains, stopping leaks, repairing cross-banks, and all the little et ceteras necessary to enable the contractors to excavate the pits. Some of the material taken from excavations at the upper canal entrance was placed so as to form a dike reaching from the guard-lock to a point about 600 feet above, and so placed as to turn the water from the Nashville Creek and prevent its forming a bar at the entrance to the guard-lock, and some of the rock from the upper end of the pit was placed so as to form a guide-pier on the outside line of the channel excavation. Excavating for foundation for guard-lock was commenced in October, 1873, and extended to June 6, 1874, when the excavation included in this section was completed and the riprap wall laid on the dike above the lock to station 30, so far as the rock excavated would build it. Work was suspended at this point while the contractors were engaged at the lower lock entrance from February 11 to March 17. The foundation to this lock is similar to that of the middle lock, and required an excavation of from 8 to 15 inches below lock-bottom to get to a stratum of rock suitable for the foundation of the walls. In order to properly dispose of the excavation from the prism of the lock, and make it complete the embankment to the height of the lock-walls, it was necessary to pile the dimension and other stone already delivered for constructing the lock-walls, and which lay scattered over the ground adjoining the lock. This was done with labor employed by the United States. The stone was all piled near the track of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad. The embankment is essentially completed, leaving, however, a sufficient space to put in the lock-walls. Authority was received to build the circular wall connecting the upper outside wingwall of the guard-lock with the riprap wall on the canal-bank. The necessary labor was employed, and the wall built above ordinary low water, so that it can be completed without the necessity of building a coffer-dam; this wall came within the cofferdam built for channel excavation. There was also built at the same time a circular vertical wall connecting the south abutment of the railroad bridge over the Nashville Creek with the slope-wall inside of the dike for turning the creek. The guard-lock site is now in good condition to commence work on under the new appropriation, and the lock can be completed in about one year. On April 8, 1874, Messrs. Kittle & Co. asked for an extension of the time for completing their contract, till October 31, 1874. This extension was recommended on account of the interference with their work in the delay in commencing; outside interference with their men, causing strikes; bad weather, and the flooding of the coffer-dam; and the extension was granted. The building of the coffer-dams and bailing them by hired labor without the intervention of contractors resulted in a great saving to the Government. The exact figures cannot as yet be given on account of the unfinished condition of the work at the lower dam. The same policy was equally beneficial in the building of the sluices, as the figures on the middle-lock sluices, as given herewith, will show. The stone for the sluices purchased in open market was delivered face and backing for $7 per yard, which I believe is the lowest price ever paid on this work for stone of the same quality. In preparing the statements of construction by hired labor, great care has been taken to ascertain the exact cost of each branch of the work, to furnish information for guid ance in future operations, and from the information thus obtained, I am justified in saying that it is by far the best plan for the United States to do this class of work by their own employés. It has cost much less than any contract work on this improvement. The employés of the United States have no other interest than to carry out to the fullest extent all the instructions received, and to do the work in the very best manner, and a majority of the funds appropriated go directly to the laborers employed, benefiting the many, and not, as under the contract system, a large percentage profiting the few. Fifteen cents per square foot on the sluice-wall and five cents per square foot on the vertical wall would have bush-hammered the face of the walls, and then they would have been of the same class of work as the cut-stone masonry, for which the lowest price paid the contractors was $8 per yard. Result of operations on the "guard-lock," section work, and channel excavations under contract of Messrs. J. W. Kittle & Co., for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874. Results of operations on the middle lock, under contract of Willard Johnson, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874. Results of operations on the lower lock, under contract of Messrs. Dull and Williams, for the Bailing and draining fiscal year ending June 30, 1874. 102,075 cubic yards cut-stone masonry, $10. 137.57 cubic yards constructing slope-wall, $1.50 190.25 cubic yards loose stone, $1.. Total $1,000 00 1,020 75 206 35 190 25 2,417 35 Exhibit of stone delivered at the lower and middle locks, under contract of Messrs. Wells, Timberman & Co., for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874. 3,704 cubic yards sluice and vertical wall laid. This quality of masonry includes the vertical wall, connecting sluice-wall with upper and lower inside lock-walls. The average cost of earth-excavation is, per cubic yard... $0.35 1.50 3 83 |