not to exceed one set to each vessel; charts to other parties to be sold at 30 cents each. From and after that date no more free issue was made, and charts were sold at 30 cents each, this price continuing until July 16, 1890, since which date the price has been 20 cents. Because of the phenomenal increase of commerce on the lakes, and under the stimulus of the increased depth made practicable through the St. Marys River by the completion of the new lock and the increase of depth obtained by the improvements made in the channels of the rivers and in the harbors of the lakes, the draft of lake vessels has steadily increased, and therefore the interests of navigation have required reëxamination of certain shoaler areas sufficiently surveyed and charted for the older conditions of a 12-foot navigation. In 1887 a vessel struck on a shoal and in 14 feet of water where 22 feet was shown. This obstruction was found to have been a detached bowlder about 6 by 4 feet on top, and this occurrence suggested the desirability of having funds available for limited surveys in such cases as this and for keeping the charts in all respects up to date. Accordingly an estimate of $10,000 was submitted with the Annual Report of 1887, which estimate was repeated for the Annual Report of 1888. An appropriation of $5,000 was made March 2, 1889, for "surveys, additions to, and correcting engraved plates." This and succeeding appropriations for the same purpose to date are as follows: Under these appropriations reëxaminations have been made of various localities, as shown by the annual reports, and quite extensive reëxaminations are now under way on the St. Marys and St. Lawrence rivers. Under the supervision of this office and during the fiscal year additions have been made to the engraved copperplates of charts of Lake Superior, Nos. 1 and 2. North end of Lake Michigan. Beaver Island Group, Lake Michigan. Coast chart No. 8, Lake Michigan. Coast chart No. 9, Lake Michigan. Grand and Little Traverse Bays, Lake Lake Huron. Presqu' Isle and Middle Island, Lake Coast chart No. 1, Lake Ontario. New electrotypes of the following plates have been made: Straits of Mackinac. North end of Lake Michigan. Beaver Island group, Lake Michigan. During the year 6,757 charts were distributed under the supervision of Col. O. M. Poe, Corps of Engineers, at Detroit, Mich. Of these 6,347 were sold at 20 cents each, 18 at 10 cents each, 5 at 5 cents each, and 5 at 4 cents each. In addition 12 charts were sold from this office at 20 cents each, and 261 from the office of Capt. W. L. Marshall, Corps of Engineers, at Chicago, Ill., at 5 cents each. The total amount received from the sale of charts was $1,287.10, which has been turned into the Treasury. The total appropriation for printing and distributing these charts was only $2,000. Were it not for the fact that the distribution is made from an office already organized for river and harbor work, the necessary supply of charts could not be printed and distributed for so small an appropriation. Under the supervision of Colonel Poe additions were made to the following charts: River Ste. Marie, No. 1. East Neebish Rapids, river Ste. Marie. Beaver Island group, Lake Michigan. Coast chart, No. 7, Lake Erie. Lake Michigan coast chart, No. 8. During the fiscal year surveys were made as follows: St. Marys River, from White Fish Bay to Detour light-house. This survey is executed under the supervision of Col. O. M. Poe, Corps of Engineers. Under an allotment of $4,000, afterwards increased to $4,325, work was commenced in January, 1893. This allotment was so small that the work was confined to the requisite astronomical determinations and to the extension of the triangulation. At the close of the fiscal year a field observatory had been constructed at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., observations had been completed for the determination. of latitude, and observations were in progress for the determination of longitude. Eight primary triangulation stations had been definitely, and four approximately, selected. Six triangulation stations had been built, and from twelve to fifteen lines of sight cut. Preparations had been made for active field work after July 1, 1893. The estimated cost of the resurvey of St. Marys River is $64,080, of which $40,000 can be profitably expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1895. (See Appendix D D D 1.) Seneca Shoal, Lake Erie.-This shoal, located S. 15° 36′ W., and distant 61 miles from the Buffalo Breakwater Light, was struck by the steamer Seneca, of the Lehigh Valley line, and a survey was at once ordered, and was made under the direction of Maj. E. H. Ruffner, Corps of Engineers. This shoal, with 15 feet of water upon it at ordinary lake level, is now shown on the charts. Discharges of Niagara River.-A report upon the measurements made appears in Appendix D D D 2 to this report. Resurvey of the lake front at Chicago.-This survey, made under the direction of Capt. W. L. Marshall, Corps of Engineers, has been completed, and a preliminary map, showing the obstructions, etc., and the sailing lines to avoid them has been issued, and is for sale at Col. Poe's office, in Detroit, and at Capt. Marshall's office, in Chicago. (See Appendix D D D 3.) Shoal at the mouth of the Niagara River.-Report reached this office in July, 1892, that a steam barge grounded on this shoal, the water being "about 11 feet deep, although on the coast chart it is marked 13foot shoal." A survey was accordingly ordered, and was made under the direction of Capt. Dan C. Kingman, Corps of Engineers. The examination showed that the shoal was properly located on the chart, and with the proper depth for the level to which the chart is drawn. The lesser amount of water existing when the barge grounded was due to the fluctuating level of the lake. The report appears in Appendix D D D 4 to this report. Surveys in the St. Lawrence River.-A reëxamination of the hydrography to discover obstructions at greater depth than that heretofore demanded by navigation being determined upon, it has been decided to sweep the channels with a horizontal bar carried at the designated depth. The work is carried on under the direction of Capt. Smith S. Leach, Corps of Engineers. Preliminary to the actual survey, a careful examination has been made of the original notes and sheets of the former survey, and the work will now progress under an allotment.from the funds available for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1894. Continual effort has been made to keep the charts up to date, and a very considerable number have been corrected during the year, and the special examinations made in connection with river and harbor work have been made use of whenever available. If it were not for this collateral assistance a number of very important charts would, owing to lack of funds to make surveys, be in a very imperfect, and, in some cases, useless condition. As soon as the funds available will permit it is proposed to prepare and publish general charts of lakes Superior and Michigan, each on one sheet, there being a great demand for these charts at present; also to prepare and publish coast charts of lakes Huron and Superior in order to complete the set of charts of the lakes. These projects or something of a similar nature will have to be carried out if the charts are to be rendered of the greatest service to navigators. The work already done, particularly the location of the dangerous shoals in Lake Erie, has fully demonstrated the necessity which exists for work of this character. The lake marine is of too great importance to the country at large for any effort looking toward its safety to be spared. When the Government sells charts to navigators these charts should embody the latest and most accurate information concerning the localities to which they refer, and everything should be done to render navigation safe and certain. The low water of recent years, combined with the great increase in size and number of vessels, has resulted in the larger and more expensive vessels discovering dangers previously unknown, and discovering them by the costly process of striking them. All dangers so discovered should at once be surveyed and located upon the charts, in order to prevent the repetition of similar accidents at the same point. Localities deemed perfectly safe for navigation when smaller vessels were used are now regarded with suspicion by the larger vessels, and it is essential that certain special areas should be reëxamined. St. Marys River is one of the localities on the lakes where new surveys are essential in order that the charts may be rendered of the greatest service; the surveys upon which the present charts are based were made between 1853 and 1857, and since that time the region tributary to the river has undergone an enormous development. More than 9,000,000 tons of freight now pass through the river annually, and extensive works of improvement have been completed and are in progress. Since the original surveys were made the draft of vessels has increased from 9 and 12 feet to 16 feet and will shortly be increased to 20 feet. The river is a difficult one to navigate with the large vessels of the present time, and new charts are absolutely essential. The records of the former survey and of the river improvement will prevent all duplication of work, and will permit the survey to be pushed to completion as quickly as possible. The organized districts in connection with river and harbor work now established at the chief cities on the lakes will greatly facilitate keeping all of the charts up to date, and will insure the maximum results with the minimum cost. In view of the great importance of this work to the lake marine an appropriation of $50,000 for surveys and other expenses connected with correcting and extending the charts of the northern and northwestern lakes is most earnestly recommended, as the conditions now existing are urgent and require that this amount should be available at the earliest possible moment, and an appropriation of $3,000 is recommended for the printing and distribution of the charts. Attention is invited to the fact that it is estimated that it will require $40,000 to complete the survey of the St. Marys River. The great and growing commerce on this highway demands an early completion of the work. The officer in charge reports that this sum can all be profitably expended during the fiscal year if made available. The extension of the charts to include general charts of lakes Superior and Michigan, of coast charts for lakes Superior and Huron, and surveys at other localities will absorb the balance of the estimated amount for the fiscal year of 1894. Again, the work during a fiscal year in that latitude is interrupted by the inclement season of about five months' duration in the middle of the fiscal year. It would be an actual economy and saving to have the funds appropriated made available until expended, in which event arrangements could be made to organize the field work to commence in the spring and to continue uninterruptedly until the close of the season. As matters now are, work must be organized so as to cease absolutely on June 30; then, if an appropriation be made. after that date, only to be available for the fiscal year, the work can not be effectively organized for operations for the remainder of the season, and effective work can only begin in the ensuing spring, to be again interrupted on June 30. Annual water levels of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes.-Tables showing the monthly means of water levels from July 1, 1892, to June 30, 1893, at Charlotte and Oswego, Lake Ontario; at Erie and Cleveland, Lake Erie; at Milwaukee, Lake Michigan; and at Escanaba, Green Bay (no observations being made at this latter place from December 17, 1892, to April 26, 1893), being in continuation of those published in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1892, will be found in Appendix D D D 5. In the publication of water levels heretofore the readings of the gauge at Ogdensburg, on the St. Lawrence River, have not been given. Considering the increasing commerce on that river and to that port, this record of gauge readings has become important, and accordingly the readings from 1869 to 1874 and from 1883 to 1892, inclusive, so far as the same have been recorded, with the exception of the year 1888, are given in Appendix D D D 6. CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF ROADS AND BRIDGES IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. Officer in charge, Maj. William A. Jones, Corps of Engineers, with Lieut. Hiram M. Chittenden, Corps of Engineers, under his immediate orders until March 28, 1893; Division Engineer, Col. O. M. Poe, Corps of Engineers. The construction of roads and bridges in Yellowstone National Park was commenced in a systematic manner in 1883, when the direction of the work was placed in the hands of an officer of the Corps of Engineers. A number of small appropriations had been expended in the endeavor to make it possible to reach the main objects of interest; access was rendered possible, but only after a tiresome trip, attended with considerable danger. Since 1883 the work has remained in the charge of the Engineer Department. At the outset the engineers adopted a project which has since been followed. It embraces a belt-line road, commencing at Gardiner, on the north boundary line of the Park; thence to Mammoth Hot Springs; thence to Upper Geyser Basin via Norris Geyser and Lower Geyser basins; thence to the outlet of Yellowstone Lake via Shoshone Lake and the west arm of Yellowstone Lake, crossing the Continental Divide of the Rocky Mountains twice; thence to Yancey via the Falls and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River; thence to Mammoth Hot Springs, completing a circuit of about 145 miles. There are also included in the project a road from the west boundary line of the Park to intersect the road along the Yellowstone River, between the lake outlet and the Falls, via Lower Geyser Basin; a road from Norris Geyser Basin to the Falls of the Yellowstone; a road from Yancey to the east line of the Park, and short branch roads to points of interest, comprising in all about 225 miles of new roads, with necessary bridges and culverts. Estimated costs, as revised in 1889, $444,779.42. The act of Congress approved March 3, 1891, changed the project of that part of the belt line between Lower Geyser Basin and Yellowstone Lake by requiring the road to be built "by the shortest practicable route" from Fountain Geyser to the Thumb of Yellowstone Lake. This change did not materially affect the cost. The act of Congress approved August 5, 1892, appropriated $45,000 and provided— That fifteen thousand dollars of this amount, or so much thereof as may be necessary, may be expended, in the discretion of the Secretary of War, for the construction of a road from the Upper Geyser Basin to a point on Snake River where it crosses the southern boundary of the Park. This act has been construed as the wish of Congress to modify the project by adding about 331⁄2 miles of roads, which will considerably increase the estimated cost made in 1889. Experience has proven the estimate to have been too low, even for the original project. The officer in charge proposes at an early date to submit an estimate for the completion of the project as amended by the acts of Congress. The officer also calls attention to the fact that about 20 per cent of the appropriations thus far made have been expended in repairs and should not be charged to the cost of constructing new roads. At the beginning of the year 116 miles of roads had been opened to travel, though their construction is not yet completed. These roads enabled tourists to visit Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basin, Lower Geyser Basin, Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone Lake, the Falls, and upper end of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. Total amount expended upon the project since commencement of work in 1883 to June 30, 1892, including outstanding liabilities. $334,779.42. During the past year the bulk of the work has been in repair and improving the construction of existing roads. Short stretches of new roads were built to avoid excessive grades in old roads at Norris and Canyon Creek Hills. The construction of a new road 1 mile long was commenced at the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone, to replace an equal length of old road. The road to Inspiration Point was extended half a mile. Repairs were made from Mammoth Hot Springs to Cook City, at Virginia Cascade, on Blanden Hill, and in Gibbon and Grand canyons, Six substantial bridges were constructed, of an average span of 40 feet; two over Gibbon River, three over the Firehole above Upper Basin, and one small bridge across a tributary of the latter river. |