to the partial removal of rock at Breaker Island, near Troy, and to the removal of wreck from navigable channel under improvement. Under the new project contract was entered into with P. Sanford Ross, December 19, 1892, for the removal of all the rock and sand covering rock in place, and with Edwards, Howlett, and Thompson, December 23, 1892, for all the dike-work and dredging required for the improvement. Under these contracts the work of repairs to existing dikes, construction of new dikes, dredging at Mulls Cross-over and Austins Rock, and removal of Austins Rock is in progress at the close of the fiscal year. July 1, 1892, balance unexpended. Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892. Amount appropriated by sundry civil act approved March 3, 1893 $41, 113. 73 187, 500.00 500,000.00 July 1, 1893, amount covered by uncompleted contracts..... 620, 736. 13 631, 773. 22 42, 429. 38 July 1, 1893, balance available.... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project... Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix E 1.) 1,760, 406. 00 500,000.00 2. Harbor at Saugerties, N. Y.-This harbor is formed by the mouth of Esopus Creek, which empties into the Hudson River on the west bank about 100 miles above New York City. The bar at the entrance at the time of the original examination, made in November, 1883, with the view of preparing estimates for improvement, had a navigable depth of 3 feet only at mean low water, and the distance between the 6-foot curves across it was 1,100 feet. The harbor could therefore be entered only at high water even by the smallest class of vessels. The range of tides is 4 feet, approximately. The plan of improvement which was adopted in 1887 provided for securing a depth of 8 feet, mean low water, from the entrance to the head of navigation, 13 miles, by the construction of two parallel dikes, each 2,300 feet long, 260 feet apart on the inside and 280 feet apart on the outside, and by dredging, if found necessary, 30,000 cubic yards of material from the channel between the dikes. The estimated cost of the improvement was $52,000; the amount expended upon the project up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $41,407.06. At that date both dikes had been completed; the north dike had then a length of 2,058 feet and the south dike a length of 2,363 feet and the waterway between them was 260 feet wide, and the navigable channel had been deepened by dredging for a width of 150 feet between 9-foot curves. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $2,930.95, and was applied in repairing the timber work of the south dike and refilling of both dikes with stone where settlement had taken place, and in removing, by hired labor, by use of the drill scow Hudson, several bowlders from the channel near the shore end of the jetties and removing the rocky reef at Barclays Point. The existing channel from the entrance to the head of navigation is 150 feet to 300 feet wide and 9 feet deep at mean low water. July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.......... Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892. June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year.. July 1, 1893, balance unexpended... July 1, 1893, balance available...... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.. Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix E 2.) $592.94 5,000.00 5,592.94 2,775.72 2,817.22 155.23 2,661.99 5,000.00 5,000.00 3. Harbor at Rondout, N. Y.-This harbor is formed by the mouth of Rondout Creek, which empties into the Hudson River on its west side about 90 miles above the city of New York, and is the eastern terminus of the Delaware and Hudson Canal. The creek is a tidal stream for 3 miles above its mouth, and prior to 1871 all improvements had been made by private parties. The range of tides is 4 feet, approximately. The Government made a survey of the harbor in 1869, and the available depth of water then in the channel was 7 feet at mean low water. The project of improvement, based on this survey, was for the formation and maintenance of a channel 100 feet wide and 14 feet deep, mean low water, at the mouth of the creek, to be obtained by means of dikes and dredging. The parallel channel dikes, 350 feet apart at the entrance, were to be built outward into the Hudson River, and a branch dike upstream, starting at outer end of north pier, to protect the north dike against destruction by ice. The estimated cost of the project was $172,500. The project was completed in 1880 at an actual cost of $90,000 only. At that time the length of the north dike was 2,200 feet, and that of the south dike 2,800 feet, and there was a channel between them 50 feet wide and 13 feet deep, mean low water, and 100 feet wide and 12 feet deep, mean low water. The appropriations which have been made since 1880 have been applied exclusively to the repair of the dikes. The amount expended upon the project and upon repairs up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $106,500, at which date the navigable channel was 100 feet wide and from 12 to 13 feet deep, mean low water. The dikes were built originally of timber and stone to the height of mean high water, but the timber has since become so damaged by age and by the ice that the stone filling in many places has fallen out from between the rows of piles and the height of the dikes has been correspondingly lowered. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $2,927.67, and was applied in repairing the north branch and south dikes, by replacing worn and decayed timber and refilling with stone. The repairs were still in progress at the close of the fiscal year. The improvement is in fair condition, but annual repairs to the dikes will be required. Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892. July 1, 1893, balance unexpended.... July 1, 1893, amount covered by uncompleted contracts.... July 1, 1893, balance available... $5,000.00 1,743. 11 3, 256.89 $1,185.56 1,745. 36 1,511, 53 (Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.. Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix E 3.) 15, 000. 00 5,000.00 4. Wappinger Creek, New York.-Wappinger Creek is a small stream which empties into the Hudson River on the left bank one-half mile below the village of New Hamburg, N. Y. The navigable portion, extending from the mouth to Wappinger Falls, is 2 miles long, approximately, and before improvement afforded navigation to small boats drawing not exceeding 6 feet in waterway which had a width varying from 25 feet to 75 feet. The range of tides at entrance is 4 feet, approximately. The project for its improvement contained in the report upon the survey November 11, 1889, to comply with the river and harbor act of August 11, 1888, contemplates a channel 80 feet wide and 8 feet deep from the mouth to the falls. The estimated cost of the improvement was $13,000. The amount appropriated by the river and harbor act of September 19, 1890, was $13,000. The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $12,837.15. At that date the channel was 80 feet wide and 8 feet deep, mean low water, from the mouth to the falls. No funds were expended upon this improvement during the past fiscal year. The approved project for the improvement was completed April 30, 1892. July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.. July 1, 1893, balance unexpended... (See Appendix E 4.) $162.85 162.85 5. Harlem River, New York.-The Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek are both included in this improvement. Originally there was no navigable waterway between the two streams, as the bed of the connecting reach at Kingsbridge was a long reef of solid rock, bare at low water. The head of navigation at low tide in the Harlem River was practically at High Bridge, 5 miles from its junction with the East River at Hell Gate, for vessels of 7 feet draft, and, at high tide, in Spuyten Duyvil Creek, near Kingsbridge, 13 miles from the Hudson, for vessels of 8 feet draft. The object of the improvement is to form a navigable channel between the East and Hudson rivers. The project for the improvement as originally adopted in 1875 was for a channel 350 feet wide and 15 feet deep at mean low water. In 1879 the project was so far modified as to increase the width of the channel in the Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek to 400 feet, retaining the original width of 350 teet through Dyckman Meadow, but increasing the depth there to 18 feet, mean low water. This project was revised in 1886 by narrowing the channel immediately north of High Bridge, where it skirts the Ogden estate on the east bank, to a least width of 375 feet. The estimated cost of the work was $2,700,000; the amount expended upon the improvement up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $589,122.19. At that date the excavation of the section of canal prism lying between the two dams had been carried down to grade over an area of 285,000 square feet, leaving an area of 65,000 square feet over which the rock remained to be excavated in order to complete the cut between the dams. A total of 625 linear feet of stone revetment wall, and 190 linear feet of timber revetment, had been built to protect the side slopes of the canal chapber where necessary, to prevent the loose rock and earth arising from degradation of the slopes from falling into the cut after the canal had been opened to navigation. In the Harlem River a channel 9 feet deep, mean low water, and about 150 feet wide, had been dredged from a point 900 feet north of Fordham footbridge, where it connected with the national channel, to within 200 feet of the east dam. In Spuyten Duyvil Creek the channel near the Hudson River Railroad drawbridge had been widened to about 65 feet, with a depth of 8 feet, mean low water, the channel over the bar at the rolling mill deepened to 8 feet, mean low water, the point of meadow opposite the Government dock cut off so as to widen the channel at this point to 240 feet, and Dyckman Creek and the meadow in front of the west dam had been excavated to nearly the full projected width and depth to within 100 feet of the west dam. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $197,411.39. At that date the excavation of the section of canal prism lying between the two dams had been completed, with the exception of a ledge of rock, covering an area of about 8,000 square feet, in the northeast corner of the cut, which was in process of removal when the dams were breached during the severe storm of April 21, 1893, and which will be removed by drilling and blasting without restoring the dams. A total of 730 linear feet of stone retaining wall and 190 linear feet of timber revetment had been built to protect the side slopes of the canal chamber where necessary, to prevent the loose rock and earth arising from degradation of the slopes from falling into the cut after the canal had been opened to navigation. In the Harlem River a channel 9 feet deep, mean low water, and about 160 feet wide, had been dredged from a point 600 yards north of Morris Dock, where it connects with the natural channel, to within 200 feet of the east dam. A number of large bowlders had also been removed from the channel at High Bridge and from the cross-over directly south of Morris Dock, increasing the navigable depth from 7 feet to 10 feet at the former point, and from 63 feet to 8 feet at the latter. In Spuyten Duyvil Creek a channel 9 feet deep, mean low water, and 140 feet to 150 feet wide, had been dredged from the Hudson River Railroad drawbridge at the mouth of the creek, through the point of meadow known as Bell Pumpkin, and also through the point of meadow lying directly north of the Government dock, to within 140 feet of the west dam. A survey of the river was made during the year to determine the best manner of applying the appropriation made by the river and harbor act of July 13, 1892. All the necessary data furnished by the survey had been properly studied, but before a project could be prepared to be submitted for the approval of the Chief of Engineers, the cofferdams inclosing the working pits of the contractor were breached, as hereinbefore stated, during a severe storm on the night of April 21, 1893, which caused the suspension of all work. The contracts expired June 1, 1893, but the work contemplated by them had not been entirely completed. When matters connected with the settlement of these contracts have been adjusted, the work to be done under the available balance will be advertised according to law, and new contracts made. July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.......... Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892.. June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year....... July 1, 1893, balance unexpended.. July 1, 1893, balance available..... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.. Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1895 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867 and of sundry civil act of March 3, 1893. (See Appendix E 5.) $190, 137.29 175,000.00 365, 137.29 186, 313. 21 1 78, 824.08 11, 098. 18 167,725.90 1,805, 000.00 500,000.00 6. East River and Hell Gate, New York.-Originally the channel of East River contained many dangerous rocky obstructions to navigation, lying both above and below mean low water. Especially was this the case at Hell Gate, where the bounding beaches had irregular and shoal rocky foreshores, and the inclosed waterway had a few detached rocky isles with crests rising several feet above high-water mark. At Hell Gate the channel turns at right angles around Hallets Point, Astoria, and the current runs with a velocity varying at different stages of the tide from 3 to 10 miles an hour over or around Way Reef, Pot Rock, Shell Drake, Frying Pan, Hallets Point, Negro Point, Holmes Rock, Hog Back, Heel Tap, Flood Rock, Hen and Chickens, Gridiron, Mill Rocks, The Negro Heads, Rhinelander Reef, and Bread and Cheese. Hallets Point projected from the shore at Astoria under water 325 feet to the 26-foot contour, mean low water, and embraced an area of 3 acres. The detached rocks in the inclosed waterway had varying depths over them. The Middle Reef, with an area of about 9 acres, lay in the middle of the channels of Hell Gate. It had a small backbone, projecting above high water, called Flood Rock, upon which vessels were frequently stranded at ebb tide, when the currents swept directly over the rock. To the northward, near the mouth of the Harlem River, lay the two Mill Rocks, both of which were usually visible at high water. To the eastward, Frying Pan had only 11 feet, mean low water; Heel Tap, 12 feet; Pot Rock, 20 feet, and North Brother Island Reef, 16 feet. The project of improvement adopted in 1867 provided for the removal to the depth of 26 feet, mean low water, of the rocks and reefs that lay directly in the channel at Hell Gate, and for the construction ENG 937 |