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D 13.

IMPROVEMENT OF NORWALK HARBOR, CONNECTICUT.

Norwalk Harbor or River is a tidal estuary, with a narrow channel extending about 3 miles north from Long Island Sound to the town of Norwalk. Above Norwalk the river is a small fresh-water stream. South Norwalk is on the west bank of the river, 14 miles below Norwalk. At this point the river is crossed by two drawbridges, the lower one a highway bridge, and the other (450 feet above) the bridge of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

In 1867 a company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Connecticut for the improvement of the river. Little work was done, and when improvement was begun by the United States the low-water depth to South Norwalk was 5 feet, and to Norwalk but 1 foot.

PROJECT FOR IMPROVEMENT.

By act of March 2, 1829, Congress appropriated $80 "for making a survey of the harbor of Norwalk, Conn., with a view to its im provement." The survey was made by Capt. Hartman Bache, U. S. Engineers, who, in his report on the same, dated May 10, 1830, recommended excavating the channel, proposing to build a steam dredge for the purpose.

The cost was estimated as follows:

For a channel 12 feet deep at ordinary high water
For a channel 10 feet deep at ordinary high water

$15, 668.95 12, 286.45

No money was appropriated for carrying out this plan, and in 1871 another survey was ordered by Congress which was made in the same year.

In his report on the latter survey, dated December 16, 1871 (printed in Senate Ex. Doc., No. 23, Forty-second Congress, second session; also in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1872, p. 900), Gen. Warren, U. S. Engineers, submitted a project for dredging a channel 6 feet deep and 100 feet wide from Long Island Sound up to Norwalk, at an estimated cost of $34,000.

In 1880 the terms of the river and harbor act provided that "so much of said appropriation ($5,000) as shall be necessary therefor shall be so expended as to have a channel 6 feet deep at low water be tween the steamboat landing in said Norwalk and Long Island Sound." As a channel of the projected width (100 feet) and depth of 6 feet at mean low water existed, this was interpreted as requiring a depth of 6 feet at extreme low water (see Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1881, Part I, p. 609), which would be of 8 feet at mean low water, and the project was accordingly modified to provide for obtaining that depth up to South Norwalk, where the steamboat landing was.

The latest estimate, made to include the cost of this modification and of a large amount of dredging already required to maintain the channel, places the total cost from the time of beginning work at $84,000.

Up to July 1, 1892, the channel below South Norwalk had been dredged 100 feet wide and 8 feet deep at mean low water, and above South Norwalk it had been made from 60 to 100 feet wide and 6 feet deep, and the project was considered practically completed.

OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1893. Nothing was done.

PRESENT CONDITION OF IMPROVEMENT.

The channel below South Norwalk is 100 feet wide and 8 feet deep at mean low water; from South Norwalk to Norwalk it is from 60 to 100 feet wide and 6 feet deep, except some slight shoaling which has occurred in the upper part of the harbor.

PROPOSED OPERATIONS.

The project is considered practically completed, and no further work under it is required, except such dredging as may be necessary from time to time to maintain the depths already made. No appropriation is needed for the ensuing year.

Appropriations for improving Norwalk Harbor have been made as

follows:

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*Part of an appropriation of $28,000, of which $25,000 was required to be expended at Wilsons Point

Norwalk is in the Fairfield collection district, and is 11 miles west of Bridgeport, the port of entry.

Norwalk light-house is on Sheffield Island, at the harbor entrance.

The nearest work of defense is Fort Schuyler, Throgs Neck, at the head of Long Island Sound, about 29 miles southwest.

Money statement.

July 1, 1892, balance unexpended..

June 30, 1893, amount expended during fiscal year..

$183.53 183.53

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 1892.

These are not yet received, but the commerce would vary probably but little from that of 1891, which was reported as follows:

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IMPROVEMENT OF HARBOR AT WILSONS POINT, CONNECTICUT. Wilsons Point Harbor is a bay on the north shore of Long Island Sound, about 14 miles west from the mouth of Norwalk River or Harbor.

The lower half of the harbor is about half a mile wide, with depth decreasing from 16 feet gradually to 6 feet at Wilsons Point; the upper half is from 1,000 to 500 feet wide, with depth of 3 feet or less at low tide. The harbor is sheltered by the mainland and by Sheffield Island (the most westerly of the Norwalk Islands) from all quarters, except the southwest; it is partly sheltered from the southwest by Bell Island, an island separated from the mainland by a marsh and narrow creek.

Wilsons Point Harbor has been used to some extent for many years as a harbor of refuge and place to lie up for the night by fishing boats and oyster steamers, and occasionally by barges caught out in storms. There is no settlement upon the shores of the harbor, except a collection of summer cottages on Bell Island.

A few years ago the Danbury and Norwalk Railroad Company (now a branch of the Housatonic Railroad Company) made Wilsons Point their terminus, and subsequently the New England Terminal Company was formed to construct docks, car yards, and coal sheds, and to operate in the interest of the Housatonic Railroad and its connections. A large dock was built, with transfer bridges, by which freight cars were taken on board steamers, and freight carried to New York City without unloading and reloading.

PROJECTS FOR IMPROVEMENT.

March 3, 1888, a letter was sent by the Hon. William P. Frye, United States Senator, to the Secretary of War, asking that a special exami nation of Norwalk Harbor be made with reference to developing busi

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