nel across the bar was 200 wide and 9 feet deep, mean low water, and work on the north dike extension was in progress. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $7,085.30, and was applied toward the completion of 1,250 feet of pile dike on the north side of the creek. The existing navigable depth from the entrance to the head of navigation is 9 feet, mean low water, in a channel from 100 to 300 feet wide. July 1, 1891, balance unexpended.. June 30, 1892, amount expended during fiscal year July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.... Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892 Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1893.......... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project, and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix E 2.) $7,678.24 7,085.30 592.94 5,000.00 5,592.94 5,000.00 3. Harbor at Rondout, New York. 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 only 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 ap plied 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, 1891, was $101,500, at which date the navigable channel was 100 feet wide and from 12 to 133 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 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, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $5,000, and was applied in re. pairing the north and branch dikes by replacing worn and decayed tim ber and refilling with stone. The dikes are now in fair condition, except that the south dike requires some additional stone filling. 15,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix E 3.) 4. Wappinger Creek, New York.-Wappinger Creek is a small stream which empties into the Hudson River on 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 a water way 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, 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, 1891, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $80.33. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $12,756.82. The project was completed April 30, 1892. There is now a navigable chaunel from the entrance to the Falls with a least width of 80 feet and a least depth of 8 feet, mean low water. July 1, 1891, balance unexpended... June 30, 1892, amount unexpended during fiscal year.. July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.... (See Appendix E 4.) $12, 919.67 12, 756.82 162.85 5. Harlem River, New York.-The Harlem River and Spuyten Duyvil Creek are both included in this improvement. Originally there was no navigable water way 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 feet 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, 1891, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $448,696.28. At that date the excavation of the section of canal prism lying to the west of old Kingsbridge road had been carried down to grade over an area of 203,575 square feet, completing the section of cut to be excavated under the contract of December 15, 1887, with the exception of a core of rock left standing in the center of the excavation for temporary use as a roadway, and a spur of rock in the southwest end over which the tramway for transporting the broken stone to the dumping ground passed. Both these ledges covered an area of 42,000 square feet, and were in process of removal. The old Kingsbridge road, where it crossed the canal, had been closed, and the material composing it excavated down to the underlying rock surface, and a temporary roadway over the east dam had been opened to public traffic. The earth, turf, and meadow sod between the east dam and the westerly limit of the contract of August 12, 1889, had been nearly all excavated down to grade, and the rock excavation begun and grade reached over an area of 600 square feet. Nearly all the rock to be removed under the contract of March 9, 1891, had been stripped of earth, and the excavation in the rock had been carried down to grade over an area of 1,400 square feet. The dredging in the Harlem River began near Fordham footbridge, and had been carried northward toward Kingsbridge in a water way 600 feet long, 75 to 150 feet wide, and 9 feet deep at mean low water. The contract for work west of west dam was not begun. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $190,421.14. 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 only 65,000 square feet, over which the rock remains to be excavated in order to complete the cut between the dams, and a large portion of this rock had already been reduced to within a few feet of grade. 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 chamber where necessary, to prevent the loose rock and earth arising from degradation of the slopes from falling into the cut after the canal has 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 connects with the natural 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. July 1, 1891, balance unexpended... June 30, 1892, amount expended during fiscal year July 1, 1892, balance unexpended.. July 1, 1892, outstanding liabilities.. July 1, 1892, amount covered by uncompleted contracts . July 1, 1892, balance available .... Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892 Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1893........ 9, 673.40 175,000.00 184, 673. 40 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.....$1, 805, 000. 00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix E 5.) 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 water way 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 water way 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 of sea walls and dikes upon others that lay near the edge of the channel. The estimated cost of the project, revised in 1870, was $4,689,820. Besides the obstructions before enumerated submerged rocks were known to exist at other points in the channel, such as Diamond Reef, 16 feet, mean low water, off the Battery; Coenties Reef, 14.3 feet, mean low water, off Coenties Slip; Shell Reef, 9 feet, mean low water, between Eighth and Tenth streets; Ferry Reef, 7 feet, mean low water, and Charlotte Rock, 14 feet, mean low water, opposite Thirty-fourth street; the Middle Ground, 113 feet, mean low water, off Sunken Meadow, at the entrance to Little Hell Gate, and Mid-Channel Reef, 163 feet, mean low water, at Baretto Point, opposite Rikers Island. The project was enlarged in 1874, and the total cost estimated at $5,139,120 (Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1874, Part II, page 164). Besides the improvements already projected at Hell Gate, the new project provided for the construction of a riprap dike to connect the Mill Rocks; sea walls upon Hog Back and Holmes Rock, and the removal to a depth of 26 feet, mean low water, of Diamond Reef, Coenties Reef, and the small rocks known as Scaly Rock, Blackwells Rock, and the Rock off Woolsey's bath house. The project was enlarged in 1884 to provide for the removal of Pilgrim Rock, opposite Nineteenth street, to 24 feet, mean low water; again in 1889 for the removal of reef off Diamond Reef to 26 feet, mean low water, and Ferry and Charlotte Rocks opposite Thirty-fourth street, to 26 feet mean low water, and again in 1890 for the removal of Shell Reef and Middle Ground to 18 feet, mean low water. The amount expended up to the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1891, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $3,905,139.09. At that date Hallets Point, covering 3 acres, Way Reef, Shell Drake, Diamond Reef, North Brother Island Reef, Coenties Reef, and Scaly Rock had been removed to the depth contemplated in the project. Pilgrim Rock had been reduced to a least depth of 24 feet; Heel Tap had been broken to 26 feet and dredged to 20.5 feet, and the least depths on Frying Pan and Pot Rock were 18 feet and 22.8 feet at mean low water, respectively; Ferry Reef, off Thirty-fourth street, had been lowered from a least depth of 7.1 feet to a least depth of 19 feet, and 4,480 tons of rock had been removed from reef off Diamond Reef. Flood Rock and connecting reefs, covering 9 acres, had been broken to 30 feet, and 156,504 tons of débris had been removed; the Negro Heads and Hen and Chickens and been reduced to 18 feet, mean low water, and a new 18-foot channel, 500 feet wide, had been opened across the reef. Sea walls had been built by the Government to connect Great and Little Mill Rocks, and by the city authorities on Bread and Cheese. Under contract, 3,435 cubic yards of material and 960 tons of bowlders had been removed from Shell Reef, off Ninth street. These results have been of the greatest value to navigation. The amount expended during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1892, inclusive of outstanding liabilities, was $160,546.81, and was applied in removing, by hired labor, 20,872 tons of broken stone from Flood Rock, by the use of the two United States engineer dredges; in removing 1,211.2 tons of rock by use of the United States steam-drill scow from reef off Diamond Reef, completing its removal to the contemplated depth of 26 feet, mean low water; in removing 1,763 tons of rock, by use of the United States steam-drill scow and the United States engi- · neer dredge Hell Gate from Ferry Reef, off Thirty-fourth street, reducing the least depth over it to 24 feet, mean low water; in removing, by use of the United States engineer dredge Hell Gate 158 tons of large bowlders from upper end of Shell Reef, and in removing under contract 52,803 cubic yards of fine material and 2,507 tons of bowlders from Shell Reef, off Ninth street, and 392 cubic yards of small broken stone and 323 tons of bowlders from Middle Ground opposite Sunken Meadow. July 1, 1892, amount covered by uncompleted contracts..... July 1, 1892, balance available Amount appropriated by act approved July 13, 1892 Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1893................. 41, 673. 54 150,000.00 191, 673. 54 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project... 888, 840.67 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix E 6.) 7. Newtown Creek, New York.-This is a tidal stream, about 4 miles long, running through the eastern part of Brooklyn, and emptying into the East River opposite Thirty-fourth street, New York City. |