necting with the precise level line of 1892 the Commission's gauges at Blair, Nebr.; Plattsmouth, Nebr.; Nebraska City, Nebr.; Rulo, Nebr.; Brownville, Nebr.; Randolph, Mo., and Dewitt, Mo., referred to in Secretary's last Annual Report, was completed in the office. A small party under Assistant Engineer Turner was engaged between September 23 and November 3, 1893, in connecting by carefully checked Y levels with the precise level line such stone lines as had not been been connected with when the precise level line was run. Levels were also rerun by the party over ten stone lines, on which the original notes showed that the levels had not been properly checked. The notes of the party's work have since been reduced in the office. Comparative profiles were made showing, from St. Joseph to the mouth, the discrepancies between the Commission's direct and reverse precise level line of 1892, the precise level line of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and the Commission's stone line levels of 1884-1890. The locations of all the precise level bench marks from the mouth of the river to Sioux City have been plotted on the office detail maps. The level notes of all the stone lines, from the mouth to Sioux City and from Fort Benton, Mont., to Three Forks, Mont., have been recomputed. A list and descriptions of all the Commission's bench marks between these same points are being prepared for publication and are nearly completed. Full details of the year's level work in field and office will be found in Assistant Engineer Turner's report (Appendix A 2). Special Surveys.-A survey was made December 18-21, 1893, at the St. Charles bridge, to determine locations and elevations of obstructions, composed of loose rock and remains of old cribs and dykes, under and near the first span from the St. Charles side. Careful measurements were made at the two bridges over the Missouri River below Sioux City-Bellefontaine Bluffs, Missouri and Leavenworth, Kans.-completed during the fiscal year, to determine the lowest points of superstructure, clear opening between piers, and width and batter of piers.* At the latter bridge a survey was also made to determine location of certain dikes constructed by the bridge company. The following special surveys were made under the direction of the division engineers during the year: Little Tavern Creek, Missouri, to Rhineland Landing, Missouri. Missouri River at Murrays Bend. Missouri River at Barkersville Crossing. Head of Stanley Island, Missouri, to Little Tavern Creek, Missouri. Osage Point, Missouri, to Hords Landing, Missouri. Little Tavern Creek, Missouri, to mouth of Gasconade River, Missouri. In addition to the above, Division Engineer Fox kept a small survey party almost continuously in the field during construction operations, sounding on ranges and dike lines, giving grade and line to dike parties, on slope observations, partial shore line work, establishment and verification of local gauges, and in miscellaneous work incident thereto. GAUGES AND PHYSICAL DATA. At the date of the last Annual Report 21 permanent gauges were maintained by the Commission. These have been read continuously during the year. The readings of the standard cable gauge on the bridge at Randolph, Mo., began July 2, 1893, and have since been continuous. A standard cable gauge was established March 13, 1894, on the new railway bridge at Bellefontaine Bluffs, Missouri, and has since been read regularly. In addition to these temporary gauges have been maintained by the division engineers, readings of which have been sent weekly to this office as follows: From Ewings Landing, Missouri, throughout the year; from Herman, Mo., for 7 months, and from Gasconade, Mo., for 7 months. Readings have also been received weekly throughout the year from the gauge at Bismark, N. Dak., and for portions of the year from the gauges at Fort Benton, Mont.; Wolf Point, Mont.; Fort Buford, N. Dak., and Running Water, S. Dak. Through the courtesy of Capt. H. F. Hodges, Corps of Engineers, the Commission has been furnished with all records of the upper river gauges on file in his office, thus completeing the record of all gauges on the river to the end of the present fiscal year. Three complete tours of inspection of all the gauges below the Big Sioux River have been satisfactorily made during the year by Assistant Engineer L. P. Butler; one in September, 1893; one in November and December, 1893, and one in May and June, 1894. At the November-December inspection all the gauges were regraduated or so changed as to read precise level elevations above the St. Louis Directrix. New *The results of these measurements are shown in the table appended (Appendix A 3) and on the accompanying plate. inclined wooden ganges were erected at Brownville, Nebr., and Dewitt, Mo., and all necessary repairs to the ganges were made. The pilot bulletin service, exhibiting the daily stage of the river at all the Commission's gauges below Kansas City, was discontinued for the winter at the end of November. The service at Kansas City was, at the request of local steamboatmen, continued through the winter. At the guage stations below Kansas City the service was resumed March 16. A bulletin was erected in the spring on the new bridge at Bellefontaine Bluffs, Missouri, exhibiting its first reading April 16. The bulletins indicate heights above a zero 5 feet below the mean low-water stage during navigation seasons at each station; and their readings should agree exactly with those of the Weather Bureau at Kansas City, and should differ but slightly there from at other stations. Full details of the year's gauge work will be found in the report of Assistant Engineer A. H. Blaisdell. (Appendix A 4.) The results of borings made in the river valley at Leavenworth, Kans., Jefferson City, Mo., and St. Charles, Mo., since the date of the last report on borings, will be found in an appended report. (Appendix A 5.) Assistant Engineer J. A. Seddon has carried his study of flood movement as far up the river as Kansas City, and has made a preliminary study of regimen throughout the same length of river. The outline is given in his report. (Appendix A 6.) Assistant Engineer C. M. Winchell has prepared an index of the survey and physi cal data published in the annual reports of the Missouri River Commission from 1885 to 1893, inclusive. (Appendix A 7.) COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. Methods similar to those of last year have been followed for obtaining the amount of commerce on the Missouri River for the calendar year 1893. The results are given in the report on this subject appended. (Appendix A 8.) ESTIMATES. Office and traveling expenses and salaries of commission. Total.. APPENDIX A 1. $20,000 30, 000 50,000 ANNUAL REPORT OF O. B. WHEELER, ASSISTANT ENGINEER, 1894. OFFICE MISSOURI RIVER COMMISSION, St. Louis, Mo., June 30, 1894. SIR: I have the honor to report herewith upon the field work and reductions of survey work done by Assistant Engineer O. H. B. Turner and myself in July and August last, viz: First. Setting a geodetic and elevation monument, together with a meridian stone on the State capitol grounds at Jefferson City, Mo. Second. Connecting the commission's secondary triangulation system with the primary triangulation system of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey at Kansas City, Mo. The purpose of the monuments at Jefferson City is to record latitude, longitude, elevation, and a true meridian on the State capitol grounds. The stones are of Missouri red granite, or syenite, and are of the following dimensions: The larger one is 20 inches by 20 inches in section and 81 inches long over all; the smaller, 8 inches by 8 inches in section and 574 inches long over all. Both stones are placed 48 inches in the ground and for this length have the quarry face. For 30 inches above the ground the larger stone is dressed and polished on all sides and terminates at the top in a truncated pyramid 3 inches in height with an upper base 14 inches square. For 8 inches above the ground the smaller stone is patent hammer dressed on three sides and dressed and polished on the fourth, and terminates at the top in a truncated pyramid 14 inches high with an upper base 14 inches square. In each stone in the center of the small upper base is set vertically a bolt of hard-hammered brass one-half inch in diameter and 2 inches long with a slightly convex head. A hole of one-sixteenth inch diameter and one-half inch deep is drilled vertically through the center of each convex head, and these are the points astronomically and hypsometrically located. The following diagrams give the wording on the different faces of the main mon On the north face of the smaller stone is lettered: Mo. R. C. This meridian stone 1893. is 426 feet south from the main monument. The latitude and longitude given depend upon the astronomical determination of the dome of the Morrison Observatory at Glasgow, Mo., as published in Publications of the Morrison Observatory, Glasgow, Mo., 1885, and as transferred to Jefferson City by the secondary triangulation of the Missouri River, under the Missouri River Commission, which is published in their annual report for 1887. The elevation given depends upon the elevation of the St. Louis City directrix as determined by the Mississippi River Commission and published in their annual report for 1883, and upon a line of precise levels run by the Missouri River Commission in 1892 and published in their annual report for 1893. The geodetic position of the dome of the capitol is: Latitude = longitude 92° 10′ 22.64". 38° 34' 45.22": This position will be found to differ from that furnished in manuscript in 1892 to the Commission by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (which was from an astronomical determination in 1881 at St. Louis, Mo., as transferred by triangulation) by 6.22 in latitude and 2.06 in longitude, the Coast Survey determination being greater in latitude and less in longitude. It would differ much less from a determination of the Mississippi River Commission at Cairo, Ill., if the latter is transferred by triangulation. These differences are principally due to what is known as local deviation of the plumb line. The elevation will also be found to differ from that derived from the Coast Survey, being about 1 meter greater than that of the Coast Survey if their value from Mobile, Ala., be adopted, or about eight-tenths of a meter less if their value from Sandy Hook, N. J., be adopted. The stones were dressed, polished, and lettered by Filsinger & Fruth, of St. Louis, Mo., and the U. S. Steamer Wm. Stone delivered them on the river bank at Jefferson City. Under the instructions of the secretary of the Commission Assistant Engineer O. H. B. Turner and myself left St. Louis on July 23 and on the 24th met Division Engineer Yonge at Jefferson City, who rendered us every assistance. The governor and secretary of state were called upon to assist in giving the exact site for the main monument, which was practically that selected by the secretary of the commission earlier and was upon the grass plat of the upper terrace just to the right, or north, of the main entrance to the capitol. The setting was done by day labor. For each stone a bed of concrete, 4 feet by 4 feet by 1 foot, was placed 4 feet below the surface of the ground and allowed one day to set. The stone was set upon this, carefully oriented and plumbed and concreted to within one-half foot of the surface of the ground. Before the smaller stone could be set or the final figures for latitude, longitude, and elevation could be cutit was necessary to make a geodetic connection with stations of secondary triangulation and to get the elevation of the top of the monument above a precise level bench mark. It was found that A Cedar (which is also a Coast Survey station) 2 miles northeast from the capitol, had been disturbed by some one in search for Indian relics in the mound upon which it is located and all the surface reference stones had been removed. A pickle bottle, filled with wood ashes, was found 18 inches below the disturbed surface and was no doubt the subsurface mark of the Coast Survey and probably in its original place; but it seemed advisable to check its position. Accordingly Ulrich and Ewing were occupied with the Troughton & Simms 12-inch theodolite of the Mississippi River Commission. The third angle at A Cedar (approximate) was read and computation made to restore A Cedar to its former old position and to leave the values published on page 3048 of the Chief of Engineer's Report for 1887 undisturbed. To mark the restored A Cedar the usual subsurface stone of the Commission was placed 5 feet below the surface. The surface stone of the Coast Survey was placed above and their reference stones were placed as follows. On the meridian to the north at a distance of 80 feet measuring down the hillside, which is depressed at an angle of 17° with the horizon, one stone was set, and on the meridian to the south at a distance of 118.25 feet measuring down the hillside, which is depressed at an angle of 1440 with the horizon, the other reference stone was set. Careful angles were then read with the theodolite above mentioned at A Cedar and at the main monument for the transfer of the azimuth of the line A Cedar - A Ulrich to a true meridian line at the main monument, and the smaller stone was set on this meridian at a distance of 426 feet south. The geodetic positions above given are from carefully read angles at stations Cedar, Ewing, and Ulrich, and the elevation is determined with a Kern precise level from T. B. M. 197 (on circular step in front of main entrance to capitol), checked by readings on U. S. C. S. B. M. XXVII, values and descriptions for which bench marks were published in the last annual report. Final position.-The top of the main monument is 0.86 foot above T. B. M. 197. It is 24.6 feet south and 100.4 feet east from the center of the dome of the capitol. From it & Cedar is 11,108.1 feet and bears N. 45° 21′ 13′′ E. The latitude, longitude, and elevation are, as above given, viz: Latitude. Elevation above mean gulf level. 38° 34' 44.98" 920 10 21.37" 627.86 feet. We left Jefferson City on August 3 and arrived at. Kansas City, Mo., on the same day. The primary triangulation stations of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey easiest of access were A Bowler, 17 miles southeast from Kansas City, and A Marty, in Kansas, 10 miles southwest from Kansas City. The line connecting these stations is 17 miles in length, and the stations are intervisible from the surface of the ground; but to reach Kansas City it was necessary to locate a third station, A Rice, on a high ridge 9 miles south from Kansas City. Angles were read from these three stations with the Troughton & Simms 12-inch theodolite, using small (three-fourths inch) heliotrope lights for targets. The usual eight sets of repetitions of each angle were generally obtained. Numerous points were read upon in Kansas City and Independence, but only two located which were identical with points located from the secondary triangulation of the Missouri River. A section corner stone on the State line between Missouri and Kansas was located. To locate more points in the vicinity of Kansas City, A Buster and A Wayne of the secondary triangulation were occupied with the Troughton & Simms 12-inch theodolite, and the usual eight sets obtained on each angle. Some of the points thus located were occupied with the small theodolite, Buff & Berger No. 176, and the work was carried on with the smaller instrument. Nine points were thus located and marked, when practicable-one of these being on the State line on the Armour packing house, and one on the line between Platte and Clay counties on the north side of the river at the water's edge. The data from the Coast Survey used is from the manuscript of 1892, above referred to, and is as follows: From this data, in connection with our angle, the position of the tower of the courthouse at Independence is: Latitude 39° 05′ 37.30", longitude=94° 24′ 58.16". The position also from the main spire of the Central Presbyterian church, in Kansas City, Mo., is: Latitude 39° 06′ 14.09", longitude=94° 34′ 15.99". The positions of these same two points when made to depend upon data of the Missouri River triangulation given in the Commission's report for 1887 and our present angles are: Or the difference in position as given by the two systems of survey for the courthouse is 6.41" in latitude and 1.50" in longitude; the Coast Survey determination being greater in latitude and less in longitude. A like comparison at Jefferson City, noticed earlier in this report, gives 6.22 in latitude and 2.06" in longitude. Hence the discrepancy between the two surveys is 6.41"-6.22+0.19 +19 feet in latitude and 1.50"-2.06"-0.5644 feet in longitude in a net of triangulation of about 160 miles length between Independence and Jefferson City. Since the azimuth error in this nearly east and west direction can affect the discrepancy in longitude but little, this 44 feet may be taken to represent the approximately true discrepancy in distance between the two surveys. This discrepancy is approximately three-tenths of a foot in a mile, or one in 15,000, and is too small to be shown on the scale of any map covering so great a distance. The following tables give the geodetic positions of points in the vicinity of Kansas City referred to the latitude and longitude of Morrison Observatory, or to the data of the Commission as given in their report for 1887: Second Presbyterian church (spire U. S. C. and G. S.). College of Redemptorist Fathers, cupola (U. S. C. and G. S.). County line between Platte and Clay counties which was originally Bridge (north end embankment), Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Bridge (north pier, east side), Hannibal and St. Joseph R. R. Evans (roof over elevator shaft) Stations. Azimuth. |