FIFTH ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

HARBOR COMMISSIONERS,

MADE TO THE

GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

AT ITS

JANUARY SESSION, A. D. 1881.

PROVIDENCE:

E. L. FREEMAN & CO., PRINTERS TO THE STATE.

HARBOR COMMISSIONERS' REPORT.

To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Rhode Island, etc.:

The Board of Harbor Commissioners respectfully submit their fifth annual report:

APPOINTMENT TO THE BOARD.

At the May Session of this General Assembly, His Excellency, the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, re-appointed Jedediah Williams, whose term of service as Harbor Commissioner expired in June, for a further term of three years.

WORK WITH U. S. GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATION.

The scheme of improvement for Providence River and Narragansett Bay, projected by the Harbor Commissioners in 1877, and being executed by the United States Government, under direction of the Engineer Department, has made very satisfactory progress during the past year.

The sum of $110,000, in addition to the sum of $5,000 for the removal of Bulkhead Rock, which had been made by Congress for the continuation of this work, was increased by an appropriation of $60,000 by an act of Congress approved June 14, 1880. The estimated cost of the special work proposed by the Commissioners was $500,000, of which the sums now appropriated amount to $170,000.

The work already executed under these appropriations has secured a

ship channel across the long bar of Providence harbor at least twenty feet deep at low water and 300 to 400 feet wide. The length of cut across this bar is about 7,600 feet, or nearly one and one-half miles. The least depth of water on the bar before the improvement was about fourteen feet, but even this depth was not found over a space of sufficient width and length to be available for the safe passage of vessels.

The work has also secured a channel across the Pawtuxet bar about 4,000 feet long, twenty-three feet deep at low water, and 200 feet or more in width. The least depth here was about eighteen feet.

The work yet to be done will consist mainly in widening these channels and in deepening that across the Providence Harbor bar. What has now been accomplished will enable ocean ships to come to Fox Point wharf. The coal carrying traffic feels an impulse from the improved channel accommodations, and cargoes of 2,500 tons of coal now come to the port, where the maximum cargoes brought previous to the dredging are said to have been about 1,000 tons.

The dangerous Bulkhead Rock which lifted itself into the channel between Pomham and Fuller's lights has been blasted away during the past season, and the buoy which marked its place removed. A special appropriation of $5,000 made by Congress for this was insufficient and the additional sum required was made up out of the appropriations for the main channel.

The interesting report of Gen. G. K. Warren, Lieutenat-Colonel of Engineers, in charge of the improvement of harbors and rivers on this coast, to the Chief of Engineers, U. S. A., is largely quoted in appendix A to this report, from advance sheets kindly sent to us, and we ask especial attention to the valuable information there given. We are further indebted to Gen. Warren for a resumé of operations for the improvement of Providence River after the date of his report, at the close of the fiscal year, which will also be found in the appendix.

It becomes more and more evident to us, that true economy in expenditure for dredging requires the adoption, in part at least, of the practice common in European ports, for the local authorities to own. dredging and towing apparatus, and to furnish it, at moderate rates, to those who do the work.

DUMPING GROUND.

The dumping ground for material dredged under the United States Government is in deep water near Half Way Rock, east of Conanicut Island. Assent was given to dumping a small amount of dredged material on the east side of Providence Harbor, under certain restrictions, including the requirement that no dumping should be within seven hundred feet of the harbor line. Assent was also given to dumping on the west side of Providence Harbor under similar restrictions, except that the limit of distance from the harbor line for dumping was reduced to six hundred feet. It is not thought to be advisable to allow any more dumping in either of these localities until suitable retaining walls are built.

General Warren called the attention of the Board, in December, to dumping which had been done on the east side of the harbor in an objectionable position. This dumping was wholly unauthorized and was done by parties dredging near the Wilkesbarre Pier. Action will probably be taken to cause the removal of as much material as was dumped without authority. Assent was given to dumping dredged material at two points in Seekonk River, under certain restrictions. One point was on the west side between Red Bridge and Washington Bridge, not nearer the channel than 450 feet west of the harbor line. The other point was on the east side, above Walker's Point, not more than 400 feet from shore at the middle of the dumping ground. Permits for dumping at these points are not considered to be now in force.

SURVEYS AND PLANS.

Surveys have been made during the year for the establishment of certain harbor lines, and copies have been taken of several valuable plans made by the Coast Survey Department for the city of Providence. The City Engineer has made copies of plans owned by the State and in charge of the Harbor Commissioners, so that the convenience of both offices in the use of the plans is increased and the chance of their destruction by accident is lessened.