Statement of commerce passing the locks on the Muskingum River, Ohio, during the Calendar year ending December 31, 1903. List of steamboats (stern-wheel) plying on the Muskingum River between Zanesville and Marietta, Ohio. List of steamboats plying on the Muskingum River between Zanesville and Dresden, Ohio. For description see Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1875, pages 747-755; 1895, pages 2517-2520; 1896, pages 2324, 2325. Nothing has been done toward its improvement since 1899, when the removal of channel obstructions was, to a certain extent, completed. Owing to the construction of a railroad into that region very little steamboating has been done of late years, the principal commerce being timber. The tonnage is estimated at 150.000 tons for the past year. A statement of the original condition, projects, etc., will be found in the summary. The United States has built one lock (and movable dam) on this river, which is completed and in operation, and is located at Louisa, Ky. The present project provides for 21 more, extending slack water from the mouth of the Big Sandy up the forks to Pikeville on the Levisa, and the mouth of Pond Creek on Tug Fork. Of the locks provided for in the project, those in the Big Sandy itself are well advanced toward completion, and authority for the construction of one on each of the forks above Louisa has been given and their locations have been decided upon at Saltpeter branch on Tug, and at Chapman station on Levisa, and the land necessary for sites has been acquired. Under the allotment for preliminary work and subsequent appropriations, the following work has been accomplished: At Lock and Dam No. 1, Catlettsburg, Ky.-Good progress was made on this work, the lock being completed. Work on the dam (which includes an abutment and protection) has been well advanced, the abutment and pass masonry being completed and part of the weir put in. The items of work done between July 1, 1903, and June 30, 1904, by Folz & Jonte, contractors, on the lock are as below: |