IMPROVEMENT OF GRAND RIVER, MICHIGAN. The history of this improvement to June 30, 1903, will be found in the Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1902, page 2159, and for 1903, page 1956. OPERATIONS DURING FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1904. Operations by day labor and the use of Government plant have been in progress during the year. The informal contract with the Featherstone Foundry and Machine Company for an A-frame and steel boom for the U. S. dipper dredge Farquhar was completed August 28 and the dredge resumed operations at Eastmanville bar on September 3. Between that time and the end of the season operations were carried on at Eastmanville, County House, and Rices bars. This dredge went into winter quarters at Grand Haven November 2, 1903. During the latter part of the winter and spring a car conveyor was improvised from material and plant on hand for use in connection with this dredge during the present season. Owing to the extremely high stage of the river and the necessity for dredging at Grand Haven Harbor, active operations were not resumed on the river until May 2, 1904. Before June 30 a single cut had been made through the Grand Rapids, Plaster Creek, and a part of the Noble bars. The material dredged during the fiscal year consisted of sand, clay, cobblestones, shale rock, and bowlders, and amounted to 71,183 cubic yards, at a cost of 15.39+ cents per cubic yard. The steel hull and a cabin for the new suction dredge General Ludlow, which were in course of construction at the yard of the contractor, Thomas Johnston, Ferrysburg, Mich., at the beginning of the fiscal year, were completed and accepted May 4, 1904. Two Scotch marine boilers and a steel mast and boom were also constructed by Contractor Johnston for this dredge. The boilers were accepted on April 9 and the mast and boom on April 29. The main pump, main engine, jet condenser and air pump, electric-light outfit and machineshop tools were purchased under separate contracts from the makers. The jet pump and engines, hauling engines, valve-opening engines, machine-shop engine, fire and feed pumps were made over from old machinery on hand and installed, together with the new machinery, by hired labor and the use of the machine-shop tools purchased for the dredge. The Ludlow was completed and ready for work on May 20. The accompanying plant was fitted out and the fleet towed to County House bar, where it arrived May 31. During the month of June this dredge completed a channel of navigable width and a depth of 6 feet (below low water) through all bars having less than 4.5 feet of water on them, between the sixteenth and twenty-third miles, excavating 50,331 cubic yards of sand and clay, at a cost of 3.67 cents per cubic yard. The total amount dredged during this fiscal year by both dredges is 121,514 cubic yards. The contraction works built during the year were in continuation of those of prior years. Eleven of the existing walls were extended downstream, and eight entirely new walls were constructed in continuation of the contraction scheme. The operations of the season embraced that portion of the river between the second and twenty-second miles below Grand Rapids and consisted in building 12,443 linear feet of new work. Frequent rains maintained a stage in the river that would not allow any repair work to be done and completely stopped construction work on August 28. The remaining material for this work was safely stored for the winter season, and the last of the plant was laid up at Grand Haven on October 24. Since this work was far in advance of the dredging operations and the high stage of the river previous to June 30 prevented the resumption of repair work, nothing further was done during the fiscal year. The foregoing operations cost as follows: This is illustrated on the accompanying maps, which show the location and extent of all dredge cuts and training walls which have been made since the beginning of operations under the present project, and the available channel depths reduced to the low-water stage, from Grand Rapids to the mouth of Bass River, 23 miles below. The available depth at extreme low water between Bass River and Grand Haven is 5 feet. During the spring flood the river reached the highest stage ever recorded, viz, 26.4 feet on the Grand Rapids gauge. This is 5.1 feet above the highest previous record. The current at Grand Haven reached a velocity of 6.6 miles per hour. The greatest previous velocity was 34 miles per hour. The discharge at Grand Haven was found to be approximately 77,500 cubic feet per second. The greatest previous high-water discharge was slightly more than 26,000 cubic feet per second. The low-water discharge is approximately 1,000 cubic feet per second. In previous high-water stages there has been no evidence of sand movement. The river carried a small amount of silt brought from plowed fields, but very little, if any, sand. The deposit of sand on the banks after last spring's flood varied in depth from a few inches to 2 feet. The effect of the flood on the channel, on the whole, was rather beneficial than otherwise. WORK PROPOSED FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1905. The dredging operations which are now in progress will be continued through the present season and as much longer as the available funds will permit. Only such repairs to contraction works will be made as are absolutely necessary to save the existing works and protect the spoil banks. No new works will be built. ESTIMATE OF FUNDS FOR FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1906. The annual expenditure of small appropriations on this project is of doubtful expediency. Such a course will prolong the work far beyond the time contemplated in the original estimate of cost; will, on account of the cost of maintenance, greatly increase the amount necessary to complete the work, and, moreover, render the possibility of an ultimate completion of the project problematical. It is therefore thought that nothing less than $200,000 should be provided for the continuance of this work. Total amount appropriated to June 30, 1904.. Total amount expended on previous project from March, 1881, to June, 1896.. Total amount expended on present project, approved June, 3, 1896: For maintenance. . $325,000.00 50,000.00 275,000.00 -$224, 384. 88 235, 386.70 39, 613. 30 670, 500.00 774,000.00 Balance Original estimated cost of project, approved June 3, 1896 Money statement. July 1, 1903, balance unexpended.. -$117, 449. 06 June 30, 1904, amount expended during fiscal year, for works of improvement Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project. Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, for works of improvement, in addition to the balance unexpended July 1, 1904 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sundry civil act of June 4, 1897, and of section 7 of the river and harbor act of 1899. a $200 used by Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors. a 77, 835. 76 39, 613. 30 650.00 38, 963. 30 499,000.00 200,000.00 ABSTRACT OF CONTRACTS IN FORCE. Construction of steel hull and cabin for suction dredge. Contractor: Thomas Johnston. Date of contract: June 16, 1903. Date of approval: July 31, 1903. Date of beginning: August 13, 1903. Date of expiration: December 3, 1903; time limit waived. Rate: Lump sum of $21,000. Steam plant for suction areage. Contractor: Thomas Johnston. COMMERCIAL STATISTICS FOR GRAND RIVER, MICHIGAN, CALENDAR YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31, 1903. [Compiled from statement furnished by Mr. G. W. Bunker, assistant engineer.] REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS RELATIVE TO THE COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF GRAND RIVER, MICHIGAN. [Printed in House Doc. No. 216, Fifty-eighth Congress, second session.] WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, Washington, December 2, 1903. SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a report, dated November 11, 1903, by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, relative to the improvement of Grand River, Michigan, made in pursuance of a resolution of the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives, transmitted to this office by letter of Hon. T. E. Burton, dated April 25, 1903, an extract from which is quoted in the accompanying report. The existing project for the improvement of this locality contemplates providing a channel through the bars 10 feet deep and 90 to 100 feet wide up to Fulton street, in the city of Grand Rapids. The amount estimated for completing this improvement, as presented in the Annual Report for 1903, is $499,000, but the Board states that the project can not be completed for that amount, and presents an estimate of the cost of work remaining to be done, amounting to $970,000. The Board believes, however, that a 6-foot channel would accomplish for the community in and about Grand Rapids practically as much as a 10-foot channel, and submits a project for a 6-foot channel 100 feet wide from Fulton street, in Grand Rapids, to Grand Haven, Mich., which is estimated to cost $430,000. In addition to $103,000, now available in plant and cash, for prosecuting the work under present project, $327,000 would be required to produce a 6-foot channel, supposing that the entire amount be made available for work with the plant already provided not later than one year hence. The Board expresses the opinion, in which I concur, that it is advisable to modify the project for the improvement of Grand River, with a view to securing and maintaining a 6-foot channel, 100 feet wide, from Fulton street, in Grand Rapids, to Grand Haven, Mich., at a cost of $327,000, in addition to the plant and funds now available. The cost of maintaining such a channel is estimated at $20,000 per annum. I recommend that this letter and the accompanying paper be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, for the information of Congress, in response to above-mentioned resolution. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. L. GILLESPIE, Brig. Gen., Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army. Hon. ELIHU ROOT, REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS. BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS, Washington, D. C., November 11, 1903. GENERAL: By first indorsement, Office Chief of Engineers, United States Army, May 1, 1903, there was referred to the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors a resolution adopted by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives, of which the following is an extract: Resolved by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, That the Board of five engineer officers established by section three of the river and harbor act of June thirteenth, nineteen hundred and two, be requested to make reports to Congress not later than the first Monday in December, nineteen hundred and three, upon the following projects, with a view to making recommendations upon the desirability of continuing the same, or any modification thereof, or to report as specifically stated with the designation of the respective projects: Grand River, Michigan: Can the project be completed at the estimated cost? |