Oregon, an uplift to all branches of industry and business. The people of Oregon have confidence in the integrity and ability of the honorable gentlemen whom I have heretofore named and who have so ably represented them in the past in securing the muchdesired appropriation to improve this harbor. Gentlemen, this matter is now left with you, and we confidently trust that your findings may be such as to call for the improvement herein prayed for. Âll of which is most respectfully submitted. J. J. WHITNEY. APPENDIX G. STATEMENT OF JUDGE H. M. PALMER. OFFICE OF H. M. PALMER, COUNTY JUDGE OF LINN COUNTY, OREG., In the matter of Yaquina Bay improvement. In the creation of this world every feature of it was created for a good purpose, and the Creator thereof pronounced it good, and the water was separated from the land, and the land was designed for the support of mankind and the beasts of the field and wildwood, and the sea is the great highway of all nations where the ships may ride free to every land. And it is so in the creation of these things that there are also many inlets, bays, or natural harbors all along the coast of this great commercial highway. These are also designed for use and to bring good and serve the children of men, and all we are required to do to reap the benefits of those Godgiven rights is to do the small part of adding a few needed improvements and develop what is designed to be for our good. Without these needed improvements as they have been made in the past our country would still be a wilderness instead of what is now the most prosperous and progressive nation of the earth. And to-day, gentlemen, we are gathered here at Yaquina Bay, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, to consider this matter of improvement by the General Government, of which you are its representatives. And we see here the ruins of what was once a pretty good harbor, now gone down in rot and decay-a Government work let loose to go back to the old sand bar and blight the hopes of its people. Why is this? If I were asked the question I would simply answer, I don't know. It ain't like Uncle Sam. And there lies adjacent to this bay a country of grand possibilities and unsurpassed in natural resources-an area of country in the State of Oregon equal to the area of five of our eastern States-that is particularly interested in the improvement of this bay, with forests of timber sufficient to run the sawmills for a century, and a farming country, if properly developed, great enough to feed a nation with its surplus products. So we think it necessary that Yaquina Bay should be improved to encourage development of our farm lands, and the building of mills and factories all over this vast area of country. The United States is covered over with a network of railroads, and the stations are built on an average of 6 miles apart. The railroad company understands it to be money in their pocket to have stopping places close together; it increases the products of the country and makes business for them, while it also serves as a convenience and is profitable to the people, and enhances the value of all property very materially on account of near-by city markets. It also applies in the matter of those little stopping places along our shores, and Yaquina Bay is one of them. Gentlemen, improve Yaquina Bay. We have now one railroad running here, and we are safe in predicting that there would be others very soon leading into every isolated place in this vast area of country contiguous to this place, now so sparsely settled, and be the means of converting the wilds of the forest into a garden spot, built up with happy homes, and the roaring streams into the mill wheel. Transportation must be cheaper than it now is, and this is the way to cheapen it. The farmer should prosper better than he is now doing in western Oregon. Give him a way to the sea and the great market centers, with the lowest possible freight rate, and he will do the rest. The United States Government does not build these improvements altogether for the money there may be in it for the Government, but for the upbuilding of a grand country and people, that every community may have all the blessings possible that can be accorded to them. I chance to be a county judge in the State of Oregon for Linn County, located in the Willamette Valley. That county is as large as Delaware, larger than Rhode Island, and half as large as New Jersey. We have 20,000 inhabitants only; they have been coming for fifty years. We have room for 80,000 people, and all do equally well as those already here, with such additional advantages as a thickly settled community brings to a country of unlimited natural resources; so let us with one accord say to-day, improve Yaquina Bay. Let the Government say, improve Yaquina Bay, and she will be improved so the ships of the sea can ride in and out with safety. The people of central and southern Oregon with one voice say, improve Yaquina Bay; and the people are not unreasonable. And in justice to the old pioneers who blazed the way across the continent and unlocked the gate to this glorious country and withstood the hardships of a frontier life, let us press on with the race that is placed before us, and let no part of the work belonging to this generation go by default. Respectfully submitted. The honorable gentlemen the GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS. APPENDIX H. LETTER OF MR. G. A. WESTGATE. H. M. PALMER. ALBANY, OREG., September 12, 1903. DEAR SIR: Following your invitation to be at Newport on the 16th, anent discussion of the betterment of the entrance to Yaquina Harbor, etc., I regret that I can not be a part of the delegation to meet with Captain Langfitt and his associates on that occasion. But it seems to me that this is a most appropriate time to plan for the resumption of traffic via Yaquina. At present the crops of the Willamette Valley are selling freely, and it is almost impossible to secure cars to move anything in any direction. The operating department of the Southern Pacific Company refuses to furnish cars for California points. I am already weeks behind on car orders for Portland. The grain trade is suffering for this cause. It is impossible to fill orders, and what promised to be a good season has gone into the doubtful class, simply by reason of the inability of the transportation lines to move the products of the country. We ought not to be shut out from any market that calls for our stuff. The present condition is not new. For five years the shippers of the Willamette Valley have suffered for lack of cars. The Harriman people appear to be taking no steps to cope with the situation. One's thought turns to the time when most of the heavy southward commerce of the valley was cared for by steamers sailing from Yaquina and connecting with your rail lines. Much of our products—flour, feed, grain, and often wheathave their best markets in California. You will remember that for a long time steamers from Yaquina carried a commerce of 100,000 tons and upward per annum. Owing to the condition of the Yaquina bar, etc., disaster after disaster followed the old Oregon Pacific Company until the Willamette Valley was the only steamer left on the route. Had the harbor and its entrance received as much Federal attention as less worthy harbors these lost vessels might still be in the active list. Since the closing of the Yaquina route freight rates south have advanced from 30 to 50 per cent. The point is this: a few feet more of water on Yaquina bar would save these regions $250,000 to $500,000 per year. Our country is developing rapidly. Lumber without count can not be moved for lack of cars. Grain, flour, feed, potatoes, apples, and many other things are kept out of their natural markets for lack of transportation. The world just now is crying for cascara, and victims are plunging into awful desolation for lack of the chittum bark that grows along the Corvallis and Eastern, and which might be forwarded if our harbor were not neglected. I wish the gentlemen of the Board of Engineers may see the importance in convenience, in present dollars and cents, and in future possibilities of following up these harbor improvements. Truly, yours, Mr. EDWIN STONE, Manager Corvallis and Eastern Railroad Company, Albany. G. A. WESTGATE. UU 7. IMPROVEMENT OF TILLAMOOK BAY AND BAR, OREGON. Information concerning the project (now completed) for obtaining a least depth at mean high tide in the channel between Hobsonville, on Tillamook Bay, and Tillamook City, on Hoquarten Slough, as well as the results of operations in former years, is given in the summary of this report. At the close of the last fiscal year the Government plant was being operated by hired labor, dredging the shoals in Hoquarten Slough, from which about 10,000 cubic yards had been removed by July 1, 1903. OPERATIONS DURING THE FISCAL YEAR 1904. During the fiscal year operations were continued by hired labor and use of the Government plant on the work of maintaining the projected depth in the channel between Hobsonville and Tillamook City by the removal of sand, gravel, and snags from the channel and by strengthening the existing dikes by the addition of rock. In order to divert more of the flow of Trask River away from Stillwell ditch, and thus lessen the deposit of gravel in Hoquarten Slough, the South Fork of the Trask River was partially cleared of snags and drift, and 7 piles driven across the North Fork just below its junction with the South Fork. Dredging and snagging operations were carried on until December 23, 1903, when work was suspended. The dredge used is a Hayward bucket of 1 cubic yard capacity. The material removed from the shoals consisted of gravel and sand mixed with small snags and spruce limbs. In Hoquarten Slough it was deposited directly on the bank, and in the bay was sluiced behind the dikes or to a distance of 150 feet on either side of the cuts by dumping into a trough supported on a scow, into which a stream of water was pumped. In the slough the channel was made nearly the full width between banks, 60 or 70 feet, and across the shoals in the bay 150 feet wide. During the fiscal year, approximately 40,000 cubic yards of gravel, sand, and mud were dredged, and by last December the least depth in the channel between Tillamook and the lower bay was nowhere less than 4 feet at mean low tide. In addition to the dredging, 376 large and 770 small snags were removed from Hoquarten Slough, and placed on the bank and cut up. Dicks Point, Wilson River, and Long jetties were repaired by depositing on them at weak places 745 tons of rock in the shape of small bowlders, which were picked up along the south shore of the bay by hired labor, at a cost of about 60 cents per ton. Much rain fell in the months of February and March, 1904, and the swollen rivers tributary to the bay brought down an unusual amount of sand and gravel, which has decreased the depth in the channel near Junction Island and Long jetty and formed a new shoal in Hoquarten Slough just below the mouth of Stillwell ditch. It is proposed to expend the balance of the available funds in redredging these shoals by hired labor, and also in the further removal of obstructions from the South Fork of the Trask River, and the partial closing of Stillwell ditch to check the deposit of gravel carried through it into Hoquarten Slough. It is thought that sufficient funds are on hand to dredge the channel to the projected depth of 9 feet at ordinary high tide. It is estimated that $10,000 will be needed every two years to maintain the project, and in addition the sum of $6,000 for changes and additions to the plant to render it more efficient. The sum of $16,000 is therefore the amount named in the money statement for profitable expenditure for maintenance of the work to June 30, 1906. Money statement. July 1, 1903, balance unexpended June 30, 1904, amount expended during fiscal year, for maintenance of improvement July 1, 1904, amount covered by uncompleted contracts.... $18, 463. 15 8, 945. 04 9, 518. 11 940.00 8, 578. 11 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1906, for maintenance 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. 2,800.00 16,000.00 Number of passengers arriving and departing by sea during the year, 1,440. Tons. Tons. 102 11,215.5 20 3,930 865.5 4,141 12, 720.92 List of vessels crossing the bar at entrance to Tillamook Bay, Oregon, during year ending December 31, 1903, which proceeded as far as or departed from Tillamook City, Oreg. List of vessels crossing the bar at entrance to Tillamook Bay, Oregon, during year ending December 31, 1903, which did not go above nor depart from above Hobsonville, Oreg. IMPROVING THE VARIOUS HARBORS ON THE COAST OF OREGON SOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER BY THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF A DREDGING PLANT FOR USE THEREON. The existing projects providing for the improvement of the various harbors, with status of improvement, will be found in the summary of the annual report pertaining to each work. This new project for the construction of a dredging plant for use on these harbors is based on a letter submitted by the district officer under date of June 7, 1904. The recommendation is concurred in by the division engineer and approved by the Chief of Engineers. The harbors now under improvement by the General Government are Tillamook Bay and bar, Yaquina Bay, Siuslaw River, Coos Bay and harbor (including Coos River), and the Coquille River, Oregon. It frequently happens that shoals are formed in the navigable channels, thereby greatly delaying the shipping and requiring immediate removal. There are no suitable dredging plants owned by contractors at these harbors and heretofore, owing to the inadequacy of funds for |