5. Wareham Harbor.

The approved project provides for the improvement of the channel and the building up of Long Beach. No work was done the last fiscal year.

Amount available July 1, 1891, $2,493.93.

6. New Bedford Harbor.

The plan of improvement contemplates the excavation of a channel of approach to the wharves at New Bedford, 18 feet deep at mean low water. No work was done the last fiscal year. Balance available July 1, 1891, $7,031.67.

7. Westport Harbor.

The improvement consists in the construction of jetties at the end of Horse Neck Point to prevent its wearing away, and dredging on the Lion Tongue shoal. No work was done the last fiscal year.

Balance unexpended July 1, 1891, $977.04.

The approved project, which has been nearly completed, consists in the widening and deepening of the channel, and the removal of ledges and bowlders from its bottom and sides.

Dredging was begun just before the close of the last fiscal year, and the first reach and a portion of the second reach above Berkley bridge, were completed.

Balance available July 1, 1891, $2,748.50.

PROTECTION OF ISLANDS IN BOSTON HARBOR.

The importance of preventing the further wasting of the islands and headlands in Boston harbor from the action of winds and waves and other causes, is well understood. The removal from them of gravel and other material for sale or use elsewhere, needs watchful oversight. The only statute on the subject was passed in 1856, before this Board was established. It is recommended that its powers and duties in respect to Boston harbor be made similar to those which have been provided in the case of other harbors and beaches of less importance.

BUOYS FOR YACHTS AND SMALL BOATS.

The Board was directed by chapter 105 of the Resolves of 1891 “to make an investigation and report to the next General Court such plan or plans as seem to them feasible for marking dangerous rocks and bars in the harbors of the Commonwealth in such a way as to secure greater safety to yachts and small boats;" and to "state particularly in their report the expense of carrying out any plans recommended by them."

We have undertaken and made some progress in this investigation. The resolve was passed late in the session, and our purpose to avail ourselves of the information and suggestions of yachtsmen and others interested at public hearings later in the year, has been defeated by the lengthy investigation of the subject of the East Boston bridge, and other somewhat unusual demands upon our time.

There are 42 harbors within the limits of the State in which the national government maintains aids to navigation. In order to ascertain the number and location of rocks and bars in these harbors which are considered dangerous to yachts and small boats, and which are not marked, interviews have been had with yachtsmen and others familiar with the principal harbors, and numerous places have been visited.

In nine of these harbors 56 places have been suggested as requiring buoys or marks, including 27 places in Boston harbor. In five other harbors, no places have been suggested. In Marblehead harbor, for instance, though much frequented by yachts, the water is deep, and it is said that the rocks and dangerous places are already marked by the national government.

Some attention has also been given to the manner of marking dangerous rocks and bars according to location and depth of water. A buoy which would stand the year round in a channel whose currents keep it free from ice, would be torn away in the shoaler waters of a bay which freezes over in the winter; and the buoy in the latter case

must be of such character that it can be conveniently taken up before cold weather and replaced in the spring.

The United States has a system established by public statute for coloring and numbering buoys, so that each has its definite and well-understood meaning. How far it would be necessary to have a uniform system for buoys. and marks such as are proposed, and whether that system should be like or quite unlike the national system, may also require consideration.

The approximate cost of 50 spar buoys not exceeding 30 feet in length, as per specifications of the United States Light House Board, including the setting of the same if set in Boston harbor, is estimated at $2,000. The cost of other buoys and marks cannot be estimated until their character is settled upon.

What has been said suggests rather than answers some of the questions to which this interesting subject gives rise, and makes it apparent that more time is required for its proper investigation. It is the purpose of the Board to continue such investigation and to make further report to the next General Court.

"

CONNECTICUT River.

The general care and supervision of the Connecticut. River within the confines of this Commonwealth, and of the banks thereof, and of all structures therein," were committed to this Board by chapter 344 of the Acts of 1885. Its attention, and the time of its engineering force, are occupied more and more year by year with the duties and work imposed by this statute.

River Bank at Springfield.

Mention was made in our last report of injurious encroachments on the river along its bank in the city of Springfield. Notice was also received from the city the past year of its desire to extend sewer outlets into the river, with the request that the Board would prescribe the limit of extension and manner of construction.

Partly with reference to this application, and partly with a view to obtaining a record of the present position and con

dition of the river bank, and also the data for establishing a "harbor" or limit line beyond which no structure or filling shall hereafter be allowed, the survey and plans described on a preceding page of this report, covering the main frontage of the city and the opposite bank for a distance of nearly a mile and three-quarters, have been made the past year.

River Bank at Hadley.

The selectmen of Hadley called our attention the last autumn to the rapid wearing and caving of the river bank in that town along the North Hadley road, so that another year the road would probably have to be re-located farther back from the river. They also expressed the fear that the river might in course of time work in from above back of the protective works built a few years since under a grant of the Legislature, and again endanger the village of Hadley.

The survey mentioned on a preceding page was accordingly made with a view to obtaining a record of the present position of the river bank, and thereby determining by comparison with future surveys the progress of the invasion of the river; and, if found necessary, checking it in season to prevent injury to the protective works and danger to the village.

Protective Works at West Springfield.

Provision was made by chapter 90 of the Resolves of the last year, for the expenditure of $5,000 under the direction of this Board for protective works "to prevent the further inroads of the Connecticut River upon the easterly side of the town of West Springfield and the destruction of property in said town."

After preliminary examinations and surveys, the work was taken in hand, and has been executed on substantially the same plan and by the same methods as were adopted at Hadley with, so far as now appears, entire success.

The work was done under the immediate supervision of Messrs. E. C. and E. E. Davis, of Northampton, civil

engineers, who also superintended the construction of the protective works at Hadley under our direction. They make the following report:

To the Board of Harbor and Land Commissioners of Massachusetts.

GENTLEMEN:- We have the honor to submit the following report and summary of the work done under our supervision for the protection of the town of West Springfield against the further encroachments of the Connecticut River, under the provisions of chapter 90 of the Resolves of 1891.

Preliminary surveys for the proposed work were made in June last; and a plan of that part of the river and its banks lying between the Boston & Albany railroad bridge on the north and the old toll bridge on the south, together with profiles of the bed of the river on its cross sections, was submitted to your Board for consideration, with recommendations for the proposed work.

These profiles showed that the channel or thread of the river ran diagonally across its bed in a south-easterly direction from the westerly abutment of the railroad bridge to the easterly end of the old toll bridge below.

The greatest encroachment of the river on the West Springfield side was found to be immediately below the southerly line of the location of the Boston & Albany railroad. The scouring and receding of the bank had there reached the foot of the dike which had been built along the bank of the river for the protection of public highways and private property, endangering the permanency of that structure, as well as that of others on the bank below.

The method adopted for treating this reach of the river bank in order to prevent further encroachments upon the dike, was similar in kind to the work done under your direction on the river bank in the town of Hadley, in the years 1889 and 1890; but the construction was somewhat heavier, with overlapping rip-rap work instead of rubble above the low water line and up the slope to the foot of the dike.

The setting of willows on the slope above the low water line, as was done on the Hadley bank, has been omitted here, the river bank at this place being used largely as a boat landing and also for hauling ice from the river to the ice houses abutting on the dike.

Proposals for furnishing the stone for the work were invited by public advertisement, and the contract was awarded to William P. Latham, of Northampton, at the price of two dollars and ninety