H. C. Wharton, corps of engineers, my assistant, of several places in St. Mary's River, Michigan; also of the west channel of the East Neebish Rapids of the same river, by Lieutenants Greene and Haupt, corps of engineers, temporarily acting under my orders for this purpose; also of a part of this river at the head of Ram's Island, by a party kindly furnished by Brevet Brigadier General W. F. Raynolds, corps of engineers, superintendent of the lake survey, at my request. The results of all these surveys are mapped and contained in a separate report of mine, dated 30th June, 1869, which will be sent with this annual report, and which will set forth the manner and expense of improving each place, to which attention is invited. Before closing, I take occasion to recommend a survey and examination with a view to the improvement of the mouth of Sheboygan River, Michigan, as eminently worthy of being made by the government. The waters of this, and of its tributaries, occupying the northern part of the lower Michigan peninsula, emptying into the straits of Mackinaw, are of much importance, affording, as they do, an interior navigation by steam for some seventy to one hundred miles of lakes and connecting rivers, through extensive districts of excellent pine forests, and a great amount of farming soil of good quality. The obstruction at the mouth of the river can, with a moderate expenditure, be readily removed. And when removed, so as to do away with the present expensive lighterage, a result similar to that which has attended the opening of the new channel at the mouth of the Saginaw River would be immediately realized, and, in addition, there would accrue to the United States. treasury, by the immediate sale of public lands consequent upon the improvement, ten-fold the amount of cost of deepening its mouth. For these reasons, and the additional one that when the obstruction,, which is not sand, but tough clay, is once removed there will be no filling up, I recommend the survey, which need not cost more than $750.. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, T. J. CRAM, Colonel Engineers, Brevet Major General U. S. Ármy. Brevet Maj. Gen. A. A. HUMPHREYS,. Brigadier General, Chief of Engineers United States Army. Report, with maps, of the surveys and estimates of quantities to be removed by dredging, for the improvement of certain places in St. Mary's River,, Michigan, made by authority from Chief of Engineers, September 30, 1868,, rendered with my annual report, 30th June, 1869. The several places requiring improvement, and for which these special surveys were made during the present fiscal year, in the autumn of 1868, are indicated on the engraved general map, and five of the places are shown on the accompanying maps of larger scale, as follows, in ascending the river: 1st. At the head of Ram's Island, thirty miles below Fort Brady, or the village of Sault de Ste. Marie. Map A shows the position of the measured base and the soundings of the survey. The figure inclosed by the red dotted lines exhibits the place to be improved, by dredging out the small bowlders, and gravel and sand deposit. The bowlders here vary in size from four inches to twenty-four inches in diameter. The contemplated improvement is to do away with the sharp elbows in, and to widen, the present channel there, and to give it a depth of 14 feet below the lowest stage, requiring 27,337 cubic yards, to be removed, as estimated by my assistant, Captain H. C. Wharton, corps of engineers. The survey of this place was made at my request, in a manner prescribed by myself, by a lake-survey party under the orders of the superintendent of the lake survey, Brevet Brigadier General W. F. Raynolds, to whom I am under obligations for the favor. 2d. At the foot of Sugar Island, 264 miles below that village. Map B shows the lines of triangulation and the soundings of the survey which was made by Captain Wharton, under my direction. It is in contemplation to improve here by dredging the space limited between the red lines to a width at bottom from 200 to 300 feet, and to a depth of 13 feet below lowest stage. The material to be dredged is soft clay, and for a width of 200 feet amounts, by this estimate, to 33,888 cubic yards, and for a width of 300 feet to 50,831 cubic yards. An improvement here is deemed necessary to give a straight free course, allowing vessels to navigate along this part, and a short distance below, without hinderance in the night by taking out two sharp elbows in the present channel, which now cannot be safely run in the dark. In the estimate in my annual report I adopt 300 feet as the proper width for the channel at bottom. 3d. West channel of East Neebish Rapids, 24 miles below said village. Map C shows the base line and soundings of the survey which was made by a lake-survey party, Assistants Lieutenants Green and Haupt, corps of engineers, placed under my orders for the purpose, in a manner as shown by the map, and which was prescribed by myself. The improvement in contemplation here consists in dredging so as to widen and deepen where necessary the channel for an extent of 2,100 feet, to a width of 200 and depth of 14 feet below lowest stage during the season of navigation, requiring 3,526.7 cubic yards solid rock, 4,853 cubic yards loose rock, or small bowlders, and 1,627 cubic yards sand and gravel to be removed, as per Lieutenant Haupt's estimate. It has been considered by all who are acquainted with the river that this improvement will be of vast benefit to the navigation, and I am satisfied that it should be the first improvement to enter upon after completing Lake George Channel. 4th. Middle channel of Lake George, having its middle point say twenty miles below said village. Map D is a copy, with additions made by Captain Wharton, of the lake-survey map, of a survey made in the fall of 1868, by orders direct from the Chief Engineer to General Raynolds, to whose courtesy I am indebted for permission to make the copy. This map shows very well the condition of the channel at the close of the dredging in the autumn of 1868. Captain Wharton estimates from it that at the beginning of the season for dredging in 1869 there remained 32,730 cubic yards soft material to be dredged out in order to complete the channel to the scale of improvement contemplated, viz: 14 feet depth in the middle of the channel, 12 feet at the sides, and 200 feet wide at the bottom. 5th. At a place 14 mile above the Sault de Ste. Marie Canal. Map E shows a cluster of bowlders there, which have also been, under my directions, surveyed and located by a triangulation, by Captain Wharton. These bowlders are dangerous, and several vessels have been damaged and two totally wrecked on them in attempting to enter the canal under a strong west wind. By a careful consideration of these sunken dan gers I infer, as they have deep water near to and all around them, that by powerful steam force they may be rolled out of the way into deep water; if not, they can be easily blasted, and the fragments moved by a dredge into deep water. The amount estimated by Captain Wharton of the contents to be removed pertaining to Nos. 1, 2, 3, is only 540 cubic feet to leave us 15 feet depth of water at lowest stage over their remaining parts. Those marked on the map 4, 5, 6, are too remote to be dangerous, and need not be removed. The cost of the improvement here I estimate, after consultation with experienced blasters, at $3,000. 6th. A bowlder 24 miles below the Sault de Ste. Marie Canal. [See engraved map for its location.] This sunken bowlder should be removed. It will cost about $1,000. By dredging a pit near it it probably can be rolled into it; if not, we must resort to blasting. 7th. Another bowlder about 1 mile above the head of Ram's Island, which is dangerous to vessels, and should be removed. 8th. Still another bowlder, just opposite the foot of that island. This is so near the middle of the channel as to be much in the way, and should be removed. The cost of removing the two last-named bowlders I estimate at $2,000. No examination or survey has been made with a view of determining the cost of the improvements required in the Sault de Ste. Marie Canal. I think it highly desirable that I should receive authority to do this during the summer of 1869, so that I may set Captain Wharton with a small party at the work before he comes down from there this season. Respectfully submitted. T. J. CRAM, Colonel Engineers, Brevet Major General, June 30, 1869. Brevet Maj. Gen. A. A. HUMPHREYS, Brigadier General, Chief of Engineers. APPENDIX D. Report of operations in the improvement of Monroe Harbor, Michigan, for the year ending June 30, 1869. This improvement was under charge of Brevet Major General T. J. Cram, colonel of engineers, until April 12, 1869, after which time its charge devolved upon Major Walter McFarland, corps of engineers. Nothing has been done here during the past year, the harbor being in very good condition, so far as the piers are concerned, though the bar at the mouth of the ship canal begins to show the need of dredgingalthough in General Cram's report of last winter he says: "I do not propose to dredge away this bar, there being already water enough for the very limited commerce of the place." On the 14th of June I recommended to the department that the bar at the mouth of this canal be removed by dredging, and that a wing or deflector be constructed at the western extremity of the north pier in order to prevent the seas which run along that pier from breaking through into the channel. These recommendations were approved by the Chief of Engineers June 18, and on the 31st July I directed advertisements calling for bids for doing this work to be inserted in the Cleveland Daily Herald. Since the close of the year this work has been let-the dredging at twenty-four cents per cubic yard, which is the lowest bid on public work made within the last five years for this kind of work-and it will probably be completed by the 1st of December. Balance June 30, 1868... Balance June 30, 1869.. $10,590 21 178 73 10,411 48 The most of which will probably be expended within the present year. No further appropriation is asked. The annual cost of keeping this harbor in repair may possibly amount to $1,000. D 1. Report of operations in the improvement of Toledo Harbor, Ohio, for the year ending June 30, 1869. This improvement was in charge of Brevet Major General T. J. Cram, colonel of engineers, until April 12, 1869, since when it has been in charge of Major Walter McFarland, corps of engineers. From July to October 19,100 cubic yards of sand were removed from the channel between buoys 1 and 9, a distance of about one mile and an eighth, in the crookedest and most troublesome part of the channel, in which a depth of twelve feet below low water was obtained for a width of one hundred and seventy feet. On the 27th of December General Cram transmitted to the Chief of Engineers a project for constructing a ship canal through Maumee Bay at an approximate cost of $885,526, in place of further dredging the channel. This project was submitted to a board of engineers which assembled in Washington in January, 1869, and by them was rejected on the ground of bad location of the proposed cut, defective method of construction, and excessive cost; and in its place it was recommended that the main or western channel should be dredged throughout its entire length, for a width of two hundred feet and a depth of twelve feet, at a probable cost of $152,800, which report and recommendation were approved by the Chief of Engineers in a letter of January 27, 1869, to the Secretary of War, transmitting the proceedings of the board. Shortly after being placed in charge of the improvement of this harbor I visited Toledo, where I met a number of gentlemen interested in the commerce of the place, and anxious to learn what could be done for the relief of its navigation. In company with them I made an examination of Maumee Bay and of the condition of their commerce, the result of which I reported to the Chief of Engineers on the 6th of May. I stated in that report that my examination had confirmed me in the opinion expressed by the board in January, that the improvement should be confined to the western or main channel, and that as the dredging would need to be carried over the whole length of it, that not much relief could be given for a less sum than $75,000 or $80,000, which the citizens were very anxious to have allotted from the recent general appropriation of $2,000,000 for the improvement of certain works on rivers and harbors. In answer to this, on the 24th of May, a letter was sent me from the office of the Chief of Engineers, directing me to make an examination with the lake-survey steamer Search, of the sailing lines of Maumee Bay, for the purpose of ascertaining "how far $30,000 could be made available toward relieving the present pressure upon the commerce of the place." This examination was made between the 28th of May and 2d of June, partially delayed by bad weather, during which time upwards of six thousand soundings were taken with a rod over the western channel; the chart of the soundings, made up in Detroit at the office of the lake survey, was received on the 21st, and on the 24th I reported that for $30,000 we could make a channel between sixty and eighty feet in width and of the necessary depth, depending upon the price we should have to pay for dredging, and on the 10th of July I was notified that $30,000 had been allotted for the improvement of this harbor. Since the close of the fiscal year, on which I am reporting, the contract for dredging this channel has been let to Patrick Smith, of Cleveland, at thirty-five cents per cubic yard, a reduction of ten cents per cubic yard below the price paid for the rest of the dredging at this harbor, and seventeen cents below the price bid by the former contractor for this same work. Three dredges are constantly at work, with the prospect of completing a good sixty-five-foot channel through the bay this fall. To indicate its position I have had its line marked by piles. There has been expended in the improvement of this harbor during the past year $10,715 51. Balance June 30, 1868 Expended by General Cram.. $13,015 01 10,715 51 Which can all be expended in the present year. port of entry. Revenue from customs collected here during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1869.... Number of vessels entered and cleared during same period Crews... 5,458 $86,520 79 1,125,539 43,790 To which statement the collector of the port adds: "If the sand-bar at the mouth of the harbor should be removed, this amount would increase many fold, inasmuch as at present no vessel can enter this harbor at the ordinary stage of water which draws more than nine feet. Many of the propellers coming here have to light their cargoes to enable them to enter, while others are deterred from coming here at all. In going out they cannot take full cargoes for the same reason." |