passed over in a boat as much of the slough as is reported to need improvement, taking rough soundings with a rod graduated to feet for measurement of timber, and saw about one-half of the tidal basin lying above the navigable portion of the slough. The period of my stay in Redwood City permitted me to see the higher flood tide of August 22, the less flood of August 23, and the ebb following it. The difference of the two floods was about 2 feet, which I was informed is usual. Redwood Slough is, during a part of the year, the tidal estuary of a considerable stream, which is, during its freshet, heavily laden with the detritus of the uplands; during the dry season it has none but tidal water. The portion used commercially is a winding slough of about 6 miles in length, extending from the deep waters of the bay to the main street of the town. The upper part of this slough, less than 1 mile in length, is so much shoaled by the deposits of the stream as no longer to float at the higher flood tide of most days the schooners drawing 4 to 5 feet of water, when loaded, in which most of the shipping from and to the town is done. On the evening of my arrival one such schooner, laden with timber, made the passage outward, but two others were still awaiting a more favorable tide when I left on the following day. The shippers occupying wharves and warehouses near the bridge which closes navigation told me that they can now stow only a half load from their own wharves, and are obliged to send one-half the load by drays to wharves lower down. These shippers formerly stowed full loads, which were floated from their own wharves by either flood tide of an ordinary day. In this portion of the slough is a horseshoe bend, which is complained of as an obstacle to navigation. This bend is in open marsh land, overflown by spring tides and little above ordinary high tides, and very soft at the time of my visit, when it had not been overflowed for a month. I was assured by the owner of this land that no objection would be made by him to a cut. Estimating roughly from the soundings made as above, the excavation necessary to deepen the present channel to 7 feet, for a width of 27 feet, would be about 20,000 cubic yards; that for a canal of like dimensions, cutting off the horseshoe bend, about 35,000. For information of the commerce of Redwood City I am indebted mainly to a statement prepared by Mr. Albert Hanson, of the firm of Hanson & Co., from the records of the past four years. Mr. Hanson also prepared, at my request, a statement of actual shipments by that firm for the year ending August 1, 1882, which is appended. The statements of the smaller shippers were made in conversation and without reference to records, but in general by counting up the vessels dispatched and estimating an average load. The statement of the tannery was made by a foreman, who told me that he was not in a position to give accurate information. The following is a detailed statement of the information thus obtained: Redwood timber is cut on the higher ridges and seaward slopes of the Coast Range; the supply is said to be still good; that now cut is hauled 16 to 20 miles. Young redwood grows up where this timber is cut, but no attention has yet been paid to its care or cultivation. Cord-wood is cut in the foot-hills; the supply is now good. I learned nothing of the renewal of this growth. The export of grain and hay is a recent business as compared with that of timber; it now surpasses the latter in value, and is increasing. The grain of the lands bordering San Francisco Bay for a distance of about 10 miles, and also from San Gregoria on the ocean slope, is shipped here. Shipments from Redwood City are made, about one-half to San Francisco, one-half to towns on San Francisco Bay and Sacramento River, all within the State of California. The present deep water of the slongh is about one-half mile distant from the business center of the town. The ground in its vicinity is a soft marsh soil, in which I saw a rod of 1 inch square cross-section easily forced down by hand to a depth of 14 feet and pulled up again. To dredge the present channel would afford a temporary relief from a shoaling produced by natural and continuing causes, aided by the cutting away of the forests and by the cultivation of the uplands which produce the commerce to be aided. To straighten the channel by cutting across the horseshoe mentioned, and possibly another bend above this one, may give a result enough more permanent to warrant the greater expenditure required. A survey of that portion of the slough reported to need improvement could be made at an expense of about $40. No close estimate of the expense of improvement can be made without survey for that purpose. Should the present commerce and prospects of Redwood City be held to justify action on the part of the United States, I have the honor to recommend such survey. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Lieut. Col. G. H. MENDELL, CARL F. PALFREY, First Lieutenant of Engineers. Corps of Engineers. LUMBER, MERCHANDISE, ETC., SHIPPED FROM REDWOOD CITY FROM AUGUST 1, 1881, TO AUGUST 1, 1882. MISCELLANEOUS MERCHANDISE SHIPPED TO REDWOOD CITY FROM AUGUST 1, 1881, TO AUGUST 1, 1882. Miscellaneous.. .tons.. This statement is made by Hanson & Co., and relates to their own business. 5.000 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF ALAMEDA CREEK, ALAMEDA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, San Francisco, Cal., November 27, 1882. GENERAL: I inclose a report of an examination of Alameda Creek, California, made by First Lieut. C. F. Palfrey, Corps of Engineers, in accordance with the requirements of the act of August 2, 1882. Alameda Creek drains several hundred square miles of country. During the rainy season it discharges at times an excessive amount of water, and during the dry season it degenerates to a rivulet carrying a few cubic feet a second. It brings a large amount of sediment from the high lands which form the greater part of its drainage area. The sedimentary contributions of this creek have built up a strip of marsh land 3 or 4 miles wide reclaimed from the area of San Francisco Bay, through which marsh a tidal channel now meanders, affording such navigation, as exists, for a distance of 5 or 6 miles from the bay. At its junction with the bay it is bare at low tide, and at its head of navigation, where there are two villages, namely, Alvarado and Union City, the bed is also for a considerable distance bare. The improvement would consist in dredging to some determined depth, to be repeated as new deposits accrue. The country of which this channel is an outlet lies at a distance of about 20 miles from Oakland, and is intersected by two railroads, which do the greater part of the transportation. Under this statement of the circumstances it appears to me that there is no adequate public necessity at present for this improvement, which to be of any great value will require a considerable expenditure. I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. H. MENDELL, Lieutenant-Colonel, Corps of Engineers. The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. A. REPORT OF LIEUTENANT CARL F. PALFREY, CORPS OF ENGINEERS. UNITED STATES SNAG-BOAT SEIZER, Sacramento River, California, October 4, 1882. SIR: I have the honor to report that, in compliance with your letter dated September 4, 1882, I proceeded on that date to Alvarado, the head of navigation on Alameda Creek, to examine the present condition of that creek, the nature and extent of improvement required (as far as appearing on examination), and the extent of commerce to be benefited by such improvement. Immediately upon my arrival I called upon Mr. Dyer, manager of a considerable sugar refinery, who, though his own business was not immediately affected by the state of the creek, took pains to put me in the way of seeing those interested. Captain Barron, the owner and master of the only steamer now plying on the creek, was absent, and the time of his return uncertain. No boat of any kind could be had in the town. I learned, therefore, only what could be seen by driving along the banks. On the following day I drove 3 miles down the creek to a salt works, where a boat was said to be, but failed to find any. I walked in the marsh to the mouth of the North Slough, and then followed the creek back to the salt works. My information of the condition of the creek is therefore confined to what I could learn by observation from the bank and by conversation with men not immediately concerned in navigation. The navigable, or formerly navigable, portion of Alameda Creek is the tidal estuary of a mountain stream which flows through nearly or quite the whole year. It is very tortuous, winding through a broad tract of salt marsh, in which are many salt works. About midway from the bay to the town of Alvarado is a branch, known as the North Slough, which receives no mountain stream. Below the mouth of the North Slough there is good water; above, the channel is shoaled by the deposits of the stream, bars have formed at some of the points, and the sharp turns of the channel are complained of. Above, and near the mouth of the North Slough, a cut-off was begun several years ago, but not finished; 67 rods out of 90 were dug 10 feet wide and 4 deep. The cut as projected is shown on the Coast Survey chart. The completion of this cut is much desired; the bend which it would cut off, nearly two-thirds of a circle, is now in need of deepening. Four years ago, during the spring freshet, a portion of the right bank of the creek was broken away, not down to the bed of the creek. Attempts to dam this break having been unsuccessful, the creek has apparently carried for four years nearly the whole of its suspended matter in the original bed, with a much diminished water-flow. I saw in front of one wharf 15 feet of hard ground, which I was told was the deposit of four years. The waters flowing through the break spread over a tract of salt marsh and reach the bay by the North Slough and lower part of Alameda Creek. It is probable that, should the importance of this creek be held to justify work here, the channel when made would be rendered more permanent by the diversion of the mountain stream into the North Slough, leaving the channel a purely tidal slough. A small amount of excavation would accomplish this. The business now done in the creek is very small. The salt works on the marsh ship a produce of about 5,000 tons per annum, valued at $25,000. An iron foundry, owned by George P. Fay & Co., of San Francisco, receives 3,000 to 4,000 tons of coal and pig-iron annually, which is landed in small lots along the creek, as the boat may chance to ground, and collected by wagons. Shipments of castings are made by rail to the amount of 2,000 tons. Hay is shipped hence by steamer: I have been unable to learn its quantity. A statement of his business was promised me by Captain Barron, but has not been received. The principal products formerly, and not actually, shipped on this creek are grain and vegetables, chiefly potatoes and onions; these are consigned by the farmers to San Francisco merchants. I found no commission nor exporting merchants in Alvarado or Uniontown. One of the principal San Francisco buyers told me that the grain which he formerly bought in Alvarado, and received by steamer plying on Alameda Creek, he now bought in Alvarado, Decoto, and Niles. The statements of the Central Pacific and South Pacific Coast Railroad Companies, which now carry these products, show for these statistics Grain. Hay These statements are appended. Pounds. 8,905, 390 440,000 2,507,899 The value of these products, estimating, as nearly as in my power, an average market rate where I have not the statement of the shippers, is as follows: The statement of Captain Barron, should it be received, will increase this amount, but probably not in an important measure. This report has been delayed awaiting Captain Barron's statement. Lieut. Col. GEORGE H. MENDELL, CARL F. PALFREY, First Lieutenant of Engineers. Alvarado Decoto Niles Corps of Engineers. Shipments for 1881 via Central Pacific Railroad of grain, hay, and vegetables. Total. Shipments via South Pacific Coast Railroad from January 1, 1881, to May 31, 1882, to San STATEMENT OF JAMES BARRON, OF ALVARADO, CALIFORNIA, IN REFERENCE TO THE FREIGHT NOW TRANSPORTED THROUGH ALAMEDA SLOUGH ANNUALLY. Twenty thousand bales of hay and straw; 25,000 to 30,000 sacks of grain; 4,000 tons of salt; several thousand sacks of vegetables; coal and lumber, quantity not known. He is of the opinion that these quantities would be doubled or tripled if ̧ proper improvement of the creek was made. O O 10. PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF SANTA MONICA BAY, CALIFORNIA. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, San Francisco, Cal., November 22, 1882. GENERAL: I have the honor to make the following report of an examination of the bay of Santa Monica, California, required by the act of Congress August 2, 1882. Santa Monica Bay is a marked bight in the coast-line, included between Point Duma to the north and Point Vincent to the south. Point Duma is in latitude 34 degrees. The chord connecting Point Duma and Point Vincent is 28 miles in length. Its course is nearly southeast. The depth of the bight, measured from the chord, is 12 miles. The bay is open to the sea on a westerly course. To the southwest the small island of Santa Barbara lies 40 miles off the coast. Some 20 miles farther in the same direction lies the island of San Nicolas. These islands afford no sensible protection from the ocean swell coming from the southwest. The landing of Santa Monica lies in the deepest part of the bay. A wharf is extended from the shore to a depth of about 3 fathoms. A portion of a former wharf remains, which extended to a greater depth, and at which, some years ago, the coast steamers landed and discharged passengers for Los Angeles. Steamers do not touch at this point now. Los Angeles is the principal town in Southern California. It now enjoys great prosperity and is growing rapidly. It is supposed to have a population numbering more than 15,000 and less than 20,000. It is 18 miles distant in an easterly direction from Santa Monica, and is connected by a railroad. Santa Monica is the point of the coast nearest to Los Angeles. It is a village of a few hundred inhabitants, pleasantly situated, facing the sea, on table-land 60 or 70 feet above the sealevel. A detailed hydrographic survey of the bay was completed in 1876 by a party under the command of Lieut. Commander H. C. Taylor, U. S. N., assistant, United States Coast Survey. This survey includes the hydrog raphy of the whole bay, giving not only a chart of the landing but of the approaches. The fullness of this survey dispenses with the necessity of repeating it at present. 5908 EN-139 |