REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY, Washington, D. C., September 19, 1893. SIR: I have the honor to present for your information the following report upon the duties and operations of the Engineer Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1893: OFFICERS OF THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS. The number of officers holding commissions in the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, at the end of the fiscal year was 121. Since the last annual report the corps has lost three of its officersCol. David C. Houston, who died at New York City, May 18, 1893; Maj. L. Cooper Overman, who resigned September 20, and Capt. Edward Maguire, who died at Philadelphia, Pa., October 11, 1892. There were added to the corps, by promotion of graduates of the Military Academy, two additional second lieutenants, July 28, 1892, and five, June 28, 1893. On the 30th of June, 1893, the officers were distributed as follows: Commanding the Corps of Engineers and the Engineer Department Office of the Chief of Engineers and Light-House Board Office of the Chief of Engineers... 1 1 2 Board of Engineers, fortifications, river and harbor works, California Débris Commission, and Division Engineer.. 1 Board of Engineers, Board of Ordnance and Fortification, and Division Engi neer.... 1 Fortifications, river and harbor works, and Division Engineer. 1 Board of Engineers, Mississippi River Commission, Division Engineer, and Board of Visitors.. 1 River and harbor works and Division Engineer 1 Washington Aqueduct. Public buildings and grounds and Light-House Board Fortifications and river and harbor works... Mississippi River Commission, Missouri River Commission, and light-house districts.... River and harbor works and light-house districts. Fortifications, post of Willets Point, U. S. Engineer School, and Battalion of Engineers Board of Engineers, fortifications, river and harbor works, and Board of Visitors Fortifications, river and harbor works, and California Débris Commission River and harbor works and Missouri River Commission.. River and harbor works, California Débris Commission, and light-house district. Missouri River Commission Leave of absence, including five graduates of the Military Academy. The officers detached were on duty as follows: Lieut. Col. John W. Barlow and Lieut. David DuB. Gaillard, members of International Boundary Commission. Maj. Oswald H. Ernst, Superintendent Military Academy 1 30 1 1 2 14 2 1 1 7 20 121 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 Maj. Milton B. Adams, engineer ninth and eleventh light-house districts. Capt. James L. Lusk and Lieuts. Mason M. Patrick and Charles S. Bromwell, Lieuts. Lansing H. Beach, Joseph E. Kuhn, and Henry C. Newcomer, on duty at Military Academy. Lieut. Cassius E. Gillette, engineer officer, department of the Missouri. During the past fiscal year projects have been prepared for the defense of Tybee Roads and the entrance of Savannah River, Georgia; of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island; of Charleston, S. C., and Pensacola, Fla., and a partial project for the defense of New Orleans, La. The complete projects have received the approval of the Secretary of War; and in submitting an estimate for gun and mortar emplacements, the commencement of work on each of these new projects has been contemplated, as well as the continuation of work on projects hitherto prepared. The amount of this estimate is $1,629,126; and this it is proposed to apply almost wholly to new works. While there are balances on hand from previous appropriations, they justify no reduction of this estimate, as they pertain to the construction of emplacements now progressing. The proposed new works are emplacements for three 12-inch, seven 10-inch, and three 8-inch guns, and four mortar batteries. Should these works be authorized, provision will still not have been made for mounting all the guns which the Ordnance Department expects to be completed by the end of the present fiscal year. Such provision will be lacking for five 12-inch and thirty-one 8-inch guns. Nor can it be hastily provided. The estimate for one disappearing battery for five guns contains such amounts as these: 25,210 cubic yards of concrete; 26,000 cubic yards of excavation, and 12,000 of embankment. Evidently the element of time can not be disregarded in the construction of fortifications. Funds hitherto appropriated have been allotted to the construction of emplacements for modern rifled guns and mortars as follows: The projected fortifications at the above localities and the progress made in their construction are as follows: Portland Harbor, Maine.-Officer in charge, Lieut. Col. P. C. Hains, Corps of Engineers. The approved project for the defense of this harbor contemplates, for the present, an armament of eighteen 12-inch guns on lifts, ten 10-inch and ten 8-inch guns on disappearing carriages, forty-eight 12-inch mortars, and submarine mines to be operated from four mining casemates. Under an allotment of $110,000, from the appropriation of July 23, 1892, the construction of emplacements for two 10-inch guns was commenced early in April, 1893, and has been in progress since. A cement storehouse of about 2,000 barrels capacity, a sand bin, and one for broken stone have been built; also a tramway from the latter to the site of the battery. Needed repairs to the old buildings have been made. A stone-crushing plant is being established. Sites for both gun platforms and for one magazine have been cleared; the site for the second magazine is partly cleared and the rock excavation for the road back of the emplacements is in progress. Earth obtained in clearing the site has been placed for use as cover. Much rock excavation of a difficult character has been necessary. One mining casemate was completed during the year at a cost of $8,979.75, and the construction of two more was commenced June 1, 1893. Both sites have been cleared and the excavation, which is almost entirely in rock, is progressing. Boston Harbor, Massachusetts.-Officer in charge, Lieut. Col. S. M. Mansfield, Corps of Engineers, with Capt. S. S. Leach, Corps of Engineers, under his immediate orders until December 7, 1892. The approved project for the defense of this harbor contemplates, for the present, an armament of twelve 12-inch guns on lifts, fifteen 10-inch and five 8-inch guns on disappearing carriages, one hundred and twenty-eight 12-inch mortars, and submarine mines to be operated from four mining casemates. At the beginning of the year three emplacements for 10-inch guns were under construction. At one of these the work has been carried nearly as far as is practicable until the placing of the platform is begun. At the two other emplacements about half of the old masonry and earth slopes, which must be displaced by the new work, had been removed, and about 4,000 cubic yards of concrete had been put in place, or sufficient to construct the masonry of about one-half of one of the emplacements. More than half of the sand and concrete stone needed for the new work had been collected and stored. Under an allotment of $58,000, from the appropriation of July 23, 1892, the construction of a fourth emplacement for a 10-inch gun was com menced in December, 1892. The necessary working plant has been collected and arranged; about 2, 500 cubic yards of earth has been excavated and placed in new embankment. Contracts are in force for the delivery of the necessary concrete materials, and the receipt and storage of sand, cement, and stone has begun. At the beginning of the year the construction of a battery for sixteen 12-inch mortars was in progress. During the year the masonry of this battery was completed with the exception of the platforms; and the earth embankment essentially completed with the exception of the final regulation and sodding of the slopes. March 14, 1893, $10,000 was allotted from the appropriation of February 18, 1893, for the construction of platforms for four of the mortars, which will be shortly undertaken. Two mining casemates have been completed, and on May 29, 1893, an allotment was made for the construction of a third. The necessary repairs of buildings for laborers and materials have been commenced. Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.-Officer in charge, Capt. W. H. Bixby, Corps of Engineers, with Second Lieut. W. W. Harts, Corps of Engineers, under his immediate orders; Division Engineer, Col. H. L. Abbot, Corps of Engineers. The approved project for the defense of this bay contemplates an armament of ten 12-inch guns on lifts, six 10-inch and four 8-inch guns on disappearing carriages, eighty 12-inch mortars, and submarine mines to be operated from two mining casemates. Funds were allotted September 21 and October 26, 1892, for the construction of the two mining casemates. Since those dates, arrangements have been completed for housing and subsisting the working force for one of these casemates and a large proportion of the neces sary excavation has been done. All the cement, about one-quarter of the sand, and some of the lumber required for these works, have been received. New York Harbor, New York.-Officers of the Corps of Engineers in charge: Col. D. C. Houston, until May 18, 1893; Lieut. Col. H. M. Robert, since June 12, 1893; Lieut. Col. G. L. Gillespie, with First Lieut. J. G. Warren under his immediate orders, and Lieut. Col. W. R. King. First Lieut. T. H. Rees has been under the immediate orders of Col. Houston and Lieut. Col. Robert since April 5, 1893, except from May 18 to June 12, during which period he was temporarily in charge of works. The projects for the defense of both the southern and eastern entrances to this harbor contemplate, for the present, an armament of twenty-one 12-inch guns on lifts, fifteen 10-inch and nine 8-inch guns on disappearing carriages, one hundred and seventy-six 12-inch mortars, and submarine mines operated from five mining casemates. At the beginning of the fiscal year there were under construction emplacements for two 12-inch, two 10-inch, and four 8-inch guns and thirty-two mortars. August 2, 1892, the construction of an additional emplacement for an 8-inch gun was authorized; and November 8, 1892, that of an emplacement for a 10-inch gun, together with two magazines and two casemates for rapid-fire guns. The five mining casemates and one building for the storage of submarine mining materials are completed and a second storage building under construction. |