5. Clinch River, Tennessee.-The present plan for improvement is to secure at ordinary low water through the rock ledges and gravel-bars a safe, wide channel, having a depth of 2 feet, from its mouth to Clinton, 70 miles, and of 13 feet from Clinton to Walker's Ferry, 75 miles. Above this point to the State line, 85 miles, the only work that can be done to advantage is to sufficiently reduce the ledges and bars to assist the logging and flat-boating interests, which take advantage of sudden rises to drop down-stream. The total amount expended to June 30, 1887, including outstanding liabilities, is $21,574.10, and has resulted in securing an improved chan nel at the worst obstructions, and practically safe navigation for rafts and flat-boats at stages of the river from 2 to 3 feet lower than when work was begun in 1880. The funds available and the amount herein asked for can be profitably expended in the continuance of the projected works. July 1, 1886, amount available Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886.. $36.57 5,000.00 5,036.57 July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities $265.89 610.67 July 1, 1887, amount available...... 4, 425.90 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project....... 24,000. 00 10, 000. 00` (See Appendix B B 5.) 6. Duck River, Tennessee.-In 1879, before improvement to Centerville, Tenn., about 68 miles, the channel was nearly blocked by surface obstructions in many places. No work has been done since 1883. The total amount expended to June 30, 1887, is $13,000, and has resulted in opening up the river and securing a fair, navigable channel, during the boating season, from Centerville to its mouth. Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix B B 6.) $22, 118.00 7. Cumberland River, Tennessee and Kentucky-a. Below Nashville.The project for improving this section consists in deepening and widening the channel, removing surface obstructions, and building riprap dams, so as to secure a lengthened season of navigation. A working party in June, as soon as the water was low enough, moved down-stream, clearing the channel from Nashville to Robinson's Island, and was progressing satisfactorily at the close of the fiscal year. The entire amount expended to June 30, 1887, including outstanding liabilities, was $243,649.34, and has resulted in securing an improved channel and permitting light-draught boats to run during the lowwater season. The funds available and amount asked for can be profitably expended in continuing the work of improving the worst obstructions below Nashville, including the bar at the mouth of the river. July 1, 1886, amount available..... Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886. $140.74 12,500.00 12, 640.74 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities.... July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886 $312.28 1,290.08 11,350. 66 93,000.00 20,000. 00 July 1, 1887, amount available Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.. (See Appendix B B 7.) b. Above Nashville.-This section of the river extends from Nashville to the head of Smith's Shoals. The expenditure of $281,000, appropriated prior to 1884, has resulted in securing an increased depth of from 6 to 8 inches on the principal obstructions and in giving an improved channel from Burnside to Nashville, and lengthening the season of navigation. The present project consists of a radical improvement by a system of locks and dams, beginning with a lock and dam at or near Lower Nashville Island. Necessary examinations were made of the locality to obtain the most available site for the proposed lock, and of the various ledges likely to yield stone proper for lock masonry. A Board of Engineer officers convened to consider the question of site and dimensions of the lock and dam, etc., recommended a lock 280 feet long by 52 feet wide, and the Engineer officer in charge is engaged in the preparation of plans and estimates therefor. The State of Tennessee has given legislative consent to the purchase of the lands necessary for sites, etc., and ceded jurisdiction to such as may be thus acquired, but the work can not be commenced until Congress authorize the pur chase. Some work was done during the low-water season of 1886 at Forbush Shoals, resulting in a deepening of the channel, and at Smith's Shoals reducing the velocity of the current. The amount expended to June 30, 1887, including outstanding liabil ities, amounts to $47,388.81, and has been applied to the improving of the shoals at Upper Nashville Island, Priestley's Shoals, Forbush Island, etc. The funds available and amount asked for can be profitably expended in the construction of the locks and dams above Nashville, as projected. July 1, 1886, amount available...... Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886. July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886... $10,398.25 75,000.00 85, 393. 25 $7,474.83 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities.. July 1, 1887, amount available...... 7,787.06 77, 611. 19 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project...... 3,952, 922.00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1889.... Subinitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix B B 7.) 400,000.00 c. Above mouth of Jellico, Kentucky.No work has been done on this section since 1882. The principal obstructions remaining are eleven mill-dams, and until these are removed or modified no further work can be done to advantage. The amount expended to June 30, 1887, is $10,000, which has resulted in clearing the channel of snags, bowlders, and overhanging trees, and reducing gravel-bars, etc. Unless provision is made for the purchase or condemnation of the obstructing mill-dams it is recommended that the unexpended balance of $5,000 be made available for expenditure on the river between Nashville and Point Burnside, Kentucky. July 1, 1886, amount available.... July 1, 1887, amount available. Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project....... harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix B B 7.) 8. South Fork of Cumberland River, Kentucky.-The present project consists in reducing the rock-reefs and bowlders, which are the chief obstructions, and building wing-dams, where necessary, on the river below the "Devil's Jumps," a distance of about 44 miles. Work was carried on at Sloan's Shoals and Roberts's Mill Shoals from October to December, inclusive, when high water stopped operations; it was resumed at Sloan's Shoals late in June, and is progressing. The total amount expended to June 30, 1887, including outstanding liabilities, is $10,122.64, and has resulted in obtaining an improved channel for the passage of rafts and flat-boats. The amount available and the amount asked for can be profitably expended in channel work below the "Devil's Jumps" in securing safe navigation for rafts and flat-boats when the river is at a stage of 3 feet above low water. July 1, 1886, amount available..... Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886 July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886.. July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities... July 1, 1887, amount available..... $132.70 5,000.00 5, 132.70 $3,087.70 3,255.34 1,877.36 50,803.00 10,000. 00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project... (See Appendix B B 8.) 9. Caney Fork River, Tennessee.-Examinations were made in 1879 of the lower 80 miles to Sligo Ferry, and in 1886 to Frank's Ferry, 20 miles further. The obstructions were found to be gravel bars, a crooked, shallow channel, impeded by snags and overhanging trees, etc. The present plan is to clear, deepen, and straighten the channel, to build wing-dams and training.walls, where most advantageous for securing safe navigation for rafts, flat-boats, and steamers of light draught during the boating season, usually from February to July-five months. No work was done during the fiscal year, as no funds were available during the low-water season of 1886. The amount expended to June 30, 1886, is $17,489.02, which has resulted in obtaining comparatively safe navigation at stages of the river when about 3 feet above low water, from its mouth to Sligo Ferry. The funds available and amount asked for can be profitably expended towards continuing the work, as projected, as high as Frank's Ferry. July 1, 1886, amount available Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886 July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities... July 1, 1887, amount available .... $430.72 3,000.00 3, 430.72 $171.53 919.74 2,510.98 25, 228.00 5,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project....... (See Appendix B B 9.) EXAMINATIONS AND SURVEYS FOR IMPROVEMENT, TO COMPLY WITH REQUIREMENTS OF THE RIVER AND HARBOR ACT OF AUGUST 5, 1886. The required preliminary examinations of the following localities. were made by the local engineer in charge, Lieutenant-Colonel Barlow, and reported by him as worthy of improvement. The report of the results of survey required to determine the cost of improvement will be duly submitted when received. 1. Obeils River, from the point where improvements have heretofore been made to the mouth of the West Fork, Tennessee. 2. Bear Creek, Mississippi. He was also charged with the following final examinations for improvement, to comply with requirements of section 9 of the river and harbor act of July 5, 1884: BIG 1. Caney Fork River, Tennessee.-(See Appendix B B 10.) 2. Holston River, Tennessee.-(See Appendix B B 11.) IMPROVEMENT OF THE OHIO, MONONGAHELA, ALLEGHENY, SANDY, LITTLE KANAWHA, GUYANDOTTE, AND BUCKHANNON RIVERS-OPERATING AND CARE OF DAVIS ISLAND LOCK AND DAM, OHIO RIVER; LOCK AND DAM NO. 9, MONONGAHELA RIVER, AND THE LOCKS AND DAMS ON THE MUSKINGUM RIVER-CONSTRUCTION OF ICE-HARBOR AT MOUTH OF MUSKINGUM RIVER, OHIO; OF HARBORS OF REFUGE NEAR CINCINNATI, AND AT THE MOUTH OF THE GREAT KANAWHA RIVER, AND OF LOCK AND DAM AT HERR'S ISLAND, ALLEGHENY RIVER. Officer in charge, Lieut. Col. William E. Merrill, Corps of Engineers, having under his immediate orders First Lieut. Lansing H. Beach, Corps of Engineers, throughout the fiscal year, and First Lieut. Cassins E. Gillette, Corps of Engineers, since April 30, 1887. 1. Ohio River.-The general method followed in improving the navigagation of the Ohio River is to secure additional depths at islands and sand-bars by the construction of low dams, closing unused passages or shore dikes, confining the water to narrower channels. A snag-boat and two dredges are owned by the United States, and have constant employment during the low-water season in taking out snags and wrecks, and in dredging away gravel bars that cannot otherwise be removed. The first appropriation for the improvement of the Ohio River was made in 1827. The total amount thus far appropriated is $3,770,479.25. In addition to this there has been allotted to this river a portion of twenty-three different combined appropriations for the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas rivers, which aggregated $1,947,000, but the amount thus allotted is unknown. The following is a statement of the work of the last fiscal year: Davis Island Movable Dam.-The officer in charge recommends the construction of a drift-gap in this dam to pass logs and floating bodies, at an estimated cost of $20,000. The ordinary operations of the dam are reported under "Operating and care of the Davis Island Dam." Dike at Merriman.-This dike is finished. Its upper surface is even with the 4-foot stage in the river, and its total length is 2,200 feet. Dam at Black's Island.-This dam has been finished; it total length is 2,634 feet. Dam at Brown's Island.-The repairs of this dam have been completed. Dam at Wheeling Island.-This dam has been completed; its total length is 500 feet. Dam at Captina Island.-This dam has been completed; its total length is 2,000 feet. Dam at Fish Creek Island.-This dam has been completed; its total length is 1,800 feet. Dam at the Three Brothers.-This dam has been completed; its total length is 2,900 feet. Dike at Sand Creek.-This dike has been completed; its total length is 1,485 feet. Dike at Eight Mile Bar.-This dike has been completed; its total length is 2,400 feet. Dike at Rising Sun Bar.-This dike has been completed; its total length is 2,700 feet. Dike at middle of Grand Chain.-This dike is completed for a length of 1,228 feet, and the substructure extends a further distance of 370 feet. The dike is therefore about half finished. Removing rocks at Grand Chain. This work is actively under way, and at the close of the season nearly 900 tons of rock had been removed from the bed of the river. Ice-piers.-No work has been on the Ohio River ice-piers as all the requisite cessions of riparian rights have not yet been obtained. Bar at mouth of the Licking.-The contract for removing this bar was let after the close of the fiscal year. Great Miami embankment.-Negotiations for the construction of this embankment were incomplete at the close of the fiscal year. Dredging. The dredges Ohio and Oswego worked a little over a month on the bars at Mustapha and Newberry islands, removing a total of 46,855 cubic yards, at an average cost of 293 cents. Snagging. The snag-boat E. A. Woodruff worked from September 23 to December 6, during which period she removed 231 snags, 27 rocks, and 19 wrecks. |