INFORMATION AND STATISTICS REGARDING THE HARBOR OF GLEN COVE, LONG ISLAND, QUEENS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Glen Cove Harbor is a part of Hempstead Bay, and is a natural harbor and channel, through which the tide ebbs and flows.

A large amount of money (at least $50,000) has already been expended by private persons in the improvement of the harbor. The Federal Government has never made any expenditure in this direction. Owing to the shifting of the channel and its insufficient depth, navigation is at times rendered uncertain and hazardous, and in order to remedy these evils, and, as far as possible, to secure a permanent channel of sufficient depth at all seasons of the year, the aid of the Government is sought.

Hempstead Bay, of which Glen Cove Harbor forms a part, is recognized among sailing masters as one of the best harbors of refuge on Long Island Sound, and vessels, from the largest of the Sound steamers to the smallest sailing craft, seek it for safety in fogs and heavy weather.

During many days in each year, however, owing to adverse winds and the tortuous channel, it is extremely difficult or wholly impossible for vessels to enter the harbor, and under such circumstances vessels have been compelled to lay for days unable either to enter the harbor or to depart from it.

The commerce of Glen Cove Harbor is greater than that of any other port on Long Island Sound between the city of New York and Bridgeport, Conn.

How much greater the commerce of the harbor might have been or would be in the event of such improvements being made as it is believed ought to be made can not be definitely stated; but it is quite probable that several large manufacturing concerns would have located their works at Glen Cove had they been sure of uninterrupted navigation during all seasons of the year. With the harbor improved as it should be there can be little doubt that its commerce will speedily and greatly increase, and in a ratio far greater than that manifest during recent years. Within the past twentyfive years the commerce of the harbor has increased at least 125,000 tons in quantity per annum, and in value at least $3,000,000 or more per annum, and this, too, without any aid from the Federal Government. The following is an approximate estimate of the number of arrivals and departures of vessels, with their tonnage, together with the quantities and values of imports and exports, for the year beginning October 1, 1885, and ending October 1, 1886.

Commerce of Glen Cove Harbor, October 1, 1885, to October 1, 1886.

NOTE 1.-The imports were mainly corn, coal, mill-feed, fertilizers, lumber, timber, brick, cement, lime, flour, dry goods, and groceries. The exports were mainly manufactured products, corn feed, bard wood timber, fire clay, fire sand, potter's clay, hay, potatoes, and other farm products.

NOTE 2.-The apparent discrepancy between the registered tonnage of vessels (98,500) and the quantities in tons of imports and exports (152,000) is owing to the fact that vessels usually carry in tons of cargo nearly double the registered tonnage. NOTE 3.-In the columns of arrivals and departures and of registered tonnage, no account is taken of steam-tugs entering or leaving the harbor.

Two steam-tugs are owned at Glen Cove, and are used in towing in and about the harbor, and another tug is almost constantly employed in towing vessels to and from Glen Cove and New York. A steamer of 485 tons (registered) makes one or more round trips daily, during the season of navigation, between New York and Glen Cove Landing, but no account is taken of this steamer in the above estimate of commerce of the harbor. S. D. PHELPS.

APPENDIX E.

IMPROVEMENT OF HUDSON RIVER AND OF HARBORS OF RONDOUT AND SAUGERTIES, NEW YORK-REMOVING OBSTRUCTIONS IN EAST RIVER AND HELL GATE-IMPROVEMENT OF ENTRANCE TO NEW YORK HARBOR-IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS AND HARBORS IN THE VICINITY OF 'NEW YORK AND IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY.

REPORT OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WALTER MCFARLAND, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1887, WITH OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE WORKS.

ENGINEER OFFICE, UNITED STATES ARMY,

New York, N. Y., October 1, 1887.

GENERAL: I have the honor to transmit my annual reports upon the works of river and harbor improvement in my charge for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. A.

WALTER MCFARLAND,
Lieut. Col. of Engineers.

E 1.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK.

My annual report for 1885 contained a history of this improvement, accompanied by original reports and two sketches showing its condition at that time. This may be found in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1885, Part I, page 677.

The only part of the Hudson River which has been improved by the General Government is the stretch about 20 miles long, beginning at the head of navigation at Troy, N. Y., about 6 miles above Albany, and extending down the river to New Baltimore, about 14 miles below Albany.

While there has always been enough water below New Baltimore for navigation, this upper section of the river, so far as its history is known to us, has always been obstructed by bars and shoals, due to the existence of numerous islands and sloughs and the consequent dispersion of the river water through too many channels.

Prior to 1831, when the jurisdiction of the Federal Government over these waters was confirmed by judicial decision, the State of New York had made efforts to improve the navigation of this part of the river. Since 1831 the improvement of the Hudson River has been conducted both by the State of New York and by the General Government, both building and repairing dikes and doing such dredging as seemed necessary. In the last few years, however, the dike work has been left almost exclusively to the General Government, while the State of New York has done most of the dredging required.

The general system of improvement has been the same throughout, viz, the excavation of the channel by dredging and its contraction by jetties and dikes intended to produce scour.

But prior to 1831, up to which time the work had been chiefly restricted to dredging and to the construction of spur-jetties, no permanent improvement had been obtained.

After 1831 the United States began the present general system of improvement, which consists of contracting the channel by means of longitudinal dikes, intended to aid in scouring the bars and shoals, instead of using spur-jetties.

Under this system the United States constructed two dikes in 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838.

Then followed a long interval of time in which nothing was done by the United States, except in 1852; but in 1863 the State of New York took up the improvement on the general plan adopted by the United States in 1831, viz, substituting the system of longitudinal dikes instead of the jetty system, and between 1863 and 1867 built six important longitudinal dikes. (Annual Report of 1885, page 678.)

Out of the amount appropriated by act of Congress, approved June 28, 1864, the sum of $33,000 was allotted for the improvement of the Hudson River; and by act of Congress, approved June 23, 1866, the sum of $50,000 was appropriated for the improvement.

In April, 1866, Lieut. Col. (now Brig. Gen.) John Newton, Corps of Engineers, was placed in charge of the improvement, and remained in charge until the 1st of April, 1884.

In November, 1866, General Newton submitted a project for the improvement of the 20 miles of river between New Baltimore and Troy, which may be found in Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for

1885, Part I, page 678; and, on the strength of his report, a systematic improvement of the river was begun, and has been continued up to the present time.

The project was to secure a navigable channel 11 feet deep at mean low water from New Baltimore to Albany, and 9 feet deep at mean low water from Albany to Troy. The following description of it is taken from the report of the Board of Engineers, March 5, 1880 (see Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1885, Part I, page 690):

First. A system of longitudinal dikes, to confine the current sufficiently to allow the ebb and flow of the tidal current to keep the channel clear. These dikes to be gradually brought nearer together from New Baltimore towards Troy, so as to assist the entrance of the flood current and increase its height, their height to be kept approximately at the level of the tidal high water, so as not to confine the freshets; the exact level, however, being left to be determined by experience as the work progresses.

Second. That the dredge be used so far as necessary to open the channels above described, which the current should not be allowed to do, except very gradually, lest accumulations dangerous to navigation be formed below.

Third. Keeping, as far as practicable, the side reservoirs open to the passage of tidal currents by gaps at their lower extremities in order to increase the tidal flow.

Fourth. Dumping all dredged materials in secure places, where it can not be moved back into the channel by the current.

Fifth. Constructing the dikes of timber and stone, in a manner to secure their permanency, at a minimum cost, the details varying with the locality, to be left to the discretion of the local engineer, to be so designed as to admit of having an increased height given to the dikes if necessary.

Sixth. To protect, when necessary, the banks and islands against the abrading action of the current by revetments.

Seventh. That limits, beyond which no encroachments upon the channel should be made, be prescribed, and that any such encroachments be reported to the engineer in charge.

The estimated cost of the improvement was $862,297.75, but after more reliable data had been obtained, in 1866 and 1867, a second estimate was made increasing the estimate $122,006.72, making the total estimated cost $984,304.47. This estimate was again increased in 1882 by $78,000, for the completion of existing works, a large amount of the appropriation intended for construction having been spent on repairs; and again in 1884 by $16,000, for the removal of a hitherto unknown rock in the Overslaugh Channel at Van Wie's Point, which brought the total estimate up to $1,078,304.47, although the amounts given in the annual reports, as the estimated cost of the improvement, from 1868 to 1881, have been erroneously printed $984,304.47, and from 1882 to 1886 as $1,062,304.47.

Of this amount $1,027,288 had been appropriated up to June 30, 1885, when the available channel depth between New Baltimore and Albany was 10 feet, except at one point, Beacon Island, where there was a depth of 8.8 feet; and 8 feet could be carried from Albany to Troy, except at Coville's Folly and Patroon's Island, where there were 7.8 and 7.5 feet, respectively, at low water.

These bars have been subsequently dredged by the State of New York, but others have been formed since by ice gorges.