II. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.-HARBQRS AND RIVERS. 1. Chicago Harbor, Illinois.-The operations for constructing an artificial harbor at this point, on Lake Michigan, have progressed in a most satisfactory manner. The great importance of this improvement to the increasing commerce of the west is already felt-one hundred and eighty vessels having, between the opening of navigation and the 30th of September last, arrived, and discharged their cargoes at this point, to be distributed along the shores of the Mississippi, through the valley of the Illinois. 2. La Plaisance Bay, M. Ter. Operations on this work was resumed late in the working season, because of the prevalence of cholera, and the consequent difficulty of collecting the requisite force; however, they have been brought to a close, and the pier completed in the manner contemplated. 3. Huron Harbor, Ohio.-The appropriation was made so late in the season, and the cholera appearing immediately after, (every where more or less upon the lake shore,) that the prosecution of the work was greatly retarded. Little has been done this year, except to procure materials. They are now in readiness to sink one pier, and, before the close of the season, hope to sink three more, extending the piers 120 feet further into the lake. The works remain in good condition. The depth of water the same as last year, eight feet at its shoalest place. 4. Black River Harbor.-About 860 cords of gravel and sand have been removed, and a further removal is expected to be made, so as to give nine feet of water at the close of the season. 5. Cleaveland Harbor, Ohio.- the piers are extended into the lake the whole distance contemplated. The labor and materials now applied ar for strengthening the works, and keeping them in repair. The depth of water remains as last year, from ten to eleven feet 6. Grand River, Ohio.-The progress, condition, and disbursements, as well as the several estimates, have not been reported. 7. Cunningham's Creek, Ohio.-No appropriation was made at the last session of Congress for extending or securing this work. 8. Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio.-The labor on the harbor this season has been applied principally in removing the rock and gravel which obstruct the channel. About thirteen thousand tons of stone and gravel have been removed this season. A depth of water is obtained from eight to nine feet alongside the east pier. From a register kept since the 1st of May last, it appears that 531 vessels have touched at this port this season; a few years ago, the arrivals did not exceed half a dozen the whole season. 9. Conneaut Harbor, Ohio. The small sum that was left of last year's appropriation has been applied in repairing the works and deepening the channel. This sum has not been sufficient. 10. Presque Isle Harbor, Pennsylvania.-The depth of water at the entrance is the same as last year, twelve feet, and from thence to the borough piers nine and a half feet, at its shoalest place. 11. Dunkirk Harbor, New York.-The stone of the break water has settled, in 352 yards of it, to average about three feet through the whole length. 12. Buffalo Harbor, New York. These works approximate nearer to completion than any other on the south shore of Lake Erie. Much commendation is due to the superintendent for the skill, industry, and perseverance, with which he has prosecuted this object. There is ten feet water in the channel, so that no vessel need ever be detained except for a very short time, when the water is lowered by the most severe gales from the east, which very rarely occur. 13. Black Rock Harbor.-A portion of expenditures that have been incurred this season has been to strengthen the works on Bird Island, and the transverse piers, but mostly in the construction of a new pier, for which the appropriation was principally designed, to protect the harbor against the influx of the sand along the lake shore, and at the same time to shield it against the reaction of the surf. 14. Gennessee River.-Twenty-six cribs, of thirty by twenty feet, have been constructed and sunk this year at Gennessee river, in from twelve to fifteen feet of water, and the work raised out of water; and will, before the close of the season, together with eight other cribs, one forty fect, another thirty feet square, be carried up and leveiled at the usual point, five feet above the surface of the water, with timber, iron bolts, and stone, giving an extent of 2,876 feet on either side of the river, making a total of 5,752 feet of pier. This work has opened a crooked passage over sand bars, having seven feet of water upon them, to a free and straight line navigation of fifteen feet depth of water into Rochester harbor, where there are from eighteen to twenty feet of water; the work thus constructed is firm, and answers all the purposes expected frem it. 15. Big Sodus Bay. At this bay there have been constructed 5,378 feet in length of pier, distributed on both sides of its entrance, to which have been added, this year, twenty-four cribs, fourteen at the T. piers, sunk in from eleven to thirteen feet of water, and ten cribs deposited at the isthmus, to prevent the waves of the lake from breaking through into the bay. 16. Oswego, Lake Ontario, NewYork.-The funds appropriated for the works at this place became available at so late a period, that it was found impracticable to do more than to repair the injuries sustained by the storms of ice of the last winter, and to strengthern the mole by a deposite of about nine hundred cords of large stone 17. Monument on Steele's ledge, Penobscot Bay, Me.-The appropriation for this structure became available too late in the season to admit of much being done during the present year. The measures proper to carry the intention of Congress into effect have, however, been taken, and the work will progress with as little delay as practicable. 18. Piers at Kennebunk, Maine.-The damages sustained last winter by the pier on the western entrance into this river, and the" Perch rock" pier, were repaired during the last summer. Preparations have been made to commence early next season the construction of the eastern pier, for which an appropriation was made at the last session of Congress, in a permanent manner. 19. Merrimack River, Massa husetts.—The breakwater at this place has been strengthened by the addition of three hundred and twenty-four tons of stone placed at the end and sides most exposed to the violent action of the sea. The pier leading from Badger's rock to Salisbury shore, commenced in August, is two-thirds finished, and hopes are entertained that it will be completed before winter sets in. 20. Deer Island. Boston Harbor, Massachusetts.-All the works projected for the preservation of this island have been completed. 21. Provincetown Harbor, Massachuset's.-The season proper for prosecuting the works to preserve this important harbor having passed before the funds for this purpose becamne available, operations were, from necessity, postponed till the next spring, when it is hoped that at least two hundred acres will be planted in grass. Those parts of the beach hereto fore worked on, are represented as doing well. 22. Plymouth Beach, Massachusetts.— Five hundred feet of stone will have been constructed since the last report, on the west side of the break water at this place. Grass, to arrest the drifting sand, has been set out at various places on the beach, to the extent of about 50,000 feet, and 1,870 feet of brush fence, having the same object, have been constructed. The general condition of the beach is represented as good. 23. Hyannis Breakwater, Massachusetts.-Owing to the lateness of the season at which the appropriation for this work became available, but little progress could be made towards its extension during the present year. 24. Hudson River, New York.-1 he law making the appropriation towards the improvement of this river from a point a little below Albany to Waterford, designates the plan upon which the improvement is to be made. But on examination there is a serious apprehension that the plan is impracticable, and totally inadequate to produce the desirable results for which the appropriation was intended. This improvement is one of the most important that has ever been committed to the Engineer Department, and its difficulty is commensurate with the vast interests to be affected by it. Under these circumstances, an officer of engineers, in whose ability the department has the utmost confidence, was despatched to the Hudson, and is at present actively engaged in his duties. It is probable that the proper plan for prosecuting this improvement may differ widey from that aliuded to in the law; in which event, some further legislative action on the subject will become necessary before the funds now available can be expended. 25. Harbors of New Castle, Marcus Hook, Chester, and Port Penn, Delaware river.— No report in reference to these improvements has as yet reached the department. 26. Ocracock Inlet, North Carolina.—The operations, with the aid of a regular and efficient organization, have progressed without interruption since the above date, and the machinery unremittingly and perseveringly applied upon the obstructions, without other im pediment than that occasioned by rough weather; and the quantity of earth excavated since the date of last report, has amounted to 35,300 cubic yards. The boats have been principally occupied in cutting a channel through that part of the obstructions called the Eight-foot Shoal, and in widening and further improving the Flounder Slue. A cut has been made through the former, in length 950 yards, from nine feet on each side, and about 33 yards wide, and from nine and a half to eleven fet deep, rendering this part of the channel practicable for nine feet to the entrance at the Flounder Slue, the atter having a depth of a few inches over eight feet. 27. Cape Fear River, North Carolina.-One thousand six hundred and eighty-five and one-half tons of stone have been deposited around the jetty near Old Town; and on those parts of it where the stone has been thrown, it has not only resisted the action of the current, and preserved the jetty, but it also secured it against the effects of the storm which occured here on the 4th and 5th of September last. Those parts of the jetty which were not protected, were much injured, as were all the jetties on the river, excepting the two on the western side, near the buikhead or upper shoal. The dredg ing machine has been at work on the middle shoal, and on the bulkhead, during the season. Vess Is are constantly going, drawing eleven and a half feet over the lower shoal, and over the middle and bulkhead shoal, twelve feet can be carried; eleven feet can be carried to and from Wilmington. 28. Savannah River, Georgia.-The requisite surveys to ascertain the extent of the obstructions to be removed for the improvement of this river have been completed. The dredge and tow boats, and mud flats, with machinery, are in a forward state of preparation; and it is anticipated that the operations for clearing the channel will be commenced at an early day with much force and vigor. 29. Inland Pass between the St. John's and the St. Mary's, Florida.-Nothing has been done as yet at this piace. 30. Ochlochney River, Florida.-The expenditures on this river have been directed to the removal of the rafts and trees which obstructed its navigation. The river is now open for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. 31. Appalachicola River, Florida.-The improvement of the Appalachicola harbor to the opening of the straight channel," has been attended with great success. Vessels of the largest class, trading in that quarter, now pass up to the wharves of the town. 32. St. Mark's River and Harbor, Florida.-The want of funds during the last year, and the high waters of the present, have retarded very considerably the operations for the improvement of the river. The works on the river are, for the present, suspended. Similar causes, Joined to the prevalence of disease, have operated to the prejudice of the harbor improvements. All unnecessary delay will be avoided, to bring these works to a close. 33. Escam bia River, Florida.-Soon after the appropriation was made for the improvement of this river, the work was put under contract, but the contractors have failed to fulfil their engagements. Up to the middle of December last they had but partially cleared a small portion of the river of its obstructions, when their operations were arrested by high water, which continued from that time to the close of August. The further prosecution of the work has been, from necessity, transferred to the Quartermaster's Department. 34. Mobile Harbor, Alabama.—The operations at this place were, early in the present year, brought to a satisfactory termination. The channel through this pass is 100 feet wide, and 10 deep. The width of the channel was, however, soon discovered to be insufficient to admit the free passage of vessels with adverse winds; and, to avoid this difficulty, a contract for an enlargement to 300 feet was made, but has recently been abandoned by the contractor. 35. Pascagoula River, Mississippi.—The difficulties with the contractor, referred to, last year, still continue, to a certain extent, to exist, and to retard the operations of the improvement at the mouth of this river. The work is progressing, yet so slowly, and so little to the satisfaction of the general superintendent, that he proposed, should no improvement in this respect, have taken place by the first of this month, to resort to legal measures to abrogate the contract. 36. Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.-Since the last inspection of the works for the improvement of the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi, the superintendent has steadily pursued the plan of operations previously adopted on those rivers, and with the same success. In the months of October, November, and December, 1833, and January and February, 1834, the steam snag boats, and the machine boats worked by hand, removed from the bed of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers, 2,922 sags, and in the same time, the crews of those boats cut from the dry bars of the Arkansas, and felled from the bluff banks of the Mississippi, 5,993 trees. One thousand three hundred and eighty-five of the snags removed were taken from the bed of the Mississippi, and 1,621 trees were felied from its bluff banks. One thousand five hundred and thirty-seven of the snags were taken out of the bed of the Arkansas river, and 3,372 of the trees were cut from its dry bars. The work done in the Arkansas river has produced a very beneficial effect, but has not been completed, to the full extent, as far up as Little Rock, the highest point to which the work was carried, owing to the stage of water being too high during part of the time the boats were operating in that river. The full amount of the appropriation for that river has been expended. The number of snags removed exceeds the amount reported by Lieutenant Brown, in his examination, to have been in that part of the river. The work done on the Mississippi during the year has been of much advantage to the improvement of its navigation. The loss of boats during the last year by snags, in that river has been less than in former years. But three steainboats were lost in that time. 37. Red River, Louisiana.-Operations on this river were suspended last fall for want of funds. The appropriation for their further prosecution was made at so late a period as to render it impracticable to do any thing during the last summer. The agent charged with the improvement has, however, made all the necessary preparations to prosecute the work with despatch, to the extent of the available means, and is, no doubt, at the great raft ere this. 38. Arkansas River, drkansas Territory. The operations for the improvement of this river were prosecuted last winter til the funds were exhausted. They extended from the mouth of the river to Little Rock, a distance of 250 miles. Within these limits, 1,557 snags were taken from the channel, and 3,370 snags and logs cut from the sand bars, and under the banks within the bed of the river. 39. Cumberland River.-The operations for improving the navigation of this river have been directed to strengthening the wing dams at Flax Patch bar, the head and foot of Harpeth island, and to quarrying and removing the rock from the channel way of Harpeth shoals, the bottom of which is stated to be reduced to an even surface, and to have more water over it than the sand bars below. A number of the most dangerous snags have been removed from the bed of the stream between the shoal and Line island. A conglomerate of gravel and iron ore, torming a ledge in the channel of the Devil's chute, at a place where it is but 27 feet wide, has been, in part, taken out, and the whole will most likely be removed this fall. After this the force will be concentrated at Line island, to raise the steamer President, wrecked last June in the channel at that place. III. LIGHT HOUSES AND BEACON LIGHTS. The appropriations for the lights at Huron, Grand river, Cunningham creek, Ashtabula creek, Conneaut creek, in the State of Ohio; Genesee river, Big Sodus bay, and Oswego, in New York; and Goat island, Rhode Island, were referred for application to this departme: t. Measures have been taken to apply the funds for the first five named, but those for the latter not being sufficient to accomplish any thing of a permanent and substantial character, it was deemed proper to wait the further action of Congress in the matter. IV. ROADS. 1. Roads from Detroit to Fort Gratiot, Saganaw, mouth of Grand River, and Chicago, in the Territory of Michigan.-No appropriations having been made at the last session of Congress for the continuation of these roads, operations on them were, of course, limited to the funds remaining to be applied from the appropriations of the previous year. 2. Road from La Plaisance Bay to the road leading from Detroit to Chicago, Michigan.-Circumstances have conspired to render the last season one of the most unpropitious for the progress of this road. The continued rains of last fall and spring, and the prevalence of dis ease throughout the Territory during the summer, retarded the work to a very considerable degree. Eighteen and a half miles bave, however, been finished in portions at different points of the route, and eight and a half are in progress, with fair prospects of being completed this season, leaving twenty and three-quarters miles unfinished, for which an estimate will be submitted. 3. Roads from Clinton to the rapids of Grand river; from Sheldon to the mouth of the St. Joseph's; from Niles to the same point; from Port Lawrence to Adrian; and from Vistula to the Indiana State line, Michigan.-The necessary instructions have been issued to apply the appropriations for these roads in a manner to meet the views of Congress. No returns have been received from the agents. 4. Road from Line creek to the Chattahoochie, Alabama.-No appropriation was made for this road at the last session of Congress. The unexpended balance of the former appropriation has been applied during the year. 5. Road from the northern boundary line of Florida to Appalachi cola, Florida.-A topographical engineer is now engaged in making a survey of the route of this road, in conformity to the requirements of the law. 6. Road from Memphis to the St. Francis River.-The superintendent reports that the work contracted for has progressed to his entire satisfaction; the contractors evincing every disposition to prosecute their engagements with energy, and giving little apprehension that any of them will be forfeited from failure or other cause. Nine miles of the distance, over the worst part, are nearly completed, and on the remaining distance of sixteen miles, the work is progressing well. 7. Cumberland Road in Illinois and Indiana.-Little or nothing has been done on the national road in these States, in the way of extension, since the last annual report. For reasons then stated with regard to the road in Illinois, and in consequence of the increasing difficulties on that in Indiana, it became a matter of great importance to limit the expenditures in these States to the fulfilment of existing contracts, in the hope that some legisla tive action might be had that would produce a better state of things. This hope was only realized in the month of June last, after a great portion of the best part of the working season had passed. An officer of engineers, possessing much experience, was designated, with as little loss of time as practicable, to take charge of the work. He has been engaged, since his arrival on the road, in ascertaining the state of its affairs, and in organizing an efficient force for the active prosecution of operations. His annual report has not yet reached the department. 8. Cumberland Road in Ohio.-Much improvement has been made in the construction of that portion of this road yet in the hands of the general government. 9. Cumberland Road east of the Ohio.-No report on the present condition of this road has been received. Northern boundary of the State of Ohio.-Observations for the determination of this line were prosecuted last summer to the extent that the available means would allow. The results have not yet been communicated, and for the reason that the officer who made the observations has, as yet, had no time to complete his calculations, having been constantly occupied with duties that would not admit of delay. Indeed, it is impossible to say when they can be looked for; certainly not till the examination of the Hudson shall be made. The same officer is now charged with both. Monument to the memory of General Brown.-This is nearly completed. It was put under contract in New York soon after the appropiation was made. It will be in its place by the 1st of January, 1835. Officers and Agents, Civil and Military, not named in the Army Register, employed under the Engineer Department. J. G. Swift, improvements at Big Sodus Bay, and Gennessee river, New York, 86 00 per T. M. Clark, Merrimack river, Massachusetts, five per cent, on disbursements. do. do. do. Joseph Bradford, Plymouth beach, five per cent. on disbursements. do. do. do. do. Thomas Buntin, B. W. Hail, A. S. Bowley, Provincetown, E. Young, do. S. Dickerson, jr. do. B. Palmer, Kennebunk river, do. do. do. do. Ashbell Dart, Conneaut creek, two and a half per cent. on disbursements. J. Wright, Huron river, 82 00 per day. do. do. H. M. Shreve, Ohio, Mississippi, Red, and Arkansas rivers, 86 00 per day, and two and a half per cent. on disbursements, not to exceed 82 00 per day. Wm. McKnight, Cumberland river, Tennessee, g1200 00 per annum, and two and a half per cent. on disbursements, not to exceed 82 00 per day. John Martin, superi'ng road from Line creek, Al. to Chattahoochie river, Ga, 81000 p. an. J. D. Selden, general superintendent, works in New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 86 00 per day, and two and a half per cent. on disbursements, not to exceed 82 00 per day. Fiscal concerns of the Engineer Department for the year ending 30th of September, 1834; exhibiting the several works under construction; the amount expended and accounted for, the amount undrawn from the Treasury, the balances in the hands of agents, and the whole amount available from appropriations and balances, for each work, during the year. |