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from the appropriation of July 25, 1868, for the construction of a crib dam across the crest of the rocks in front of Louisville to raise the lowwater mark about three feet. In consequence of high water the necessary surveys and soundings, to determine the best position for the two dams at the head and foot of the falls, could not be finished in time to commence work before the winter set in. But at the date of this report contracts had been awarded for material and labor for the upper dam, nearly all the material has been received, and the work upon that dam begun. (See Appendix L.)

2. Enlargement of the Louisville and Portland Canal.-An allotment of $180,000 from the appropriation of April 10, 1869, for the improvement of harbors and rivers, has been made to be applied to the completion of the Louisville and Portland Canal. The United States are virtually the owners of this canal, and the work of enlargement being still unfinished, and the wants of commerce imperatively demanding the completion of this enterprise, it became a question whether, in view of the terms of the resolution of Congress of 1860, authorizing the president and directors of the company to enlarge the canal, using therefor the revenues and credits of the company, any portion of this appropriation for rivers and harbors could be applied to the work of enlargement, or in any manner towards the improvement of the canal until the five individual shareholders transfer to the United States all the right, &c., they now hold in trust.

Although the subject has been frequently brought to the attention of Congress, yet no act or resolution has ever been passed specifically accepting the conditions of the act of the legislature of Kentucky of 1842, (for the sale to the United States of the shares belonging to individuals,) and authorizing or directing any officer of the United States to receive the bonds held by the trustees and assume the control of the canal. These individual shareholders, now composing the Louisville and Portland Canal Company, deem it their duty not to surrender their trust unless the United States assume the indebtedness of the company, which, up to this time, it has not done, and virtually refuses to do. While this anomalous condition of things continues-five individuals holding United States property in trust by authority of the legislature of a State, and controlling public property which has cost millions, and still unable to complete the canal improvement without increasing its debt-the heavy tax upon the commerce of our most important rivers is continued, and the navigation of the Ohio is most seriously obstructed.

The only practicable mode of reaching the end in view appears to be annual appropriations from Congress until the work is finished; the tolls of the canal being used for the payment of its working expenses, and the absorption of its debt, which they are adequate to.

The subject was laid before the Secretary of War with the opinion that, after careful examination and consideration, an allotment of some portion of the appropriation could be made for the enlargement of the canal, which recommendation met with his approval, and the officer in charge was directed to apply the whole of this allotment and whatever might be left from the first allotment, after the upper dam across the river was built, to this object.

It is proposed with this allotment first to enlarge and improve the entrance to the head of the canal as far as the upper guard gates, and then to apply whatever balance there may be to opening the new locks into the main trunk of the canal. The material for the work upon the dam at the head of the canal has been purchased and the work begun, and bids have been invited for the excavation required inside of this dam.

Amount expended during the fiscal year for the dam at the falls...

Balance on hand and in treasury, July 1, 1869. Estimated cost of Louisville and Portland Canal extension.....

$26,054 47

238, 945 53

For two dams and one lock across the falls of the river at Louisville...

933, 500 00

310, 000 00

Allotted from appropriations of 1868 and 1869....

Total required....

1,243, 500 00

265, 000 00

978, 500 00

Required for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871, and which can be profitably expended.

(See Appendices L and L 1.)

$450,000 00

3. Improvement of the Tennessee River.-During the present season the work upon this improvement has been at the three points between Chattanooga and Decatur, where the chief impediments to steamboat navigation in that part of the river are found-Tumbling Shoals, the Suck, and the Pot. A contract has been entered into and the work at the Suck has been prosecuted as vigorously as the stage of water during the season permitted; and it is hoped that all the work required at these points will be completed this year.

The officer in charge renews his recommendation for an appropriation of $500,000 towards the enlargement of the old canal between Lamb's and Campbell's ferries as being of the first importance in connection with the removal of the obstacles to the navigation of the river, and asks for the sum of $10,000 for additional surveys for the purpose of forming estimates of cost of canals around the Elk River and Little Muscle Shoals.

Amount allotted to Tennessee River improvement:

From appropriation of July, 1868

From appropriation of April, 1869 .

Total.

Expended during the fiscal year..

Balance on hand July 1, 1869.

(See Appendices L 2 and L 3.)

$85,000 00

40, 500 00

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IMPROVEMENT OF WESTERN RIVERS, EXCEPTING THE OHIO. Officer in charge, Colonel J. N. Macomb, corps of engineers, assisted by Brevet Major C. R. Suter, captain corps of engineers.

1. Construction of snag-boats and machinery.-At the commencement of the fiscal year, July 1, 1868, the three double-hulled snag-boats, viz., the J. J. Abert, the S. H. Long, and the R. E. De Russy, had been but a short time in service, but had given promise of the good work that this year's record shows for them. In the course of the year, one snag-boat, the S. Thayer, and one dredging-boat, the Octavia, have been added to the list. The snag-boat is of light draught, and was built for use in the

Arkansas River. The dredging-boat was purchased, having been found upon trial to be well adapted to this service.

2. Examinations and surveys.-During the summer of 1868 a partial survey of the lower part of the Missouri River was made. During the past winter a careful reconnaissance was made and mapped of the Mississippi River continuously, with but few breaks, from Alton, Illinois, to Grand Gulf, Mississippi. During the present season a similar reconnaissance has been pushed up the Missouri, which has been mapped from the mouth to Yankton, Dakota. These maps are for the use and guidance of the operations for the improvement of the navigation of these rivers.

A surveying party, in charge of Mr. S. T. Abert, civil engineer, has been organized for the survey of the Arkansas River. The survey was begun at Fort Gibson and continued to Little Rock, a distance of three hundred miles. The final report will show the results of this survey under the heads of the physics and hydraulics of the river. (For preliminary report see Appendix M.),

3. Improvement of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Arkansas Rivers.—This has consisted in removing and destroying snags, cutting trees to prevent the formation of snags, and in dredging bars in these rivers, and has been pushed forward vigorously during the last fiscal year by laying out the field into districts and keeping the boats at work as nearly together as possible, so as to admit of more easy supervision. In this way a large amount of work was done on the Mississippi during the winter and on the Missouri during the summer. The work on the Arkansas, requiring a boat of very light draught, was begun as soon as the boat was ready for service, and has continued with good progress since the month of May, 1869. The most sanguine expectations as to the success of the boats in this service for the past year have been realized, and, while they have all done remarkably well, they have demonstrated the necessity of having more boats, and particularly some of lighter draught of water.

There is a practical difficulty in combining the great strength which it is desirable that a snag-boat should possess with the lightness of draught requisite for working at the lowest stage of water, when the most dangerous snags become visible. Since these boats began to operate changes have been made in points of minor detail which have simplified and expedited the process of destroying snags and at the same time shown the feasibility of making a lighter draught boat that will do the work effectively.

An account in detail of the localities at which the snag-boats were employed will be found in Appendix M.

The following is a recapitulation of the work done during the year ending June 30, 1869:

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Amount required for the next fiscal year:

Repairs of snag and dredge boats, and working the same
during the remainder of the present fiscal year...
For current expenses of the same during the fiscal year
ending June 30, 1871 ....

$166, 000 00

255, 000 00

Total

For building three additional boats, and for operating the same during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1871..

421, 000 00

329, 000 00

750,000 00

Grand total

(See Appendix M.)

KANSAS CITY BRIDGE.

Upon the representation of owners, captains, and pilots of boats navigating the Missouri River, and others interested, that the bridge about to be built across the Missouri at Kansas City greatly endangered navigation at all times, but especially during high water, and was not passable with any degree of safety, with the view of obtaining all the facts of the case, Colonel Macomb, corps of engineers, in charge of western river improvements, was directed to cause the necessary examination to be made. The report of Brevet Major C. R. Suter, captain corps of engineers, upon this subject, will be found in Appendix M 1.

RIVER CHANNELERS OR EXCAVATORS.

A plan proposed by Brevet Major C. W. Howell, corps of engineers, for channeling through the sand-bars which obstruct the navigation of the western rivers, with a description of the machine devised for the purpose, will be found in Appendix M 2.

WASTE LANDS-MISSISSIPI RIVER.

By a resolution of the House of Representatives of February 5, 1869, the Secretary of War was requested to furnish the House with a copy of a memoir addressed to him by Brevet Brigadier General B. S. Roberts, United States Army, upon the subject of draining the surplus waters of the lakes into the Upper Mississippi, Illinois, and Ohio rivers, and of reclaiming the waste lands of the Lower Mississippi.

This resolution was referred to this office by the Secretary of War for a report upon the merits of the plan proposed by General Roberts.

Copies of my letter to him, of the memoir in question, and of a communication made by me in February, 1866, to General Delafield, then Chief of Engineers, upon the feasibility and expediency of carrying into effect the views presented in the memoir, will be found in Appendix M 3 to this report.

LEVEES OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

In reply to an inquiry from the chairman of the Committee on Commerce of the Senate as to the probable cost of building and repairing the levees of the Mississippi in the States of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas, with the view of protection from overflow, an estimate was prepared by Brevet Brigadier General H. L. Abbot, major corps of engi

neers, to whom the subject was referred. This estimate and his report will be found in Appendix M 4, in which I fully concur.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE OHIO RIVER.

In charge of W. Milnor Roberts, United States civil engineer, and temporarily of Brevet Major General G. Weitzel, major of engineers. The survey of this river, referred to in the last annual report as being in progress, has been completed. The whole distance from Pittsburg to Cairo has been found to be nine hundred and sixty-seven miles, two hundred and seventy-one miles of which was surveyed between the years 1836 and 1844. The results of the survey are comprised in one hundred and eighteen charts, drawn to a scale of one thousand feet to the inch, which contain very valuable information, as well in the interest of commerce as for navigation. Work upon the riprap dams, for the improvement of the low-water navigation has progressed satisfactorily, though in some instances it was retarded by the high stage of water. Contracts were made for dams at three of the most difficult points below Cincinnati, and the work upon them will be commenced as soon as the necessary preparation can be made. There are several points below Louisville where improvement is urgently required. A system of lights to aid navigation at the Grand Chain is recommended by the engineer in charge, and land marks at other points he considers desirable. The operations of the snag-boats have been somewhat retarded by the high water; they have, however, performed very satisfactory work in the removal of obstructions to navigation caused by wreck, stumps, logs, &c. Certain parties representing the interests of Bridgeport, Ohio, opposite Wheeling, having made representations respecting the injury which they anticipated would be done to Bridgeport by the construction of the proposed dam at the head of Wheeling Island, across the Ohio Channel, the engineer in charge was instructed to defer the construction of the dam until an examination of the locality could be made at a low stage of the river. The report of the engineer in charge upon the subject will be found in Appendix N 1.

Citizens of Marietta, Ohio, having also remonstrated against the erection of the dam, as proposed, at that place, a report upon the subject was also required of the engineer in charge. (See Appendix N 2.)

The engineer in charge estimates for continuing the improvement of the river during the next fiscal year, $389,000. (See Appendix N.)

IMPROVEMENT OF THE PATAPSCO BELOW FORT MCHENRY, AND OF THE SUSQUEHANNA BELOW HAVRE DE GRACE.

Officer in charge, Brevet Brigadier General J. H. Simpson, colonel corps of engineers; assistant, First Lieutenant William R. Livermore, corps of engineers.

1. Improvement of the Patapsco.-The work of widening and deepening the new cut or Craighill Channel was vigorously prosecuted last year, till the first of November, when the three dredges were removed to the upper entrance of the Brewerton Channel, where they were efficiently engaged until the 10th of December, when, on account of rough weather, they were withdrawn. Operations were resumed this year, June 4, on the Craighill Channel, and at the date of this report it has been completed from Seven Foot Knoll to a little below Belvidere Shoals, with a width of two hundred feet and depth of twenty-one feet below mean low water,

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