Report of the Chief of Engineers U.S. Army

APPENDIX B 2.

REPORT OF MR. SAMUEL H. YONGE, ASSISTANT ENGINEER.

KANSAS CITY, Mo., July 5, 1888. COLONEL: I have the honor to submit my report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, for improving Missouri River on Kansas City Division.

The operations conducted on this division consisted chiefly in the following, viz: (1) Extending the revetment in East Bottoms, below Kansas City, Mo., and completing it as far as practicable.

(2) Constructing revetment in Little Platte Bend.

(3) Repairing the Kaw Bend revetment of 1885.

(4) Repairing the East Bottoms revetment of 1887.

(5) Strengthening the dike at East Bottoms constructed during the spring of 1887.

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS.

Stone. The stone used in construction of revetment was procured chiefly by hired labor from the quarry at Wayne City Landing, a small portion being procured by purchase in open market.

The hydraulic stripping, which was fully described in my last report, was continned until August 1, at which date about 7,000 cubic yards of earth, etc., had been removed by this method since June 25, of which quantity about 2,700 cubic yards lodged in the yard in front of the quarry face and had to be removed from there by the use of scrapers and carts, which proved a very difficult task on account of being saturated with water from the hydraulic stripping, and added largely to the cost of stripping.

Two Ingersoll drills, sizes E and FA, respectively, were put in operation July 19, and continued at work until November 12, when the quarrying of stone was discontinued.

The foreman, who had charge of the quarrying on Saint Joseph Division the preceding season, was employed on this work in order to take advantage of his experience, and every means was used to reduce the cost of procuring stone, which, however, was not accomplished to any great extent, the stone being hard and tough, the quantity of current stripping large in proportion to the quantity of stone produced, and the labor being even more transient and unreliable than during the preceding

season.

The plan pursued in quarrying consisted in separating from the ledges large masses of stone by blasting, as many as twenty 8-foot holes being sometimes fired simultaneously. These masses, which contained from 2 to 70 cubic yards, were then blockholed and broken into smaller pieces by the use of dynamite, after which such pieces as were not yet sufficiently small were broken by hand sledges. The total quantity of stone procured from Wayne City quarry amounted to 16,768 cubic yards, the average cost of which was $1.1242772 per yard.

Statement giving the cost in detail of stone procured by hired labor.

From the above statement it appears that the expensive items of cost were quarrying and stripping, the reasons for which have already been stated.

The stone procured at Wayne City quarry was towed from 9 to 25 miles to the different works; the average length of tow was 15 miles.

As a sufficient quantity of stone could not be furnished from the quarry to supply the needs of the works, there were purchased 1,164 cubic yards of this material, delivered on railroad cars at Kaw Bend at $1.124 per cubic yard, and 700 cubic yards delivered on barges at Quindaro at 95 cents per cubic yard.

The stone purchased was not of as good quality as that procured from Wayne City Quarry.

The total quantity of stone procured by purchase and hired labor amounted to 18,632 cubic yards, the total quantity used was 19,000 cubic yards, including 121 cubic yards procured by hired labor prior to June 30, at a cost of $1.15 per cubic yard, and 247 cubic yards donated by the Kansas City, Saint Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad Company for the work at Kaw Bend.

The average cost of stone purchased and procured by hired labor for the work was $1.1180147 per cubic yard.

Willow brush.-As several of the brush patches inspected during the spring of 1887 were reported to be of large area, the plan of sending ont several small brush parties was departed from and one large party was sent out instead. The procuring of brush was attended by even more than the usual difficulties. The brush on one of the large patches, estimated to contain 5,000 cords, was destroyed by an incendiary fire and the brush of another patch estimated to contain the same quantity was taken by contractors, building dikes for the Wabash, Saint Louis and Pacific Railroad Company. Consequently the large party could not work to such advantage as had been expected and had to be shifted frequently from one brush patch to another. In addition to this difficulty the brush had to be towed, in some instances, a distance of 124 miles up-stream, all of which made the supply of brush irregular, and in some instances the construction parties were compelled, by this, temporarily to suspend construction work and cut such brush as was within their reach in order to be able to proceed with their work.

The average length of tow for all brush was 64.4 miles up-stream. The question of the exhaustion of the supply of willow brush within reasonable towing distance from this point and the attendant difficulties has been discussed in former reports, and it is thought unnecessary to refer to the matter again in this report.

There were procured, in all, 5,9564 cords at an average cost of $1.75222 per cord, including all expenses except transportation.

CONSTRUCTION WORKS.

Revetment at East Bottoms.-The work of revetting the bank at East Bottoms was resumed August 2.

The revetment of 6,135 linear feet of bank from A to D (see Plate II) before June 30 was completed by covering about 243,000 square feet of upper-bank mat with stone, which had been left uncovered on account of inability to procure a sufficient quantity of this material. There was also constructed 489 linear feet of upper-bank mattress, about 43 feet wide, overlapping the low-water mattress, constructed during the preceding June, at which time it was impossible to give the bank the proper slope for the construction of upper-bank mattress on account of the June flood, the surface of the water being nearly level with the top of the bank.

The revetment was then continued down-stream for a distance of 2,900 feet, the upper 2,550 feet from D to E being of the same type as the adjoining work, constructed the preceding season, while on account of the impossibility of procuring a sufficient quantity of brush for completing the work in progress the lower 350 feet of revetment from E to F was constructed as follows, viz: Small piles were sunk along the shore-line about 10 feet apart, behind which loose brush was laid to form a toe for the bank and to which the transverse cables of a mattress 88 feet wide and extending 10 feet up the bank behind the piles, or to an elevation of about 4 feet above low water, were made fast, being afterwards carried to their anchorage on top of the bank.

On account of the insufficient supply of stone it was impossible in the work done after June 30 to cover the whole face of the bank above low water, and some of the stone which had been previously laid above an elevation of ordinary high water, amounting to about 1,600 cubic yards, had to be removed and used in completing the covering even up to that stage. The area thus covered amounted to 53,345 square feet.

In the case of the lower end of the work, for the same reason, a portion of the bank, amounting to about 16,000 square feet, could not be covered, and about 500 cubic yards of stone will be required to complete this work.

Two construction parties were employed on this revetment, but, for reasons before stated, they were unable to work continuously and to the greatest advantage.

During the construction of mattress it had to be dropped from the boat on two occasions on account of the extension timbers of the mat-boat being broken by the pressure of the strong current.

Mattress-weaving was completed at East Bottoms September 17. On September 22 the whole construction force was transferred to the work at Little Platte Bend, the covering of the upper bank with stone, which was still unfinished, being postponed until after the completion of Little Platte Bend revetment.

This work was resumed October 21 and was completed, as far as practicable, on November 21, when, on account of the approach of winter, construction work had to be suspended.

The following tables, numbered I, II, and III, give the details and cost of the revetment at East Bottoms: