APPENDIX B B. IMPROVEMENT OF THE OHIO, MONONGAHELA, AND ALLEGHENY 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, AND OF LOCK AND DAM AT HERR'S ISLAND, ALLEGHENY RIVER. REPORT OF LIEUTENANT-COLONEL WILLIAM E. MERRILL, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, BVT. COL., U. S. A.. OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1888, WITH OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE WORKS. 1. Ohio River. IMPROVEMENTS. 2. Operating and care of Davis Island Dam, Ohio River. 3. Monongahela River, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. 4. Operating and care of lock and dam No. 9, Monongahela River. 5 Allegheny River, Pennsylvania. 8. Operating and care of the locks and EXAMINATIONS AND SURVEYS. its mouth to Coolville. 9. Ohio River, near the city of Evans. 10. Big Hockhocking River, Ohio, from ville, Indiana, to determine what, if anything, will be necessary to prevent a change of the channel of the river in front of that city. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith the annual reports on the works under my charge for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888. First Lieuts. Lausing H. Beach and Cassius E. Gillette, Corps of Engineers, have been on duty under direction of this office throughout the fiscal year. On April 13, 1888, I transferred to Capt. D. W. Lockwood, Corps of Engineers, the works of improvement on the Big Sandy, Little Kanawha, Guyandotte, and Buckhannon rivers, which had been under my temporary charge since May 6, 1887. Respectfully, your obedient servant, The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. A. Wм. E. MERRILL, BB I. IMPROVEMENT OF THE OHIO RIVER. As no river and harbor act was passed in 1887, the cost of all work during the past fiscal year has been borne by the appropriation of August 5, 1886. Three Brothers' Island, 157 miles below Pittsburgh.-The dam at this place, built under contract with J. F. King, was discovered to need con.. siderable repair, due to defective paving and the use of soft stone. Thirty four sections of paving were taken out and relaid; twenty-four sections were partly repaired, and the empty spaces under a number of timbers in the lower slope were filled up solid, and the paving replaced. The work was done under the direction of Mr. E. J. Carpenter, assistant engineer, in charge of the dredging fleet, which was working in the neighborhood at the time. Dike at middle of Grand Chain, 946 miles below Pittsburgh.-This is the third or middle dike at the Grand Chain, and it is under construction under contract with I. V. Hoag, jr., dated December 1, 1884. During the year the substructure of the dike was extended 276 feet to a total length of 1,874 feet, and the superstructure was extended 578 feet to a total length of 1,806 feet. The ultimate length of the dike is 3,008 feet. At the request of the contractor the contract was extended to December 1, 1888. The lower dike at the Grand Chain ought to be extended to the Suwannee Rocks, a distance of 900 feet. It may also be necessary to extend the upper dike to the Richmond Rocks, a distance of 700 feet. It is advisable, however, to postpone this extension until the middle dike is completed, as it is probable that the latter dike will check the existing tendency of the current to cut around the upper dike, and will make the extension unnecessary. Removing rocks at Grand Chain.-Work was carried on under a contract with the Crescent City Wrecking Company, dated December 6, 1886. During the last fiscal year 10,573.9 tons of rock were removed, making, with the work done in the previous fiscal year, a total of 11,472 tons removed in 1887. The wrecking plant worked on the Grenadier Rocks at the head of the Grand Chain, on the Jackson Rocks abreast of the Upper Dike, and on the Arkansas Rocks between the two. The quantity of rock removed at each place was as follows: The contract price per ton was $4.85, making the actual amount expended for rock excavation $55,638.71. The total expenditure, including engineering and contingencies, was $57,192.78. The contract was closed on December 31, 1887. The inspector was Philip Golay, civil engineer, and the following is his final report on the work: REPORT OF MR. PHILIP GOLAY, INSPector. In accordance with your orders, dated May 17, 1887, I proceeded to Grand Chain, where I found the plant of the Crescent City Wrecking Company waiting for the water to fall, as the river was then too high to begin work. On the 25th of May the contractor commenced blasting and breaking up the Jackson Rocks, there being then about 18 feet of water over the rocks. The dredging was delayed by a rise in the river until the 16th day of June; from that date until the 30th of June, 897 tons of rock were removed from the Jackson Rocks. I discovered that these rocks were mostly covered with sand from the high waters of the previous winter and spring, and that the current created by the dike at this point, as the river falls, had not time to scour out the sand from over the rocks. I therefore decided to remove the plant to the Grenadier Rocks, and so reported to you at the time. On the 5th of July the plant was removed to the Grenadier Rocks, which were found to be composed of very hard gray and blue limestone, standing up boldly out of the bed of the river in groups near the channel; in fact, so near the channel that the steamers had to make a detour in their course to avoid them. Work was carried on at the Grenadier Rocks until the 24th of August, resulting in the removal of 3,932 tons of rock, when, on receipt of your letter of the 17th, the plant was removed to the Arkansas Rocks, as per order contained therein. At the Arkansas Rocks the work progressed from the 26th of August until the 17th of September, and 1,493 tons of rock were removed, when the plant was shifted to the Jackson Rocks; here the work had progressed scarcely one week when the pilot on the local packet reported striking rocks in the channel opposite the Grenadier Rocks. Upon investigation I found this to be the rock that had been worked on by the Hill Wrecking Company in 1881; the remaining portion of the rock had only 2 feet of water over it at low water. I therefore removed the plant to that point on the 23d of September, and reported the same to you, and you approved the change in your letter of September 26. The work was continued at the Grenadier Rocks until the 8th of October, by which time 669 tons (additional) of rock had been removed. On the 8th of October the plant was again removed to the Jackson Rocks, and operations were continued at that point until running ice compelled work to close for the season on the 30th of December. On returning to the Jackson Rocks I found the sand all washed away by the strong current formed by the dike. During this second attack on the Jackson Rocks 4,480 tons of rock were removed. The total quantities of rock removed by the Crescent City Wrecking Company during the season are as follows: Grenadier Rocks Arkansas Rocks.. Total..... Tons. 4,601 1, 493 5,378 11, 472 To break up this quantity of rock, the contractors expended 20,100 pounds of No. 1-XX (75 per cent. nitro-glycerine) of Hercules powder, and 9,800 platinum fuzes, being at the rate of 14 pounds of explosive per ton of rock; the cost per ton for explosives and fuzes was about 63 cents. PLANT. The contractors' plant consisted of one dredge-boat, with necessary quarters for all the men; one diving flat, 12 by 35 feet, with storage-room for diving outfit; one small towing steamer, and two decked flats or scows, 18 by 95 feet; the latter were used for transporting the rock to a safe place of deposit. The dredge was provided with one Hayward's grappling-bucket, having four points or blades with a grasp of 7 feet; when closed it assumes the form of a hemisphere, and holds about 2 cubic yards of material. The bucket was suspended from the end of a boom 45 feet long by two chains running back to two friction-drums, set 12 feet apart; one man operating these drums opens, closes, hoists, lowers, and swings the bucket to any desired position, making about 100 dips with the bucket per hour, and at times lifting out rock weighing over 3 tons. MODE OF OPERATING. The operations were carried on as follows: The blasting was done by a submarine diver placing the dynamite, or Hercules powder, either on the surface of the rock or alongside, or in a crevice as near the bed of the river as possible. After the charge was placed and the diver had come out, the diving-boat was hauled about 30 yards up stream, and the blast was exploded by a magneto-electric battery. The charges consisted of from 2 to 30 pounds of Hercules powder, made up by tying together the half-pound paraffined paper cartridges, with one platinum fuze in the charge and with no other protection from the water than the paraffined paper in which the Herenles powder is put up by the manufacturer. As the weather turned cold, and the Hercules powder was frozen, it was fonud necessary to use two platiuum fuzes, placed close together, and to pass the electric circuit through both, making a petard strong enough to explode frozen dynamite. I could not notice any diminution in the strength of the dynamite in consequence of being frozen. By this use of double fuzes the danger of thawing frozen dynamite was avoided. To make navigation safe in this part of the river, I would recommend that the following additional work be done: 1. Rocks in the middle of the river near the head of Little Chain Bar.-These rocks should be removed, as the sand-bar above has made down to them, and a square crossing just above has to be made in low water. 2. The upper point of the lower bar, on which these rocks are found, is composed of hard cemented gravel, and should be dredged off so as to straighten the channel. 3. The Hilderman Rocks, near the Illinois shore, about half a mile above Hilderman Landing, which is 4 miles above the head of Grand Chain, should be removed; it was on these rocks that the United States dredge-boat Oswego was damaged in 1884. 4. The remainder of the Grenadier Rocks and Arkansas Rocks form two reefs extending out to the channel, and should be removed. 5. The rocks opposite the dike being built at Grand Chain Landing. These will come outside of the end of the dike, and, being near the channel, should be removed. 6. A reef of rocks extending out to the channel from the Illinois Bar about 1 mile below Grand Chain Landing should be removed. It was on these. rocks that the steamer W. F. Nesbit was damaged last November. 7. The extension of the upper dike about 700 feet to the point of the Richmond Rocks, and the extension of the lower dike about 900 feet to the Suwannee Rocks. As the current draws around the end of these dikes and over the rocks just below them, it is necessary that these extensions should be made. As a large portion of the material to be removed will likely prove to be clay and gravel, I would recommend that a plant be chartered by the day, or that provision be made in the specifications for classifying the material. Additional work needed. It will be observed that further work of removing rocks and cemented gravel is needed in this section of the river, located as follows: At Grand Chain the remainder of the Grenadier and Arkansas rocks should be removed, as the channel at the head of the chain is close to the Illinois shore, and therefore close to the rocks; there is also about 250 tons of the Jackson Rocks, lying outside of the upper dike, that should be removed to give a clear channel between the dike and the Kentucky shore. There are also some dangerous rocks lying outside of the line of the middle dike, now building at Grand Chain Landing, and a rock reef, projecting well out into the river, about a mile below the landing; both should be removed. It will also improve navigation to take out the remains of the "stone-boat" and of the steam-boat Richmond, although not in the channel. At Little Chain, 8 miles above Grand Chain, there are some rocks and some cemented gravel in the middle of the river that ought to be taken out. The Hilderman Rocks, about 4 miles above the head of the Grand Chain, are also much in the way, and one of the Government dredges was injured on them in 1884. The Heady Rocks on the Illinois shore, about 2 miles above the head of Grand Chain, are sometimes troublesome, but as the present lowwater channel does not pass near them, their removal may be postponed for the present. The accompanying maps of the Grand Chain show the positions of the various rocks and dikes. Ice piers.-Much greater delay than was anticipated has occurred in securing, as required by the act of Congress, formal cessions of wharfage rights and dues in favor of water craft seeking protection from ice. In some cases the cities interested were compelled to acquire riparian rights by purchase, and much time was expended in securing these at the lowest possible figures. This work, however, is now completed, and the papers have been forwarded to Washington. If no unexpected ob |