5. With the balance available proposals for dredging were invited, and the only bid received was 25 cents per cubic yard. Contract was made and during the past month the dredge has removed about 6,000 cubic yards of material from the channel and cleaned out 1,400 running feet of channel. The whole work will be completed, as far as the funds will permit, in about one week more and will result in a channel that will have the worst obstructions removed and enable boats to get to Petaluma at half-tide stages. It is thought that the present work will give a channel that at least is not bare at low water and will relieve the immediate wants of navigation. It will be impossible to maintain a channel in the upper part of the creek, except by repeated dredging. All the sewage of Petaluma and the drainage and washings from the highly cultivated valley lands get into this small creek, which is only about 60 feet wide. The digging below where we are now going is generally hard pan and will be much more expensive to remove than the present soft material. The annual commerce on the creek is sufficient to warrant a depth of 4 or 5 feet of water, measured at low tide, and while in the absence of exact surveys the quantity of material to be excavated to produce this depth is not definitely known, it is roughly estimated that about 60,000 'cubic yards of hard pan will have to be removed, at an estimated cost of 50 cents per cubic yard, or $30,000 as an approximate estimate for the whole cost of the work. If this work be done an occasional cleaning out of the soft material by a dredger, say once every four or five years, ought to maintain a good navigable channel. July 1, 1887, amount available.. Money statement. July 1, 1888, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1887.. July 1, 1883, amount covered by existing contracts. ་ ་་ ་ Amount appropriated by act of August 11, 1888.... $2,343.09 $210.24 2, 132.85 2,343.09 2,000.00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1890 28,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. Statistics of freight carried on Petaluma Creek during the present fiscal year, furnished to the trustees of the city of Petaluma and by them published as substantially accurate. QQ 5. IMPROVEMENT OF HUMBOLDT HARBOR AND BAY, CALIFORNIA. The project for improvement was adopted in 1881. It aimed to secure low-water channels 13 feet deep, 200 feet wide to the head of the Eureka wharves, and 10 feet by 100 feet wide to Arcata and Hookton. In 1882 an additional project was made to increase the depth of water over the bar at the entrance to the harbor by the construction of a training-wall built to the level of low water and extending from the South Spit seaward in a northwesterly direction. The estimated cost of the sea-wall alone was $600,000. The dredging work herein referred to (the improvement of the channels to Eureka, Arcata, and Hookton) was completed in 1884. Some deterioration has occurred to the channels, especially in front of the Eureka wharves and at the junction of the Eureka and Arcata channels. These channels are not self-maintaining, owing to the sluggish current. They also receive the sewage of the towns. Their depths and widths can only be maintained by occasional dredging. The act of August 5, 1886, making appropriation for the improvement of the entrance to the bay, prohibited the expenditure of money until the United States had acquired, free of expense, the title to the land required on the South Spit. Nearly the whole of the last fiscal year has been spent in correcting imperfections in the deeds to the property, having probate proceedings corrected, and in getting an opinion from the United States district attorney, so as to secure a proper deed for the property referred to. Within the past week a deed to the property has been obtained, the acting United States attorney has approved it, and it has been forwarded to Washington for formal approval by the United States Attorney-General. With the money available and asked for it is proposed to make preparations for and commence the construction of the training-wall. Authority has also been received to permit the use of brush in the training-wall where economical and practicable, and to protect the North Spit against erosion if necessary. No close or final estimate of the cost of obtaining and maintaining a deep permanent channel over Humboldt Bar has been or can at present be made. The only estimate submitted is for a training-wall built to the level of low water. Should this training-wall have to be built higher or longer, or shore protection on the north sands or spit be required, the cost will be additional and depend entirely on the amount of addi tional work required. The appropriations for improvement of Humboldt Bay have aggregated $217,500, of which amount $80,884.69 has been spent, and nearly all for the dredging of the channels inside the bay. The balance available ($136,615.31) will make a good start in building the training-wall. Money statement. Amount available for fiscal year ending June 30, 1889...... $136, 615. 31 136, 615, 31 125,000.00 261, 615. 31 412,500.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project........ COMMERCIAL STATISTICS. Full commercial statistics for the past year can not at present be obtained. The collector of customs at Eureka reports a foreign export of lumber and saw-mill products valued at $101,169. Seventeen vessels entered and eighteen cleared for foreign ports. Six hundred and nine sailing vessels left the port, each with an average carrying capacity of 250,000 feet of lumber, making a total output of lumber of about 152,000,000 feet in the shape of sawed lumber, shingles, shakes, posts, and pickets. In addition to the above, one hundred and sixty-five steamers sailed with full cargoes of miscellaneous freights. A published statement of the commerce or shipments from Humboldt County for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, is the latest full information available, and from said statement the following is compiled: APPENDIX R R. IMPROVEMENT OF THE ENTRANCES TO COOS AND YAQUINA BAYS, OF MOUTH OF COQUILLE RIVER, and of UMPQUA RIVER, OREGON. REPORT OF CAPTAIN WILLARD YOUNG, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, OFFICER IN CHARGE, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1888, WITH OTHER DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE WORKS. IMPROVEMENTS. 3. Umpqua River, Oregon. 4. Entrance to Yaquina Bay, Oregon. 1. Mouth of Coquille River, Oregon. 2. Entrance to Coos Bay, Oregon. EXAMINATION AND SURVEY. 5. Tillamook Bay and Bar, Oregon. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith the annual reports for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1888, for the works of improvement of rivers and harbors which have been under my charge. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, U. S. A. W. YOUNG, Captain of Engineers. RR I. IMPROVEMENT OF THE MOUTH OF THE COQUILLE RIVER, OREGON. DESCRIPTION OF ORIGINAL CONDITION. The mean rise of tide is 4.1 feet. At the time the work of improvement was begun the entrance to the Coquille River was considered very dangerous. It was by a long, tortuous, and narrow channel skirting the south headland, and was studded with rocks from beyond the bar on the outside to a distance of one-half mile inside. The depth at low water over the bar was only about 3 feet, while the position of the bar channel was constantly shifting. The channel sometimes, at long intervals apart, broke through the north spit and ran directly out to sea, just south of Rackliffe Rock, but did not remain long in this position. The entrance at such times was comparatively safe, and the channel was at its very best. PLAN OF IMPROVEMENT. The plan of the improvement is to open and maintain a channel through the north spit, and running directly out to sea just south of Rackliffe Rock, by building a jetty on the south side of the entrance, beginning at a point on the left bank inside the entrance and running across the north spit at a distance of 800 feet south of Rackliffe Rock, and in a direction nearly west. AMOUNT EXPENDED AND RESULTS OBTAINED TO JUNE 30, 1887. The amount expended to June 30, 1887, including outstanding liabilities, was $43,317.60, and resulted in the building of 1,625 feet of jetty. The channel through the north spit was opened in 1882, after the construction of about 1,000 feet of temporary jetty, and soon after the old channel was completely filled up and the jetty across it covered with sand and drift. The new channel, when well opened, gave a depth of 7 feet at low water over the bar. During 1884 some of the temporary jetty was destroyed by drift, and the adjacent fill was washed out, so that a portion of the outflow escaped uselessly to the south among the rocks, causing a shoaling up of the channel over the bar to a depth of 5 feet. In 1885 the jetty was repaired and extended out to a length of 1,523 feet, giving a channel depth of about 6 feet at low water. WORK DONE DURING THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1888. During the year ending June 30, 1888, an extension of 300 feet was made to the jetty pile work, in which 14,235 linear feet of piling were used, and 3,384 cubic yards of stone were quarried and placed in the jetty as filling to the pile work and as riprap on the channel side. Other operations consisted simply in the storage and care of property, and in keeping vessel records. Capt. R. S. Littlefield, who was in local charge of the work, reports: The operations-May to September, 1887-for continuance of the improvement at entrance to Coquille River covered expenditure of the balance remaining of the appropriation ($20,000) made August 5, 1886, under which 403 feet extension to the jetty seaward was made under the plan of high, close piling, approved for a like extension into the sea last made in 1884. The channel out to the bar, from end of the jetty, crossed, by a sharp turn to the south, the alignment of the jetty close in to the end of the work, the same as it did in 1883-'84-'85. The extension of 442 feet, made in 1884, crossed, and by accretion forming with advancement of said work, filled a then like existing channel, forcing it for a time to a straight course to sea, and, as follows, to a better one, both for the entrance and departure of vessels. Like effects of accretion forming were immediately noticeable as the piling was pushed ahead in last (1887) extension only that, due to advancement nearer the bar and into deeper water, they were less marked and rapid; but before the close of operations the turn of channel southerly was cut off, it resuming a straightout course over the bar northerly of the jetty and parallel to the jetty alignment, which course it should be made to keep by permanent works as best for navigation. The extension was made 14 to 2 feet wider than that of 1884, or rows of piles were 7 and 8 feet apart outside, instead of 6 feet, giving more space in interior for stone |