and save the United States free from any damages resulting from this work.

For the Board:

JOHN J. KINGMAN,
Brigadier General, United States Army,
Senior Member.

REVIEW REPORT ON THE ST. JOHNS RIVER, FLA., JACKSONVILLE TO LAKE HARNEY

SYLLABUS

Local interests et Sanford, Fla., request that the existing project for St. Johns River, Fla., Palatka to Lake Harney, be modified to provide a cut-off channel from Lake Monroe to Osteen Bridge. The district engineer finds that the benefits which would accrue from provision of the requested channel are sufficient to justify its construction, and accordingly recommends that the improvement be provided.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE,
Jacksonville, Fla., January 6, 1943.

Subject: Review of previous reports on St. Johns River, Fla., Jacksonville to Lake Harney.

To: The Division Engineer, South Atlantic Division, Atlanta, Ga.

AUTHORITY

1. This report is submitted in compliance with the following resolution, adopted May 20, 1941:

Resolved by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives, United States, That the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors created under section 3 of the River and Harbor Aet, approved June 13, 1902, be, and is hereby, requested to review the reports on the St. Johns River, Florida, Jacksonville to Lake Harney, submitted in House Document Numbered 603, Seventy-sixth Congress, third session, and previous reports, with a view of determining whether it is advisable to modify the existing project between Sanford and Lake Harney at this time.

The duty of making the review and preparing a report thereon was assigned to the district engineer by the office of the division engineer, South Atlantic Division, Atlanta, Ga., under date of June 10, 1941.

CONTENTS OF REPORT UNDER REVIEW

2. The report under review considered improvement of the project channel in St. Johns River between Jacksonville and Lake Harney. Local interests requested that the existing 8-foot-depth channel from Palatka to Sanford, including the channel in Lake Monroe leading to Enterprise, be deepened to 10 or 12 feet, and that numerous bends in the section from Palatka to Sanford be eased or eliminated by dredging cut-offs. No requests were made for improving the existing 13-foot channel in the section from Jacksonville to Palatka or the existing 5-foot channel in the section from Sanford to Lake Harney. The Chief of Engineers, in his report dated January 11, 1940, concurred in the recommendation of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors that the existing project for St. Johns River, Palatka to Lake Harney, be modified to provide for a channel 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep at local mean low water, from Palatka to Sanford,

I

the with a side channel of like dimensions to Enterprise, and for cut-offs
and easing of bends. The report was transmitted to Congress on
January 25, 1940, and was published in House Document No. 603,
Seventy-sixth Congress, third session. The recommended modifica-
tion has not been adopted by Congress.

SCOPE OF THIS INVESTIGATION

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3. At this time the only request of local interests is provision of a
cut-off channel via Woodruff Creek and Canal just above Lake
Monroe, in the section between Sanford and Lake Harney. The
present investigation is therefore confined to (1) field surveys of
Woodruff Creek and Canal, and of a short reach of the project channel
of St. Johns River above Lake Monroe, to determine the cost of the
desired improvement, and (2) a study of the tributary area to deter-
mine the benefits which might result from the improvement.

Jyi

4. St. Johns River rises in extensive marshes in Brevard County
in east-central Florida, and flows northerly 257 miles to Jacksonville,
thence easterly 28 miles to the Atlantic Ocean. Existing projects for
the river provide for channels 30 feet deep and generally 300 feet
wide from the ocean to Jacksonville, 28 miles (actual widths are
generally 400 feet or more); 13 feet deep and 200 feet wide from
Jacksonville to Palatka, 58 miles; 8 feet deep and 100 feet wide from
Palatka to Sanford, 90 miles; and 5 feet deep and 100 feet wide from
Sanford to Lake Harney, 25 miles.

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5. The slope of St. Johns River is very flat. At low-water stages,
tidal influence extends to Lake Monroe, 173 miles above the mouth
of the river. Lake Harney, 198 miles above the mouth, at extreme
low stages is approximately at mean sea level.
sea level. Long-continued
northerly winds cause a rise at Lake Monroe, and similar southerly
thewinds cause abnormally low stages. The mean tidal range at Jackson-
ville is 1.1 feet, and at Palatka 1.2 feet.

Jarce

6. The usual maximum flood stage at Lake Harney is approxi-
mately 9 feet above mean sea level; at Sanford on Lake Monroe, 8
feet; at Lake George, 3 feet; and at Palatka, 2 feet. Only infre-
quently have greater flood stages occurred.

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7. In its upper reaches the river banks are low and swampy, with
considerable stands of timber, principally cypress. Between Lake
Monroe and Lake Harney are large areas adjacent to the river with
elevations of 4 to 6 feet above mean sea level, which when not flooded
are suitable for production of Bermuda grass for cattle pasture.
These areas are usually flooded for from 1 to 6 months each year.
8. Woodruff Creek drains a small marsh area on the southeast side
of Lake Monroe about 2 miles east of Sanford. The creek proper is
about 1 mile long, averages about 100 feet in width, and has natural
or the depths up to 7 feet. A shoal at the mouth has a limiting depth of 2
feet. About 40 years ago local interests dug a small canal connecting
the upper
end of the creek with the natural river channel at a point
Ries near the present Osteen Bridge. This canal, known locally as Wood-
ruff Canal, was originally 30 feet wide and 4 feet deep. Deterioration
from silting and aquatic growth has reduced its depth to about 1 foot,

lar
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Palacks et wider

DESCRIPTION

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and a low fill for an unimproved access road has been constructed across the southerly end.

9. St. Johns River is shown on United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Charts Nos. 577, 682, 683, 684, 686, 687, and 688. Woodruff Creek and vicinity are shown on the last-mentioned chart and on the map accompanying this report.

10. The area tributary to the project channel, Jacksonville to Sanford, comprises northeastern and central Florida, with a population of about 560,000 in 1940. The area tributary to the channel from Sanford to Lake Harney, with which this report is concerned, includes only the city of Sanford and the territory contiguous to the river above Lake Monroe. This area includes parts of Seminole and Volusia Counties.

11. The population of Sanford and of Seminole County, according to Federal and State census, for the past 20 years was as follows:

1920 1925.

1930.

1935.

1940.

TRIBUTARY AREA

Seminole.
Do.
Do.

Volusia.

Total.

County

Year

12. The population of Volusia County in 1940 was 53,710. Most of this population is, however, concentrated along the east coast and in the vicinity of DeLand and is not a part of the tributary area.

13. The population, by election precincts (including hamlets of the same name), of the area near the waterway under consideration, exclusive of Sanford and immediate environs, according to the 1940 Federal census, is as follows:

Geneva.
Chuluota.
Osceola
Osteen.

Precinct

Sanford

5,588

7,262

10, 100
10.903
10, 217

Seminole
County

10,986

14,738

18.735

22, 192 22,304

Population

493
212

229
626

1,560

14. There is a large cypress mill at Osceola operated by the Osceola Cypress Co., and another at Palatka, operated by the Wilson Cypress Co. Logs destined for the former mill are moved principally by truck and the finished product by rail. The reported average annual output of manufactured lumber by the Wilson Cypress Co. for the past 4 years has been approximately 30.5 million feet, board measure. Most of the logs used by this company are obtained along St. Johns River below Lake Monroe, but about one and one-half to three million feet annually have in recent years been obtained in the area above the requested improvement.

CIK 15. Besides cypress logs and lumber, the principal products of Seminole County are vegetables (chiefly celery), citrus fruits, manufactured fertilizer, and cattle.

16. In the vicinity of Sanford, on the muck lands adjacent to Lake the Monroe, and in the vicinity of Oviedo, celery and other green vegetables are grown, and in the vicinity of Geneva are numerous orange groves. Some general farming and cattle raising are carried on. 17. Data on various agricultural products of Seminole County for the 1940-41 season are as follows:

Stock cattle, common.

Area in merchantable timber.

1 Head.

According to the latest (1936-37) report of the Florida Department of Agriculture.

95784-44

4,750

1,650 8,353

2 5, 136

BRIDGES

-2

Carloads

6,120

1,270
2,750

125, 136

18. The tributary area is served by the main line of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad from Jacksonville to Tampa via Sanford, with a branch from Sanford to Lake Charm; and by a branch of the Florida East Coast Railway from New Smyrna Beach to Lake Okeechobee via Osceola, Geneva, and Chuluota. A main highway (U. S. No. 17) from Jacksonville to Tampa and south Florida passes through Sanford. The tributary area has an adequate system of paved roads.

Tons (approximate)

61, 200 12,700

49, 500

19. No bridges cross Woodruff Creek or Canal; no alterations of existing bridges would, therefore, be required. The low fill across the canal, referred to in paragraph 8, was placed several years ago to permit transport of muck by truck from the bank of the St. Johns River. At the time of inspection the fill was passable, but in poor condition; there was no evidence of recent use. The local interests contacted had no knowledge of when or by whom the road had been used. They were of the opinion, however, that no trouble would be encountered in securing the necessary right-of-way for the proposed improvement. It is believed that the fill can be removed without detriment to property owners on either side of the canal, and that no bridge or other means of crossing would be required.

PRIOR REPORTS

20. Prior reports on St. Johns River above Jacksonville are summarized in the following table:

TABLE 1.-Prior reports on St. Johns River, Fla., Jacksonville to Lake Harney