45TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. (Ex. Doc. 1, 2d Session. pt. 2, vol. II. @ ANNUAL REPORT OF THE U. S. - Engineer Depriment CHIEF OF ENGINEERS ΤΟ ΤΠΕ SECRETARY OF WAR FOR THE YEAR 1877. IN TWO PARTS. PART I. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1877. [EXTRACT FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.] WAR DEPARTMENT, November 19, 1877. CHIEF OF ENGINEERS. The report of the Chief of Engineers states that work upon our sea. coast defenses has been practically limited to their care, preservation, and partial repair; but he again urges the adoption of some reasonable system of annual expenditure upon our harbor defenses. Experiments and practice on the general system of torpedo defense have been continued at Willet's Point. An appropriation of $100,000 for the coming year is recommended for this purpose, and for the purchase and storage of such portions of the material as would be imme. diately required in case of sudden hostilities. Detailed information in regard to each specific river and harbor improvement may be found in said report. The requirements of the third section of the river and harbor act of August 14, 1876, relating to the prevention of trespass or injury to pub. lic works, were complied with by my predecessor, and the form of an act, intended to cover all cases likely to arise, was submitted to Congress at its last session; but as action thereon was not taken, I ask at. tention to the necessity of such legislation. The appropriation made in the sundry civil act of the last session of Congress for the protection of the piers of the bridge across the Missis sippi River at Rock Island, Ill., is being expended in accordance with the provisions of the act. To comply with the joint resolution of March 3, 1877, a commission was appointed to examine into the matter of contracts made between the United States and the Moline Water Company as to the waterpower at Moline, Ill. The report of the commission will be duly trans. initted. In the survey of the northern and northwestern lakes, under the Eugineer Department, the triangulation has been carried from Westfield, N. Y., to Painesville, Ohio. The topography and hydrography have been carried from Ashtabula, Ohio, to Vermillion, Ohio. The latitudes and longitudes of Mount Forrest and Cairo, Ill., have been determined, and assistance has been rendered in the telegraphic determination of the longitudes of Fort Fetterman, in Wyoming Territory, and Forts Stockton, Concho, and McKavett, in Texas. The difference of level between Lakes Michigan and Superior has been determined. A list of the new charts of the lakes, printed and published during the year, will be found in said report. The survey of the Mississippi River, which has been carried on by the officer charged with the lake survey, has been extended from five miles above Cairo, Ill., to a point eight miles above C. lambus, Ky. Volume II, Descriptive Geology; Volume IV, Paleontology and Ornithology, and Volume VI, Microscopical Petrography, and the Geological and Topographical Atlas of the Geolog ical Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, have been completed during the year, and are now in the hands of the Public Printer. Volume I, |