1st Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. S. KENOSHA HARBOR, WIS. LETTER No. 19 FROM THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY TRANSMITTING REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS ON REVIEW OF REPORTS HERETOFORE SUBMITTED ON KENOSHA HARBOR, WIS., WITH ILLUSTRATION Hon. J. J. MANSFIELD, WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, Chairman Committee on Rivers and Harbors, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MY DEAR MR. MANSFIELD: 1. The Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives, by resolution adopted January 29, 1934, requested the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors to review the reports on Kenosha Harbor, Wis., submitted in House Document No. 80, Sixty-sixth Congress, first session, with a view to determining whether any further improvement of this locality is advisable at this time. I enclose herewith the report of the Board in response thereto. 2. Kenosha Harbor is on the west shore of Lake Michigan, 35 miles south of Milwaukee and 54 miles north of Chicago. It has been improved by the construction of an entrance channel from the lake 19 feet deep and 200 feet wide and one-half mile long, terminating in an inner basin 8 acres in area which has been dredged by the United States to a depth of 18 feet. The entrance channel is protected by two parallel piers 250 feet apart and 1,000 feet long, and by a detached breakwater which shelters the entrance from storms from the northeast. Dredging by local interests for land reclamation has afforded depths of 20 to 25 feet in the greater part of the inner basin. The cost of new work of improvement to June 30, 1934, has been $494,392.53. The estimated annual cost of maintenance is $9,000. 112427-35--1 3. Local interests now desire that the entrance channel and the inner basin be deepened to 21 feet and that the detached breakwater be extended northwest to connect with the shore line at some point north of the harbor. The extension of the breakwater is advocated to eliminate the periodic shoaling at the lake end of the entrance channel, thus affording more dependable depths. An increase in depth is desired in order that full loads may be carried by the larger vessels now using the port. 4. Kenosha Harbor serves an area primarily devoted to the dairying industry. The tributary area is limited since the harbor of Racine is but 14 miles to the north and Waukegan 18 miles to the south. The city itself has a population of 50,000. The water-borne commerce of the port in 1933 consisted principally of the receipt of construction materials, stone and gravel and of coal, and amounted to 75,000 tons, an amount somewhat in excess of the average for the past 20 years. 5. The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors concurring with the reporting officers finds that a depth of 21 feet is necessary in order that the larger vessels using the harbor may carry full loads, and that the cost of the improvement, estimated at $31,000, is justified by resultant savings in transportation costs. No increase in the present estimated cost of maintenance would be entailed by the improvement. The Board considers, however, that the cost of the extension of the breakwater as requested by local interests is entirely disproportionate with the benefits which might result and that its construction at this time is inadvisable. It therefore recommends the modification of the existing project for Kenosha Harbor, Wis., so as to provide for a depth of 21 feet in the entrance channel and the inner basin within the limits of the existing project, all at an estimated cost of $31,000, with no increase in the present estimated cost of $9,000 annually for maintenance. 6. A request was presented for the reconsideration of this finding because of the fact that a vessel was unable to enter the harbor during the storm of November 30, 1934. On investigation it was found, however, that the storm was of such intensity that the vessel could not safely have entered the harbor even if the requested improvements had been made. It rode out the storm in the lake and entered the harbor without difficulty after the storm had subsided. The incident does not therefore afford justification for the extensive breakwater improvement desired. 7. After due consideration of these reports, I concur in the recommendation of the Board that further improvement at this time be limited to deepening the harbor to 21 feet at an estimated cost of $31,000. Very truly yours, E. M. MARKHAM, Major General, Chief of Engineers. To: The Chief of Engineers, United States Army. 1. This report is submitted in response to the following resolution, dopted January 29, 1934: Resolved by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representaves, United States, That the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors treated under section 3 of the River and Harbor Act, approved June 13, 1902, be, and is hereby, requested to review the reports on Kenosha Harbor, Wis., subnitted in House Document No. 80, Sixty-sixth Congress, first session, with view to determining whether any further improvement of this locality is advisable at this time. 2. Kenosha Harbor is on the west shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of Pike Creek, 54 miles north of Chicago and 35 miles south of Milwaukee. It has been improved by the construction of 2 parallel piers 250 feet apart extending into the lake a distance of about 1,000 feet beyond the present shore line, the construction of a detached breakwater sheltering the channel entrance from storms from the northeast and the dredging of an entrance channel 19 feet deep and 200 feet wide extending for a distance of slightly less than one-half mile to an interior basin 8 acres in area and with an authorized depth of 18 feet. Actual depths ranging from 20 to 25 feet are available over the greater portion of the basin as the result of dredging operations undertaken by local interests for the purpose of land reclamation in the vicinity of the south pier. The project has been completed at a cost of $495,000 for new work. The annual cost of maintenance is estimated at $9,000. The city of Kenosha owns nearly 50 percent of the total frontage of the harbor and has improved about one-half of its property by a pile revetment with a concrete superstructure. The remaining water frontage is occupied in part by private terminals for the handling of coal, package freight, building materials and the raw products used in the manufacture of steel and wood furniture. The city of Kenosha has a population of 50,000 people and serves a tributary area largely devoted to dairying. The extent of this area is distinctly limited by the proximity of the improved harbors at Racine, 14 miles to the north, and Waukegan, 18 miles to the south. The principal industries of the city are the manufacture of wearing apparel, automobiles and trucks, furniture, metal work, and wire rope and cables. Most of the fuel and the raw materials for these industries are brought in by rail, and the finished products are shipped by the same means, but local interests advance the view that greater use would be made of the harbor if it were further improved. During the past 20 years the water-borne commerce has averaged 60,000 tons, reaching a maximum of 128,000 in 1916, and a minimum of 25,000 in 1922. For 1933 it amounted to 75,000 tons, receipts of stone and sand accounting for 62 percent of the total, and coal receipts for 34 percent. All coal shipments are for local consumption, and rail shipments from the Illinois and Indiana fields can compete with shipments by water from other places. The package freight business was discontinued in 1933, and it is improbable that this class of business will be restored, even though the harbor is further improved. 3. Local interests request that a minimum depth of 21 feet be provided in the entrance channel and the interior basin, that the channel be maintained at full project width of 200 feet, and that the present detached breakwater be extended in a northerly direction to connect with the shore. The increased depths are advocated as necessary to permit full loading of vessels and to obtain reductions in the present transportation costs, inasmuch as most of the harbors. from which Kenosha receives shipments have available depth of at least 20 feet. The breakwater extension is advocated in the view that it will prevent the erosion of public and private property on both sides of the harbor entrance, and that it will eliminate the annual shoaling of the channel at the lakeward end of the piers, which occurs during the winter season. They expressed a willingness to cooperate in the further improvement, but made no offer of any financial contribution. 4. The district engineer reports that with the present low lake levels and the authorized channel depth it is possible for large bulk freighters using the port to load to about 60 to 80 percent only of their full capacity, and he believes that a depth of 21 feet in the channel is justified to provide for these vessels. He states that during the winter season a shoal forms at the entrance between the piers and that during the period of its removal, about 15 days, vessels are somewhat restricted in their draft. The cost of this dredging has averaged about $3,500 annually, and the least cost of the breakwater extension requested would be $380,000. It would not, in his opinion, entirely eliminate the annual shoaling, nor would it protect the adjacent property along the lake front to the extent anticipated by local interests. He considers that the present harbor structures are adequate for present and reasonably prospective commerce and finds no justification for the proposed breakwater extension. He does, however, consider that the provision of a depth of 21 feet in the entrance channel and the inner basin is fully justified by the resultant reduction in transportation costs. He estimates the cost of this channel at $31,000, and the annual maintenance cost at $9,000 The division engineer concurs. 5. Local interests were advised of the nature of these reports, and at their request a hearing was held by the Board. At this hearing they stressed the necessity for further breakwater improvement to permit safe entrance into the harbor, and to eliminate recurrent shoaling. 6. The commerce of Kenosha Harbor consists almost entirely of the receipt of bulk commodities, coal for local consumption and sandstone and gravel for road construction and the building trades. Any considerable increase in the present amount will necessarily be the result of an increase in the industrial and construction activities of the city of Kenosha and cannot be expected to occur as a result of the further improvement of the harbor. A greater depth sufficient to permit full loading of the larger carriers now using the port will, in the opinion of the Board, result in decreased transportation costs fully commensurate with the expenditures required to secure and maintain this depth. The cost involved in the proposed extension of the breakwater to the shore is evidently so great and the benefits |