resultant savings would equal the annual charges for the proposed additional improvement. Under these conditions, the district engineer thinks that the improvement to 12 feet is justified, and recommends its adoption. He considers that local interests should be required to take measures to prevent material entering Appomattox River from Lieutenant Run and Poes Creek, or else to maintain the channel in that vicinity. 8. The division engineer concurs in these recommendations, except that he does not consider that cooperation should be required in channel maintenance near Lieutenant Run and Poes Creek, believing that it would be difficult or impossible to prevent shoals forming in this vicinity, and that maintenance, here as elsewhere, should be handled by the Federal Government. He recommends, however, that local interests be required to provide necessary spoil disposal area adjacent to the channel. 9. The United States has spent to date nearly a million dollars on the improvement of the Appomattox River, and local interests are understood to have spent about $1,500,000 toward channel improvement. The resultant commercial development thus far by no means justifies this expenditure. There are, however, several reasons for this. One is the interruption to navigation caused by the lack of maintenance work over a considerable period, which, as stated, resulted from the failure of local interests to carry out certain items of work in connection with the diversion of silt-bearing floods. Another and more important factor, in the opinion of the board, is inadequate depths. That a commerce of the magnitude reported has developed under these adverse conditions indicates a demand for water shipments and an effort on the part of shippers to use the facilities provided. Given a satisfactory channel, the locality appears to be in an unusally favorable situation for developing an increased commerce. It appears that in their study of the traffic which might move over a deeper channel the local interests took into consideration only that part of the rail business whose origin or destination was at water points. While, as stated by the district engineer, it is not possible accurately to compute the amount of commerce which might be diverted to the river, yet it is reasonable to assume that an adequate channel would result in increased water traffic. It will be seen from the table in paragraph 5 above, that a large portion of the present rail movement, regarding which information is available, is to or from points with which Petersburg has direct sheltered water connection, and that most of the remainder is with ocean ports which are connected to Norfolk by regular coastwise lines, to which transshipment could be made by river steamers. The board believes, however, that a channel 10 feet deep at mean low water would provide adequately for the present needs of the locality, and that the considerably larger expenditure required for a deeper channel is not now justified. Most of the existing and potential traffic could under ordinary conditions be moved without difficulty at all stages of the tide, and the deeper draft carriers would be adequately accommodated at high water. The recommendation of the division engineer as to the local cooperation to be required is considered reasonable and adequate. 10. The board therefore recommends modification of the existing project for the improvement of Appomattox River, Va., so as to provide for a channel up to Petersburg 10 feet deep at mean low water and 80 feet wide, with a turning basin at the upper end, substantially as proposed by the district engineer for the lesser project, at an estimated cost of $91,000, with $6,500 annually for main- · tenance, subject to the provision that local interests shall provide, without cost to the United States, suitable spoil disposal areas. The entire amount of the estimated cost should be made available in the initial appropriation. 11. In compliance with law, the board reports that, except as contemplated by the above recommendations, there are no questions of terminal facilities, water power, or other subjects so related to the project proposed that they may be coordinated therewith to lessen the cost and compensate the Government for expenditures made in the interests of navigation. For the board. EDGAR JADWIN, Brigadier General, Corps of Engineers, PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION OF APPOMATTOX RIVER, VA. SYLLABUS The existing project provides for a navigable channel 71⁄2 miles long, 80 feet wide, and 12 feet deep at ordinary high water, between Point of Rocks, 32 miles above the river's mouth, and Petersburg; also for an artificial channel excavated to mean low water 200 to 300 feet wide and 21⁄2 miles long, a dam across the navigable channel at Petersburg, for diverting the discharge of the river into the new channel, levees between the new channel and the navigable channel, a highway bridge and a railway bridge across the new channel, and other incidental work. Local interests desire to have the navigable channel enlarged so as to have a depth of 12 feet at mean low water and a width of 100 feet, and to extend the improvement with a channel of these dimensions to the mouth of the river. The district engineer considered the river worthy of additional improvement and recommends a survey for determining its extent, cost, and advisability. WAR DEPARTMENT, ENGINEER OFFICE, UNITED STATES ARMY, Subject: Preliminary examination of Appomattox River, Va. (Through the Division Engineer): 1. Pursuant to instructions in circular letter,1 Office Chief of Engineers, October 5, 1922, the following report is submitted on a preliminary examination of Appomattox River, Va., authorized by river and harbor act approved September 22, 1922: 2. The Appomattox is a tributary of James River. It is about 137 miles long, flows northeasterly, and enters James River near City Point, about 32 miles below Richmond and 70 miles above the river's mouth. The reach covered by the examination is 11 miles long and is tidal, with a mean tidal range of 2.9 feet. In its upper 71⁄2 miles is situated the improved, navigable channel extending from Petersburg to Point of Rocks. No improvement work has been carried on in the 1 Not printed. part of the reach below Point of Rocks. The river's watershed has an area of 1,565 square miles. The drainage of the area above Petersburg, 1,325 square miles, is deflected by the works of the diversion project into the abandoned north channel below Petersburg; and that from 229 square miles enters this channel from tributaries on the left bank below the city. The remainder of the drainage-from 11 square miles is delivered into the navigable channel by three small creeks, referred to as runs, situated on the right bank at and near Petersburg. Considerable sand carried by the river during freshets is deposited in the tidal section. The highest freshet of which there is authentic information occurred in 1889. It had an elevation of 17.1 feet above mean low water at Petersburg and 7.26 feet above this reference plane at Point of Rocks. The present ruling depth in the improved part of the reach is 7 feet and in the unimproved part 10 feet at mean low water. 3. In the 3-mile stretch above Point of Rocks the river is from 500 yards to 1 mile wide and is divided by marshes into two principal channels. One of these, known as the Old North Channel, is bifurcated and indirect. Prior to 1874 it was used for navigation and had a ruling depth of 32 feet at mean low water. The other channel was known as the South Channel. The two channels merge about 14 miles above Point of Rocks. The South Channel is now connected with the Petersburg channel, about 2 miles long, situated at the head of the reach, by Puddledock Cut, an artificial channel about 2 miles long. The above three stretches constitute the navigable channel. According to the specifications in circular letter, office of the Chief of Engineers, July 2, 1920, E. D. 126,453, the Appomattox belongs to Class II of rivers. See map facing page 1340, Annual Report for 1893, and United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Charts 531 and 78. 4. No water-power development is practicable on the Appomattox below Petersburg. At and within 5 miles above the city a maximum hydroelectric development of 20,000 horsepower is reported available. Of this 3,500 horsepower is reported now operating and 10,000 horsepower is being developed and expected to be available in three years. The questions of land drainage, flood control, and irrigation are not involved in the improvement of the river below Petersburg. 5. In 1824 a small amount of work is reported having been done by a joint-stock company. In 1852 a survey of the river below Petersburg was made by a commission appointed by the Federal Government. The commission's report on the survey is printed in Senate Document No. 1, Thirty-third Congress, first session, 1853, Part II, page 394, et seq. In it the improvement of the Old North Channel was proposed. For several years prior to 1870 improvement of the river was carried on by the city of Petersburg and considerable progress made. The principal feature of the city's project was the elimination of the Old North Channel by the excavation of Puddledock Cut. Under authority of the act of July 11, 1870, a survey of the river below Petersburg was made and two reports thereon submitted by a board of Engineer officers in the same year. The reports were favorable. They are printed in House Executive Document No. 60, Forty-first Congress, third session, also in Annual Report, 1874, Part II, page 50, et seq. The board recommended the improvement of the Old North Channel by the formation of a channel with a bottom width of 60 feet, 12 feet deep at ordinary high water, at an estimated cost of $367,600, and an annual expenditure of $10,000 for maintenance. The improvement of the river was assumed by the United States by act of March 3, 1871. As at that time the city's project for improving and extending upstream the South Channel and excavating Puddledock Cut was well advanced and the work had been done at considerable cost, the board deemed it advisable to utilize this work instead of improving the Old North Channel. In carrying on all dredging operations on the Appomattox, the reference plane of ordinary high water has been taken at 32 feet above mean low water, thus making the project depth below the latter plane 81⁄2 feet. By 1875 a channel with a bottom width of 60 feet, 12 feet deep at mean high water, was completed between Point of Rocks and Petersburg. Subsequently the project was modified by increasing the bottom width of the channel to 80 feet (Annual Report for 1893, p. 1336). As the improvement progressed the regulation works employed proved to be ineffective for channel manitenance and extensive dredging was often required for removing obstructing sand bars formed of freshet deposits. For remedying this condition two examinations and surveys were made with a view to diverting the discharge of the river through an artificial channel into the Old North Channel. In the report of the earlier of these surveys, made in 1881, a partial diversion was proposed. (Annual Report for 1882, p. 907 et seq.). In the report of the later survey, made under act of August 11, 1888, it was proposed to divert the entire discharge of the river. This report was unfavorable. An unfavorable report on a preliminary examination authorized by river and harbor act of July 13, 1892, for diverting the nontidal flow, is printed in House Document No. 113, Fiftysecond Congress, second session, and in Annual Report for 1893, page 1345, et seq. A preliminary examination and a survey, authorized by emergency river and harbor act of June 6, 1900, were made and favorable report submitted. (H. Doc. No. 139, 56th Cong., 2d sess.) In this report the works of the diversion project enumerated in the syllabus were proposed, the crest of the dam to be slightly below the elevation of extreme flood stages. The estimated cost of the project was $266,915, and an annual expenditure of $6,000 for maintenance for several years. The diversion project was adopted with its cost limited to $200,000, by the river and harbor act of June 13, 1902. By the act of March 3, 1909, $60,000 was appropriated for the diversion project, making the total amount appropriated for the project $260,000. Part of the land required for the project having been acquired, work was begun in 1905. A preliminary examination and a survey were made under authority of the act of March 2, 1907, providing for an examination of the river for completing improvement and for maintenance, and for determining what improvement should be made or plan adopted for the maintenance of the channel. (H. Doc. No. 952, 60th Cong., 1st sess.) The recommendations in the reports were for maintenance of the navigable channel and for an appropriation of $23,000 for completing it to its project dimensions. It was also recommended that no change should be made in these dimensions, and that the effect of the diversion scheme should be noted for several years before adopting a permanent plan of improvement and maintenance. The act of June 25, 1910, carried approval of the recommendations in the above reports. The improvement of the navigable channel was completed in 1912. In 1911 the diversion project was completed with the exception of the dam which had been carried to an elevation of 9.5 feet above mean low water. In March, 1912, the dam was breached by a freshet which attained an elevation of 16.1 feet above mean low water. At this time the elevation of the right bank of the river near and above the dam, occupied by the tracks of the Norfolk & Western Railway, was about 15.5 feet above mean low water, rising to an elevation of 18.5 feet above the same reference plane at the electric railway bridge, about 2,000 feet above the dam. During the freshet, parts of the city streets near and above the dam on which buildings and tracks of the above railroad are situated were inundated by back water from the river entering the outlets of the city sewers. In its report of September 9, 1912, relating to the dam, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors recommended the rebuilding of the dam after the river bank between it and the electric railway bridge had been raised by those interested; also that the crest of the dam should have the same elevation as the adjacent river bank above, after being raised, and not less than 17 feet above mean low water. At a conference at Petersburg, in October, 1912, between the district engineer, the mayor of the city, and a representative of the Norfolk & Western Railway, an understanding was arrived at according to which the city would make changes in its sewers above the dam for preventing influx to the city streets during freshets and, after this work was done, the railway company would raise its tracks on the river bank between the dam and the electric railway bridge to an elevation of 19.5 feet above mean low water. It was further understood that when the above work was accomplished, the construction of the diversion dam would be proceeded with by the United States. The above agreement was fulfilled in 1920 and 1921 by the city and the railroad company and the diversion dam completed by the United States in the latter year. The total expenditure for the river by the United States to November 30, 1922, amounted to $945,227.39, of which $509,635.95 was for general improvement, $259,748.35 for the diversión project and $175,843.09 for maintenance. The total amount reported expended by the city of Petersburg since 1866 is $1,578,620. 6. Petersburg is the only shipping point on the Appomattox. It is 23 miles by rail and 43 miles by water, via James River, from Richmond, and 82 miles by rail and 95 miles, by James River and Hampton Roads, from Norfolk. The ruling depth in James River is 18 feet at mean low water. About 10 miles northeast of Petersburg is situated the town of City Point, which borders on the James and Appomattox Rivers. Adjacent to City Point is the city of Hopewell. These two communities constitute what is known as the City PointHopewell district. In this district during the World War was located the Hopewell plant of the DuPont Powder Co. The population of the district in 1916 was from 20,000 to 25,000. Shortly after the close of the war the munition plant was abandoned. The population of the district is now upward of 5,000. Several industries are located at Hopewell, the principal one being a paper mill. Pulp wood for the mill is brought from the territory bordering James River by barges. |