The funds asked for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, are to be applied to the work designated above. July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of July 1, 1886, amount available liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities. July 1, 1887, amount available $8,737.90 $801.55 34.40 835.95 7,901.95 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project..... (See Appendix H H 2.) 10,000.00 22,000.00 3. Racine Harbor, Wisconsin.-The entrance to this harbor originally varied in depth from absolute closure after storms to about 6 feet. The present project was adopted in 1843, and contemplated originally a channel 12 feet in depth. The piers have since been further extended and the channel deepened to 16 feet by dredging. There has been expended upon this harbor up to June 30, 1887, $230,862.23, exclusive of outstanding liabilities. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, the dredging contract under way at the date of the last Annual Report has been completed, restoring the channel, which had deteriorated to 13 feet in depth, to 16 feet. A contract was entered into September 29, 1886, for cutting down and rebuilding superstructure over the outer section of the south pier. The prices bid were such as to allow 745 linear feet of superstructure to be rebuilt, and the superstructure to be protected by guard-piles and waling. The funds now available and those asked for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, are to be applied to the extension of the south pier and to dredging and current repairs. July 1, 1896, amount available..... Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886.. July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities. $1, 117.50 10,000.00 11.117.50 $9,673.23 10, 343. 46 July 1, 1887, amount available.... 774.04 25,000.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... (See Appendix H H 3.) 4. Kenosha Harbor, Wisconsin.-The present plan of improvement by parallel piers and dredging was first directed to securing a channel 12 feet in depth. The depth of water in the channel at the present stage of water in Lake Michigan is 11 feet; at ordinary low water it is only 10 feet. The original depth was 4 feet or less; sometimes it was entirely closed. This harbor was dredged in 1876-77 to 15 feet in depth, but as the appropriations have been insufficient to maintain the work, the channel depth has deteriorated as above shown nearly 5 feet in available depth. 3 There has been expended upon this harbor up to June 30, 1887, $216,344.11, exclusive of outstanding liabilities. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1887, a section of the superstructure over the south pier, 412 feet in length, has been cut down and rebuilt by contract. The funds now available and those asked for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, are to be applied to restoring the channel to 15 feet or more in depth and to extending the south pier. The pier extension is not urgent, but the dredging is a public necessity, and for this purpose $8,000 is imperatively needed, which is the least amount that will effect the object. July 1, 1886, amount available.... Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886. $1,362, 20 5,000.00 6,362.20 July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of liabilities outstanding July 1, 1886. $752.74 July 1, 1887, outstanding liabilities.. 62.29 $15.03 July 1, 1887, amount available.... 5,547.17 41,000.00 (Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30,1889 10,000.00 Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix H H 4.) 5. Waukegan Harbor, Illinois.-The present project was adopted in 1880, and, as since modified, consists in excavating a small basin in the low ground between the lake and bluffs to form the harbor, and in dredging an entrance between parallel piers from the lake to the basin. The harbor here is to be created upon a shallow exposed coast, and will not begin to be available for commercial purposes until the piers are sufficiently extended into the lake to allow the entrance to be dredged with hope of permanency and the basin excavated. There has been expended upon this harbor up to June 30, 1887, $80,638.89, exclusive of outstanding liabilities. During the year ending June 30, 1887, the north pile-pier was extended 208.8 feet, or to a depth of 12 feet in the lake, and the south pier extended 96 feet. In addition to the work of pier extension, stone filling was placed in nine sections of the north pier, where it had become deficient from the washing out of the sand at base by storms. The balance on hand will be applied in extending the south pier 64 feet, and in supplying ballast and riprap to the completed portion of the pile-piers where deficient. The balance now available and the money asked for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, is needed to complete the pier-work at the entrance to the basin, and for dredging in the basin and entrance. The work is very much exposed, and it is advisable, for the sake of economy, to proceed rapidly with it. The advance of the fore-shore and the filling in with drifting sand is rapid. The cost will be materially increased by delay, and the work already done, being of wood, will deteriorate without benefit therefrom if not made available by sufficient progress. The estimated cost of the work still to be done, excluding present balance, is $71,000. July 1, 1886, amount available Amount appropriated by act approved August 5, 1886. $1, 142. 19 20,000.00 21, 142. 19 July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive of $11,781.08 11,824.08 July 1, 1887, amount available..... Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project.... (See Appendix H H 5.) 9, 318. 11 71,000.00 35,000.00 6. Fox and Wisconsin rivers, Wisconsin.-The works for the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers were purchased by the United States from the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company in 1872. These works were all, except one stone lock, temporary structures, many of them in bad condition. There was no low-water navigation on the Upper Fox, and on the Lower Fox navigation was uncertain. For the Fox River.-The adopted project contemplated the replacing of the temporary structures with permanent works, the construction of five additional stone locks on the Upper Fox, and widening and deepening the channels throughout the river and canals to 6 feet depth and 100 feet width. For the Wisconsin River.-The method adopted has been to contract the channel-way by wing-dams of brush and stone, to give increased depth by concentrating the water and by scour due to the increased currents. The estimate, including the Wisconsin River, made in 1874 and 1876, was $3,745,663, since which time there has been appropriated $1,780,000, leaving for completion of the adopted project $1,965,663. The general subject of the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers was referred to the Board of Engineer Officers, who, after systematic observations of the effect of the dams on the improved section of the Wisconsin River, submitted a report at the last session of Congress, contained in House Ex. Doc. No. 65, Forty-ninth Congress, second session, recommending that no further work be done on wing-dams in the Wisconsin River with a view to improving its navigation. The original project, therefore, as far as it relates to the Wisconsin River, has been definitely condemned, and the work confined to the Fox River, under the modified project of a Board of Engineers submitted September 17, 1884, published in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1885, approved by the Secretary of War December 10, 1884, as further modified by authority of the Chief of Engineers May 14, 1886. The modified project applies only to the Fox River and its needs, and contemplates the renovation of 11 old locks, rebuilding the Cedars Lock of stone now on hand, and the deepening and widening the channel of the Fox River from Montello to Green Bay to 6 feet depth and 100 feet width; the estimate for which is $602,000. Of this amount $56,000 were appropriated August 5, 1886. The amount expended on the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers from 1867 to date, including outstanding liabilities and $145,000 paid the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company for works of improvement under act of June 10, 1872, is $2,668,467.95. The result of this expenditure has been: a. On the Fox River.-The construction of 14 new locks of stone; 13 dams, 4 of which are temporary; 12 cut-offs; 10 miles of canals dredged and deepened. Over 2,000,000 cubic yards of material have been dredged from the Upper Fox, and all temporary structures repaired and maintained in working order. The navigation has thus been continuous throughout the season from Portage to Green Bay, there being at an ordinary stage of water 23 feet navigation on the Upper Fox and 5 feet on the Lower Fox, except at the entrance to Lake Winnebago, where there is only 4 feet. During the months of August and September, 1886, navigation was partially suspended from Lake Winnebago to Appleton, due to the mills drawing more water than the discharge of the Fox River, thus lowering the levels of the Lake Winnebago and Little Butte des Morts pools. There remains to be built under the original project 11 locks, 7 dams, 5 guard-locks, weirs, or sluices in all dams not provided with them, deeping navigation to 6 feet throughout and widening the channels to 100 feet, erecting lock-tenders' dwellings, and strengthening and paving canal banks. Under the modified project there remains to be done 2,800,000 cubic yards of dredging and rock excavation; the old works to be maintained under the continuous appropriation. b. On the Wisconsin River.-To date 108,512 linear feet of wing-dams have been constructed over a distance of 50 miles, of which a section 9.2 miles in length below Portage has been completed. The result has been an increased depth of navigation wherever the works have been applied. There is not now, nor has there been, any regular navigation on the Wisconsin River, due to the prevalence and shifting nature of the sand-bars, and the consequent lack of any defined channel for considerable distances. The question of the practicability of improving the open-river navigation of the Wisconsin by wing-dams in the bed of the river, to the extent required for an effective through route of navigation, has been decided by the Board of Engineers in the negative. During the past year the following work has been done: a. On the Wisconsin River.-The work was restricted to such repairs on the dams along the improved section of the river as was necessary to confine the river to a single channel, while the observations required by the Board of Engineers were being taken, and to taking these observations for discharge and depth at low water. b. On the Upper Fox.-The work was confined to the maintenance of the channel by dredging; to timely repairs to the existing locks and dams, and to building lock-tenders' houses at White River and Eureka. On the Lower Fox.-The various works were maintained in serviceable condition, and the navigable depth of the channel and canals preserved by dredging. A new stone lock was built at the Cedars; the De Pere Lock thoroughly renovated and deepened 24 feet by rock excavation; the Menasha Dam and sluice-ways, and the removal by dredg ing of Neenah Point-to carry out the provisions of the provisos attached to the river and harbor acts of August 2, 1882, and July 5, 1884, items, "Fox and Wisconsin rivers "-were completed. Deepening the Menasha Chaural by drilling, blasting, and dredging the blasted material, was continued and completed, with the exception of a small amount of dredging still to be done; the DePere Dam was completed and backed with gravel, brush, and clay; a new stone abut ment was built for the Rapid Croche Dam, and the injury to this dam from high water in 1881 repaired. It is proposed to apply the small balance available and on hand to dredging the chaunel and canal at Menasha. The funds asked for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1889, are for the furtherance of the modified project for the Fox River below Montello, Wis., and is to be expended in dredging on the Upper Fox and in rock excavation and dredging on the Lower Fox and placing sluice-ways in the Appleton Lower Dam. July 1, 1876, amount available Fuel sold to officers, deposited to credit of appropriation July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year, exclusive July 1, 1887, amount available..... $68, 701. 16 175.00 56, 250.00 125, 126. 16 $80, 554.98 Amount (estimated) required for completion of original project, Fox and Wisconsin rivers 80,825.88 44, 300.28 1,965, 663.00 Amount (estimated) required for completion of existing project, Fox 546,000.00 Amount that can be profitably expended in fiscal year ending June 30, 1889.. Submitted in compliance with requirements of sections 2 of river and harbor acts of 1866 and 1867. (See Appendix H H 6.) 200,000.00 Operating and care of Fox River improvement.-Under the continuous appropriation for operating and care of canals and other works of navigation, it is proposed to maintain existing navigation by timely repairs to old locks until replaced by new, and to continue the repairs of works that have already been completed and used, injured by the extraordinary flood of 1881. July 1, 1887, amount expended during fiscal year $42, 061.65 Amount (estimated) for expenditure in fiscal year ending June 30, 1888.. 43, 650.00 (See Appendix H H 6.) IMPROVEMENT OF THE HARBORS OF CHICAGO AND CALUMET, ILLINOIS-IMPROVEMENT OF THE ILLINOIS AND CALUMET RIVERSSURVEYS FOR HENNEPIN CANAL. Officers in charge, Maj. W. H. H. Benyaurd, Corps of Engineers, to November 19, 1886, since which date Maj. Thomas H. Handbury, Corps of Engineers. 1. Chicago Harbor, Illinois.-The project of improvement now in course of execution at this harbor was adopted in 1870 and modified in 1878. The objects sought are, first, the formation of an outer harbor adjoining the entrance to the Chicago River, with the view to increasing the facilities for accommodating the lake commerce of the city of Chicago, and also relieving the river, commonly known as the inner harbor, from its overcrowded condition; second, the formation of a harbor of refuge by the construction of an exterior breakwater outside the outer harbor, in deep water where good anchorage is found, from whence safe access to the outer harbor and the river can always be had, and to which |