The waterway connects at Beaufort with the Inland Waterway from Norfolk, Va., to Beaufort Inlet, N. C., and with the Inland Waterway from Beaufort Harbor, N. C., to Cape Fear River, N. C., both of which have depths of 12 feet at mean low water. It thus serves as a branch or side channel to the Inland Waterway. There is no lunar tide in the northern portion of Core Sound, variation in the water surface being due to the action of the winds. Ordinary storms cause a variation of 1 foot above or below mean stages, while severe storms may cause a variation of as much as 3 feet. The average rise and fall at Beaufort, due to lunar tides, is about 21⁄2 feet; this gradually diminishes in Core Sound as the distance from Beaufort increases. The locality is shown on United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart No. 421 and on the map accompanying the enclosed report of the district engineer. EXISTING PROJECT 4. The existing project provides for a channel 75 feet wide and 7 feet deep at mean low water from Beaufort Harbor through Taylors Creek, the Straits, Core Sound, and Wainwright Channel to Pamlico Sound. The project was completed in December 1934. Prior to the adoption of the existing project a channel from Beaufort to Core Sound via Taylors Creek was improved by the Federal Government. The total cost to June 30, 1935, of improving the waterway, including Taylors Creek, was $87,655.04 for new work and $48,841.68 for maintenance, a total of $136,496.72. The approved estimate of annual maintenance cost (1932) is $11,000. OTHER IMPROVEMENTS 5. The origina' project, covering the portion of the waterway connecting Core Sound and Beaufort Harbor, adopted by the River and Harbor Act of March 4, 1913 (H. Doc. 546, 62d Cong., 2d sess.), required local interests to contribute $10,000 toward the work. condition was complied with on June 29, 1914. TRIBUTARY AREA This 6. The tributary area is a sparsely settled section of the eastern coast of North Carolina. There are a number of small communities on the mainland bordering the waterway, the principal ones being Atlantic, Davis, Smyrna, Sealevel, and Marshallberg. Atlantic is the largest, with a population of 685. Harkers Island, at the southwestern end of the sound, has a population of 854. The total population of the tributary area is approximately 4,500. The towns of Portsmouth and Ocracoke are located on the barrier beach on the south and north sides, respectively, of Ocracoke Inlet, which enters Pamlico Sound about 12 miles northeast of the head of Core Sound. The principal occupation is fishing. There is also some agriculture and lumbering. A paved highway connecting at Beaufort with the State highway system extends along the north side of Core Sound as far as Atlantic, touching practically all the smaller communities. Beaufort is the terminus of the Norfolk Southern Railroad and is the nearest rail point. COMMERCE, VESSEL TRAFFIC 7. The commerce for the calendar year 1934 amounted to 21,489 tons, valued at $507,087. The principal item was 18,629 tons of marine products. There were 12,123 trips of vessels, of which 162 drew from 6 to 7 feet. The commerce over the waterway from Core Sound to Beaufort varied from 15,369 tons to 26,368 tons in the 5year period from 1929 to 1933. 8. There are no dependable channels from the channel in Core Sound to the towns along the mainland. Passengers, mail, and freight are regularly transported from Atlantic to Ocracoke and Portsmouth. The boats are handicapped by insufficient depth in the channel to Atlantic. A shallow-draft boat which delivers about 150,000 gallons of oil and gasoline to Atlantic annually loses considerable time because of shallow depths. IMPROVEMENT DESIRED 9. A public hearing was held at Beaufort on May 28, 1935, and local interests expressed a desire for channels 7 feet deep at mean low water and of suitable width, from the present improved channel in Core Sound into the towns of Atlantic and Sealevel. The following reasons were advanced in justification of improvement desired: That fish could be shipped into Atlantic and Sealevel at a considerable saving compared to the cost of shipments to Beaufort or Morehead City, which are now necessary; that the return to local fishermen would be increased by reduction in the number of fish lost on account of spoilage prior to reaching a point where proper handling facilities are available; that it would permit larger and more economical oil and gasoline carriers to come into Atlantic; that it would facilitate the transportation of mail, freight, and passengers from Atlantic to Ocracoke and Portsmouth; and that boats from Atlantic would handle 15,000,000 pounds of fish annually. No offer of local cooperation was made, other than furnishing the necessary disposal area for dredged material. SPECIAL SUBJECTS 10. There is no possibility of coordinating improvement for navigation with improvements for other purposes to compensate the Government for expenditures which may be made in the interest of navigation. VIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE DISTRICT ENGINEER 11. The district engineer believes that not more than 10,000,000 pounds of fish would be handled annually at Atlantic if a suitable channel existed. He states that the savings on this quantity of fish by unloading at Atlantic and handling by truck into Beaufort and Morehead City would be at least 75 cents per thousand pounds, thus making the annual savings on the transportation of fish $7,500. Fish must now be transported by boat from Pamlico Sound to Beaufort or Morehead City, a distance of 30 to 40 miles and requiring from 5 to 8 hours for the trip. Considerable losses of fish result from spoiling. A channel to Atlantic would save about 30 miles in distance and 4 to 5 hours' time. Fishermen along this coast have suffered from a lack of proper marketing facilities. The buyers, hav ing no means of keeping or storing fish, will purchase only 1 day's supply at a time. The result is that when the fishermen make a large catch they must either dispose of the fish at an abnormally low price or dump them overboard. 12. The North Carolina Emergency Relief Administration has organized these fishermen into a cooperative association with the object of providing improved marketing facilities. This cooperative association has secured a site at Morehead City, and is now erecting & freezing plant and cold-storage warehouse for handling fish. It is claimed that it is the intention of the cooperative association to establish a cleaning, icing, and storage plant at Atlantic in connec tion with their plant now under construction at Morehead City. The district engineer thinks that the benefits of this improvement would be substantial, and amount to at least $10,000 per year in addition to the savings in transportation cost. He states that a deeper channel to Atlantic would materially reduce the transportation cost on oil and gasoline and greatly benefit traffic to and from Ocracoke and Portsmouth. 13. Based on a suitable available survey the district engineer estimates the cost of a channel 7 feet deep and 75 feet wide from the channel in Core Sound to Atlantic at $13,000, with $750 annually for maintenance. He thinks that this channel would adequately serve the needs of the locality and that channels into Sealevel or other small villages along the mainland are unnecessary. He recommends that the channel to Atlantic be provided, subject to the condition that local interests furnish the necessary disposal areas for dredged material. He thinks that local interests are unable to cooperate further. VIEWS OF THE DIVISION ENGINEER 14. Core Sound is a very shallow body of water, the navigable portion of it being in the center, remote from the shores. There are few places where deep water approaches the shore close enough to make the construction of wharves or other terminals feasible except at an expense which is prohibitive to a small community. The town of Atlantic appears to be the point best suited to the provision of some suitable method of giving access to the shore for boats using the sound, and particularly for the prompt marketing of seafood, the principal product of the locality. The division engineer therefore concurs in the view of the district engineer that suitable channel facilities at Atlantic will benefit general commerce sufficiently to warrant the small expense involved. RECOMMENDATION 15. It is recommended that the existing project for waterway connecting Pamlico Sound and Beaufort Harbor, N. C., be modified so as to provide for a channel 7 feet deep and 75 feet wide from the main channel in Core Sound to the town of Atlantic at an estimated cost of $13,000, with $750 annually for maintenance, subject to the condition that local interests furnish all lands needed for the improvement. EARL I. BROWN, REPORT OF THE DISTRICT ENGINEER SYLLABUS The district engineer believes that the waterway connecting Pamlico Sound and Beaufort Harbor, N. C., is worthy of further improvement at the present time. He recommends that the present project for the improvement of that waterway be modified to provide for a channel 75 feet wide and 7 feet deep at mean low water from the existing waterway into the town of Atlantic. estimated cost of this proposed improvement is $13,000. The Subject: Review of reports on waterway connecting Pamlico Sound and Beaufort Harbor, N. C. To: The division engineer, South Atlantic division, Norfolk, Va. AUTHORITY 1. This report is submitted in compliance with the following resolution adopted March 14, 1935: 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 Act, approved June 13, 1902, be, and is hereby, requested to review the reports heretofore submitted on waterway connecting Pamlico Sound and Beaufort Harbor, North Carolina, with a view to determining if further improvement is advisable at the present time. DESCRIPTION 2. Pamlico Sound is an extensive body of shoal water on the eastern coast of North Carolina separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow barrier beach. Core Sound extends from the southerly end of Pamlico Sound about 30 miles in a southwesterly direction between a continuation of the barrier beach and the mainland, and connects through various protected channels with Beaufort Harbor and Beaufort Inlet. Core Sound averages about 2 miles in width. Except for a few shoals since removed, the available depth was 7 feet, but the entrance from Pamlico Sound was originally obstructed by shoals. These have been dredged to provide 7 feet throughout. Cedar Island Bay lies about 6 miles to the northwest of the northern end of Core Sound. It is connected with Core Sound by Thoroughfare Cut and Thoroughfare Bay. Cedar Island Bay averages about 5 miles in width and has a controlling depth of 5 feet. There is a channel 50 feet wide and 5 feet deep through Thoroughfare Cut. Thoroughfare Bay varies in width from 1,000 to 8,000 feet and has a controlling depth of 4 feet. There are no lunar tides in Cedar Island Bay, Thoroughfare Bay, or the northern portion of Core Sound. The mean tidal range at Beaufort is 21⁄2 feet and this gradually diminishes to zero toward the northern end of Core Sound. Ordinarily storms in Core Sound cause a variation of 1 foot above or below mean stages, and this is increased to as much as 3 feet during severe storms. The channel from Pamlico Sound to Beaufort Harbor connects at Beaufort with the inland waterway from Norfolk, Va., to Beaufort Inlet, N. C., and with the inland waterway from Beaufort, N. C., to the Cape Fear River, N. C., both of which have a depth of 12 feet at mean low water. This waterway thus serves as a branch or side channel to the inland waterway affording navigable depths of 7 feet through the protected waters of Core Sound to the people on both the mainland and the islands which make up the barrier beach. locality is shown on United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart No. 421. TRIBUTARY AREA The 3. The tributary area of the channel from Pamlico Sound to Beaufort Harbor is a sparsely settled section of the eastern coast of North Carolina. On the south and east sides lie the chain of islands referred to above. On the mainland side there are a number of small communities-Atlantic, Davis, Smyrna, Sealevel and Marshallberg of which the largest is Atlantic, population 685. Harkers Island, at the southwestern end of the sound, has a population of 854. The total population of the tributary area is approximately 4,500. The principal occupation is fishing. There is also some agriculture and lumbering. A paved highway connecting at Beaufort with the State highway system extends along the north side of Core Sound as far as Atlantic, touching practically all the smaller communities. Beaufort is the terminus of the Norfolk Southern Railroad and the nearest rail point. BRIDGES 4. There are no bridges across the waterway. A permit was issued in 1929 to the North Carolina State Highway and Public Works Commission for a highway bridge from Lennoxville to Cape Lookout. However, the bridge was not built and the permit will expire July 24, 1935. The proposed improvement will have no effect on any bridges. PRIOR REPORTS 5. Prior reports on this waterway were made in 1931 (preliminary examination report) and 1932 (survey report) and are printed in House Document No. 485, Seventy-second Congress, second session. The recommendation of the survey report in 1932 was that a channel 75 feet wide and 7 feet deep at mean low water be provided from Beaufort Harbor to Pamlico Sound through Core Sound and Wainwright Slue. It was also recommended that the side channels and terminal facilities be provided by local interests as needed. EXISTING PROJECT 6. Prior to the adoption of the present project, the "Waterway connecting Core Sound and Beaufort Harbor, N. C.", locally known as Taylors Creek, has been under improvement by the Federal Government since 1913. The existing project provides for a channel 75 feet wide and 7 feet deep at mean low water from Beaufort Harbor through Core Sound and Wainwright Channel to Pamlico Sound. This project was completed in December 1934. The total cost of this improve ment to June 30, 1935, was $87,655.04 for new work and $48,841.68 for maintenance, a total of $136,496.72. The approved annual maintenance cost (1932) is $11,000. |