Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-02-22

GRAX1 HARD0R, W.
In November 1881, Captain Charles F,
Powell Of the @. 8. Engineers was IN.
structed to make survey and report az
to the general character and CONNER
cial capacity Of Grsy's Harbor. He &C.
cordingly detailed for this ssfsice Mr..
Robert A. Habersham, az much OF
whose full and very satisfactory repor,
as relates to the harbor, We append be-
low:
To the Chief Of Engineers. U. S.A.:
U. s. EsorNKxRs' OYY1cx,
PORTLAND, Oh, Nov. 2, 1881.
SIR have the honor to submit the
following report With chart of the en-
trance to Gray's Harbor, Washington
Territory. surveyed by me under the di-
rection of Maj. G. l.. Gillespie, Corps of
Engineers. in July last:
The entrance to the harbor lies in lat
itude 46 degrees and 55 seconds n, and
Longitude 124 degrees and 06 seconds w.
from Greenwich. Three and one-half
miles southwest, magnetic bearing, from
the entrance il the bar, which is 700
feet wide, traversed by three channels,
respectively, 18, II, and Is feet deep at
low-tide, separated by shoaler spots, on
which was found from IL to Is feet at
low tide. On these the sea breaks fire.
quently, when the waves are from 6 to 8
feet high, leaving the deep channels be-
tween them clearly marked BY the ab-
sence of breakers. The average dis
tapcs across the bar between curves of
10 feet is 100 feet, and the navigable
depth IL feet at the average of lowest
low-tides. ] am informed by residents
Of the vicinity that it is oniy du ring
very heavy weather that the sea breaks
clear across the bar. A current of two
miles per hour flows over the bar south
ward during food and northward dur
ing ebb- tide. Inside of the bar the
channel, danked on both sides BY the
constant surf ON the north and south
spits, decreases in width to 200 feet at
the entrance between Points Brown and
Hanson TO the harbor. Here it is 100
feet deep.
BY comparing the present chart with
that Of the United States Coast Survey
of 1862, it will be seen that within the
last nineteen years the channel through
the bars has moved two miles, and the
entrance to the harbor 1000 feet south
ward, that the ruling depth over the bar
has increased by from two to three feet,
and that the course across the bar and
into the hArbor is now nearly straight.
Az the average tidal range 10 feet,
and during spring tides 8 feet, vessels
drawing from Is to 20 feet can reach
the achorage without a tug at the proper
stage of tide, except when the wind
blows from the eastward. Pilots famil-
iar with this bar all agree in prOnounc-
ing it safe and easy of passage. One
buoy will suffice TO mark the channel.
The harbOr covers an area of 20 square
miles. The channels of the Chehalis,
Humptulups, and Johns rivers, the
principal tributary streams, unite just
inside the entrance and form an anchor
age sheltered by points Brown and Han
son. with 400 acres of area from 30 to
80 feet deep at l0w-tide with excellent
holding ground.
Gray's Harb0r is the only natural
outlet of tract of country containing
200 square miles, rich in timber, min
erals, agriculture, and grazing lands.
OF this Tract 200 square miles lie in the
valleys Of the Chehalis and its tribu-
described in my report of an examina-
ti0n of that river and the adjacent ter
ritoiy made in August last. The coun-
try Immediately around the harbor is
covered with timber generally too small
for profitable manufacture into lumber.
but furnishing shelter throughout the
year to large herds Of cattle which fat
ten ON tho tender underground and
grasses, requiring to be fed only during
severe cold weather, which as is we'll
known occurs but rarely on this coast.
Beginning half a mile back from the
shore the heavy timber, consisting of
FIR, spruce, cedar, hesnlock, and maple,
with alders and cottonwood on the
streams, covers the country to the snow
line Of the mountain range which lies
between the coast and Puget Sound,
interspersed BY fertile prairies and cram
berry marshes, more especially in the
valley Of the Humptulups.
A bed of excellent potters' clay of un-
known extent crops out at Jones' Point.
on the south side of the haybor, six
miles from the entrance.
ROBT. A. HABERSHAM,
Assistant Engineer.
Capt. CHARLES F. POWELL,
Corps Of Engineers, q. 8. A.