Morning journal and courier., 1885-11-30
THE HOUsAToNIC.

Hts Outward Flow and Currents
 Their Confluence With the Sound
 Currents and the Effects.
 The very interesting and intelligent report given below from MT. w. A. Peck, jr., of West Haven, on the currents of the Housa- ionic river and their meeting with the tidal currents of the Sound will be instructive to those who have business traffic on Long Island Sound
 MT. Peck has for many years been con- nected with the United States engineer corps on the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, and for many years has been inspector of the several works now in course of construction in this district, which long experience has made him an observer eminently fitted to make such a re. ort. It will be valuable for future use and reference
 WEST HAVEN, Conn, Nov. 30, 1885. Captain Charles H. Townsend:
 Dear Sir--In compliance with your request of some time ago, have to say that, as near as 1 can determine without instrumental ob- servation, the current out (ebb tide) of the Housatonic river sets true with the trend of it's banks until we'll across the bar at the mouth of the river, and until it meets a Sound current of sufficient volume and weight to overcome it's energy. This does not occur until a point we'll out from the parallel of Stratford Point is reached where four or five fatho1ns of sea water is found suddenly deepening from one and one half to three fathoms in distance of one hundred feet while the deepening from the summit of the outer bar, where three feet in depth exists, to the nine-foot curve is at the rate of about one foot to one hundred feet of chan nel way. The energy of the river current on the bar as far out as the fve-foot curve on the outside of the bar, with imperfect means of observation, was found to be nearly four miles per hour, gradually lessening from that point to where about four fathoms in depth is found, when it is lost in the Sound tide. Very little, comparatively, of it's strength is left when it reaches the ninefoot curve hence the rapid deepening, caused by the Sound tide catching the material being brought down the river by it's current and carrying 1t east or west, as the condition of its course may be.
 That little change in depth of water on the outer bar has taken place latterly, I believe, first from captains of vessels having inform ed me that little change has been observable by them for years, and from further fact that at the plane of about seven feet below mean low water we found covered by sand strata Of vegetable mould, in which there was a layer of forest leaves perfect in form and color when first dug when they fell from the trees on which they grew: I have found the same thing when digging in Bridgeport and Norwalk. judge that this deposit was made at the time of some great freshet at all of these places at the same time, at about the same plane with reference to mean low water.
 The Sound tide, after passing Weleh's Point and Charles Island on the flood clfngs to Milford Point, crosses the shoal ground over into the river channel and also forces it's way through an inshore passage or de- klo4l ,44 Milford beach and extends easterly until lost This flow along with the food that makes up the channel proper gives q tremendous force to the current at the point of intersection ii. e.) at and opposite to the westerly point of Milford beach and into the basin above On the ebb of the tide considerable of the water stored by the flood tide passes out to the eastward through the passage or depres- sion mentioned above, "called Bull Run from having been opened by the sea on the day of that first memorable battle," and over the shoal ground until about midway between high and low water, when 1t can no longer get over the shoals and must then continue down the river channel. There seems little diminution in the energy of the current of the ebb tide until the end, and there is little time Of sleek weter on the bar. In fact, the river current 'as ae sifong that 1t continues it's outward course until long after the food of the Sound tide has begun and until it has reached such volume es to overcome it's energy General ly when the tide has risen xgogt eighteen inches to two feet there is time of slack water observable at high water, as in all harbo-s, and the sasSwa.d current of the ebb tide does not assert it's strength until the wa ter has fallen from one to one and a half feet on g horizontal plane
 All depths mentioned in the foregoing should be understood to indicate depth st mean low water.