The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-06-03
RIVERS AND HARBORS
Proposed Improvements of the
Waterways of Washington.
THE sENATE.s APPROPRIATIONS.
Small Enough Allowances Which the
House Talks Of PAIRING Down In the
Interest Of Alleged Economy.

mittee on the river and harbor bill is a
very lengthy document, occupying about
40 pages in print. 1t is an excellent ar
gument in favor Of the appropriations
reported in the general river and
harbor bill this year being granted. 1t is
crammed with statistics regarding the
commerce Of the various waterways,
where there are heavy shipments of ali
kinds, and is especially interesting to the
Pacific coast states. In the general re-
marks the report has this to say regarding
the Pacific coast Improvements:
On the Pacific coast many notable instances OF
the emergency and benefits of river and harbor
Improvements are afforded, but none more SO
than the work just reaching completion at the
mouth OF the Columbia river. That great river,
sweeping through the forest-clad hills
OF Washington and the grain-bear-
Ing region of Oregon, was until recent
years almost fmpenetrably closed to all but
smail-class vessels by an obstructing bar at its
mouth. project of improvement was entered
upon by the government unusually liberal APP
Preparations made, and rs a consequence today,
as the work nears completion. the original
changeable and unstable depth OF from fl
teen to eighteen feet has been in
creased to thirty. and rendered absolutely
permanent The four and e-half miles of
jetty walls built to direct the currents and
proper bounds have answered well their pur-
pose, and the Columbia river bar is thing of
the past Other improvements of almost equal
magnitude are in progress on this river at the
Cascades and the Daiies, and the accompany
ing bill provides for their uninterrupted con-
tinuance.
Concerning the improvement of Gray's
harbor and the Chehalis river, WASH, the
report says:
Gray's harbor, lately made port OF entry in
the collection district of Puget sound, has
length of about fourteen miles from east to
west and breadth of twelve miles from north
to south. There are two main chan.
neis trayersing the harbor from the Ell
trance to the mouth of the Chehalis
river, ard are known the north and south
channels. The south channel is used only by
local craft plying on the harbor and river. The
north channel is used by all ocean going craft
entering the harbor. There are two shoals on
the north channel which are obstacles to
navigation; one is situated about two
and one-half miles below HoQuiam and
the other ono about one mile above Ho-
GUAM. Each OF these shoals has n ruling
depth of eight feet at mean low tide. All lum-
Der laded vessels leaving the fiarbor have to be
towed across either one or both OF these shoals
at high water; consequently they do not reach
the entrance in time to cross over the bar the
same day, which delay is quite frequently the
cause Of vessels having to remain in
harbor for days at time on ac-
| count OF storms arising in the mean
| time and making the bar too rough
| to cross over. Vessels laden with lumber to
sixteen feet draft is a common occurrence on
the harbor, SO it will be seen that 1t takes more
than an average tide TO let them pass over the
shoals. the average rise OF the tide being seven
| feet.
The Chehalis river has length OF 100 miles,
and falu ,,xN~
halls Is at present navigated az far
| as Montesano, distance of fifteen miles from
| its mouth. There are four shoals on the
| river between Montesano and the mouth,
having ruling depth of about five
| feet on them at extreme low water.
The commerce of the Chehalis is carried by
four STEAMBOATS, making daily trips to Monte
sano and points on the harbor. The river and
| harbor act of 1890 authorized q survey OF
| this harbor and river, and In the report
thereon they recommended as worthy
| of improvement The project proposed consists
| of the removal OF two shoals obstructing navi-
| cation of Grays harbor by the construction of
| dikes and dredging channel 200 feet wide and
| sixteen feet deep ct half tide through the four
| shoals, and closing of sloughs by dams in Che.
| halls river. The estimated cost OF this work is
| $150,0o0.
The proposed Olympia harbor improve
| ments are treated as follows:
AT Olympia, and for about 1000 feet below,
the inlet is tide fiat, mostly bare at low water
| The general range of the tides is about eigh-
| teen or twenty feet. At high water boats can
| 60 UP to Fourth street bridge. but at
| low water they compelled to land passen-
| gers and freight at the end of the long wharf
| about one mile from the city. It takes some
! thing over quarter tide for the stern-wheel
| steamers to reach Fourth street bridge. There
is wharf piled out over the tide land for over a
! mile, but even that distance does not reach
| water deep enough for the class of steam
e:s that come to Olympia. The aggre-
| gate tonnage of these is $500 tons The
| Northern Pacific and Union Pacific companies
| have recently completed their respective lines
| to Olympia and a large increase in commerce is
! expected. The proposed improvement contem-
| plates dredging channel from deep water in
| Budds inlet to the wharves near the
| bridge, twelve feet deep at low water
and $50 feet wide, between pile and
| brush bulkheads built 400 feet apart
| and the formation of n basin at the uppar end
| of the cut near the bridge, twelve feet deep at
| low water, with en- extreme length of Loo feet
| ana maximum width of 500 feet, the bulkhead
| to be continued around the sides and end OF the
| basin, so to defect the current of the Des-
chutes river. provision being made, however, to
| allow small boats to pass through the draw OF
| the bridge The coat OF this work is estimated
| at s27500o.
| The discussion of the proposed canal
connecting Lakes Union And Washington
with Puget sound has already been printed
| in the observation-disclosures, and no new
facts were brought out in the committees
report regarding this matter.
As TO the improvements on the upper
| Columbia river in Oregon and Washington,
the report says:
/ The upper Columbis and Snake rivers form a
| continuous line OF navigable river, but broken
| BY many rapids, rendering navigation difficult
| aud dangerous. Before improvement the
! ruling depth on many of these bars was
! two TO three feet at low water, while some of
| them were praUt caliy impassable Previous to
| ls1 100000 had been expended in survey ald
! rock removal ut the principal rapids. In
| 1877 project made consisting
OF removing rocks towlders and rocky
! reefs, and scrapirn gravel bars,
| to secure q low writer channel OF five and one
half feet in the Columbia as far as the mouth of
| the Snake, and four and one-haf feet In the
| snake as far as Lewiston. The estimated cost OF
this work was slS2.00a Up to June 3d. 1891,
| Sli, i) 2S had been expended. resulting in
| the removal OF many bars ard the improvement.
| OF most Of the bad rapids, and generally in OBJ
| tanning the required depth below the datum as
| sumed az the time the project was adopted.
| There has been appropriated io- the upper
| Columbia ana Snake rivers, embraced within
! the limits OF what is now officially known as
| the upper Columbia and Snake, 3 total OF $685.
! US', IN thirteen appropriations.