The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-01-01
Jlul> EIrERIBrhornnhNr.
The work Done Below the CITY Line
During the Year.

The improvement of james river under
appropriations by the United states. Dee
gins al the lower city limits u is under
the direction of Col Peter G.. Hams corps
oil engineers. L.. $. A. who succeeded
General Craighnl. appointed Chief o.
Engineers T.. S. A.. in SHAY.
Mr. %. ID. Wmtccmh is boo local charge
a. assistant engineer.
The work in the past year was done
under contracts with Captain j a. cur
IT'S. Of Richmond and ar J.. Sanford
Ross. of Jersey city.
The early part of the year was uniaFor-
able for operations of this character.
From freshets TO- is feet rise occurred.
the latest BOO Mag. and the river was OBJ
structed hy ice ign January and closed 90
NAVIGATION fer sixteen DAYS I'm February.
4 channel was broken ON the 2ith by the
clyde steamer Gull Stream and the tug
Olive Branch.
CAPTAIN Curtis finished his contract of
1892 in May. Mr. Ross began dredging ar
Harrison's Bar iu February and rock eN-
cayaton 90 Goodies Rock in April
4 second contract was made with Cap
tain Curtis jim October for construction
and repairs Of wing dams and dikes and
for some dredging for TWO miles below
Richmond Bar iie began work on this
contract in November
MIR Ross began rock cutting with
chiscis weighing about eight tons. in
lieu Ct drilling and blasting This method
had nceu used elsewhere. and is now in
use with Success on The improvement of
the Hudson and East rivers. The chlsels
tried here were not adapted 90 Zee con-
dition-. and their use was abandoned ln
June. An excellent machine drill was
substituted in September
The amount of excavation iu the year
ending November 3eth was about 10000
cubic yards of earth and cobble and %.
600 cubic Yards Of soft and solid rock. a
small amount Of work on bikes and wing
dams has been done since November lst.
n was intended f0 open tle new chan
nel through Goodies Rock ledge early in
tine year This had been made ~ feet
wide and Us feet deep go low tide The
huoys 90 mark 30 We're not furnished as
expected. and the contractor began iis
enlargement to 1000 feet In April. The
blasting for This Is practically completed.
and about thirty days additional drede-
ine viii remove the debris. Some ar
rangement viii then Doc made 10 mark
and open this important Improvement
Several areas of rock. uncovered i'm
dredging. with less than lN feet of water
at low tide. have also been blasted. These
Will require about forty days work of
the dTcdge. but this viii not prevent the
use of The now channel This done, there
will be- ID channel of practicable width.
ls Icct deep from the sea 10 the Richmond
Chemical WORKS. One-third of mile bee
low the city line except as hereafter
stated. The contract with Nh Ross calls
for the completion of the channel loV feet
wide and is feet deep 20 1000 feet above
the Chemical Works by June l5, 1875.
The channel for hall "a mile on the crest
or fiarrisou's Bar has been widenci To-
800 feet and at Goose nan Flats TO 300
feet
The fresheis mentioned enlarged the
channels through an the shoals from
Richmond Bar to Curies Neck At fhc
latter place no marked Improvement in
nayigable depth from last year was
shown. although about 5000 cubic yards
had been removed boy scOws. There are a
Few hundred feet remaining, with scaut
T. feet depth.
A recent survey of shoals at Dancing
Point and Swans Point. the nrst since
1856 show but ll - feet in places
The depths available for navigation are
t. l-2 feet at low tide from the sea go
Richmond Bar Except at Curies' Neck
and j. feet 20 the city line. The latter
part will Doe increased TO "a feet in June
next.
The shoals at Curles' Neck Dancing
Point. and Swans Point are soft mud.
For high tide TWO feet may be- added
20 the above depths in the lower part Of
the river. and from TO . IL feet above
city Point
\ lire of levels was PUN between Ola
Point and Richmond 10 ascertain the
height of midtide az certain points on the
river. compared with mean ocean level
al Old Point as Determined by the United
States coast and geodetic survey These
levels. tested boy two or more lines, run
mainly near the river bank. differ at
points of comparison less than tenth OF
% foot from the precise levels run by the
United States coast and geodetic survey
on thc road bed OF the Chesapeake and
Ohio railway i'm 1851 and 1872.
Excluding freshcts and tides affected
10y high winds the average mid thalO
tide at Richmond was found above ocean
level as follows;
November ]. 1880 10 October 81. 1894. 100
foot. November T. 1874. to November 30,
1875. 0eS foot. June 10 November. 1884.
oSi foot. june 20 November. 1886 0.h1
foot The lowest half months In this PEE
riod were November ! 10 r.. 1881 p, foot.
November rs 10 81. ls'5 0f foot
The height of surface varies largely
with the force aud direction OF the wind