The times., 1897-05-14
IMPROVING The POTOMAC
How the Work Upon the River Is
Progressing.
Change for the Better in the George
town and Washington Channels.
Reclamation of Flats.

The report OF Lieut. Col. Charles; ). 4 Hen,
/ of the Corps OF Engineers, to the War De
! partnent, concerning the operations for the
| month of April for improving the Potomac
| River, has been submitted. Among other
| things, il shows that when the present
! proJcc. was adopted the Georgetown cha n
mel was narrow and crooked, and had not
sufficient depth To accommodate COM
nerce, and the Washington channel was
| sfoal and narrow. The flats in front OF
the city were alternately exposed and COW
cred by tides.
In execution of the project there has been
| dredged channel from $50 TO 600 feet
| wide and twenty feet deep through the
bars between Georgetown and Giesboro
Point. AS this channel has filed up above
Long Bridge, it has been redredged here
several times, and a training dixie has been
built with a view of reducing the deposits.
In the Washington channel. the navca-
tiJn channel has been dredged to width
of 400 feet and depth OF twenty feet. be
tween the Long Bridge and the junction
of the Wasnin gton and Virginia channels.
The area between the navigation channel
and the sea wall on Section III has been
dredged to "a depth OF twelve feet.
The widening and deepening of the yir-
ginia channel below the Long Bridge, so
as to facilitate the discharge Of freshcts
and prevent overflow on the city, Is sJin
incomplete.
The material dredged from the channel
is to be deposited on Section III. The
reservoir outlet gates have been Trac-
tically completed
All dredged material is deposited on the
flats and the entire reclaimed area Of C21
acres has been raised to a height of from
six to twelve feet above low tide, The
total amount Of material deposited on the
reclaimed area is about 10 ,6S1 ,006 cubic
yards.
The sea wall on the margin of the re-
claimed area has been practically com
pleted, except near the site of the inlet
gates and along the bathing beach in the
| tidal reservoir The total amount COM
pleted is 2S,672 linear feet. The wall
on the lower parto the Washington chan
mel, front of Section III, has settled, owing
co the soft character of the river bed at
this locality, and is now being relaid and
raised to a height, for the present, of six
feet t,boye low tide One thousand linear
feet of this wall have been relaid to
height of three feet and 200 linear feet
to a height Of about four feet above low
tide.
The work required to complete the ap-
proved project is as follows Tie dredg-
ing of the Virginia channel and the rails
ing of the remainder of the reclaimed
area to the required height; the drcdg-
ing OF the tidal reservoir; the completion
Of the sea wall in the reservoir and along
the Washington channel; the construc-
ton of the reservoir Inlet, and the COM
pletion of the training dixie on the right
Of the Virginia channel above the Long
Bridge.
The report shows that during April the
clearing Of brush from the reclaimed area,
which has been in progress with snail
force Of laborers during the winter, was
continued The brush cut during the
winter was piled and burned About
800 acres have now been cleared up.
During extreme low tides the force las
been employed in taking down and le-
laying, dry, the lower part OF the sea
wall along the Washington channel, front
of Section III.
About 175 linear feet were taken down
and relaid, dry, up to the height of two
feet above low tide, making 300 linear
feet, hich, by taking advantage of eX-
treme low tides, has now been relaid to
this height, ready for the resumption of
active operations. Owing to the delay on
the part of the condgnor, the cement pur-
chased for the work failed to arrive 1t
is now reported as in transit. The cement
will be received and stored and active
operations on the construction Of the wall
resumed.