Rock Island Argus., 1898-02-07
YEARS RIVER WORK,
What Has Been Done by Col.
Kings Corps Of En-.
gineers.
II TIE ROCK IsLAND HABB0R,

II THE ROCK leland HARB0R.
ApprIprission Too Small TO Prodees Ae-
sqasss Resi- lss-An Additional $4,000
Necessary TO CSsplsts the 1mprsvs.
osss-Obj set Of ths work Nov Being
Csssssd O.
A summary Of the work done the
past season in the upper Mississippi
oy Col. King's engineer corps has
been completed. Col. Kings dis.
trict includes the 40 miles Of river
between Is. Paul and the mouth Of
the Missouri river. The object Of
the improvements now carried on is
to secure Q channel OF suitable width
and from ~ to s feet depth at low
sater, and also to remove such OBJ
s,ructions as may exist in the chan.
mel In the form Of snsgs, wrecks.
lodges Of rock. etc. A portion Of the
work Was carried on by the govern
uent itself, using its own plant
purchasing material and hiring labor,
and the remainder under contract.
The season OF 1897 opened with .
good stage Of water aud remained
fairly good until the end Of the sea.
son. Only very few points offered
obstruction to navigation, and those
only for . short time. The district
10 divided into number Of sections.
Work on the Rock Island rapids IL
performed by hired labor, and 10 con-
nned chiefly to deepening and widen.
ing the channel By removal Of rock.
A dipper dredge and two steam drill
boats, with toW boats, barges. etc ,
10 sufficient number, are worked
night and day during q long season.
The broken rock taken up BY the
dredge is used in building the necss.
sary dams for regulating velocity oi
the current. The work Of rock ex.
cavation Was carried on at Crab isl.
and. Campbell's. winnebago, Cotton.
Sood. Duck Greek. Lower Chains and
ct the Moline pool.
Rock lsIsnd usrbyr.
Tho appropriation Of s.. coo for the
.sock Island harbor was too email 20
produce adequate results. A United
states dredge and tao drill boats
we're used, and they succeeded in
covering an area Of about $4,000
'qusre feet, commencing at the
lo~er line o! Seventeenth street ard
running up barely to Eighteenth
street. The rock was very hard and
iho cutting heavy. Tho grade is
fee: at low water AID tho cut ex-
tended often 100 feet out from the
low water line. About 400 feet ol
good landing has already been SC
cured. To complete this work and
carry the improvement to Twentieth
street will cost an additional els, GOO.
The work from Rock Island to
Keithsburg was done by contract,
aud was in charge OF Assistant En-.
gincer c. W. Durham. who also hal
charge Of che levecs in course o,
construction between the Iowa river
and Burlington. ard the harbor 81
Muscatine. There were built o series
Of three wing dams b,low Rock
river. six wings opposite Montpel,
ier. two closing dams and . wing
dam below Fairport, ind about 500,
feet Of shore protection at var.
ious points. The dams con
structed have al, esdy CO lsed {
marked improvement in tn, channel
There were used In tbs work 1925:
cubic yards Of rock and 1856 cubic
yards Of brush.
Assistant neineer ]. d. Du Shane
Was In charge OF operation, between
st. Paul and Lake Pepin; Assistan,
Engineer w. A. Thompson, between
Reeds Landing and Prairie Dl Chieu
and the harbors in Lake Pepiu; As.
sistant Engineer J. C. McElhcrnc,
between Dubuque and LeClaire, and
also the work at Rock Island rapids
and at the Rock Island ard DUBUQUE
hsrbors; United States Civil Engineer
N. Meigs. between Keithsburg and
Quincy; Assistant Engineer s. Ed.
wards, between Quincy aud Ham.
burg; Lieut.. Charles Keller, from
Ham mburg to the Illinois river.
Capt. A. j. whitney has the con
tract for dredging the hsrbor st Mus.
cstine, where last fall he excavated
IS. 900 cubic feet. He will 6nish the
work in the spring. A grade Of si1
fset st low water will be reached
song the entire city front. The
work from the Illinois to the Mis-.
siouri river Is being carried on BY
hired labor, with the use OF . gov
erumens plant; that from Reed'i
Landing TO Trempealcan by contract
from Queens Bluff TO Prairie du
Chen BY hired labor with the use ol
the government plant. The dredg
ing Of the Dubuque hsrbor. fol
which there is "a appropriation oI
$50. eco. 10 being done by contract.
The sasgboai, Genera. Barnard. wal
10 commission 22o days last season,
operating between st. Paul and tht
Missouri river. The work performed
by her 10 thus summarized:
Overnarging trees cut. ....i ~.
I.eacfrr trees pulled cacs.......
Wrecks removed. ..................... q.