The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-21
OUR RIVERS AND HARBORS
THE APPROPRIATION s2O9. = SO FOR
NORTH CAROLINA

A HUI dred and Fifty thousand Dol.
lar. allotted to the Lower Cape Fear.
The Plan TO be Carried Out for a
Channel Twenty Feet Deep and go
Feet Wide TO the sea-Other Improve
ments
The river and harbor bill passed at
the recent session Of congress appro-
pirates sos, $50 for the improvement
and maintenance of improvement OF
North Carolina harbors and navigable
streams. The appropriations for the
different projects are as follows:
For the Cape Fear river, continual
ton and maintenance Of improvement
at and below Wilmington and on the
bar, $50, 900.
For the Cape Fear river, maintenance
of improvement above Wilmington,
s., 200.
For Town creek, continuation and
maintenance Of improvement, $500.
For Northeast river, above Whining
ton, continuation and maintenance OF
improvement, $4,000.
For Black river, continuation n
maintenance of improvement, $4,000.
For Contentnea creek, maintenance
of improvement, $4,000.
For Neuse river, maintenance OF i'm
provement, $4,000.
uation and maintenance of improve
ment, $3.50
For Trent river, maintenance of i'm
provement, $500. :
For Fishing creek, continuation and
completion of improvement, $3.50.
For Lookout Blight, to max a survey
for a plan for a harbor Of refuge, $o,oOO.
The appropriation of $3.50, 900 for the
work on the Cape Fear river for Will
mington out to sea cOntemplates the
carrying out of the plan to make a
channel 27O feet wide at the bottom and
20 feet deep at mean low water, from
the city out over the bar. This work
is now progressing under the engineer
corps, which has two powerful dredges
and a force of eighty men at work. At
present the powerful suction dredge
Cape Fear is dredging on the bar wild
ening the channel which is already 20
feet deep at mean low water. The
other dredge, the Ajax, is at work on
Midnight Shoal, between here and
Southport, where the chann1 is being
WluSIOu lIOIIl d lCCl ~ u lCSl. AAO
depth of the channel is already 20 feet
iii the channel for its present width.
The present channel has been dredged
from Is to 20 feet deep, varying in width
from $50 to 27O feet from the city to the
sea. The plan now being worked upon
is to widen the channel to 270 feet
where it is less than hat and to dredge
it to a depth of twenty feet at all points
where it is not already twenty feet at
low water. This will give, when COM
pleted, a depth Of 241a feet over the bar
at high water and % feet thence to
Wilmington.
TOWN CREEK IMPROVEMENT.
The appropriation of $500 for Tow
creek, which empties into the Cape Fear
below Wilmington, is to make a chan
mel 40 feet wide and 5 feet deep at
mean low water, from the mouth Of
the creek to the upper bridge, twenty
miles, in Brunswick county. This work
will include the removal of Snags and
other distractions, but it is provided
in the river and harbor bill that no
work shall be commenced until a prope
draw is placed in the upper bridge. Fhe
draw will have to be put in by Bruins
wick county.
TALK WITH CAPT. LUCAS.
A Messenger representative called
yesterday afternoon at h office Of the
United States engineer corps, and gain
ed the above information from Capt.
E. w. Van G. Lucas, the chief engin-
eer. Capt. Lucas took charge on the
18th instant and succeeds Capt. w. E.
CraighiN who vas transferred recently
to the department in the District Of
Columbia. Capt. Lucas highly cOmpli-
ments the work of Major Stanton and
Capt. Craighill, and says he finds the
condition of the river improvement bet
ter than at I'M time within his knowl-
edge. He states that the work done at
Shows Marsh has been very effective.
This work was begun under Major
Stanton and completed under Capt.
C~raighill. A training wall or dixie two
miles long was put in, and it controls
the current so that the channel is kept
clear.
Capt. Lucas served on the engineer
corps here from 1892 to 1895, and is thor
oughly posted on the work before him.
He was a lieutenant when here first
and from here he was transferred to
the battalion of engineers at Willet's
Point, being promoted soon afterwards
to captain. When the war broke out
with Spain he was appointed chief n
gineer of division and served in the
field in Florida, Georgia and South Car
DINA, with the Fourth and Second army
corps.