The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-12-12
CAPE FEAR IMPROVEMENT.
ANNUAL REPORT OF UNITED STATES
ENGINEERS RECEIVED YESTERDAY.
Reference TO Cape Fear River and the
Harbo at Wilmington the Most Inn
portant Feature Recommendation
that S315,OO0 Can Be Profits.bly Ex-
Fiscal Year Ending June 3C.A, 1891.

The annual report upon the improve
ment of certain rivers and harbors in
North Carolina, issued by the United
States chief of engineers for 1899 was
received yesterday. 1t gives an ex-
haustive report Of the projects and
work done under the supervision Of
the United States Engineer office in
Wilmington, which includes practical
ly all the rivers and seacoast of East
ern Carolina
That part of the report Of Captain
z. w. VanCourt Lucus relative to the
improvements OF the Cape Fear river
at and Below Wilmington will be of
especial interest to Wilmingtonians.
1t is as follows:
IMPROVEMENTS OF CAPE FEAR
RIVER.
The work Of the last fiscal year has
been carried on by hired labor and use
of the United States plant. 1t has con-
sisted of the work of the suction dredge
Cape Fear and clam shell dredge Ajax,
making minor surveys and repairing
and watching plant, details Of which
are given in h accompanying report
OF Assistant Engineer Charles Hum
phreys, in local charge.
The pile training wall at Shows
marsh, while gradually deteriorating,
has been effective throughout the yeaa
in maintaining a good channel across
this formerly most troublesome shoal.
When the mud buQkeleadS at the ends
of the cut have pee removed, proba-
bly, during the coming winter, this
training wall, if maintained, will hold
the depth without further dredging. 1t
is a nest useful and effective work.
Whether or n the upper parts of the
training wall will have to be replaced
as destroyed by worms, and whether
or not the lower part, which the bank
ed sand protects from the worms, will
alone prove efficient, are questions that
can not yet be determined, but even if
the training wall has to be renewed
every few years it will be at an expense
quite small as compared With that of
the constant redredging which had to
be reSorted to before the training Wal
was built.
The experience of nearly five years
With this training wall seems to indi-
cate that its construction and ainte
ance costs less than the interest on the
cost Of a Stone training wall, with the
further advantage that it can be easily
taken out or it's position altered if
4Oullu CApCulSll III oNSlI dUIS. "A Hldp
showing the condition of this shoal in
August last is appended.
The bar channel, after some de~terior-
alton due to the absence asst summer
of the suction dredge at F'ernandina,
has been again deepened to 20 feet or
more, with a least width of $50 feet.
1t is expected that the full project
width of 270 feet can be obtained and
maintained during the coming year,
but this can only be done by the con-
slant use OF the dredging steamer
whenever the weather permits. The
work of maintaining the project chan
mel depth n width across this bar is
about the limit of her capacity.
AS noted in the accompanying report
of Assistant Engineer Humphreys, the
hanne at the throat of the inlet has
been moving bodily eastward for some
years, due to the erosion of Bald Head
point, uA.Il the O4u N~OCuDuhy Jeuty,
which formerly marked the end of
Bald Head point, is now we'll in the
channel, the centre of which is ap-
preaching it. If every injurious de-
terioration is to be avoided it appears
certain that some mGthou for stopping
this erosion at Bald Head point must
be adopted in the near future. For
the purpose of making an intelligent
study of this question a survey of this
part of the river has just been made,
d Ildp " WHlIC1I Is lItToWICN1 dpp6HONu,
and a special report on the subject will
be submitted as soon as practicable.
The dredge cuts in the river are being
maintained fairly we'll, excepting ait
Lilliput and Brunswick Cove shoals.
The filling in at Lilliput is thought to
be due to the ebb current from the
west of Big island, while that at Bruins
wick Cove lis almost certainly due to
it's position west of the natural line
nf fid al f(W A CaripS of current oh
servat are contemplated at these
localities for the purpose of determin-
ing the cause of undue deterioration
and aScertaining, if possible, a remedy
for it.
A feature of the work on this river
has been the notable success of the
use of plant owned by the government.
The clam she'll dredge Ajax, with tug
and ScOwS, was purchased two years
ago, and, although laid up for several
months last summer when the tug was
needed for submarine mining work.
this plant has done an amount OF
dredging which, at the average con-
tract price since 1890 of 1871 cents per
yard, would have Isl $177. 139. u. Dur
ing the SAME time the total expendi-
lures for purchase, maintenance, run
ming expenses. ETC., has been 1874, 7S9.4S
in addition. Considering as assets the
supplies ON hand at the end of the fiscal
year, the excess earnings amounted to
nearly $50, 900.
This work has been in charge of AS
SiStantt Engineer charles Humphreys,
and under his effective management is
becoming a model of its kind.
The money statement" showing ex-
ne RS TO- his vork shows a cash
balance available July LIST, 1899 of $685.
134.6 g and recommends that $3.50 coo
can be profitably expended in the fiscal
year ending June Both, 1901, ard aso
$50, 900 for maintenance OF Improvement
during the same period.
CAPE FEAR IMPROVEMENTS
ABOVE WILMINGTON.
Concerning the improvement Of the
Cape Fear above Wilmington the re-
port says:
Little work was lone during the
year because OF the small baaance
available. and many distractions ac-
cumulated in the channel. After the
appropriation OF March 3, 1899, became