The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1900-01-04
THE MANITOWOC HARBOR.

The effort being made to have Manito-
voc designated barbor Of refuge will
justify publishing resume of the report
made Of the harbor in 1895 by General
Abbott who had been for some years
/ Colonel of the Corps Of Engineers and
who is authority on harbor matters The
substance Of this report was published
before in The Pilot. The harbor lines
recommended by him in the report We're
approved and established by the Secre-
tary of War in February 1895. They
provide for expansions at five points and
extended the harbor lines to the Wiscon-
sin Central upper bridge near the leep
cut. The harbor lines as fixed and sub
sequently established have reference
only to the inner harbor and only that
portion of it not then locked The mini
mum width of 250feet was adopted at such
places as would permit vessels to lie at
both sides. Where conditions prevented
this, minimum width of 200 feet was
adopted.
There were five turning places for
boats, necessitating the dredging away
of ranks to secure the desired width
These are located rs follows: o. Just
above Main street bridge which will per
init of boat $50 feet long to turn; (2)
At the sudden bend in the river near the
elevators, capable of accommodating a
boat $50 feet long; (3) at the bend OF the
river above the Wisconsin Central coal
docks; az at the most northerly bend OF
the river near Hansons old ship yard; t5)
at the bend in the river just above the
Northwestern bridge. These last three
were to accommodate vessels 800 feet
long. The first three mentioned have
been dredged to the required depth
These places for turning are locally call
ed basins, that near the elevators being
almost lake in dimensions. These bas-
ms will play an important part in aid
ing us to secure the location of harbor
of refuge here, if an inner harbor is look
ed for, and will thus serve purpose be-
yond that FOR which they were intended
As showing the capacity of the harbor
the following facts CLEANED from the re-
port may be cited: From the govern
ment piers and extending almost direct
ly west to the bend up the river the
length is 1900 feet: from this point to
the sudden bend near the big basin, the
length il 1900 feet from this point to the
horseshoe bend clear around to the neck
of tie peninsula, near where the {. q n.
w. Railway bridge IL, the distance is
8, 800 feet From this point to the upper
bridge of the Wisconsin Central is $500
ieet, and up to this point harbor lines are
established. This makes "A total of 3D.
900 feet OF very nearly two and one
, third miles for which harbor lines are
already established Doubling this gives
the dockage capacity. No great amount
Of dredging would be required to enable
! the ordinary boats to reach the upper end
of the present harbor lines And this is
scarcely two-thirds of the extent Of the
river which could readily be made avail
able if the need justified the undertak-
ing. Add to this, the space between the
! harbor piers, 1000 feet, and some idea OF
the capacity of our harbor may be formed.
Since the report Of General Abbot was
made the south harbor pier has been ex-
! tended 800 feet and the channel i'll the
harbor has been deepened to 81 feet be
low datum or 20 foot channel for the
level of water ut that time which was
below datum that being 3.O6 feet below
the high water of 1888.
Some other interesting facts in Gener-
nj Abbot's report will have II bearing on
the question in issue: The port of Man
itowoc lies nearly at the middle point Of
the west shore of Lake Michigan, being
40 miles from its southern point and 1913
miles from the Straits of Mackinac
| About = miles north of straight line
connecting Manitowoc and Ludington
the width Of the lake is contracted by
two points, on the east shore Big Point
An Sable, on the west, Rowley's Point.
locally known rs Two Rivers Point,
which extends eight miles into the lake
The protection afforded by this contrac-
ton is of incalculable berefit to boats
seeking shelter.
The government undertook the i'm
provement of the harbor in 1852 and up
to the time of the report had expended
1856, 900 Since the report was prepar-
ed considerable sum has been expend-
ed in dredging and in extending the
south pier.
EDUCATIONAL