Evening journal., 1901-10-02
RIVER CHANNEL
MUCH IMPROVED
Col. Raymond Reviews Work
Of Deepening Delaware
SUCCESSOR NOW Ii OFFICE
Retiring Engineer Believes Congress
SiOnaI Appropriation Will Be o.
tained This Winter

Lieutenant Colonel Charles w Ray
mond, who has been the engineer in
charge of the improvements Of the Della
ware river and bay since 1890, was re-
leved yesterday 10y Colonel Jared A..
Smith, and turned over TO his successor
the works Of the Philadelphia district
except those which are situated in Della
ware bay-thc new Ilarhor Of Refuge. the
old Brcakwater and pier at Lewes. Del.
As these were practically finished. il was
thought best that Colonel Raymond com
plete them and make the final report. In
connection with this work, he will have
his duties as member Of the Board or
Engineers. which will doubtless demand
more OF his time than has heretofore
been the case.
To reporter who called ON him yes
terday, Colonel Raymond gave a retro
spect of the work that has been done
since he has been in Philadelphia. and
talked Interestingly of the outlook for the
thirty-foot channel project. In the eleven
and a half years that Colonel Raymond
has been in charge Of the improvement
upwards OF S9.O0O,0OO has been expended
in the district.
The whole system Of modern defense
has been constructed. The works are
nearer completion than those of any other
important port and it is considered that
the city is impregnably defended against
any possible attack.
NEW PRACTICE IN eREAKwATER CON-
STRUCTION
From an engineering point OF view, one
Of the most interesting features OF the
work here has been the construction of
the new Harhor of Refuge. The old Della
ware Breakwater, about mile long and
containing 1,23l5S7 tons of stone. was
seventy years under construction. The
new Breakwater. designed in 1892 is one
and half miles long. contains ]. .46f. .4lO
tons of stone. and was built i'm about
four years. In this work Of construction
a new precedent was established. which
consists in adopting for the submerged
portion Of the Breakwatcr a cross section
determined by the action of the sea itself
instead Of a much hatter slope. such as
was previously supposed. without expert
mental reason. to be necessary. This
practice resulted in the saving Of at least
half million tons in the amount Of stone
required, and thus far observations have
failed to detect the slightest sign Of
weakness or inadeQuacy.
Speaking of the general work Of deep
ening the channel Of the Delaware. Col
onel Raymond said IL consider that the
work has been very much more successful
than we had the right TO expect in a tidal
river Of this character The channel is
vastly funnrnr~aI Nh. .I-t
today is at Dan Baker Shoal. at Reedy
Island beach, and that we are improving
as fast as we can. The rate OF shoaing
mas not been greater than | anticipated
anywhere except at Cherry Island Flats.
where Deep Water Point forms strict
ure. Shoaling at this point can probably
he overcome by advancing the shore on
the Delaware side. which our plan con
Templates.
SAYS ARTIFICIAL ISLAND WILL STAND
"The artificial island which we are CON
structing opposite the lower end OF Reedy
Island will take %. 0OO. 900 cubic yards of
the SO'OOO,000 cubic yards Of material still
to be removed from the river The pur-
pose Of making the island is, first. 20 re-
duce the cross section of the river at that
point, so that the channel when dredged
will maintain itself. and, secondly, to ac-
commodate the dredged material.
We are building the island strong
enough to resist storms and ice When
we built the Bulkhead Bar dyke ] was
told that it would not stand. But it has
stood, though it has been necessary from
time TO time to strengthen it,
1T was necessary in some way to re-
strict the cross section Of the river at this
point. We first planned to meet the need
by dyke. but they had an idea in Della
ware that it would injure the interests
OF some small creeks. and their belief
was encouraged by some newspaper en-
gineers. So the representatives Of Della
ware made a fight in Congress, lcgisla-
tion preventing the building of the dyke
was passed and the artificial island wasl
decided upon"
4 DIFFICULTIES PRESENTED BY RIVER
Speaking further of the idea Of building
dykes TO restrict the flow. Colonel Ray
mond said that all dykes that have been
in the Delaware river below
Philadelphia have been successful. 1T
cannot be inferred. however," he said.
that a dyke at Reedy Island would.
therefore, be certainly a success. People
are apt to lose sight of the fact that the
Delaware consists of three parts. all Of
which must be treated differently. Inl
the lower compartment which is the mar
itime compartment. we have an actual
inflow of water from the bay. and this
penetrates as far as Fort Delaware. Then
from Fort Delaware to Philadelphia
there is the tidal compartment proper. In
this there is true tide wave propagated
through fresh water. and. practically
speaking. containing no water from the
marine tide. The impulse is merely
transmitted from the water in the lower
In the upper compartment,
which is from Five Mile Bar. near the
Pennsylvania railroad bridge. TO Tren-
ton the freshet how has much 10 do with
the channel, with the result that it is al