The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1901-11-09
WORK ON SHIP CHANNEL
CONTRACTOR is NOT PROGRESSING
VERY RAPIDLY WITH 1T.
Enaineer Tailor Has Submitted His Re-
port Tor October, Showing What Has
Been Done to Date.

Galveston, Texas, November s.-By the
terms OF the contract for the Improvement
OF section on the Buffalo bayou shin
enamel which was made with the firm OF
Sharles Clarke * Co. the dredging of this
section SHOULD be completed by DECEMBER
l. put at present less than one-third of the
WORK has been done. There are only three
more weeks and the contractors have NOT
yet secured an extension of time. It is
believed, however, that the extension will
be granted under certain conditions. AT
present the expectation is that the work
VIII be completed by next April. Another
dredge will be placed on the work some
time this month, which is more powerful
than either of the two which are now
engaged on the channel 1t is dredge boat
NO. y, which has been working on the
southern Paclhc pier. This dredge has n
capacity of from 10000 to 1900 Yards per
One very strong incentive which should
cause the contractors to hasten the work
Is the tact that beginning with this
month all the expenses of superintendent,
Inspections and surveys connected with the
furnishing of estimates of the work will
pe porne by che contractors. This amounts
to between 500 and $1,000 per month Bv
the terms Of the original contract this
expense was to be borne by the government
untll september / OF this year but 1t was
oorne by the government until November
!. NOW. however, Colonel Richie, the United
state engineer in charge of this district
holds that the delay was largely due to
the fact that the dredges owned by the
contractors were employed on other con
tracts and he sees no reason why thS
expense shonld be paid by the government
any longer.
Captain r. p Tailor. the resident en-.
gineer at Morgan Point. who Is the en-
gIneer selected by the United States gov
eminent to supervise the work while 1t is
I'M course Of construction, has submitted a
progress chart In connection with his
monthly report for the month os October
which shows the progress which has been
made with the work each month since Il
was commented. II designates with differ
ent colors the various months and shows
approximately how much has been done at
the end of each month. The work began
last April and the progress made since
that time by the drcdges is as follows:
April, 227, 600 cubic yards; May 1890
cubic yards; June 10000 cubic yards;
July, leo ,243 cubic yards; August 10000
cubic yards; September, 1860 cubic yards;
October, 13SS SOD cubic yards; total amount
eNcaVated up to October 81. T5i, 6l2 cubic
yards. 1t will be observed from these fig
ures that during the months Of August and
September the progress was exceedingly
slow, Notwithstanding the fact that there
We're two dredges employed on the work
This delay was attributed to the fact that
dredges were working In a bed of clay.
The dredges have now passed through the
clay bed and during the past month accom-
piShed more work than in both Of the
preceding months. During the past month
400 running feet of dixie have been con
structed and 400 loo linear feet of piling
driven. The total amount expended on the
work during the past month was $14,399 II.
Captain Tailor states that the indica-
tions are now that thu channel Will sus-
tain itself. as the current is now colfniDg
Itself to the cut instead of spreading out
over the bay, as it did formerly.
In all there have been five miles of the
channel comcleted and the contractors
have been paid about $4,000 for their
work thus far The entire contract amounts
to about 100000. therefore not onethird
of the work has been finished. The depth
twenty feet in depth ut mean low tide,
with width of seventy feet at the bot
tom and side slope OF two horizontal to
each vertical foot