The Savannah morning news., 1904-07-19
DEPTH OF HARBOR
is NOW 22 FEET
REPORT OF YEARS WORK
IN HARBOR HERE SIGNED BY COL.
QUINN YESTERDAY MORNING.

Work Not Yet Completed, hut when
Finished Harbor Will Have Depth
of - Feet at Mean High Water.
100000 Cubic Yards of Earth
Removed-Dredge Cumberland Re
moved 10000 Cubic Yards of Ma
teriaI from Tybee knOIl-TwO ana
One-HaIf Miles of Jetties Re
paired.
Before leaving for New Orleans yes
terday morning Col. James B. Quinn
signed his official report of the work
done in the Savannah district during
the year ending June 30.
The report covers all the work that
has been done in the district, giving
everything in detail. The most inter
esting part of the report, however, is
that portion which relates to the work
done in the Savannah harbor. AS the
harbor now stands. it has an average
depth of 22.5 feet from the Old Water
works to the Quarantine Station.
All of the work called for under the
contracts has not yet been completed,
owing to unforeseen obstacles which
prevented a continuance of the work.
When the contracted work has been
completed, however the harbor will
have a depth of twenty-eight feet at
high water from the Old Waterworks
TO Fort Pulaski.
Besides this dredging, there have
been many repairs made to the har-
Dor. such as repairing of jetties, the
building of mooring dolphins and other
work of a similar nature. For work
done in this district the government
has spent, in round numbers, about
100000.
work Done by Dredges.
During the year the dredges in the
employ of the government, and under
the direction of Col. Quinn, have
dredged the river from the old water
works to quarantine station, to an
average depth of 22.5 feet at mean low
water, for a width of from $50 to 500
feet. This makes Savannah harbor in
a better condition than it has ever
been before.
The work is now just about as left
by the dredges. A total of 100000 Gu
bic yards of material. consisting of
mud shells, etc, has been removed.
Between Venus Point and quarantine
station some shoaling has taken place.
This will necessitate re-dredging to the
extent of approximately 100000 cubic
yards.
Improvement Mt Tybee Knoll.
A great improvement has also been
made at Tybee Knoll. Here the big
sea- going suction dredge Cumberland,
which was stationed here for a month
or more last summer, removed about
10000 cubic yards of sand and other
material This furnishes a temporary
relief at this point The work yet to
be done on the Knoll will be complete
by the new dredge now being built
especially for use in this harbor
and district.
The only work that remains to be
done now on the present contracts is
the cutting of new and Straighter
channel in front of Quarantine Station.
the removal of an oyster reef on Ty
bee Knoll. and the redredging of Long
Island crossing. When this has been
completed there will be twenty eighth
feet of water at high water from the
old waterworks to Fort Pulaski.
The remaining work necessary to
give this depth will be done by the new
dredge as soon as completed.
Work on the Jetties.
During the year there have been two
and one-half miles of jetties repaired.
This work has required the using of
about $4,000 cubic yards of rip-rap
stone. Only the most important of the
Jetties have been raised, with a view
of preventing shoaling.
The raising of the jetties has a ten
dency to make the river-current act
as natural scour, thus to a great
extent, doing away with the shoaling.
Besides this, they act as a barrier to
4the sand and other light material
which seeks to force it's way into the
channel and thus lessen the depth.
Only those jetties have been raised
which are located in those places at
which experience teaches that shoal-
ing is the most likely to occur.
Two mooItng d01phins have been
completed during the year. One. /, 300
feet hong, is located at the blight, -
and the second, with a length of l 800
feet, is at Venus Point. These are in
tended for vessels to tie up to in or
der to avoid the necessity of anchor
ing in the channels. Vessels that cam
not get 10 sea on one tide use them
frequently.
Work in the Interior.
Considerable work has also been done
in the interior The Oconee and the
Ocmulgee rivers have received con-
slant attention Snagboats have done
much toward clearing the channels,
and in several places sharp and incon-
venient turns in the channel have been
Strengthened.
Just previous to the time when the
work of footing up the report began
Col. Quinn made thorough inspection
of the work in this section and re-
ported that all the channels were in
better condition than they had ever
been. This work will be continued this
year If Congress grants a sufficient
appropriation to allow of 1t.
At the time work was called off in
the district. owing to the lack of an
appropriate by Congress to complete
all the work-this district receiving lit.
tie above the regular maintenance
fund-a detailed report of what had
been done was given in the Morning
News. s....