The Washington times., 1913-08-05
ARMY ENGINEERS
DOING MUCH WORK
Attention Paid to BettermentS
in TJarious Parts of Country,
Besides Canal Building.

Though the work on the Panama
canal is about the only work Of the
Army Engineer Carps that has attract
ed sustained national attention. the
trained men of this corps are every
year doing work that while ii may not
be so significant is equally as !m-
portant to the commerce OF the country.
Many such works are now under way
but they are attracting little public
notice. Harbor improvements were In
der direction of the corps before The
Panama canal was dreamed of
An engineer officer at headquarters
here has just given a brief summing
Up Of what the office is doing, aside
from completing the Panama canal.
The office of General BIxby, chief of
engineers, handles projects that cost
hundreds of millions annually. up and
down both coasts.
Ger, will soon begin work on widening
and deepening the Georgetown channel
of the Potomac to facilitate commerce
TO the port of Georgetown. At present
this is the only contemplated improve
ment at Washington. But at New York
army engineers are completing the Am
brose channel to a depth Of forty feet
al mean low water, and a width OF 1000
feet throughout its entire length This
work is nearly 9S per cent completed
so that when the next annual rivers and
harbors bill is passed, instead of ap>
propristfng for further construction. 1t
will provide for the maintenance Of this
magnificent entrance to New York Har-
Dor. a work which in many ways Is on
a par with the building Of the isthmian
canal, for IL involves an estimated ex-
cavation of about a 10000 cubic yards
OF material for a length of seven miles
of channel.
Working At Boston.
But this is not all the Engineer
Corps is doing in the way of deepen
ing and widening channels to our sea-
ports. 1t is working on a thirty-five
foot channel into Boston harbor; and
one of the same depth from Della ware
bay into the harbor of Philadelphia,
with a width Of 800 feet in the straight
parts, LOO feet wide at Bulkhead bar.
and I,0O0 feet wide at the other bends
Of the Delaware river. The latter i'm
provement will cost $10,s200OO, and
there will be an annual charge of 800, 900
for maintenance.
Baltimore is to have a channel Of
thirty-five feet at mean low. water, and
widths at the entrances and the bends
from Fort McHenry to deep water in
Chesapeake bay. When this project Is
completed-and reports in the en-
gineers office in this city show that
substantial results have already been
achieved-this busy, growing metropo-
lis of the South will have one of the
great harbors of the country.
What is true of Baltimore, Boston,
New York. and Philadelphia also is true
work OF giving Norfolk a thirty-fve-
foot channel, with width OF 400 feet
from deep water in Hampton Roads to
the navy yard at Portsmouth, Va, a
distance Of about eleven miles. is well
under way. with hope Of completion by
the close of the next fiscal year.
While the Engineer Corps is ex-
tremely busy on the big harbors Of the
Atlantic coast, the same holds true of
conditions on the Pacific side of the
structed at the mouth Of the Columbia,
while big work is going on at Los An
geles. On the Gulf coast, a thirty-ffve-
foot channel into Galveston harbor and
q thirty-five-foot channel to Texas City
are being rapidly constructed.
Leaving out Of consideration the mil
lions that are being spent on the widen
ing and deepening Of the channels INTO
the big harbors of the nation, one Of
the greatest projects which me En-
gtneer Corps has under way, and upon
which a cool 10000 monthly is being
spent, is the Improvement of the Hud-
son river in the vicinity Of Albany and
Troy, where locks and dams are being
built to connect the channel with the
State barge canal, the aim of the en-
gineers of the army being to complete
their portion of the work before the
completion Of the canal proper-another
engineering feat rivaling, In some le-
spects, the construction of the great
ditch across the Isthmus OF Panama.
In the scheme of building an interior
waterway from the rugged rocks o:
Maine to the sand spits OF Florida Con-
gress early recognized the necessity OF
connecting up well defined water ave
nues along the Atlantic coast, to the
end that perils of Hatteras and other
danger spots along the Atlantic shores
might be avoided.
As a part of the project the Chesa-
peake and Albemsrle canal was pur-
chased by the Federal Government at
an upset price of $500, O00, title 10 the
same having passed to the United
states within the past sixty wears. This
is connecting waterway between Nor
FOLK, Va. and Beaufort. y. c., being
part of the Boston to Beaufort Inlet.
n. c. section Of the proposed continu-
GUS inland waterway from New Eng
land to the Rio Grande.
The purchase of the canal having
been accomplished. the Engineer Corps
viii shortly advertise for bids to deepen
this waterway 10 twelve feet with a
width af 200 feet To aid in the work
OF excavation. a dredge will also be
contracted for.
We are conducting the improvements
on our rivers and harbors on the theory
that we will have a river and harbor
bill every year, as Congress has out
lined will be done" said the engineer
officer referred to. and our estimates
Tor completing projects or continuing
work on them are based upon the as
sumption that the money appropriated
VIII be used up and that there will lie
no hangovers.
What is true Of betterments going on
along the Atlantic. Pacific, and Gulf
coasts is also true Of activities along
the Ohio. the Mississippi. and in the
Lake region