The Nome daily nugget., 1916-05-05
WAR DEPT RETURNS
 ADVERSE ANSWER 10
 HARBOR PROPOSAL

The following is the statement of the board of engineers for riv- CTS and harbors relative to the Snake river harbor proposal which was received by the last ,, mail:
 War department,
 United States Engineer Office, Seattle, Washington. March IS, IoI6. ; Nome Publishing Co.,,
 Nome, Alaska. Gentlemen: It having come to the notice of the undersignedf that you have expressed an interest in the pending proposition for the improvement of mouth of Snake : river and Nome harbor, Alaska, you are hereby informed that the report thereon, authorized by the act of congress approved March 4, 1915, has been made, and IS unfavorable to the improvement The principal grounds upon which the adverse conclusions are based are as follows:
 While the construction of a safe harbor at Nome for large vessels would undoubtedly bene- fit commerce, the enormous cost of providing such a harbor by means of a suitable breakwater, strong enough to resist success fully the ice action in Norton sound, would be entirely out of all proportion to the resulting benefits to commerce, and is not , considered to be justified. =. : It is recognized that the con !. struction of channel into the : mouth of Snake river and dredg- , ing of a basin therein would be : extremely beneficial to the navi- gation interests affected and to , the development of the port, but . due to unfavorable physical con ditions which make the improve
 ments unusually expensive both in construction and maintenance !. it is not believed that the benefits to commerce to be derived iron these improvements would be suf- ficent to warrant the United States in undertaking them at tht . present time
 You are further notified that al D. interested parties have the privi- Q lege of an appeal from this con . clusion to the board of engineer: " for rivers and harbors, a perma- nent body sitting at Washington .. D. C., to which all examination . and survey reports of this char !. acter are referred. Parties desir- v ing to do 30 may be heard on ap-
 peal by the board, either orally Il or in writing. Written commun- ications should be addressed tc
 the board of engineers for rivers \ and harbors, Southern building
 Washington, D. C., and should bt
 mailed in time to be in the pos
 session of the said board within
 six weeks from the date of this
 communication. If, however, you
 have important data to comrnun-
 icate to the board, which cannot
 be collected and put in shape fol
 proper presentation within sis
 weeks, the board should be in
 formed of this fact without delay
 and request made for an exten-
 sion of the limiting date for sub
 mitting information. If oral hear
 'lngs are desired, dates for the
 same may be arranged for by cor respondence with the board.
 Any further information need ed may be obtained by applica-
 ton to this office, but attention
 IS invited to the following regula-
 tions as to the manner in which
 such information may be furnish ed: &
 Where interested parties de-
 Sire data necessary for the esprep-
 aration of their appeal to the
 board of engineers for rivers and
 harbors, it will be given them
 verbally by the district officer or
 in his absence, by the senior as-
 sistant engineer connected with