Smyrna times., 1950-06-15
ENGINEERS
TO CELEBRATE
Army Engineers To Celebrate
175th Anniversary With
Picnic Friday, June 16
WASHINGTON'S REQUEST

niversary with a picnic for all the
District employees at historic Fort
Mifflin, which played such an i'm
portant part in the Revolutionary
War. A special feature of this
birthday celebration will be the
presentation of service awards by
Colonel E. E. Gesler, District En-
gineer, to 2O2 employees with a
combined service record of over
5000 years.
The Army Engineers came into
being back in 1775, when General
Washington, a professional engin-
eer himself, realized the growing
need for engineers in the Army.
AT his request, the Continental
Congress appointed Colonel Rich
ard Gridley of Massachusetts as
Chief Engineer. His first job was to
throw up the defenses at Bunker
Hill. His second act was to throw
down his shovel and join in the
battle that followed.
Since that day, Army Engineers
have achieved much fame During
the Civil War, some famous Engin-
eer officers who commanded armies
were Lee, Mcclellan, Beauregard,
Johnston, Pope, Fremont, and
Meade. Generals Douglas Mac
Arthur, Lucius Clay and Brehon
Somervell are probably the best
known Engineer officers of World
War II.
Although originally organized as
wartime necessity, the Army En-
gineers were soon given peacetime
activities by Congress. They ex-
plored land, investigated rivers and
other natural resources, construct
ed roads, built bridges and canals
made surveys and prepared maps,
located routes for railroads. Four
of today's great transcontinental
railroad routes were projected by
the Army Engineers-th Santa
Fe, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific,
and Northern Pacific. Practically
every boundary of the United
States, and most of the State lines
were surveyed and marked by the
Army Engineers. They built the
majority of the lighthouses and all
the coastal fortifications.
In 1924, the Engineers were first
directed by Congress to improve
the country's waterways. They be-
gan with removing snags and sand
bars in the Ohio River and survey
ing the streams that served as the
roadWays into the wilderness. Since
that day, they have developed the
greatest system of inland water
ways in the world-28,00 miles of
navigable channels, 270 harbors
and 400 locks and dams. In 1927,
the Engineers were directed by
Congress to develop plan for con-
trolling floods on a nationwide
basis.
The first project on the Delaware
River was the Harbor of Refuge.
This was started in 1928 to provide
a safe haven for ships from ice and
storms, and consisted mainly of a
breakwater constructed at Cape
Henlopen in Delaware Bay. Later
improvements We're the removal OF
shoals at Mifflin Bar below the
mouth of the Schuykill, Cherry Is
land flats above the mouth of the
Christina River, Bulkhead Bar SO
miles below Philadelphia and Dan
Baker Shoal at the lower end of
the river. In 1885, Congress ap-
proved a channel 600 feet wide and
26 feet deep from Philadelphia to
deep water in Delaware Bay. In
1898, Smith and Windmill Islands
were removed from mid-stream be-
tween Camden and Philadelphia in
the busiest part of the Port and
were a major hindrance to naviga-
tion. Consistent with the growth
of commerce and the construction
of larger and faster ships, Congress
approved a Soft. channel in 1899
In 1910, the channel was deepened
to 35 feet, and in 1888 to 40 feet
Current appropriations, however
restrict the amount of maintenance
dredging so that at present the
controlling depth is 81 feet.
Improvement of the Delaware
River between Philadelphia and
Trenton prior to 1910 was confined
to. removal of shoals and bars. Only
a scant depth of feet was avail
able in the channel Subsequent
Acts of Congress provided for 12-
foot channel, later 20-foot chan
mel, and finally a 25-foot channel
with a width of 300 feet. This will
be accomplished when dredging
has been completed at Duck Island.
Bids for this project were opened