REPORT OF MR. H. S. DOUGLAS, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 31, 1880. SIR: In obedience to instructions received from you, I left New Orleans August 18, 1879, for the purpose of making an examination of the Amite River, Louisiana, and have the honor to submit this my final report, with accompanying charts. The river was traversed with transit and stadia, and soundings taken for 734 miles, commencing at Thompson's Bridge, where the road from Clinton to Amite City crosses the river, and ending at the point where Bayou Manchac joins the Amite. Below that point a running examination was made, as per orders. The Amite, or old river Bienville, below Bayou Manchac, had been previously surveyed in the year 1867, by Lieut. J. K. Hezlep, United States Engineers. (See Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1863, page 486.) For convenience in description I divide the river into three sections in reference to the cost and difficulty of improving the same. All obstructions are delineated on the accompanying charts, and a minute description of the same, mile by mile, would be tedious. FIRST SECTION comprises the distance from Thompson's Bridge to the end of the fortieth mile, and will all be found on chart No. 1. The river meanders through a heavily timbered valley or bottom land which averages about 1 mile in width, and subject to overflow during floods. The margin of this valley and the high-water banks of the river is a high rolling country, thickly settled and well cultivated. In its meanderings the river occasionally strikes this high country, and in such cases the bluff averages from 20 to 30 feet in height. Timber of almost every variety abounds in the valley, cypress, pine, and beech, being the most prevalent, but owing to the numerous obstructions in the stream it is never rafted to a market. The obstructions are chiefly trees, which have fallen in by the caving of the banks, caused by the swift current during floods. The general character of the stream is a succession of pools, sometimes over a mile in length and not less than 4 feet in depth, connected by ripples or shoals, there often being not more than 1 foot of water over them. The bed of the stream is generally gravel or sand, and the shoals are invariably composed of these materials. There are a number of island chutes which would require to be closed, as the river during low-water cannot bear any diversion of its volume from the main channel. But few cut-offs exist, and those that do have been made by the river itself and not by artificial means. The average width of this section is 100 feet, with a least depth of 1 foot; maximum velocity of current at high-water, 4.4 feet per second; average velocity at low-water, 1.4 foot per second. The obstructions to be found consist of about 450 snags, 300 fallen trees, 200 overhanging trees, and 20 standing trees. The removal of these, together with the closure of 19 island chutes, and clearing out of two cut-offs, would give a low-water channel of 20 inches. One bridge would have to be converted into a draw or removed. The removal of these obstructions would cost $300 per mile, making a total for the 40 miles of $12,000. SECTION NO. 2 includes from the fortieth mile to the junction of Bayou Manchac, 734 miles from the initial point of the survey, comprising 334 miles of river. The valley of the river is the same as that of the first section, but the width and depth of the stream are greatly increased. On the forty-first mile it receives from the west its first tributary of any size, Sandy Creek, and on the fifty-sixth mile it is joined by the Comite, a stream of about one-half the volume of the Amite. The addition of these two streams increases the average width to 175 feet. The present least depth below Sandy Creek is 2 feet, and below the Comite 3 feet. There are no ripples, and the velocity of the current is decreased, the fall being divided over the entire distance instead of being concentrated at the ripples or shoals. The maximum velocity is 2.2 feet per second, minimum 0.4 feet per second. The obstructions to be removed consist of about 175 snags, 140 fallen, 100 overhanging, and 35 standing trees; also about 10,000 running feet of bank to be cleared of projecting willows. There are three island chutes to be closed, three cut-offs to be cleared out, and one bridge to be removed or converted into a draw. The removal of these obstructions would give a low-water channel of 3 feet. The amount required is estimated at $150 per mile, making a total for the 334 miles of $5,025. SECTION No. 3 comprises from Bayou Manchac to Lake Maurepas, 37 miles, is a tide water bayou, with ample depth for all vessels navigating it. Before the closure of Bayou Manchac, this bayou, together with the Lower Amite, formed one of the many passes through which the waters of the Mississippi found their way to the Gulf, and was then known as the river Bienville. There is at the present time a line of steamers running between New Orleans and Hope Villa on Bayou Manchac. The chief obstructions complained of by these boats are the bars at the mouth of the Manchac and at the mouth of the Amite in Lake Maurepas, but as no line was run upon this portion of the stream, there is not sufficient data to base an estimate for their improvement upon. Any improvement of these bars would necessitate the same upon the one at the Lake Pontchartrain end of Pass Manchac, as the depth of water upon all three is about the same, varying from 5 to 6 feet at low-water, the least depth being during the prevalence of northwest winds. Four and a half miles below Manchac is the town of Port Vincent, and from here to Whitehall, 16 miles below, the banks are quite thickly settled; this portion of the river having the immediate banks the highest and sloping back to the swamp. From Whitehall to the lake the banks are swamp, with an occasional shell bank. The obstructions consist of 45 snags, 26 fallen and 42 overhanging trees. There is nowhere in the river less than 15 feet of water, and, except during floods, the current depends upon the tide. An estimate of $75 per mile is made for this section, making the total amount for the 37 miles $2,775. The commerce to be benefited is large and important, as the river is bordered by plantations, the most of which are engaged in the cultivation of cotton. Should the upper river be opened to navigation, at least 10,000 bales of cotton, besides considerable sugar, corn, and all varieties of country produce, together with lumber and wood, would find their way by this route to a market. At present all produce has to be hauled overland, either to the Mississippi River or Jackson Railroad. Staves, shingles, lumber, and wood are the principal products of the lower river, and a considerable quantity of sugar and molasses comes from Bayou Manchac. The return trade would be large, as all persons residing on the river would obtain their supplies by this route. The present value of the commerce of that portion of the river navigated is about $250,000 per annum. The Amite River is the natural drain of all the country lying between it and the Mississippi River, and its headwaters extend far up into the State of Mississippi. The bed of the stream is not sufficient during heavy rains to carry off the drainage of this immense area, and in consequence it overflows its entire valley, sometimes rising 15 to 18 feet in 24 hours, this being its range between high and low water at Williams's Bridge. Your assistant was informed that in years past the subject of improving this river had been agitated, and that the State government had appropriated $75,000 for that purpose. With this appropriation the river was cleared of obstructions as far up as Denni's Mill, 22 miles below the initial point of the present survey. All the inhabitants take a deep interest in the proposed improvement, and your assistant and his party were treated with the utmost hospitality, and every assistance required cheerfully afforded. Very respectfully, Maj. C. W. HOWELL, H. S. DOUGLAS, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. EXAMINATION FOR A CANAL TO CONNECT THE WATERS OF BAYOU TECHE, AT CHARENTON, WITH GRAND LAKE, LOUISIANA. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, New Orleans, February 27, 1880. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit herewith the report of Assistant Engineer H. C. Collins of an examination for a canal to connect the waters of Bayou Teche, at Charenton, with Grand Lake, Louisiana, provided for by joint resolution approved June 28, 1879. A plot showing the location of the proposed canal, and profiles, drawn to a scale of 300, will be forwarded in a separate package. Recommendations of Mr. Collins as to plan of improvement are concurred in. These will be found in his report, appended hereto. His estimates are also approved, and can be expended to advantage on the work during the ensuing fiscal year, viz, $73,196.40. The work will constitute a permanent improvement, in the ordinary acceptance of the word permanent. The work is of very considerable importance, as set forth in Mr. Collins's report. The work is situated in the collection-district of New Orleans. The nearest lighthouse is at the mouth of the Atchafalaya River. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brig. Gen. H. G. WRIGHT, Ć. W. HOWELL, Major of Engineers. Chief of Engineers, U. S. A. REPORT OF MR. H. C. COLLINS, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. NEW ORLEANS, La., January 31, 1880. MAJOR: I have the honor to submit the following report of the examination for a canal at Charenton, to connect the waters of Bayou Teche at Charenton with Grand Lake, Louisiana. I arrived at Charenton on the 22d of November, and found Mr. Edward Sillon, E. Maynard, and Alfred Fusilier, the parish surveyor, who gave me all necessary information about land lines and high and low-water marks, and, with other citizens, gave all the assistance needed in measuring distances and running the level lines. All were very much interested in the proposed improvement. The actual distance from water edge in the lake to Bayou Teche is 5,594 feet at lowwater, but for the canal 5 feet in depth at low-water 1,000 feet from shore line in the lake to the channel must be added to this distance. The land crossed is an old sugar plantation. All was once in cultivation, but is now, except a small field, abandoned to common pasture. It is entirely free from trees or stumps. There is no swamp, and, though no borings were made, the universal experience along this portion of the Teche in digging wells for stock water, &c., would show that there is no quicksand to interfere with the excavation of the canal. At the time of the survey the wind had blown for several days from the northwest, and the water was at the extreme low stage only reached at low river after northers. In the Teche the water was 1.593 feet below a mean low-water mark established by Mr. Fusilier from the experience of many years on the bayou. In Grand Lake it was 2 feet below the black low-water line on piles and cypress trees in and near the water. The depth in the lake, when the channel was reached, 1,000 feet from shore, was 4 feet, and soundings were made three-fourths of a mile further with no change of depth, and I was told that the depth was uniform entirely across the lake to Bayou Pigeon, but that it was deeper northward to the channels leading into the lake from the Upper Atchafalaya. The bottom was blue mud, quite stiff, with many shells of gnathodon clam, both alive and dead; and the shore just eastward from the proposed mouth in the lake is a ridge 15 feet high in places of the same shells. The plantation is known as the Mossy Tract and belongs to the Citizens' Bank of New Orleans. Mr. Sillon had communicated with its officers and had found them willing to grant the right of way free; which they could well afford to do, as it would give them a permanent levee on the upper line of the plantation. The height of water in the Teche was 0.097 feet above that of the lake November 23, and at low-water there is seldom any material difference in the water levels. The flood of 1874 was the highest known in Grand Lake and its height was 12.776 feet above extreme low-water, reaching to within 500 feet of the water of the Teche, and the narrow ridge between them was here but 1.383 feet high. The water of the Teche at the same time was 2.889 feet below that of the lake, and, though the highest known in the Teche, was but 9.790 feet above extreme low-water. The low-water supply of the Teche is mainly by Bayou Fusilier and entirely from rains of the region to westward of the Teche. The waters of the Teche join those of Grand Lake at the H. Ex. 54-3 junction of the Teche and Atchafalaya, but it is about 80 miles around by water from Charenton to the lake end of the proposed canal. Directly across Grand Lake, about 9 miles, is the mouth of Bayou Pigeon, which forms a direct navigable connection with Grand River and through it with Plaquemines Bayou, and, if a lock should be made in this bayou so as to form a connection once more with the Mississippi River, this would be by far the nearest route for water communication between the Teche country and New Orleans. Before that time it would save about 75 miles over the present route and connect with it at Butte-a-La-Rose or below, avoiding the worst portion of the present channel, and having a low-water depth 14 feet greater. There is a network of bayous between the Teche and the Mississippi River, all connecting with the Atchafalaya. Many of these bayous are now closed to navigation by blocks of raft. The navigable channels and those capable of being made so could only be known on a full careful survey of the entire Atchafalaya and its connecting bayous, which has never yet been made. For this canal a cut 50 feet wide at the bottom will be sufficient for commerce, and banks with a slope of 1 to 1 will probably stand in that kind of soil. A basin 600 feet long and 100 feet wide is proposed about the middle of this canal to give room for passing of boats and a place for them to lay up in case of necessity. The navigable depth of the route will be at mean low-tide of ordinary low-water 5 to 6 feet. As the cut requires to be carried out 1,000 feet into the lake, a breakwater may possibly be found necessary on the east side, which is the only one exposed to danger from storms. This proposed canal is peculiar in one respect. At times of sudden rise in the Mississippi or break of its levees, Grand Lake in some extreme case may rise nearly 5 feet higher than the water of the Teche. This extreme difference would last for but a few days, but a difference of nearly 2 feet would be a common case in time of high-water in Mississippi River. At low-water seasons a difference of 2 or 3 feet is at times found. This makes a lock necessary in the canal, and one with double gates, so that it can be used in either direction. The amount of water for lockage would, in the nature of the case, be unlimited, so that two abutments, with the gates at a distance of 500 feet or more apart, would make a lock, the sides of which would need no other wall than the earth bank of the canal. The abutments carrying the gates would need to be long enough for the double pair. of gates. The width of the clear passage should be 45 feet, and the gates would remain open at all times when the difference of level was so little as not to cause a scouring current. The excavated earth would form embankments far above all overflow. Estimate for the work would be: 183,988 cubic yards excavation, at 25 cents. Totai..... $45,997 00 15,000 00 12, 199 40 73, 196 40 The commerce to be benefited by the proposed canal is now annually 15,000 cypress. trees, which have to be towed 80 miles farther than necessary, and 35 of which is over an open lake where rafts are frequently broken up and lost, at an extra expense of not less than $1 each. Five hundred thousand barrels of coal now used, at an extra expense of not less than 5 cents per barrel for towage and risk, probably much more than that. The entire amount of all the lumber now used on the Upper Teche, all of which comes from the Upper Grand Lake country and above, and all of the fencing, would also be saved that distance of towage, as it also comes from the swamp bayous of the Upper Atchafalaya region, passed the head of Grand Lake. The amount of these is not known, but is very great. Also, all the sugar and cotton raised in the Teche country, and that coming down it from farther west, would have a route shorter by 75 miles than at present, and a low-water depth 14 feet greater at least. Commerce would be greatly increased as the lands of the bayou and those of the prairie country to westward were brought more fully into cultivation. This canal, however, forms but a connecting link in the general plan for improvement of the bayous of the whole delta region. Although it alone would be of great benefit to the inhabitants of the Teche country, its value would be greatly increased if the work on the Teche, Atchafalaya, and its connections above with Red River and Courtableau, and the shortened route into the Mississippi by way of the Plaquemines Bayou were completed. Plot and profile of the canal are made on scale of Yours, respectfully, Maj. C. W. HOWELL, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. H. C. COLLINS. SUMMARY OF PRECEDING REPORTS ON EXAMINATIONS AND SURVEYS OF WATER-COURSES IN LOUISIANA, UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, New Orleans, February 27, 1880. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit herewith report of Assistant Engineer H. C. Collins on the various surveys and examinations recently made in Louisiana, under my direction, as provided for in the river and harbor act approved March 3, 1879. This report is a summary of the different reports of examinations and surveys, and a condensation of the plans and estimates submitted with a view to the general improvement of the water-courses surveyed. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Brig. Gen. H. G. WRIGHT, Chief of Engineers, U. S. A. C. W. HOWELL, Major of Engineers. REPORT OF MR. H. C. COLLINS, ASSISTANT ENGINEER. NEW ORLEANS, LA., January 31, 1880. MAJOR: The surveys on which Messrs. Douglas, Hoffman, Elms, and myself have been engaged since the last annual report can be divided by the Mississippi River into two parts. The portion east of the Mississippi consists of examinations of the Pearl River, Mandeville Harbor, Tchefuncte River, Tangipahoa River, the Tickfaw and its branches, Ponchatoula, Natalbany, and Blood, and the Amite rivers. A large portion of the work required on these streams consists of removal of snags, logs, and trees from the channel, and overhanging trees from their banks, but includes some dredging at the entrances of Tchefuncte and the Bayou Castain at Mandeville. Fuller data are necessary than could possibly be obtained for Pearl River before finally determining on the exact route for the new channel to follow. The distance to be examined and the time possible to spend upon it were so disproportionate that but one line could be followed. Should an appropriation be made for work on the lower portion of the river, a few weeks will be required for its further examination, not in regard to the possibility of improving it or the necessity of so doing, but only the details necessary for deciding on the route to be followed. The importance and feasibility of the improvement were fully shown by the examition. The harbor at Mandeville can easily be made, and such a harbor, besides accommodating the trade of the town, would frequently prove a safe harbor of refuge for shipping during the gales. There is little work to be recommended for the Tchefuncte River. Some removal of smags and trees will be useful and is needed, but it is not practicable to much improve the river except at great expense, not warranted by the good to be derived, but an improvement of the bar where it enters Lake Pontchartrain, so that it will be possible to cross at any time, is very much needed, and will be but a slight expense compared with its importance as a harbor of refuge for the shipping on the lake, as well as for the vessels going into the river during the frequent gales. The examination of Tangipahoa River, which was made last winter by Mr. Douglas too late for action by Congress at that time, showed that the expense of carrying navigation nearly 60 miles up that river would not be great, and that it would give a great relief to farmers in transportation of their produce and for manufacturers who have begun business on its banks. The improvement of Tickfaw River and its tributaries, costing but little in all, would open an extensive and valuable country to commerce, and very much improve the facilities for that at present existing. Mr. Douglas's survey of and report on the Amite River shows the importance of that stream to a large tract whose only outlet to market it is, and the great help which extension of the navigation about 60 miles above its present head would be to the inhabitants near it. The improvement of the rivers emptying into Lake Maurepas would lose much of its importance unlesss Pass Manchac, connecting Lake Maurepas with Lake Pontchartrain, should also be improved. |