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About The Daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1876-1883 | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1881)
CO ttfftfflk Vol. xv. Astoria. Oregon, Tuesday Morning, May 10, 1881. No. 8. Columbia Rher Bar Improvement." Through favor of Senator G ro ver we are in possession of the following reports, interesting to people of Oregon and Washington territery: rrojcii r .iinj. ;. i (;iiirsii. n of IIimlttcrr. Uniti:i States Km.ixeku Officii, Portland, Oregon, I Jeoembcr 5, 1890. Gi:xki:aj,: 1 have the honor to Mibmit for the consideration of the department a chart of the mouth of the Columbia liver, showing the location and character of an im provement which I now propose as a means for hastening the deepen ing of the channel through the Middle sands inside the bar. On the 7th of December, 1S79, I submitted a plan and estimates for a stone dike on the south side of the entrance, but the project, as is stated in my last annual re port, will cost a great deal of money and will consume a great deal of time, owing to the manner in which appropriations are made for large undertakings. This lat ter consideration has led me for some time past to a thoughtful study of the harbor and its shoals, to ascertain if it be not possible to dispense with the massive struc ture which tho original project contemplated. The shoals, and the two channels of approach through them, aie now in a favor able condition for attempting, by a speedy process, to build up Clatsop spit, and to hold the banks of the inside channel for a proper direction of the currents to main tain deep water along the line observed in the chart of 1S11. The short passage between the north and south channels, through the Middle sands, at a point indi coted in my previous reports on this harbor, has not been effected with the rapidity and success I anticipated. I believe the cut is gradually deepening, but the pro cess is so slow that the channel cannot be used with convenience by deep draught vessels when winds and tides aie unfavorable. An attempt was made to hasten the deepening by harrowing across the depression, leaving the cur rents to carry out to sea the dis placed material. This was a labor ious undertaking with the means available, and very expensive; an increase of three to four feet was obtained, but I was compelled to forego opeiations on account of msufliciency of funds applicable to the object. The work will be re sumed when the new appropriation becomes available. The commerce of the river is increasing rapidly, capital is flow ing into Oregon and Washington territory in large quantities to build railroads and develop the re sources of the country, and it is of the greatest importance to the commercial public that a deeper channel be made as speedily as possible from the outside to a safe anchorage on the inside. I have heretofore been unwilling to recommend any construction which involved the use of timber because of the exposure of the site; but the great demands upon the river and the many and new interests centering in this section induce me to recommend an im provement which is capable of being made rapidly and quickly, and which, if not permanent at first, may be made so by annual strengthenings and additions. The project proposed is to build, along the line previously estab lished on the south side, a strong pile-dike, rising three feet above low tide, S,000 feet long, and twenty feet wide from outside to outside, filled with fascines and stone, and securely protected on both sides with mattresses and stone. The dike will start near the northeast corner of fert Stev ens, and, following the twelve-foot curve, will be directed a little westward of the outer part of the headland at cape Hancock. The dike so located will prevent the escape of water at ebb tide over a great part of Clatsop spit, and pro ject the ebb currents, which have usually a maximum surface velocity of six feet per second, in the direc tion of the cut which I have been attempting to improve b' the scraper, and will have suffi cient depth of water on the east side to enable the plant to work and the scows to move alongside and dump their material directly into the work. If placed on or near the spine of the shoal, a land ing must be made on the inside some distance from the work; a tramway must be built to connect the landing with the dike, and ex tended over the dike as it pro gresses. Wherever it will be necessary to drive piles in the latter case, it will be equally possible to ap proach the dike with the scows in the former case. The shore-line on both sides of the heel of the dike will be revetted with fascines and matresses to prevent erosions by the "waves and currents. This work should be done in one work- iug season; and if it proves effica cious, which I do not doubt, in cutting out the middle sands, it can be strengthened by additions of mattresses and stone, converting the structure into one of a perma nent character, and may be extend ed at will. The Columbia river ami its afflu ents drain an area of nearly 200, 000 square miles; the country through which it pus4 is settling up rapidly, and foreign capital is coming in to promote manufactur ing industries, to build railroads, and to open the valuable coal mines. These undertakings are still in their infancy, but they have assumed such proportions as to make the opening of the inner shoals at the rivers mouth an ob ject of interest to our whole coun try. The execution of the plan will not be without its difficulties, but 1 believe it to be tlwroughly practicable if commenced with an appropriation equal to the estimate for the entire work. It is desirable that the work be commenced as early as the 1st of April next, and pushed vigorously during the summer and autumn, before the coming of the heavy southwesterly gales, which create the highest seas and ofifet the greatest impediments to coniinu-ous- and safe labors. I do not think it can be doubted that tho proper place for the improvement is on the south side, or that the maintenance of a deep water chan nel through the inner shoals is de pendent mainly upon the building up of Ciatsop .spit, and the holding of it in a position approximate to the one it now has. A strong revetment will be re quired on the inside of the dike, after completion, extending across the little bay to the eastward of the government landing, but this need not be undertaken at once, and will be much simpler and less costly in its construction than the dike. K-1 1 MATH OF COST. 0.503 fwt of illke. t $50 Jer fwt X!5,080 1.500 feet of dike (toibore), at $W per foot .. co.000 2..VK) oel of shore ivveHtiiicHt, at $10 per fool 'JSjo0 Tola! fll8,009 Com jHRciwk's of cngiiitt'riHg. mmi-vcj ?, ihsjk?1Io, ole.. 29,000 SI9Q.000 The success of the project is so dependent upon rapidity of con struction, only obtainable bj- the use of strong and costly plant, that I would urge the appropria tion of the full amount of the esti mate so that the dike may be built in its entirety before the opening of the next winter. Charts accompany this report showing the location and character of the proposed improvement. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, C. L ISI1.I.KSPIK, SluJ. of Cneinrort, Bt. J.kHl. Col., I. S. A. ling. Gen If. C Wiiigut, Chief of KHsincers, V. 3. A. lEcpoi-l orilu-Konrd oriliiglnrcr. New York. Fob. 12, 1881. Gi:xi:kai.: This board, in ac coi dance with instructions from the office of the chief of engineers, dated December 24, 1SS0, to con sider the whole subject of the im provement of the mouth of the Columbia river, have the honor to repert: A careful examination has been made of the documents and charts in connection with the subject transmitted from the office of the chief of engineers, including the various reports made by the local engineer, Maj. G. L. Gillespie, corps of engineers. As a fiist step in this inquiry, a comparative study of the charts to note the changes in the shoals and channels became necessary. Admiral Vancouver's chart of 179'2 represents the river discharge, through a single channel, nearly due west into the ocean, with a depth on the bar of li fathoms. The Clatsop shoal, or south break ers, which form the southern margin of the channel, had an ex tent in a westerly direction of about 7 j; miles. The not th edge of the channel lay about one-half mile south of cape Disappointment. The chart is on a small scale and its claims to accuracy of detail not known, but the striking feature of the existence of but one channel could not have been a matter of mistake. Sir Edward Belchers admiralty chart of 1S39 exhibits for the first time Sand island, whose eastern extremity was 1 nautical miles north from point Adams. The island formed the eastern apex of of a large triangular shoal, which presented its base to seaward, the line of the base extending nearly north and south. The island and shoal separated the waters into a north and south channel, the for mer leading northwest, towards the cape, where it was turned ab ruptly to the south-southeast, skirting the north breakers, which had extended southerly for a dis tance of a little more that two nautical miles, and then entered the ocean in a west by south course, over a bar with 4i fathoms over it. The south channel from Sand island ran nearly west, past point Adams, supported on the south by the south breakers, for a distance of five nautical miles, to its junction with the north chan nel. Before this juncture how ever, the south channel set off au outlet through the south shoal into the ocean, with a depth on the bar of 3 fathoms, the navigable, depth in the north channel until the bar was reached being six fathoms, and in the south channel 4i fathoms. The level of reduc tion of soundings is not known, but was probably that of lowest waters. The chart of the exploring expedition under Captain Wilkes of 1841 exhibits a similar middle ground, with Sand island as its eastern apex, not quite one mile north from point Adams. The channels must resemble those of the former survey, but the south channel had now no separate out let into the ocean. The depths appear to be the same. The west erly extent of the south breakers was 4f nautical miles, and of the north breakers southward U4- miles. The coast survey chart of 1851 shows a change in position of Sand island, placing it 1 nautical miles from point Adams. The attached shoal was considerably elongated towards the northwest and south-southwest, and had be come distorted in shape, the south southwest portion extending so far as to completely separate the two channels. The depths over the bars and in the north channel had diminished. The coast survey charts of 1834 andlS75, with hydrography of 1SG8, and the engineer charts of 1S7G, 1S78, 1870, and 1880, show the progressive changes, which may be briefly summarized. Sand-island has continuously moved northerly from point Adams, its present distance being three and one-eighth nautical miles north-northwest from tbat point, and its western extremity a little more than one mile west from cape Hancock. Sand-island, and shoals tailing from it, have by this move ment crowded the portion of the north channel east of the cape close upon Chinook spit, thereby much diminishing its width. A shoal at the eastern extremity of this chan nel gradually formed, which had of late years increased in length west ward two miles; has a depth over it of only fourteen feet at the mean of lowest low water. Towards the cape the depth increases, and again diminishes at the outer bar, where it is about twelve feet. The north breakers, or Peacock spit, extend one mile south-southwest from the cape. The Middle sands, extending first westward from Sand-island until south of the cape, thence by a quick turn in a southerly direc tion, terminate in a southeast course about three-fourths of a mile south of an east and west line through oint Adams. The total length, including Sand-island, is about eight and three-fourths nau tical miles. There are two de pressions in these sands, where it has been supposed the south chan nel might break through, the one a little west of the line joining point Adams with the cape, and the other northwest from the range of the beacons on the eastern portion of Sand-ibland. The south channel, after a westerly course, is deflected to the southward by the Middle sands, into which, however, it first cuts a deep, sharp indentation, and is finally deflected in a southeast direction (through a channel nar rowed to one-half mile by the tail of the Middle sands and by a projection from Clatsop spit) into the ocean, over a bar with about twenty feet on it. Clatsop spit from a westerly has been thrown into a northwesterly direction, extending over three miles from point Adams, anal occu pies fully one-half of what was formerly the channel space be tween point Adams and Cape Hancock. Mean rise and fall of tides at point Adams, 6.1) feet, c. s., 1851. Mean rise and fall of tides at Astoria, G.4 leet, c. s, 1S51. Mean rise and fall of tides at Astoria, G.l feet, c. s., 1854. A brief summary of the changes since the date of Vancouver's chart of 1792 is necessary to obtain an adequate idea of the immense wave and current action prevailing at this bar. From a single broad and deep outlet at that date, the charts of 1839 and 1S41 show a division into two channels caused by the formation of Sand-island, with an attendant triangular shoal covering an area of about eight square nautical miles, the common outlet of these two channels being moved about two and one-third miles southerly from cape Han cock by the growth of the north breakers. Subsequent surveys of the coast survey and the United States en gineers develop striking changes in the channels and shoals, which have been uniform in their causes and results. The north chanu 1 has not only been narrowed and shoaled by the movement f Sand-island, but it has also been considerably curved northward. The north breakers have been cut away from a south erly projection of tvo and one-half miles from cape Hancock to that of one mile. The southeast end of the Middle sands and a projection from Clatsop shoals have considerably narrowed the south channel near the outlet, and threaten even to close it. The navigable depth in the north channel has decreased since 1S41 from six fathoms to fourteen feet at tho present time, and over the bar from four and one-half fathoms to twenty-one feet. The depth over the bar of south channel has also decreased from four and one half fathoms in 1SGS to nineteen feet. The distance of the north bar from cape Hancock has varied from about four miles in 1S39 to Uvo miles at the present time. The distance of the south bar from point Adams has varied from four to three and one-half miles nearly west from point Adams. The northward swing of Clat sop spit has been particularly hurt ful to the south channel, as thereby a considerable portion of its flow has been forced over the Middle sands, to the detriment of the bar. Between 1879 and 18S0 both Peacock spit and Clatsop spit have approached the Middle sands and narrowed the width of the northern depression. This in 1S78 had a width across between the three fathom curves of 2,800 feet, with a depth of fourteen feet; in 1S79 a width of 2,400 feet, and the same depth as before; in 1880 a width of 1,000 feet, and a depth of seven teen feet. The great decrease in width and increase in depth in ono year, between 1879 and 1SS0, in dicate a possible close approach to a breach at this point through the Middle sands. The more southerly depression had in 1878 a width between the three-fathom curves of 4,600 feet, with a depth of fifteen feet; in 1879 the same width, with a depth of thirteen feet; and in 1SS0 a width of 1.700 feet, and a depth of seventeen feet. The great de crease in width and increase in depth during the hist year of ob servations indicate likewise a close approach to a breaking through at this point. Considering also that here the currents of the south channel set directly against this narrow bulk head, it becomes not impossible that the breach here may be the first effected. The proposition to consrruct a training wall starting from the shore-line at point Adams north from fort Stevens, to have a length of 6,000 feet, and a direction about west-northwest along the interior 2-fathom curve of Ciatsop spit, although earnestly recommended and made the occasion of a call for immediate construction, is not ap proved. The distance from point Adams to the section in the Middle sands which it is the object of this struc ture to wash away by its action in deflecting the currents of the chan nel is five nautical miles, and it is quite probable, considering the distance of the point to be affected and the large volume of water in the channel to be deflected, that to accomplish the desired result a training wall nearly if not quite three miles long would be required. The probability of an early breacb at one or two points of the, Middle sands, so far at least as the rapid wearing away during the past year can support the asser tion, is very great, and it becomes a matter of serious consideration whether before material progress in the construction of the proposed work could be made, or even pre parations to undertake it perfected, the natural causes now in active operation would not have accom plished the desired result. As at training wall long enough to effect this object would consoli date and fix Clatsop spit in its present position, it might be well to inquire into the influence of such consolidation upon the future condition of the channel. The spit has been for years near its present position and extent, and though contracting considerably the water way between point Adams and cape Hancock, it has not had the effect of deepening the outlets, which have, on the contrary, diminished both in width and depth. The present position of this spit invites, if it does not compel, the tail of the Mid dle sands to trend to the southeast, and thus injuriously affects the outlet of the south chan nel, although its position and con siderable projection into the south channel have for many years been effectual in moving the middle ' sands to the west and also to the north, thereby injuriously affect ing the north channel in depth and width, as also in changing the direction of the south channel, to its injur and deterioration in depth and width; yet it does not appear that its effect in forcing a break through the middle sands, which might prove, at least tempo rarily beneficial, has been conspic uous. This naturally leads to a statement of a fact that the in creased southerly projection of Peacock spit during the past year has probably been the principal cause of the considerable increase of erosion across the middle sands west of Sand island. Clatsop spit in its change, of po sition and growth has unfortunate ly been associated with a great de terioration of navigation over the j bar, and it constitutes a principal feature in the poorest exhibition of i navigable facilities which the Co ! lumbia river at its mouth has af forded for the past ninety years. It is not the purpose to analyze the changes which have taken place in the channels and other featares which, however, have been mainly dependent upon the movement of Sand island with its shoal, and of Clatsop spit nor de termine whether one was caused by the other, or whether both movements were forced by the ;samc powerful agency. j It is sufficient, after what has I been pointed out, to state that the i present extent and position of J Clatsop spit constitute it a hurtful ! feature of the outlet, and that it would be a beneficial change if it were set back in the place which lit formerly occupied, in a direction hiearly west. The conclusion is that the pro- posed training wall along the in Jner edge should not be built, be- cause , First, it would be too short to effect the purpose designed, of j making a breach for the channel j across the middle sands. Second, if extended far enough I to be effectual, the training wall would consolidate Clatsop spit in I position and extent, and constitute a hurtful impediment to a future j improvement of the channel; and, 1 lurd, because the natural caus es now at work would succeed in making the desired breeches 'through the sands, or operate some s other convulsion, entirely chang ing the present conditions of the i entrance before effectual progress uuuui uu mau- in mi rousirucuon of the traininir wall. The features of the outlet, as they have been and now exist, possess neither fixed poition nor outlines, and it would seem to be first necessary, by the construc- j tion of a solid work, to force the ! ever-shifting channels and shoals j to assume general characteristics I of permanence before a definite solution of the problem of im provement could be effected, or j the possibility even of such result be predicted. If the middle sand, for in stance, could be consolidated by a detached work across the opening of tin river, leaving large inter vals at its extremities, viz, for a north channel between its north end and cape Hancock, and for a south channel between its south end and point Adams, a consider able advance would be made to bring the problem within the re sult of such solution as it would admit of. Auxiliary" works, as ex perience might dictate, would possibly be necessary, or sub merged jetties might be run out from cipe Hancock and point Ad ams, so as to insure a limited scour in a fixed direction, and thus obtain a suitable depth over the bar. But the changes which appear now to be imminent lead the board to think that all constructions at this time would be premature, as it is likely that the benefit from natural causes which will follow a change may endure for years. Moreover, any plan which could be devised might probably inter fere with the new courses of the channels supposed about to form, and even be impracticable under the new condition of things. For the above reasons, the board consider it unnecessary to submit any plan at this time for the im provement of the mouth of the Columbia. Respectfully submit ted. z. B. TOWER, Col. Enjc.,Bvt. Mai. (;en..U. S. A. JOIIX NEWTON, Col. Enc.. Rvt. Maj. Gen. HENRY L. ABBOT, Lieut. Col. En jr.. Bt. Brie. Gen. Brit,'. Gen. H. G. 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