1st Session.

PENNSYLVANIA.

REMONSTRANCE

AGAINST

Obstructing the navigation of the Ohio river, by the erection of a Bridge at Wheeling.

MARCH 26, 1832.

Read, and referred to the Committee of the Whole House to which is committed the bill (H. R. No. 327,) to erect a Bridge over the Ohio river at the town of Wheeling.

To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

The memorial of the subscribers, merchants, shippers, and others, citizens of Pennsylvania,

RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:

That your memorialists fear that great harm will be done the navigation of the Ohio river, by a bridge proposed to be erected across the Ohio river at Wheeling, Virginia. That your memorialists firmly believe that a bridge erected there, would not only present a dangerous obstruction to the navigation, particularly at night, but would totally arrest the passage of steamboats, and detain them for several days together, frequently during the seasons of freshets, which is the season of the greatest navigation and business. That, on occasions of high floods, (less high than the last one,) steamboats would not be able to pass such a bridge for weeks together. That steamboats pass and repass Wheeling, on their way to and from the head of the Ohio, at all hours by night and by day, to the number of six hundred in one year, some of them of five hundred tons burthen, and thirty feet high, exclusive of chimnies.

That, during the spring, and at all times, there is no comparison between the trade and travelling aseending and descending the Ohio, and that which crosses at Wheeling or any other point. That even the correspondence of western people during the seasons of navigation, is to a great extent, carried on, under the regulations of the Post Office, by steamboats. That the United States' mail may cross it with seldom any delay, and always with safety by means of steam ferry-boats. But that no elevation, and no plan of construction, could obviate entirely the objections to a bridge being thrown across this great river, which is now enlivened by a species of navigation peculiar in itself, and unrivalled in utility. Your petitioners respectfully

pray that the obstructions to this great and increasing navigation may not be increased, but, on the contrary, that they may be diminished by the continuance of the wise and liberal patronage of your honorable bodies.. And they will ever pray.

PITTSBURGH, March 15th, 1832.

To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States in Congress assembled:

The memorial of the undersigned citizens of Pittsburg,

RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:

That your memorialists are deeply interested in the safety and free navigation of the river Ohio, and its estuaries; that they have been much gratified by the wise and paternal legislation of Congress in providing for the removal of obstructions in its course, as well as in the Mississippi; that appropriations have heretofore been made, and applied with great benefit, by the State of Pennsylvania for improving the navigation of the Ohio to the state line; that they consider the power exercised by congress, in improving the channel and removing obstructions in the great rivers of the west, connecting different States and interests, as among the most salutary and beneficial results of our admirable system of Government.

Entertaining these views; in common with the great majority of their fellow-citizens, they have heard, with regret, that a bill has been reported at this session of Congress for an appropriation towards building a bridge across the Ohio river at Wheeling; as your memorialists are firmly persuaded that the erection of a bridge on the Ohio, would obstruct the channel, increase the current, and expose, to incalculable danger and loss, the numerous boats and water craft navigating or floating on its waters. Great delay and inconvenience must also result to steamboats in passing the superstructure of a bridge, especially in seasons of freshets or high water:-at such times, a passage would be impracticable.

Your memorialists, therefore, pray that your honorable bodies will not authorise any bridge to be built across the Ohio; but that you will make a further appropriation for removing the obstructions, and improving the channel, of that river from Pittsburgh to Louisville.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE HUDSON RIVER.

LETTER

FROM

THE SECRETARY OF WAR,

TRANSMITTING

A copy of the Survey and Report for the Improvement of the Hudson River.

MARCH 30, 1832.

Read, and committed to a Committee of the Whale House on the state of the Union.

DEPARTMENT OF WAR,

March 30, 1832.

SIR: In obedience to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th instant, I have the honor to transmit, herewith, a copy of "the survey and report for the improvement of the Hudson river."

I have the honor to be,
Very respectfully,

Hon. ANDREW STEVENSON,

Your obedient servant,

LEWIS CASS

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

TOPOGRAPHICAL BUREAU,

March 30, 1832.

SIR: I have the honor to lay before you the report and drawings of a survey made by De Witt Clinton, esq., of a part of the Hudson river, near Albany, called for by a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th instant.

With great respect,
I remain, sir,

Your obedient servant,

Hon. LEWIS CASs, Secretary of War.

J. J. ABERT, Lt. Col. T. E.

To Lieutenant Colonel JOHN J. ABERT, Topographical Engineer:

SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report on a hydrographic survey of part of the Hudson river, in the State of New York, between the village of Waterford and the foot of Schodac island, made by order of the Engineer Department, for the purpose of devising a plan for the improvement of the navigation, accompanied with such remarks, facts, estimates, and drawings, as will tend to assist in our investigations, and to correctly appreciate the amount and extent of the obstructions, and the means to be applied to overcome them effectually.

By the tenor of my instructions my attention was directed to ascertain the extent and character of the submarine stratum of the bed of the stream; the depth of water in the various channels, and position, extent and soils of islands; the velocity of the current; the points at which deposites accumulated; the width of the stream and its branches; and such other facts as should present themselves during my examinations.

There is in active preparation to accompany this report, seven sheets of drawings, containing a hydrographic chart of the survey. They are marked in numeral progression, and combine a minute description of the stream, islands, shores and channels, and to which I have added, in this report, a full account of each section of the river as delineated on the sheets.

The survey was made by measuring base lines with a chain, and ascertaining, by a theodolite, the angle of the base and angles of intersection on the opposite shores and islands on a combination of different and mixed colored flags; the soundings, by moving with an uniform velocity over different lines, and heaving a lead, at equal spaces of time, and ascertaining the depth of water in feet and inches; and the work, at different places, was united by a circumferentor with the points established by the theodolite.

To reduce the soundings to the lowest condition of the river tide, registers were kept at Troy, Albany, Castleton and New Baltimore. The surface of the river was observed in the morning, and its rise above and below that plane was repeated hourly until the labors of the day ceased. This established the rise and fall of the river during the day's operation, and the soundings were afterwards reduced to the lowest waters found in the registers, and again to the lowest condition of the stream. It will, therefore, be understood, that the soundings delineated on the sheets, exhibit the river in its extremest state in the summer and autumn of 1831.

The direction and force of the currents were ascertained by anchoring a boat in the stream, and permitting it to swing with the tides. Its direction was then determined by a marine compass fixed over the keel of the boat, and its velocity by a sand glass, a float, and a line.

In relation to the currents, it is proper to remark, that they constantly vary with floods and tides. It would, therefore, require to establish them on principles of science to conduct, for a long time, an expensive and laborious series of observations, which would be more useful as matters of fact, than to assist in forming a plan for the improvement of the navigation of the river.

SHEET No. 1.

1. The length of the river delineated on this sheet is 4 miles, and extends from the Waterford bridge to the foot of Albany street, (city of Troy.)

yards, and from the last point to the foot of Albany street, 1 mile and 180 yards.

2. The river at the Waterford bridge at low water is 510 feet wide, and, from bank to bank, 630 feet; at the first branch of the Mohawk, 840 feet; at the second, it is 960 feet; at Lansingburgh, 760 feet. The length of the dam, pier and sloop lock, is 1,325 feet; at the foot of Federal street in Troy, Crossing Fish island, 1,700 feet. At the foot of Albany street, and the mouth of the 4th branch of the Mohawk, 1,230 feet. The narrowest part of the sloop channel, between the sloop lock and the foot of Albany street, is 210 feet.

3. The width of the first branch of the Mohawk at its mouth is 405 feet. The second is 150 feet. The third is 530 feet. The fourth is 625 feet, measured from the lower point of Tibbett's island to the bend of the pier. 4. Velocity of current at Waterford bridge 2 feet, at the first branch of Mohawk 13 feet, at Waterford docks 1 foot, and at the foot of the sloop lock one foot per second.

5. First island on map 320 yards long, 30 yards wide, 9,600 square yds.

Second

Third

Fourth

do.

23

do.

Islands below dam and sloop lock:

The islands are all low, and are commonly inundated by the spring and fall floods. They are, however, all cultivated except Adam's. The soil is alluvion. They occupy superficially one-twelfth part of the arca of the entire stream between Waterford and Troy.

6. The banks on both sides of the stream at the Waterford bridge are about 30 feet above low water, and slope at an angle of 45°. The bed of the river is slate rock, covered with a thin coat of gravel. The western

margin maintains its elevation until it approaches the mouth of the first branch of the Mohawk river. From this point to the end of the sheet there exist three islands, which separate the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. They are all low, with a light soil, except Tibbett's island, which is more elevated and sterile. The four branches of the Mohawk river, which form the islands I have alluded to, have a rapid descent, and glide over rock bottoms. The bank on the east side maintains its elevation throughout the section. The soil of the banks is a fine and coarse gravel, intermixed with slate rock. 7. The distance from the west pier of the Waterford bridge to the north point at the mouth of the first branch of the Mohawk, is 1,395 feet; and from the latter to the docks is 450 feet; and the length of the wharfing which extends to the Champlain canal is 540 feet. The deepest water opposite to the point is 7 feet, and the greatest within the branch is 8 feet, and the least depth, on a line passing directly to the east bank of the Hudson, is 6 feet, and the greatest depth of water 14 feet. The line of the deepest water runs obliquely from the bridge to the point which I have before mentioned. The deepest water in that distance is 9 feet. On a line parallel with, and immediately below the Waterford bridge, the greatest depth is 14