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INTRODUCTION

This report on the Port of Baltimore, Md., is published as No. 10 of the Port Series. It supersedes a similar report published in 1946. The reports in the Port Series cover the principal United States seaports and are compiled and published jointly by the Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army, and the Maritime Administration, U. S. Department of Commerce, under authority of Section 8 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920.

The Department of the Army is charged by law with the planning and improvement of our harbors and navigable channels and, jointly with the Maritime Administration, is required to undertake investigations of ports and terminals and of the territory tributary to ports; to advise with communities regarding the appropriate location and plan of construction of wharves, piers, and water terminals; to investigate the practicability and advantages of harbor, river, and port improvements; and to investigate any other matter that may tend to promote and encourage the use by vessels of ports adequate to care for the freight which would naturally pass through such ports.

Acknowledgment is made of the assistance rendered by various port organizations, shipping and transportation companies, facility owners, city officals, and other local interests in the work of compiling data for this report.

Unless otherwise stated, the information contained in this report was current in May, 1955.

LIST OF REPORTS

(Compiled and published since January 1946)

G.P.O.

sales

price

Port Series:

No. 1 The Ports of Portland and Searsport, Maine and Portsmouth, N.H. (1952)..

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$1.25

1.25

2.00

2.50

2.75

6.00

No.

6 The Port of Albany, N.Y. (1954)...

.65

* No. 7 The Ports of Philadelphia, Pa., Camden and Gloucester, N.J. (1947)......

* No.

8 The Port of Wilmington, Del. (1947).

....

2.00 1.00

* No. 9 Ports on the Delaware River below and above Philadelphia, Pa. (1947)...

1.25

No. 10 The Port of Baltimore, Md. (1955)........

No. 11 The Ports of Hampton Roads, Va. (1948)...

2.00

No. 12 The Ports of Wilmington and Morehead City, N.C. (1950).

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No. 16 Ports on the South Atlantic Coast of the United States (1954)..
No. 17 The Port of Tampa, Fla. (1947)..

3.00

.75

No. 18 The Ports of Mobile, Ala., and Pensacola, Fla. (1949).
No. 19 The Ports of Gulfport and Pascagoula, Miss. (1949).
No. 20 The Port of New Orleans, La. (1947).

1.50

1.00

1.50

No. 21 The Port of Lake Charles, La. (1947)...

.65

No. 22 The Ports of Port Arthur, Beaumont, and Orange, Tex. (1947)...
No. 23 The Ports of Galveston and Texas City, Tex. (1948).

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No. 28 The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif. (1946)....
No. 30 The Ports of San Francisco and Redwood City, Calif. (1951)....
No. 31 The Ports of Oakland, Alameda, and Richmond and Ports on San
Pablo Bay, Carquinez Strait, and Mare Island Strait, Calif.
(1951)...

1.50

1.75

2.00

No. 32 The Ports of Stockton and Sacramento, Calif. (1951)..
No. 33 The Ports of Astoria, Oreg., and Longview and Vancouver, Wash.

1.00

(1952)......

2.00

No. 34 The Port of Portland, Oreg. (1952).

1.25

No. 35 The Ports of Tacoma, Grays Harbor, and Olympia, Wash. (1952)...
No. 36 The Port of Seattle, Washington (1952).

2.00

1.75

* Revisions in progress, 1955

Port Series:

LIST OF REPORTS (CONT'D.)
(Compiled and published since January 1946)

G.P.O. sales

price

No. 37 The Ports of Everett, Bellingham, and Port Angeles, Wash. (1952) $1.75 No. 40 The Panama Canal and its Ports (1946)...

Lake Series:

.75

No. 1 The Ports of Buffalo, N.Y., and Erie, Pa. (1952)..........

1.25

No. 2 The Ports of Conneaut, Ashtabula, and Fairport, Ohio (1950)...... 1.50 No. 3 The Port of Cleveland, Ohio (1950)....

1.75

No. The Ports of Lorain, Huron, and Sandusky, Ohio (1950)....
No. 5 The Port of Toledo, Ohio (1950)...

.... 1.50

1.00

No. 6 The Port of Detroit and Ports on the Saginaw River, Mich. (1949). 1.75

No. 7 The Ports of Chicago, Ill., Indiana Harbor, Ind., and Muskegon,
Mich. (1951)...........

2.25

No. 8 The Ports of Milwaukee, Manitowoc, and Green Bay, Wis., and
Escanaba, Mich. (1951)..

1.50

No. 9 The Ports of Duluth-Superior, Minn.-Wis., Two Harbors, Minn., and Ashland, Wis. (1949)..

1.50

Transportation Series:

No. 3 Transportation Lines on the Great Lakes System (1955).....

.60

No. 4 Transportation Lines on the Mississippi River System and the
Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (1955)..

1.50

No. 5 Transportation Lines on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific Coasts (1955)....

2.50

NOTE: Copies of these reports may be obtained by ordering directly from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., at prices quoted under G.P.O. sales price, with check or money order made payable to Superintendent of Documents.

PORT AND HARBOR CONDITIONS

LOCATION AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Baltimore, Maryland, the third largest city on the Atlantic seaboard, is situated on the west side of upper Chesapeake Bay about 173 statute miles north of the Virginia Capes, the entrance from the ocean to Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay. It is the most westerly of the north Atlantic ports and lies north of the center of the eastern coast line of the United States. The harbor comprises the broad estuary and tributaries of the Patapsco River which extends southeastward 14.5 miles from the head of navigation in the city of Baltimore to the Bay. Important terminal developments are concentrated at Sparrows Point on the north shore of the river 3 miles above the bay; in Curtis Bay which extends westward from a point 3.0 miles farther upstream and in Curtis Creek, a southerly tributary at the head of this bay; in Northwest Branch which extends northwesterly 3 miles from the main river at Fort McHenry, 9.5 miles above the mouth; and at Port Covington and other city waterfront locations along Patapsco River and Spring Garden, or Middle Branch, all to the west of Fort McHenry.

Baltimore Harbor, as defined by State law, consists of the navigable portions of Patapsco River and its tributaries. The Patapsco rises near the town of Westminster in Carroll County, Md., and flows in a general southeasterly direction for about 65 miles to enter Chesapeake Bay between North Point and Bodkin Point about 9.5 miles below Fort McHenry at Baltimore. Between its source and Hanover Street in Baltimore, the river is narrow and shallow. Navigation in this section is limited to very small boats. The width increases abruptly to about 1 mile immediately below Hanover Street, and thence gradually to about 4 miles

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at the mouth.

From the standpoint of commerce and navigation, the most important branches of the Patapsco River are the Northwest Branch, the Middle Branch, and Curtis Bay and its tributary, Curtis Creek. The Northwest Branch, known locally as the Inner Basin, is an irregularly shaped, landlocked tidal basin which extends about 3 miles in a northwesterly direction from Fort McHenry to within four city blocks of the center of Baltimore. The width of the basin varies from 1,200 to 3,000 feet. Middle Branch, known locally as Spring Garden, extends about 1.5 miles in a northwesterly direction from Ferry Bar past Hanover Street to the foot of Eutaw Street. It varies in width from 1,000 to 4,000 feet. Curtis Bay is an estuary on the southwest side of the Patapsco River about 6.0 miles above the mouth. It is about 2 miles long and 0.7 mile wide.

NAVIGATION CHANNELS

Passage from the sea, inbound through the Capes and up the Bay to Baltimore, is unimpeded by navigation difficulties. Natural deep water is available in the Bay except at York Spit opposite Cape Charles City, Va., where a channel 39 feet deep and 1,000 feet wide is maintained.

An improved channel about 20 miles long, the Main Ship Channel, extends from deep water at a point in Chesapeake Bay opposite the mouth of the Magothy River to the vicinity of Fort McHenry. This channel has been divided into sections designated as follows: Craighill entrance, Craighill, Craighill-Cutoff angle, Cutoff, Cutoff-Brewerton angle, Brewerton, Brewerton-Fort McHenry angle, and Fort McHenry. This channel is generally 600 feet wide with a depth of 39 feet from Chesapeake Bay to Fort McHenry at the entrance to the Northwest Branch.

Northwest Branch channel is 980 feet wide and 35 feet deep to about Boston Street. Opposite the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad piers it varies in width and has

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