ALASKA FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT Fairbanks flood control project (Chena River) (authorized in 1958).—This project is designed to protect the city of Fairbanks, the adjacent urban area, and Ladd Air Force Base from floods originating in the headwaters of the Chena River. It provides for an earth fill diversion dam located about 4 miles upstream from the Air Force Base and a control structure which will permit a maximum flow of 18,000 cubic feet per second in the Chena River through Ladd Air Force Base and Fairbanks, diverting the remainder of the flood waters through a channel with a capacity of 23,000 cubic feet per second for a distance of about 5.2 miles into the Tanana River. An earth levee would be constructed from the control structure along the diversion channel for about 5 miles then paralleling the Tanana River for about 7 miles to a point immediately below Fairbanks International Airport near the mouth of the Chena River. Total estimated Federal cost of project.. Amount requested for fiscal year 1961-‒‒‒‒‒‒ $10, 800, 000 100,000 300, 000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Planning. Skagway river (authorized in 1946).-Skagway is the terminal point of the White Pass and Yukon Railway, which through Whitehorse, its northern terminus, serves the Yukon territory and interior Alaska. The city is subject to damaging floods from the Skagway River during September and October, resulting from a combination of early snow and late fall rains. The original project consisted of a rock, brush, and earth training dike on the left bank of the Skagway River, extending from 23d Avenue Bridge downstream 6,700 feet, and a rubble-mound breakwater 1,800 feet long across the tide flats in a southerly prolongation of the training dike. This project was completed as a river and harbor project in 1940 at a cost of $62,173 in Federal funds. It is estimated that damages in the amount of $70,000 have been prevented during the life of the existing project. Severe floods in 1943-44, 1945, and 1951 resulted in damages to the city dike and breakwater. Emergency diking measures by Army and civilian personnel, however, prevented actual flooding of the business and residendial districts and airport. Total estimated Federal cost of project_. Amount in 1961 budget-- Amount requested for fiscal year 1961_. 1Including $23,000 already spent. 1 $995,000 0 972, 000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Provide reinforcement and extension of the rock dike on the left bank upstream from the 23d Avenue Bridge and reconstruction of the breakwater to the original project dimensions and a 300-foot extension thereto. ALASKA NAVIGATION PROJECT Douglas Harbor (authorized in 1958).—Juneau Harbor and Douglas Harbor are located at the head of deep water navigation in Gastineau Channel, which separates Douglas Island from the mainland and forms a single deep-water port, nine-tenths of a mile wide and 2 miles long between the two cities. In addition to its governmental activities as capital of Alaska, Juneau is an important trading and industrial center for the area with major activity in fishing and fish processing; and since the completion of the channel bridge between Juneau and Douglas in 1935, Douglas has been growing as a residential and industrial suburb of Juneau. On the Juneau side just north of the Juneau-Douglas Bridge, the existing project provides for a small boat basin 112 acres in the area with a depth of 12 feet at mean lower low water and protected by two rock-mound breakwaters with a total length of 1,970 feet. Work on this project was completed in 1939 at a cost of $150,716 in Federal funds. The average annual tonnage handled at the port of Juneau for the years 1936 through 1957 was 151,169 tons. A modification to the existing project was authorized in 1958 which would provide for a small boat basin at Douglas. The mooring basin at Douglas would be 5.2 acres in extent and 12 feet deep at mean lower low water with a protective jetty 90 feet long. This basin would accommodate 150 boats. Total estimated Federal cost of project__ Amount in 1961 budget-‒‒ Amount requested for fiscal year 1961_. Including $6,000 already spent. 1 1 $370, 000 0 364, 000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Completion of project; small boat basin. Homer Harbor (authorized in 1958).-The town of Homer, located on Kachemak Bay at the southern end of the Kenai Peninsula, is in an area of rapid development. The bay furnishes excellent anchorage for large vessels but none for small vessels. This project provides for a small boat basin located on the end of Homer Spit which extends 41⁄2 miles into Kachemak Bay, and the end of which is ice-free at all times. The plan of improvement consists of dredging a mooring basin 400 by 300 feet to a depth of 12 feet below mean lower low water protected by an L-shaped rock breakwater 850 feet in total length to provide space for 80 boats. This proposed small boat harbor would permit fishing boats to operate 4 additional months for shellfish instead of being stored on grids after the salmon and halibut seasons, would permit owners to base at Homer, and would afford a port of refuge for boats during storms in Cook Inlet. Total estimated Federal cost of project--. Amount requested for fiscal year 1961. 1 Including $8,000 already spent. 1$550,000 542,000 542,000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Completion of project; small boat basin and breakwater. Juneau Harbor (authorized in 1958).—Juneau Harbor and Douglas Harbor are located at the head of deepwater navigation in Gastineau Channel, which separates Douglas Island from the mainland and forms a single deepwater port, nine-tenths of a mile wide and 2 miles long between the two cities. In addition to its governmental activities as capital of Alaska, Juneau is an important trading and industrial center for the area with major activity in fishing and fish processing; and since the completion of the channel bridge between Juneau and Douglas in 1935, Douglas has been growing as a residential and industrial suburb of Juneau. On the Juneau side just north of the Juneau-Douglas Bridge, the existing project provides for a small boat basin 111⁄2 acres in area with a depth of 12 feet at mean lower low water and protected by two rock-mound breakwaters with a total length of 1,970 feet. Work on this project was completed in 1939 at a cost of $150,716 in Federal funds. The average annual tonnage handled at the port of Juneau for the years 1936 through 1957 was 151,169 tons. A modification to the existing project was authorized in 1958 which would relieve the congested conditions in the present Juneau small boat harbor by providing a second small boat basin at Juneau, and, across Gastineau Channel, a small boat basin at Douglas. The proposed basin at Juneau to be located north of and adjacent to the existing basin would be 19 acres in extent and 12 to 14 feet deep at mean lower low water with a protective jetty 530 feet long and a breakwater 1,150 feet long. It would provide space for 550 additional boats. Total estimated Federal cost of project Amount in 1961 budget__. Amount requested for fiscal year 1961. 1 Including $12,000 already spent. 1 1 $1,970,000 0 1.958,000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Completion of project; small boat basin, jetty, and breakwater. Ninilchik Harbor (authorized in 1958).-The village of Ninilchik is located about halfway up Cook Inlet on the western coast of the Kenai Peninsula. This project provides for a small boat basin 320 feet long by 150 feet wide dredged to a depth of 2 feet above mean lower low water. Entrance to the basin would utilize 600 feet of existing river channel with excavation to 9 feet abore mean lower low water of an additional 400 feet through the spit, which separates the Ninilchik River from Cook Inlet, and protected by a single-row pile jetty 410 feet in length. Utilizing a reef and damming the present channel of the river with excavated material, the basin would be maintained at a depth of 7 feet and would accommodate 32 boats. Total estimated Federal cost of project- Amount requested for fiscal year 1961. 1 Including $5,000 already spent. 18234,000 0 099.000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Completion of project; small boat basin and jetty. Seldovia Harbor (authorized in 1958).-Seldovia is located on the southwest shore of Kenai Peninsula on the east shore of Seldovia Bay, an arm of Cook Inlet. This is one of the few ice-free harbors in Cook Inlet. The authorization provides for construction of a small boat basin in a sheltered cove by dredging to 12 feet below mean low water over an area 300 feet wide and 700 feet long protected by two rubble-mound breakwaters 400 and 600 feet long to provide space for 140 boats. Fishing is the basic industry of Seldovia, and a protected small boat basin will afford the fishing fleet adequate moorage in an area where tides range as much as 27 feet. Total estimated Federal cost of project_. Amount in 1961 budget.. Amount requested for fiscal year 1961 Including $20,000 already spent. 1 1 $568, 000 548,000 548, 000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Completion of project; small boat basin and breakwaters. Wrangell Narrows (authorized in 1945).—-This passage lies on the route of all vessels operating to points in southeastern Alaska from Pacific coast ports of the Western States or Canada, and forms a part of the Inside Passage. The port of Petersburg is located at the head of the narrows and the port of Wrangell lies 47 miles to the south. Prior to its completion, vessels unable to use the narrows because of tide, darkness, or size had to sail around Cape Decision, 90 miles farther. The original project consisted of blasting and dredging a channel 200 feet wide and 21 feet deep at mean lower low water through the narrows. This phase of the work was completed in 1928 at a cost of $452,971 in Federal funds. Enlargement, easement of curves, and removal of rock pinnacles was included in a Public Works Administration program which was completed in August 1934 at a cost of $136,737. Additional dredging of the channel to a width of 300 feet and a depth of 24 feet at mean lower low water along an improved alinement was started in 1946 and completed in 1951, at a cost of $2,605,794 in Federal funds. The project is 80 percent complete. The average annual tonnage of commodities passing through the narrows from the years 1936 through 1957 was 297,394 tons. In 1945, a modification of the existing project was authorized to provide a channel 300 feet wide and 24 feet deep at mean lower low water with improvement of the alinement of the original 200- by 21-foot channel and to provide an anchorage basin 500 yards long by 200 feet wide and 26 feet deep at mean lower low water in the vicinity of mile 14. The channel work was completed but dredging of the anchorage basin remains to be done. Total estimated Federal cost of project-. Amount requested for fiscal year 1961 1 Including $2,000 already spent. 1 1 $765, 000 0 763, 000 Work to be accomplished with requested amount: Completion of project; anchorage basin. ALASKA GENERAL INVESTIGATION NAVIGATION Gastineau Channel.-Gastineau Channel is a 16-mile-long strait extending in a northwesterly direction from Stephens Passage to Fritz Cove and separates Douglas Island from the mainland. Between Juneau, which is located midway, and Stephens Passage, the channel averages about three quarters of a mile in width, with a depth ranging from 15 to 40 fathoms rendering this reach navigable by ocean vessels calling at Juneau. Within 4 miles north of Juneau the channel is merged only at high tide. A short channel through a portion of the Gastineau Channel bar was straightened and deepened by territorial authorities in 1917. This channel has a controlling elevation of about 15 feet above mean lower low water and is navigated to a limited extent by small boats at high tide. The act of March 2, 1945, authorized a channel depth to mean lower low water for which funds were provided. The existing authority for the dredging precluded dredging to a depth of 10 feet below mean lower low water and local interests have requested the greater channel depth. A survey directed by Senate Public Works Committee resolution of August 3, 1959, calls for a review of the Gastineau Channel project for possible greater channel depth dredging. Total estimated Federal cost of survey. Amount requested for fiscal year 1961- $20,000 20,000 Harbors and rivers.—Interim Report No. 7 Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers in Division for review. Review of interim Report No. 2 Cook Inlet to be submitted in two parts. First part on Bradley Lake scheduled for completion near end of 1960 fiscal year. Second part includes Kasilof and Anchorage small boat harbors, Kenai deep-draft harbor and Matanuska River flood control scheduled for completion near end of 1961 fiscal year; $359,200 from navigation and $795,200 from flood control funds have been allocated through 1960 fiscal year. The following interim reports have been completed : No. 1 (southeastern Alaska); No. 2 (Cook Inlet and tributaries); No. 3 (Copper River and gulf coast); No. 4 (Tanana River Basin); partial interim Report No. 5 (Kodiak Harbor); No. 5 (southwestern Alaska); No. 6 (northwestern Alaska). Bradley Lake lies about 4 miles southeast of the head of Kachemak Bay, which indents the Kenai Peninsula coast just north of its southwesterly tip. A dam at the lake outlet would raise the water surface about 105 feet to completely control the estimated annual runoff. It is estimated that about 23,000 kilowatts of low-cost prime power are available from a basic development of Bradley Lake drainage. Auxiliary downstream installation could add substantially to the annual energy output. Total estimated Federal cost of surveyAmount in 1961 budget__. Amount requested for 1961 fiscal year--- $430,000 40,000 40,000 Hydaburg-Hydaburg is located on Sukkwan Straits, on the west side of Prince of Wales Island. The town is situated on the eastern side of the straits, near their northwestern terminous. Relatively good protection is afforded from all directions except that of the south and southeast. Almost all the severe storms in this area approach from these directions, using the straits as a natural channel. Twice in the winter of 1959-60 wind velocities have reached more than 95 m.p.h. and winds of 50 to 70 m.p.h. are common occurrences. A fleet of some 25 seine and trolling boats with a combined value of close to $500,000 is permanently based at hydaburg. Presently, in the winter, the boats use a small cove about 1 mile from the cannery dock for anchorage. Value of transient boats, not including scheduled carriers such as the mailboat and tanker, would approach $50,000. It is estimated there is an average of 8 to 10 landings per day at the cannery dock during the year for such purposes as fuel, provisions, repairs, delivering fish, taking ice, etc. The residents of Hydaburg are owners of the salmon cannery, which is the principal source of income in the community. The major portion of this installation is on piling which extends into Sukkwan Straits and is exposed to the full force of southerly or southeasterly storms. The dock structure was constructed in 1949 and while new held up fairly well against the sea and wind. However, the wear and tear of heavy storms and the tugging of boats are having adverse effects on the structure. A breakwater would insure years of use of the dock structure without the expense of extensive repairing or rebuilding. This community-owned installation could not be replaced for $700.000. The residents desire a breakwater. Survey directed by Senate Public Works Committee resolution of February 9, 1960, for possible breakwater protection. Total estimated Federal cost of survey. Amount requested for 1961 fiscal year__. $22,000 0 14,000 Knudson Cove.-Knudson Cove on Revillagigedo Island in southeastern Alaska is located in the center of one of the major sport and commercial fishing areas of southeastern Alaska. Hundreds of fishing boats, both sport and commercial. use the mooring facilities there. Knudson Cove is completely unsuitable for winter moorage due to lack of a breakwater to protect moorage facilities and boats suffer great damage each year because of lack of breakwater protection. Survey directed by Senate Public Works Committee resolution of November 24, 1959, for possible breakwater protection. Total estimated Federal cost of survey. Amount in 1961 budget. Amount requested for 1961 fiscal year---- $20,000 0 15, 000 Petersburg Harbor.-Petersburg, located on Mitkof Island at the northern limit of Wrangell Narrows, is one of the larger ports in southeastern Alaska, and constitutes the principal supply and distributing center for an extensive and highly productive surrounding area. This project provided for the dredging of suitable approaches to the existing wharves to a depth of 24 feet at mean lower low water; a small boat basin 11 feet deep between Trading Union Wharf and Citizens Wharf to a line following the present mean lower low water line: and a short channel 40 feet wide and 8 feet deep on the south side of the Forest Service float. This work was completed in 1937 at a cost of $88,387 in Federal funds. The project was modified in 1945 to include enlarging the basin by dredging an area of about 135,000 square feet adjacent to and shoreward of the existing project to a depth of 11 feet at mean lower low water. A further modification authorized in 1954, provided for deepening the outer one-third of the existing basin to a depth of 15 feet at mean lower low water. Work on these two modifications was completed in 1957 at a cost of $163.243 in Federal funds. The average annual tonnage handled at this port for the years 1936 through 1957 was 30,793 tons. Survey directed by Senate Public Works Committee resolution dated February 14, 1959, for possible deepening and enlarging of existing boat harbor. Total estimated Federal cost of survey- Amount requested for fiscal year 1961-.. $18,000 7,000 18, 000 Seward.-Seward is the southern ocean terminus of the Alaska Railroad and is the point of transfer from water to rail of practically all freight, other than military, which is routed through Whittier, for the interior of Alaska. The average annual tonnage handled at the port of Seward during the years 1936 through 1957 was 328,909 tons. Seward is also the center of a fishing industry. The original project provided for a harbor of refuge for small boats 207,000 square feet in area and 121⁄2 feet deep at mean lower low water, and a south breakwater 580 feet long with an elevation of 16 feet above mean lower low water. This work was completed in 1931 at a cost of $103,203 in Federal funds. A modification of the project was found necessary due to strong northerly winds. A rubble-mound breakwater 950 feet in length also at an elevation of 16 feet above mean lower low water on the north side of the basin was constructed in 1937 at a Federal cost of $50,951. A modification of the basin, authorized in 1954 and completed in 1956 at a Federal cost of $137.133 provided for the raising of the south breakwater to an elevation of 19 feet above mean lower low water and the construction of two pile breakwaters to partially close the east entrance. Total costs to date for this project have been $291,287 in Federal funds. With the aid of the Alaska Highways and Public Works Department, the residents of Seward have acted to install 374 feet of additional floats to accommodate only shallow draft craft and the officials of Seward have already received many applications for moorage space to take all additional float area. Several shrimp processing plants have been established at Seward and in 1959 the Seward residents were anticipating 25 to 30 additional shrimp boats, along with 50 to 80 trollers. There is no moorage space for these additional shrimp and other fishing fleets. Survey directed by Senate Public Works Committee resolution of June 16, 1959, for possible expansion of existing small boat harbor. Total estimated Federal cost of survey. Amount requested for 1961 fiscal year.. $18,000 0 18,000 Four Valdez.-Valdez is the ocean terminus of the Richardson Highway. teen island settlements are dependent upon small-boat transportation to Valdez. The original project provided for a small-boat and seaplane basin 300 by 400 feet, dredged to a depth of 12 feet below mean lower low water in the tide flat are between the wharves, and a diversion of a small creek away from the basin site. The project was completed in 1939 at a cost of $52,361 in Federal funds. The basin is used as a base for commercial fishing in addition to utiliza |