DOCUMENT DIV MITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS SEVENTY-SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H. R. 5993 3ILL AUTHORIZING THE CONSTRUCTION, REPAIR, 572 FEBRUARY 28, 1941 TO JANUARY 26, 1942 UNITED STATES I WASHINGTON: 1942 RIVER AND HARBOR BILL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 1941 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS, Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Joseph J. Mansfield (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. We will take up first this morning the project for Portland Harbor, Maine. PORTLAND HARBOR, MAINE (H. Doc. 560, 76th Cong.) Colonel Hall, resident member of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, is here this morning, and he can give us the information in reference to the several projects that we will have under consideration. Colonel Hall, will you tell us about Portland Harbor, Maine? STATEMENT OF COL. CHARLES L. HALL, RESIDENT MEMBER, BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS Colonel HALL. Mr. Chairman, this project was authorized by the River and Harbor Act approved August 26, 1937. Portland Harbor is at the west end of Casco Bay, 100 miles northeast of Boston. The authorized improvement provides for a depth of 35 feet in the lower part of the harbor and in the main ship channel which enters the bay from the south between Cushing Island and Portland Head; for the removal to a depth of 40 feet of 2 rock ledges in the main channel; for channels 30 feet deep in Fore River and in the entrance to Back Cove, and of lesser depth in the cove; for a depth of 30 feet in an anchorage area of 128 acres lying northwest of Diamond Island Ledge; and for a stone breakwater along the south side of the inner harbor. All this work has been completed, except for the removal of the two rock ledges, at a cost to June 30, 1938, of $2,270,000 for new work and $515,000 for maintenance since 1836. The approved estimate of annual cost of maintenance is $20,000. The mean range of tide is 8.9 feet. Local interests, representatives of government, industry, and commerce, request dredging to a depth of 35 feet of an area of 170 acres lying between House Island and Diamond Island Ledge to provide safe anchorage for the large vessels now coming into general use in the normal commerce of the port. |