The tidal wa•erway along the coast of Vir ginia, including Cat Myer and Bogues Bay, with a channel four feet deep and 23 feet wide, had a tonnage in 1917 of 109,024 tons.
Four routes were surveyed for that intra coastal canal and the route via the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal was recommended. It follows the existing waterway, via Neuse River, Adams Creek, Adams Creek Canal, Core Creek and Newport River. Several rivers which flow into the Atlantic Ocean and into the bays con nected by this intracoastal canal are being im proved for some distance up from their outlets and wharves and terminal facilities are being installed along their navigable waters. Roanoke River is 198 miles long, and from Weldon to its mouth, a distance of 429 miles, it is being im proved to secure a channel 50 feet in width and six feet in depth. In 1917 its commerce was 78,736 tons. The Roanoke flows into Albe marle Sound, which is about SO miles long and from five to eight miles wide, and it communi cates through Croaton Sound with Pamlico Sound, which is 75 miles long and about 20 miles wide. These sounds will be connected with the Chesapeake by the intracoastal canal, having a depth of 12 feet and destined to do an active business.
The Wilmington, N. C.. district comprises 25 rivers and harbors, including Beaufort Harbor, N. C and several inland waterways and Cape Fear River. Most of the sounds are shallow and communicate with the Atlantic Ocean. Into Pamlico Sound flows the Pamlico and the River Neuse. The Cape Fear, Black and East Cape Fear rivers have been improved. Most of the other rivers and harbors of the Wilmington, N. C., district will be improved and brought into navigable communication with the coastal canal.
South Atlantic States.— The Charleston. S. C., district includes 11 rivers and harbors. The Waccamaw River is to be improved its entire length of 147 miles. The Little Peedce, South Carolina, is to be improved 113 miles above its outlet into the Great Peeder River, so as to have a four-foot channel. The Santee River is to be improved and a canal constructed between Estherville and Minim Creek, six feet deep and 70 feet wide for river steamers. Wateree River is to have a four-foot navigable channel from Camden to its mouth, a distance of 67 miles.
The Congaree River is to have a four-foot navigable channel for 49 miles above its mouth. The creeks, sounds, rivers and bays between Charleston Harbor and Alligator Creek for a distance of 47% miles are being connected by a channel 100 feet wide and six feet deep at mean low water, and another channel seven feet deep has been recommended from Win yah Bay to Charleston, via Estherville-Minim Creek Canal. Charleston Harbor has an area of six square miles and is to be im proved by the construction of a channel 30 feet deep and 500 feet wide from the sea up to the navy yard, and 1,000 feet wide out to seaward. The North Jetty is 15,443 feet long and the South Jetty is 19,104 feet long and the e way between them is 2,900 feet wide. The east
ern waterfront of Charleston Harbor has three-quarters of a mile of piers and the same length of marginal wharves. On the western front there is one small public wharf. The ton nage of the port in 1917 was 766,026 tons. The harbor is formed at the confluence of the Ash ley and Cooper rivers. The Ashley River is being improved by constructing a channel 24 feet deep at mean low water and 300 feet wide from the mouth of the river up to the Standard wharf, a distance of seven and one-half miles and of eight feet depth above that to Lambs. Ashley River also has 12 phosphate wharves. Cooper River has been improved to a depth of 32 feet for six miles and a marginal wharf and warehouses have been built along it.
Savannah, Ga., district comprises 16 rivers and harbors. Savannah Harbor is being im proved by a channel 30 feet deep and 500 feet wide to Quarantine, thence 26 feet deep and from 400 to 500 feet wide to the city water aorks, a distance of 16 miles, and thence 21 feet deep and 300 feet wide, one and one-half miles to King's Island, making the entire length of the improvement miles. The turning basin at West Broad and Barnard streets is 26 feet deep and 600 feet wide with a basin at Fort Oglethorp 26 feet deep and 900 feet wide. It has a wharf frontage of five miles, comprising municipal, private and railway terminals. Its tonna in 1917 was 2,429,288 tons. From Sa 17 miles from the sea to Augusta, 218 miles from the sea, the Savannah River has a navigable channel of five feet depth, and along its course on many landings and at Augusta are private wharves with a total frontage of 1,450 feet. It also has a municipal wharf and ware house with an electrically equipped elevator and locomotive crane. From Augusta to Petersburg, a distance of 53 miles, a channel is being main tained from 12 to 25 feet wide for vessels with a draft of one and three-tenths feet. A waterway 53 miles long with a depth of seven feet is being constructed along Rairishorn Creek. Wright and Mud rivers from Savannah to Beaufort, S. C. Another waterway is being constructed from Beaufort, S. C., to Saint John's River, Florida. Still another project provides for a channel seven feet deep and 150 feet wide from Savan nah, Ga., to Fernandina, Fla., through Skidway and Creighton Narrows, Little Mud River, Frederica and Jekyl creeks and Cumberland River, a distance of 147 miles. Auxiliary chan nels through Three Mile Cut, near Darien, amund Saint Simon*: and Saint Andrew's Sound and along Club and Plantation Creek with supplemental routes. altogether measuring 1R3 miles. These improved natural channels made navigation safer and reduced freight rates. An improved waterway, 29 miles long, seven fret deep and 100 feet wide, connects Saint John's River, Florida, six miles from its mouth, with Cumberland Sound, Georgia. Other water ways and harbors in that region are being im proved.