UMPQUA HARBOR AND RIVER, OREG. DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY, OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, Washington, March 26, 1948. Subject: Umpqua Harbor and River at Winchester Bay, Oreg. 1. I submit herewith for transmission to Congress the report of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors in response to resolution of the Committee on Commerce of the United States Senate, adopted September 28, 1945, requesting the Board to review the reports on Umpqua Harbor and River, Oreg., contained in Senate Document No. 191, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, and previous reports, with a view to determining whether modification of the existing project is advisable at this time to provide for further improvement of Winchester Bay, Oreg. 2. After full consideration of the reports secured from the district and division engineers, the Board recommends modification of the existing project for Umpqua River, Oreg., to provide for a channel 12 feet deep and 100 feet wide from deep water in the river to the vicinity of the docks in Winchester Bay with a mooring and turning basin 12 feet deep, 175 feet wide and 300 feet long at the inner end, in general accordance with the plans of the district engineer, at an estimated cost to the United States of $34,500 for new work and $500 annually for maintenance in addition to the amount required for the project as now authorized: Provided local interests agree to (a) furnish free of cost to the United States all necessary lands, easements, and rights-of-way including suitable spoil-disposal areas for the new work and subsequent maintenance, when and as required; (b) hold and save the United States free from all damages resulting from the improvement; and (c) in lieu of the initial contribution of $10,000 required by the existing project, construct, maintain, and operate suitable public terminal and mooring facilities with essential utilities and supply services at the basin, open to all on equal terms, and at their own expense maintain project depths within the mooring and turning basin after its construction has been accomplished. 3. After due consideration of these reports, I concur in the views and recommendations of the Board. R. A. WHEELER, REPORT OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS, Subject: Umpqua Harbor and River at Winchester Bay, Oreg. 1. This report is in response to the following resolution adopted September 28, 1945: Resolved by the Committee on Commerce of the United States Senate, That the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, created under section 3 of the River and Harbor Act, approved June 13, 1902, be, and is hereby, requested to review the reports on Umpqua Harbor and River, Oregon, contained in Senate Document numbered 191, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, and previous reports, with a view to determining whether modification of the existing project is advisable at this time to provide for further improvement of Winchester Bay, Oregon. 2. Umpqua River, Oreg., empties into the Pacific Ocean 180 miles south of the mouth of Columbia River. Winchester Bay is a widening at the entrance of a tributary creek on the south side of the river 2 miles above its mouth. From deep water in the river a narrow natural channel extends southeasterly some 2,000 feet into the bay to a public landing and privately owned wharf and fish-packing plant at the town of Winchester Bay. This channel is 5 to 8 feet deep below mean lower low water except at its inner end where depths are 1.5 to 4 feet. The range of tide between mean lower low water and mean higher high water at the river mouth is 6.9 feet. The Federal project for Umpqua River provides for a jetty-protected entrance channel 26 feet deep and thence a river channel 22 feet deep, 200 feet wide and about 11 miles long to Reedsport; a turning basin at Reedsport; a side channel 22 feet deep and about 7,000 feet long extending from the main channel near mile 8 to Gardiner; a turning basin at Gardiner; and for a channel 10 feet deep, 100 feet wide and about 2,200 feet long from deep water in the river to the vicinity of the docks in Winchester Bay with a mooring and turning basin 10 feet deep, 175 feet wide and 300 feet long at the inner end. The project has been completed except that the channels to Gardiner and Winchester Bay and their turning basins, which were authorized in 1945, have not been constructed. Costs to the United States to June 30, 1946, were $2,388,706 for new work and $1,470,952 for maintenance. In addition $276,500 contributed by local interests was expended for new work. Local interests also spent $157,600 for construction of a dredge and for dredging between the river mouth and Reedsport. Construction of the channel and basin in Winchester Bay is subject to the condition that local interests contribute $10,000 to the first cost and agree to provide spoil disposal areas and to hold the United States free from claims for damages. Federal funds have not been available for this work and the conditions of local cooperation have not yet been met. 3. The town of Winchester Bay, with population of about 300 in 1940, is primarily a commercial fishing village. Catering to sports fishermen also contributes to its income. One of the best ocean fishing grounds along the Pacific coast is the Heceta Bank which has its southern end about 18 miles north of the mouth of Umpqua River and thence extends north for several miles. This bank is noted as a feeding ground for salmon and halibut. The nearest deep-draft ports are at Coos Bay 21 miles to the south of Umpqua River and at Yaquina Bay 75 miles to its north. Winchester Bay is about 10 miles nearer the Heceta salmon feeding grounds than is Yaquina Bay and 20 miles nearer than Coos Bay. Many fishermen fishing at these grounds operate from Coos Bay. Siuslaw River, 26 miles north of Umpqua River, has a federally improved channel but the project depth at its entrance is only 8 feet. Commerce on Umpqua River during the years 1942 to 1945, inclusive, averaged 466,000 tons annually consisting of 147,000 tons of vessel traffic and 319,000 tons of rafted logs. Reported commerce for Winchester Bay during that period averaged 105 tons of salmon and 227 tons of crabs annually. At present about 25 local fishing boats with drafts of about 4 feet operate regularly out of Winchester Bay and about twice this number of transient vessels enter the bay occasionally during the fishing season. 4. Local interests desire that the authorized depth for the channel and basin in Winchester Bay be increased from 10 feet to 12 feet and that the provision of the existing project which makes the work in Winchester Bay contingent upon local interests contributing $10,000 to the first cost be rescinded. In support of the request for increased depth they state that fishing vessels are now being built with loaded drafts of between 10 and 11 feet. They claim that passenger excursion boats would use the bay if improved to the desired depth. The port plans to spend at least $10,000 for additional terminal facilities and local interests contend that in view thereof they should be relieved of the burden of contributing to the first cost of the project works. 5. When the 10-foot channel and basin in Winchester Bay were originally recommended to Congress in 1941, the cost of construction was estimated at $44,000 of which $10,000 was to be borne by local interests, and the Federal annual cost for maintenance of the channel and basin was estimated at $1,000. The latter figure was based on accomplishing the work in conjunction with maintenance of the ship channel in Umpqua River so as to avoid additional costs for separate mobilization and demobilization of equipment. The district engineer now anticipates that much of the main channel maintenance may be accomplished hereafter with seagoing hopper dredges, and that separate assembly of pipe-line dredging plant may be required for maintaining the channel and basin in Winchester Bay. Allowing for this contingency and for the general rise in prices in recent years, the district engineer now estimates the cost to the United States for this work at $53,000 for construction, exclusive of the $10,000 contribution by local interests, and $8,500 annually for maintenance. He estimates the annual costs and benefits at $11,020 and $13,800, respectively, indicating economic justification for this authorized improvement by a benefit-cost ratio of 1.25 under recent price conditions. 6. The district engineer believes that if the existing project is modified to provide for deepening the authorized 10-foot channel and basin in Winchester Bay to 12 feet and for rescinding the condition which makes the authorized work contingent upon local interests contributing $10,000 toward the first cost, the modification should require local interests to provide necessary public terminal facilities and to maintain project depths within the basin at their own expense after its construction. He estimates the first cost for deepening the channel wwwww and basin by 2 feet at $24,500. This amount plus the additional $10,000 of Federal funds, which would be required due to eliminating the cash contribution by local interests, makes the total estimated Federal first cost $34,500 for the modification described above. The estimated first cost to local interests remains unchanged since in lieu of contributing $10,000 they would be required to provide terminal and mooring facilities at an estimated equal cost. The modification would increase the estimated annual cost to the United States by $1,880 and to local interests by $2,000, a total of $3,880 of which $2,500 is for maintenance. Maintenance of the basin to a depth of 12 feet is estimated to cost local interests $2,000 leaving the increase in estimated cost for Federal maintenance $500 annually. Annual benefits attributable to the proposed increase in depth are evaluated by the district engineer at $6,700 consisting of $6,200 for savings in the operating costs of commercial fishing vessels and $500 for intangibles such as increased business activity and benefits in connection with recreational commerce. This indicates a benefit-cost ratio of 1.7. 7. The district engineer recommends modification of the existing project to provide for increasing the depth of the authorized channel and basin in Winchester Bay to 12 feet; provided local interests furnish all rights-of-way and spoil disposal areas and hold the United States free from all claims and damages which may result from the work; and provided, that in lieu of the initial contribution of $10,000 previously required, local interests furnish satisfactory assurances that they will provide necessary public terminal and mooring facilities and that they will maintain project depths within the basin, upon completion, at their own expense. The division engineer concurs. 8. Local interests were advised of the nature of the reports of the district and division engineers and invited to present additional information to the Board. In the only resulting communication received, the Port of Umpqua Commission states that the port agrees to furnish the local cooperation recommended by the district engineer. VIEWS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS 9. The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors concurs in general in the views of the reporting officers. The proposed modifification of the conditions of cooperation so as to relieve local interests of the requirement that they contribute $10,000 to the first cost and in lieu thereof to require them to maintain the mooring and turning basin at an estimated annual cost of $2,000 and to provide public terminal facilities is believed reasonable. Included in the annual benefits as estimated by the district engineer is an allowance of $500 for intangible benefits. The monetary amount of such benefits cannot be determined with exactness but the allowance made is small. Furthermore the estimated annual benefits for saving in operating costs of the fishing fleet alone, $6,200, justify the annual charges for the 2-foot deepening of the channel and basin by a benefit-cost ratio of 1.6. 10. Accordingly the Board recommends modification of the existing project for Umpqua River, Oreg., to provide for a channel 12 feet deep and 100 feet wide from deep water in the river to the vicinity of the docks in Winchester Bay with a mooring and turning basin 12 feet deep, 175 feet wide and 300 feet long at the inner end, in R. C. CRAWFORD, REVIEW OF REPORTS ON UMPQUA HARBOR AND RIVER AT WIN- SYLLABUS The district engineer is of the opinion that savings to fishermen and general benefits to the public are sufficient to justify the provision of increased depths in Winchester Bay, Oreg. He, therefore, recommends modification of the existing project, Umpqua River, Oreg., to provide minimum depths of 12 feet in the entrance channel and in the turning and mooring basin in Winchester Bay, in accordance with the plan submitted herewith, at an estimated increased cost to the United States of $34,500 for new work and $500 additional for annual maintenance, subject to specified conditions of local cooperation. WAR DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, Subject: Review of reports on Umpqua Harbor and River at To: (Through the Division Engineer, North Pacific Division). The Chief of Engineers, United States Army. 1. Authority. This report is submitted in compliance with a resolution of the Committee on Commerce of the United States Senate, adopted September 28, 1945, which reads as follows: Resolved by the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, That the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, created under section 3 of the River and Harbor Act, approved June 13, 1902, be, and is hereby, requested to review the reports on Umpqua Harbor and River, Oregon, contained in Senate Document numbered 191, Seventy-seventh Congress, second session, and previous reports, with a view to determining whether modification of the existing project is advisable at this time to provide for further improvement of Winchester Bay, Oregon. 2. This report is of survey scope and considers the feasibility of improvements at Winchester Bay to provide depths greater than those authorized in the existing project, and the desirability of modifying certain conditions of local cooperation required in connection 75652-48-2 ་་་་ ་་ CRCULATE |