412 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



Map and profiles between Cape Fear and 

 Waccamavv rivers, 3 



24 sheets. 



As stated in the letter addressed to the secreta- 

 ry o!" war by Messrs. Shepard, Stanly, and other 

 members of" Congress Irom North Carolina, I 

 think most favorably of the importance ol' Core 

 sound to that state, and to the United States, and 

 am clearly of opinion ihat its channel ousht to be 

 improved, and to an extent beyond that contem- 

 plated by the act to which those gentlemen refer 

 in their letter of the 24th of February. 



The coast between Beaufort, North Carolina 

 and the Chesapeake bay, for a length of two hun- 

 dred and twenty or two hundred and thirty miles, 

 is nearly, and in a few years, will be quite desti- 

 tute of inlets capable of admitting even the small- 

 er class of coasters. The closing of those which 

 formerly existed, (and there have been at least as 

 many as ten of them,) has been steadily progres- 

 sive. In my opinion, (and it has been long and 

 deliberately formed, and licquently expressed,) 

 the maintenance of a direct navigable c'onr.muni- 

 cation between either Albemarle or Pamlico 

 sounds and theocean is impracticable. I purpose 

 in my final report, to attempt the demonstration 

 of this proposition; and I think I Avill be able to 

 show that Ocracoke, the only inlet now capable 

 of admitting the passage of coasters, will proba- 

 bly also close in a few years. This inlet, which 

 formerly had thirteen feet in low water upon its 

 bar, was last summer reduced to a depth of 6i 

 feet at ordinary high tides, notwithstanding the ef- 

 forts of the government to resist the encroachment 

 of the sand upon it. By the storms of August, 

 September, and October last, these efforts were 

 paralyzed, and the hope of improving the inlet 

 was abandoned. 



Assuming the impracticability of re-opening 

 and maintainmg a connnunication between AK 

 bemarle and Pamlico sounds, at any point upon 

 the coast between Cape Henry and Cape Look- 

 out, we have only left for the trade of those sounds, 

 and of Chowan, Roanoke, Tar, Neuse and other 

 rivors, their tributaries, an opening to the north by 

 the Dismal Swamp canal, and to the south by 

 Beaufort harbor, at Old Topsail inlet. Between 

 Pamlico sound and Beaufort, as stated by these 

 gentlemen, intervenes Core sound, which" is be- 

 tween 38 and 39 miles long, and in which are 

 seve.'al shoals, some of them having little more 

 than four feet of v/ater upon them at times of 

 very low tide 



Beaufort, since the settlement of the country, 

 has never had less than 15 or 16 feet on the bar 

 of its inlet at high tides. It has now, perhaps, 23 

 feet at high tides. Certainly it has vearly that 

 depth, and there are few bars to the southward of 

 it with more; at low water it has 18 feet. A na- 

 vigable communication lor coasting vessels would, 

 therefore, open for the trade of a large part of 

 North Carolina; at least one of the best, and tak- 

 ing the depth of wafer at low tides, the character 

 of the bar, and the safety of the coast near it. per- 

 haps the best Atlantic harbor south of the Chesa- 

 peake bay. 



Several routes have been proposed, some of 

 them have been surveyed, and one of them has 

 been attempted, by which to connect the trade of j 

 Uie sountls herein mentioned wi^h Beaufort. It I 



does yet not appear that any one of them combines 

 as many advantages as that by Core sound, or 

 that, if they were effected, the improvement of 

 this sound should therefore be neglected. 



The act of Congress to which reference has 

 been made, proposes a depth of 7 feet at low wa- 

 ter, and a breadth of 50 yards for the dimensions 

 of the improved channel. The depth is, perhaps, 

 as great as could be attained within the limits of 

 any appropriation of money which could be rea- 

 sonably expected to be obtained. The breadth is, 

 however, insufTicient for all the objects of the im- 

 provement. Two hundred yards would be re- 

 quired for a beating channel, and that breadth 

 would also be necessary to enable vessels to con- 

 tinue their way during night as well as day. 



The surveys of last year are in a state to ena- 

 ble me to frame a project for the improvement of 

 the sound, and to estimate the cost of it. I have 

 refrained from doing this, and had reserved it until 

 all the surveys proposed by the act of the 3d of 

 March last were completed, with the intention of 

 presenting the whole of the sub|ect of an inland 

 communication south of the Chesapeake bay to the 

 department at one view, not conceiving that I was 

 authorized to report upon detached portions of the 

 subject. I have, however, considered the ques- 

 tion of the iniprovement of Core sound sufficiently 

 to enable me to say, urenerally, that for a channel 

 of the depth and breadih mentioned by Mr. 

 Shepard, the cost would be somewhat about 

 •1^80,000 ; and for the one I have proposed about 

 i-^300,000 exclusive of any jettees or other works 

 which might possibly be "found necessary to pro- 

 tect the sides of the channel from abrasion, or to 

 prevent the channel itself from shifting; but the 

 probability of which I do not, with my present 

 knowledge of the composition of the bed of the 

 sound, by any means anticipate, if the larger plan 

 were adopted. 



We are not dependent upon mere speculation 

 for our opinion of the importance of this harbor ; 

 it was made manifest by the war of 1812, '13, and 

 '14, during which it became the depot of prizes for 

 many of our cruisers, whence, by lighters, their 

 cargoes were forwarded through the sounds, and 

 by the Dismal Swamp canal, to the northern 

 cities. Tobacco and other produce was sent by 

 that route from Petersburg to foreign markets, 

 whenever the Chesapeake bay was occupied by 

 the enemy. The following extracts from the 

 books of the treasury department will show the 

 importance of Beaufort harbor to commerce at 

 that period, and its contrast with the usual trans- 

 actions of the port : 



Years. Gross revenue. Tonnage. 



1810 .^522 929 



1811 2,681 909 



1812 18.116 1,022 



1813 105,214 1,041 



1814 74,774 1,466 



1815 4,809 1,538 



1816 2,358 1,344 

 At the period we are now speaking of, the in- 

 land communication was embarrassed, not only by 

 the extreme shoalness of Core sound, which still 

 continues, but the Dismal Swamp canal had then 

 but a depth of IS to 20 inches, and a breadih of 

 about 18 feet at the surface, and it was otherwise 

 in so defective a state that the passage through it 

 was sometimes altogether interrupted; the canal 



