A chronology of the locations of official disposal sites follows: (U.S. Army, Corps of 

 Engineers, 1885-1930.) 



1888--Mud buoy, 2.5 miles south of Coney Island, for the deposit of all 

 refuse, including garbage and city refuse. 



1 Sept. 1900--A point one-half mile southward and eastward of Sandy Hook 

 Lightship. 



1 Dec. 1903--A point 1.5 miles to the eastward of Scotland Lightship, in 12 

 fathoms of water. 



1 Jan. 1906--A point 2 miles southeast of Scotland Lightship, in 14 fathoms of 

 water. 



17 Apr. 1908-For cellar dirt and floatable material, a point 3 miles southeast of 

 Scotland Lightship. 



1 Sept. 1913-Limit of water for deposits, 15 fathoms. 



1 May 1914~For material containing floatable matter, not less than 4 nautical 

 miles east-southeast of Scotland Lightship, in not less than 17 

 fathoms of water. 

 Each successive designated dump site was relocated farther seaward as the previous site 

 became shoaler and posed a possible hazard to navigation. A bathymetric map, printed in 

 1888 (Fig. 12), shows the natural sea floor contours before formal designation of disposal 

 sites. Compared with the 1845 chart (Fig 9) it reveals negligible fill in the channel proper. 



In searching the summary of annual reports (U.S. Army, Corps of Engineers, 

 1885—1930), and individual reports from 1880 to 1920 no reference was found to 

 acknowledge the presence of an official dump site in the vicinity of Diamond Hill. It does 

 seem unusual that navigation control of dumping was so good, as evidenced by the compact 

 conical form of Diamond Hill. The origin of the Diamond Hill mound is unknown to the 

 authors but bathymetric differences show it did originate sometime between 1845 and 

 1888. 



The isopach map (Fig. 10) shows close agreement with the above listed records detailing 



locations of the disposal areas for specific years. Shoaling became so critical in 1914 at the 



large central mound immediately north of Castle Hill that a memorandum was issued by the 



Supervisor of New York Harbor— thereafter excavated stone up to a size commonly referred 



to as "one-man stone" had to be deposited not less than 3 miles southeast of Scotland 



Light. For larger stone, commonly referred to as "derrick stone," deposition was specified 



to be not less than 4 miles southeast of the light. 



Specific composition of the dump material is difficult to determine from the reports; it 



mostly consisted of "cellar dirt" or natural rock and soil overburden from construction 



projects in the city. (See Figure 13.) Mixed with this would be: rubble from the demolition 



of buildings; street sweepings consisting of light trash, debris and coal ashes; floating debris 



from the harbor and derelict vessels which posed possible threat to navigation; dredge spoils 



from removal of bottom sediment during construction of new channels; and normal 



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