38 [ 2 ] 
B. 
Brevet Major-Gencral Ahxander Mncoml, 
Colonel Commanding United States Engineers. 
New-York, October 4 ^ 1823, 
Sir: The board of Enj^incrrs, inider orders of tiic 7tli of Mnj^ 
1823, have lately examined the harboi- of Erie, Pennsylvania, with a 
view to its impi'ovcment, for the purposes of navigation, and they now 
submit the following 
RErORT: 
The harbor of Erie, or Prcsque Isle Bay, is formed by a sand- 
bank which makes out from the main shoi-e, about four miles west- 
warrlly of the town of Erie. This sand-bank, near the siioi-e, is nar- 
row and low, and pursues about a N. E. direction: having advanced 
two miles into the Lake, it suddenly widens to two-thirds of a mile, 
but pursues the same direction for another mile, when it gradually 
increases in widtli to one mile, and gradually changes its direction 
to an eastern course, terminating north of the town of Erie in two 
narrow points, having a small and well enclosed harbor between them. 
The gi^eater part of this sand-bank, (significantly called Presque 
Isle,) is covered with wood. The liasin lying between this bank and 
the main, is about half a mile wide, and four miles long; a great 
part of it being deej) enough even for frigates. 
In continuation of Presque Isle, there is a sand-bank under water, 
nearly a mile wide, which runs in a S. E. direction to the shore of 
the main, a little eastward of the town of Erie, reducing the depth of 
water, in this pait, (the mont', of the basin) to about six feet on the 
average, A narrow and winding channel runs tijrough this bank, 
in which there is from five to nine feet of water. 
It will be seen, by the above desci'iption, and by reference to the 
map herewitii, that this secure and beautiful harbor is inaccessible, 
except to vessels of the lightest draught, and therefore of no great 
value, either to the trade of the town of Erie or to the commerce of 
the Lake; and it remains, now, to examine whether any expedient 
can be adopted, by which, at a reasonable expense, the draught of 
water over this bank or bar will be augmented. 
The basin of Presque Isle is situated so far above the commence- 
ment of the falls into Lake Ontario, and in so wide a part of Lake 
E'ie, that the current produced by the escape of water at the fails 
is here insensible: the only currents here observable being entireij 
