1898 Annual Report of the War Department – Chief of Engineers

A part of the comprehensive reporting created by the U.S. War Department near the end of the 19th century.

This awesome collection of maps, charts, diagrams, tables of statistics, and correspondence was published by the Government Printing Office in 1899. It contains a variety of miscellaneous reports provided by the members of the United States War Department for distribution to members of the House of Representatives, with a primary emphasis on the Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army.

As a result, the contents are representative of the Army Corps of Engineers’ primary goals of military/civil construction efforts to facilitate navigation, disaster mitigation, and environmental infrastructure. Examples of reports outlined in the volume are as follows, with their respective authors:

Improvement of Rivers and Harbors on Western Shore of Lake Michigan (J. G. Warren), Improvement of Chicago and Calumet Harbors and Chicago and Illinois Rivers, Illinois, and Calumet River, Illinois and Indiana; Illinois and Mississippi Canal (W.L. Marshall), Improvement of Michigan City Harbor, Indiana, and of Rivers and Harbors on the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan (Chester Harding), Improvement of Rivers and Harbors on the Eastern Coast of Michigan and of Waters Connecting the Great Lakes (G.J. Lydecker), Improvement of Rivers and Harbors on Lake Erie West of Erie, Pennsylvania (Jared A. Smith), Improvement of Erie Harbor, Pennsylvania, and of Certain Rivers and Harbors in Western New York (Thomas W. Symons), Improvement of Harbors on Lake Ontario, and of St. Lawrence River and Harbors Thereon, New York (Graham D. Fitch), Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in California South of San Francisco (James J. Meyler), Improvement of Alviso, San Francisco, and Oakland Harbors, California, San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers and Tributaries, and of Rivers and Harbors in California North of San Francisco (W.H. Heuer), Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in Oregon, of Upper Columbia and Snake Rivers, Oregon and Washington, and of Clearwater River, Idaho (William W. Harts), Improvement of Lower Columbia River and Tributaries, Oregon and Washington (W.L. Fisk), Improvement of Certain Rivers and Harbors in Washington, Idaho, and Montana (Harry Taylor), Supervision of the Harbor of New York (John C. Fremont).