1903 Annual Report of the War Department – Chief of Engineers

A massive collection of reports from the Army Corps of Engineers.

This eclectic collection of maps, charts, diagrams, tables of statistics, and correspondence was published by the Government Printing Office in 1904. 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 the Chicago and Calumet Harbors (Oswald Herbert Ernst), Improvements of Michigan City Harbor, Indiana, and of Rivers and Harbors on the Eastern Shore of Lake Michigan (M.B. Adams), Improvements of Rivers and Harbors on the Eastern Coast of Michigan (Lansing H. Beach), Improvement of Waters Connecting the Great Lakes (William Herbert Bixby), Improvement of Certain Rivers and Harbors on Lake Erie, in the State of Ohio (Dan Christie Kingman), Improvement of Erie Harbor, Pennsylvania and of Certain Rivers and Harbors in Western New York (Theodore Alfred Bingham), Improvement of Rivers and Harbors in Western Oregon, Of Columbia River Above the Mouth of Willamette River, including Snake River, Oregon and Washington (William Campbell Langfitt), Improvement of Certain Rivers and Harbors in Washington (John Mills)