to hulls, would probably result in some saving in gasoline and oil. Prompt service is an essential to the life-saving activities of the Coast Guard. The United States has a further interest in the development of the Pan American Airways system on account of the probable value of its base in time of war. The proposed airplane channel and basin would render unusable a portion of the channel dredged by the city of Miami to the basin and ways of a boat yard immediately to the north of Dinner Key, and to compensate therefor a new channel 8 feet deep and 50 feet wide should be constructed along the easterly edge of the turning basin. 6. The division engineer recommends a channel about 4,000 feet long, 700 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, and a turning basin 500 feet wide and 6 feet deep, with 2 feet additional depth for a width of 50 feet along the easterly edge of the turning basin, at an estimated cost of $125,000, with $2,000 annually for maintenance, subject to certain conditions of local cooperation. 7. In connection with its study of the case the board made an inspection of the locality and recently held a public hearing. The board has not heretofore recommended nor has Congress authorized improvements for the use of hydroplanes. Therefore, should favorable action be taken in this case, it would constitute a precedent which would probably lead to similar requests at other localities. This particular improvement is primarily for the benefit of the Pan American Airways system, which carries air passengers, air mail, and air express to and from South America, Central American and West Indian countries. In departing and landing the planes travel on the water and this is considered to be actually a form of water transportation. The business of this system is increasing, and its continued successful operation would seem to be a matter of considerable national importance. It is claimed that competition by European interests in the foreign business of this system makes it desirable to foster this service. The improvement also appears to be of value from the standpoint of national defense in case of emergency, as well as of some present benefit to the local Coast Guard station. The work proposed is considered necessary to properly provide for planes of the size in use and the cost proportionate to the benefits. A portion of the proposed improvement is inside the established United States pierhead lines and this work, estimated to cost $5,000, should be done at the expense of local interests if the project be undertaken. It is understood that these interests are willing to cooperate to this extent and also to comply with the other conditions of local cooperation recommended by the reporting officers. 8. Subject to the comments in the preceding paragraph as to the establishment of a new Federal policy in the improvement of waterways, the board recommends the construction at Dinner Key, Biscayne Bay, Fla., of an approach channel about 4,000 feet long, 700 feet wide, and 6 feet deep, and a turning basin 500 feet wide and 6. feet deep, with 2 feet additional depth for a width of 50 feet along the easterly edge of the turning basin, at an estimated cost of $120,000, with $2,000 annually for maintenance, subject to the provisions that necessary dredging shoreward of the harbor lines shall be done at the expense of local interests, that they shall make available, free of cost to the United States, the land of the Dinner Key base for deposit of spoil, and shall construct, prior to dredging operations by the United States, a bulkhead or other suitable structure acceptable to the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War for retention of the fill: For the board. W. J. BARDEN, Senior Member. REPORT OF THE DIVISION ENGINEER SYLLABUS Local interests request the provision of an approach channel 700 feet wide and a turning basin 500 feet wide with a depth of 6 feet below mean low water at the seaplane base at Dinner Key, Biscayne Bay, Fla. The division engineer is of the opinion that benefits to commerce, national in scope, may be expected from the proposed improvement and that participation of the Federal Government in the project is warranted. Concurring with the district engineer, he recommends the construction of an approach channel and turning basin at Dinner Key, Biscayne Bay, Fla., under certain conditions of local cooperation, at an estimated cost of $125,000, with $2,000 annually for maintenance. WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF DIVISION ENGINEER, GULF OF MEXICO DIVISION, Subject: Review of previous reports on Biscayne Bay, Fla. 1. The following report is submitted in compliance with instructions of the Chief of Engineers, dated April 9, 1932, and in accordance with the following resolution of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, adopted April 7, 1932: Resolved by the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, That the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, created by section 3 of the river and harbor act approved June 13, 1902, is hereby requested to review the reports on Biscayne Bay, Fla., submitted in House Document No. 295, Fifty-fourth Congress, second session, and House Document No. 662, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, with a view to determining whether any improvement of the channel from Cape Florida to Miami is deemed advisable at the present time. 2. Biscayne Bay is a salt water sound about 38 miles long by 9 miles wide, on the east coast of Florida at Miami, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a narrow barrier peninsula and a chain of keys. The natural depth in the bay varies from 3 to 15 feet. The bay is connected to the ocean by shallow natural channels between the keys and by two artificial channels cut through the barrier peninsula. The Intracoastal Waterway from Jacksonville enters the north end of the bay and traverses it to the municipal turning basin at Miami. A number of creeks and drainage canals enter the west side of the bay as does the Miami River. The city of Miami and a number of suburban municipalities occupy the west shore of the bay, and the city of Miami Beach is located on the peninsula opposite Miami and connected to it with three causeways, the whole forming the Greater Miami area, population about 125,000. The harbor at Miami embraces the three turning basins along the water front and the channels across the bay to the ocean. Dinner Key, south of Miami and northwest across the bay from Cape Florida, was occupied as a seaplane base by the United States during the last war but is now the site of the Pan-American Airways terminal and the United States Coast Guard seaplane life-saving base. Details of the locality are shown on United States Coast and Geodetic Survey Chart No. 583 and on the map accompanying the district engineer's report. The Dinner Key seaplane base is a tract of land comprising 30.6 acres, about 2,000 feet in maximum length, from about 250 to 1,100 feet in breadth, and with a shore frontage of 2,835 feet. The Pan American Airways occupies 80 per cent of the tract, the United States Coast Guard about 15 per cent, and the city of Miami about 5 per cent. The tract lies about 4 miles from the center of the business district of Miami, and is directly connected therewith by wide. paved streets. In general, the water along the shore of Biscayne Bay is shallow, and the bay bottom slopes so gradually that a uniform depth of 6 feet or more is not found within a mile or more of the shore. Southerly from the point of Dinner Key, however, a natural lead of deeper water is found and a depth of 6 feet is available about 4,000 feet off shore. The mean tidal range in Biscayne Bay is about 1.5 feet, the extreme range about 2.4 feet. Strong easterly winds raise the water level in the bay about 1 foot, strong westerly winds lower it about 0.5 foot. 3. Local interests request the improvement, by the United States, of that section of Biscayne Bay between Cape Florida and Miami to the extent of providing a channel 6 feet deep and 700 feet wide extending from water substantially 6 feet deep in the bay to the point of the Dinner Key seaplane base, with a turning basin 6 feet deep and 500 feet wide along the shore of the base, as indicated on the map accompanying this report. This section of Biscayne Bay is not included in the improvements provided under the existing project for harbor at Miami, Fla. (Biscayne Bay). 4. The commerce of Dinner Key, the northern terminus of American Airways (Inc.), consists of the traffic of seaplanes of this company carrying passengers, air mail, and air express to and from South American, Central American and West Indian countries. In 1931 the corporation carried 40,676 passengers, 376,000 pounds of air mail, and 4,121.5 pounds of air express. In addition to further expansion in the activities of American Airways, the district engineer understands that the United States Coast Guard plans to establish a seaplane life-saving station at the Dinner Key base, and that the city of Miami plans to establish a permanent Pan American industrial exhibition for the display of the materials and products of LatinAmerican trade with the expectation that through the use of airplanes buyers and sellers could arrange meetings expeditiously and save the time and expense of further journeys to the centers of production and consumption. With a broad paved street leading to Miami, 4 miles distant, the Dinner Key terminal is adequately served by railway, highway, and ocean transportation services. 5. The provision of an approach channel 700 feet wide is expected to permit two of the largest seaplanes to pass on the water or one to double back on its course. The basin 500 feet wide is considered sufficient to allow a seaplane to make a standing turn or pass a seaplane at rest on the water. The depth of 6 feet would provide sufficient depth for the largest seaplanes to taxi safely to their moorings even when ebb tide is depressed by winds. The danger of accident through insufficient depth and leeway would thus be elimi nated, obviating the necessity for delays in sailings of commercial seaplanes or Coast Guard seaplanes. The provision of a safe harbor close inshore is expected to attract private seaplanes and consequently increase the traffic of the port and form an adequate base for the operation of seaplanes in time of war at Dinner Key, which is considered a strategic location. 6. The district engineer has reached the following conclusions: (a) The direct benefits to seaplane navigation from provision of the deeper water requested would be (1) the elimination of delays. due to the slower speed which must be maintained in taxiing over the shoals and, occasionally, grounding thereon; (2) some saving in the gasoline and oil consumption now needed due to the extra power required to force the planes over the shoal areas; and (3) some saving in the wear and tear on hulls and engines caused by scraping and bumping over the bottom. The assignment of a definite financial value to these benefits appears impracticable, but the actual savings in the operation of the planes might reach a considerable total in the course of a year. (b) The principal benefits to general navigation and commerce as distinct from navigation by aircraft, from the improvement requested, would be indirect rather than direct, but none the less actual; they would consist of the stimulation of our Latin-American trade by furthering the safe and expeditious transportation of mail and passengers by plane, and in the safeguarding of that commerce through the radio network weather reports of Pan American Airways and the lifesaving activities of the United States Coast Guard. (c) In addition to the present direct and indirect benefits to navigation and commerce, the United States has a further interest in the operations of Pan American Airways in the probable value of its base in time of war; in the carrying without charge of mail not provided for in the Federal air mail appropriations; in the development of larger and more efficient planes, and the support of manufacturers of aircraft whose equipment and knowledge and trained personnel would be of value in the event of war; and in other similar ways. (d) Although it is the undoubted and proper purpose of Pan American Airways to develop its services with a view to an ultimate profit on the investment, its operations hitherto have brought benefits of various kinds of nation-wide scope and value without financial profit to the company, and it may be expected that some time will elapse before any adequate return on the investment will be realized. Its operations have, therefore, at present aspects of public service without profit which differentiate it to some extent from the ordinary commercial venture. The district engineer believes that the request of local interests considered in this report is the first of its kind to be made of the Federal Government. The War Department is charged by law with the maintenance and improvement of the navigable waterways of the United States in the interest of navigation and commerce, and the question of extending this function of the department to cover the operations of aircraft involves the establishment of a precedent and the formulation or extension of a policy of the Federal Government. Upon this aspect of the case the district engineer makes no recommendation. He believes, however, that if the improvement requested be deemed to be consistent with the policy of the Federal Government in such matters, the direct and indirect benefits which may be expected to result from the improvement requested are sufficient to warrant the expenditure of Federal funds required, especially in view of the considerable expenditures already made, or to be made, by local interests upon the development of the base which would be of value to the United States, particularly in time of war or other emergency. The district engineer recommends that if such improvement be deemed consistent with the policy of the Federal Government, the United States provide an approach channel about 4,000 feet long, 700 feet wide and 6 feet deep, and a turning basin 500 feet wide and 6 feet deep, with an additional 2 feet of depth for a width of 50 feet along the easterly edge of the turning basin, all as shown on the map accompanying this report, at the seaplane base at Dinner Key, Biscayne Bay, Fla., at an estimated cost of $125,000, with $2,000 annually for maintenance, provided that local interests (1) make available to the United States, free of cost, the land of the Dinner Key base for the deposit of spoil, and (2) construct, prior to dredging operations by the United States, a bulkhead or seawall acceptable to the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War for the retention of the fill. 7. The division engineer appreciates that the benefits to national commerce are indirect and intangible as noted by the district engineer; that even the direct benefits to aerial navigation may not be definitely estimated, yet the benefits are actual and national in scope and might be considered sufficient to justify an expenditure of $125,000 by the United States. He is of the opinion that the development of a harbor for seaplanes is consistent with the policy of the Federal Government in extending aid to navigation. Concurring in general with the district engineer, the division engineer considers that the further improvement of Biscayne Bay to provide harbor channels to a terminal for commercial seaplanes is justified by the benefits to existing and reasonably prospective aerial commerce and notes that an improved seaplane base would be of value to the United States in time of war or other emergency and that channels of the dimensions requested are necessary for the seaplanes which will base at the terminal. 8. The division engineer recommends the construction at Dinner Key, Biscayne Bay, Fla., of an approach channel about 4,000 feet long, 700 feet wide and 6 feet deep, and a turning basin 500 feet wide and 6 feet deep, with 2 feet additional depth for a width of 50 feet along the easterly edge of the turning basin, all as shown on the map accompanying the report of the district engineer, at an estimated cost of $125,000, with $2,000 annually for maintenance, provided, that local interests make available, free of cost to the United States, the land of the Dinner Key base for the deposit of spoil, and construct, prior to dredging operations by the United States, a bulkhead or other suitable structure, acceptable to the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War, for the retention of the fill. WARREN T. HANNUM, Lieutenant Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Division Engineer. |