FLORIDA. For buoys at the entrance of Musquito harbor, five hundred dollars. OREGON. For a light-house and fog-signal at Umqua, fifteen thousand dollars. For fog-signals for the light-houses at Cape Disappointment, Cape Flattery, and New Dungeness, three thousand dollars. CALIFORNIA. For a light-house at Humboldt harbor, fifteen thousand dollars. TEXAS. For a light-house at Aransas Pass, twelve thousand five hundred dollars. For three light-houses of the third class at Half Moon shoal, Red Fish bar, and at Clopper's bar, Galveston bay, fifteen thousand dollars. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That if such person as the Secretary of the Treasury shall designate shall report, in any of the cases herein provided for, that preliminary surveys are necessary to determine the site of a proposed light-house, or light-boat, beacon, or buoy, or to ascertain more fully what the public exigency demands, the Secretiary of the Treasury shall therefore direct the Superintendent of the survey of the coast of the United States to perform such duty on the seaboard, and the colonel of the corps of topographical engineers to perform such duty on the northwestern lakes. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the officer so directed shall forthwith enter upon the discharge of the duty; and after fully ascertaining the facts, shall report: First, whether the proposed facility to navigation is the most suitable for the exigency which exists; and, second, where it should be placed if the interests of commerce demand it: Third, if the thing proposed be not the most suitable, whether it is expedient to make any other kind of improvement: Fourth, whether the proposed light has any connexion with other lights, and if so, whether it cannot be so located as to subserve both the general and the local wants of trade and navigation; and, fifth, whether there be any, and if any, what other facts of importance touching the subject. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all such reports shall, as speedily as may be, be laid before the Secretary of the Treasury; and if such as to authorize the work without further legislation, he shall forthwith proceed with it, otherwise such reports shall be laid before Congress at the next ensuing session; but, in all cases where the person designated by the Secretary of the Treasury, under the second section of this act, does not report such preliminary examination as expedient, the provisions of this ac shall without delay be carried into execution. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the salary of the keeper of the Minot's Ledge light shall hereafter be at the rate of one thousand dollars per annum, and the assistants five hundred and fifty dollars per annum. SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That in case it should be impossible, in the opinion of the colonel of the topographical corps, to obtain a perfect title to the necessary land upon which to build the lighthouse heretofore ordered to be built at the mouth of the Calumet river, on Lake Michigan, said land shall be appraised by three disinterested persons, under oath, and the light-house shall immediately be built, and the appraised value of said land shall be paid to any person who shall make to the United States what the Attorney General shall consider a perfect title thereto. SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That hereafter in all new light-houses, and in all light-houses requiring new lighting apparatus, and in all light-houses as yet unsupplied with illuminating apparatus, the lens or Fresnel system shall be adopted, if, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury, the public interest will be subserved thereby. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is hereby, authorized and required to cause a board to be convened, at as early a day as may be practicable, after the passage of this act, to be composed of two officers of the navy of high rank, two officers of engineers of the army, and such civil officer of high scientific attainments as may be under the orders or at the disposition of the Treasury Department, and a junior officer of the navy to act as secretary to said board, whose duty it shall be, under instructions from the Treasury Department, to inquire into the condition of the light-house establishment of the United States, and make a general detailed report and programme to guide legislation, in extending and improving our present system of construction, illumination, inspection, and superintendence: Provided, That no additional compensation shall be allowed any person serving on said board. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That the President be, and is hereby, required to cause to be detailed from the engineer corps of the army, from time to time, such officers as may be necessary to superintend the construction and renovating light-houses. Approved March 3, 1851. APPENDIX No. 14. Letters of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey to the Secretary of the Treasury, applying for information in regard to the light-house matters referred to in the act of Congress. COAST SURVEY OFFICE, March 31, 1851. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours of March 29, informing me that the Fifth Auditor had reported that preliminary surveys are required in reference to all the light-houses, light-boats, beacons, and buoys, for which appropriations are made by the act of March 3d, 1851, and directing me, in pursuance of the law, to cause the necessary examinations to be made, and to report what the public exigency demands in the matter. It is desirable in the execution of the law, and of your instructions, that such papers as may be in the possession of the department, giving information in regard to the necessity for these several objects referred to in the act, should be examined in this office. I would therefore request that you will give the necessary direction for their transfer to me, to be returned when the report is made. Yours, respectfully, Hon. W. L. HODGE, A. D. BACHE, Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey. Acting Secretary of the Treasury. COAST SURVEY OFFICE, Washington City, April 1, 1851. SIR: I would respectfully request to be informed which of the lighthouses and beacons, for which appropriations were made by the act approved March 3, 1851, have been commenced. Very respectfully, yours, Hon. W. L. HODGE, A. D. BACHE, Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey. Acting Secretary of the Treasury. APPENDIX No. 14, bis. Letters from the Secretary of the Treasury to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, communicating reports from the Fifth Auditor, in relation to light-house matters referred to in the act of Congress. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 3, 1851. SIR: I transmit for your information, and as a reply to the inquiry made in your letter of the 1st instant, an extract from a letter addressed to the department by S. Pleasonton, esq. Prof. A. D. BACHE, WM. L. HODGE, Acting Secretary of the Treasury. Superintendent Coast Survey, Washington. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Fifth Auditor's Office, April 3, 1851. SIR: In answer to your note of the 2d instant, just received, I have the honor to inform you that no step has been taken by me for building any of the light-houses, or light-vessels, for which appropriations were made on the 3d March last; considering it necessary that the several sites should be previously examined and reported upon by the officers to be appointed for the purpose. And with respect to three which it had been previously determined to build, and for which additional appropriations were necessary, and were made by that act, I was prevented from taking any step towards building them, by a clause in the act requiring the President to cause to be detailed engineers of the army for the purpose of superintending the construction and renovation of light-houses. I have the honor to be, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, WM. L. HODGE, Esq., Acting Secretary of the Treasury. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, April 5, 1851. SIR: In further reply to your letter of the 1st instant, I enclose a copy of a letter from the Fifth Auditor, under date of the 2d instant. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Prof. A. D. BACHE, WM. L. HODGE, Acting Secretary of the Treasury. Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey, Washington, D. C. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Fifth Auditor's Office, April 2, 1851. SIR: In reply to your note of the 1st instant, requesting me to furnish Professor Bache with such papers as may be in this office giving information as to the necessity and importance of constructing the lighthouses and light-boats for which appropriations were made by the light-house law of the 3d March last, I have to state that with three exceptions, which I shall state, I have no knowledge of the reasons on which the several appropriations were made. The Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives reported the bill, which was not printed, the last night of the session. I had no knowledge of it until passed into a law. It is presumed the committee made the appropriation upon the application of individuals of which I have no knowledge. Hence I can give Professor Bache no information that would aid him, or the officers under him, in forming an opinion as to the expediency, or otherwise, of building the light-houses, light-boats, buoys, &c., for which appropriations are made. The necessity for the examination is apparent, however, from the many lights on the coast and lakes, and the fact that, on some parts of the coast, the lights are now so numerous that it is impossible to distinguish one from another, and they are hence becoming a nuisance. The exceptions referred to above are, the three additional appropriations recommended by this office, viz: For the light-house on Horse Shoe reef, Niagara river, $25,000; for a light-house on Bodkin shoal, mouth of the Patapsco, (seven-foot knoll,) $17,000 dollars; for a light-house at the upper jettee, Cape Fear river, including a bridge from the shore to the light-house, $13,000. These are works which it has been determined to prosecute, and need not, therefore, be examined. I have the honor to be, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant, S. PLEASONTON. |