"Contract No. 23. This contract provides for the construction of a land line from King's Bend (west end of contract No. 63) to the Genesee river, a distance of 5.63 miles. Millard & Lupton Company, of Philadelphia, Pa., contractors. F. T. Marsh and H. R. Wickham. Assistant Engineers, have at different times been in charge of this contract.

"As noted in the last report, no contract work had been done at the beginning of this fiscal year, though considerable plant had been delivered.

"Some of the main features of this contract are the excavation of two million cu. yds. of earth from the deep cut in the 'divide,' transporting it two miles or more and compacting it into embankments on each side of the prism. For 11,000 feet at the western end of the contract the prism is in 'cut,' varying from fourteen to sixty-five feet, then for 11,000 feet east of this section the prism is made entirely by embankments, varying from fourteen to thirty-two feet in height, with a top width of eight feet, slopes of 1 on 2, and reinforced on the outside with upwards of forty feet width of spoil bank. On the face of it, it is a simple job of excavation and transportation, but actually it is a difficult job of excavating — excavating material that is for the most part a heavy clay, transporting it two miles, then placing, spreading and compacting it into impervious embankment. The material is admirably suited for the purpose, being a glacial deposit made up of clay, sand and gravel in varying proportions that will roll into a well nigh perfect embankment.

"The contractors' main plant consists of the following: Four 70-ton Bucyrus steam-shovels. One 70-ft. boom, 11⁄2-yd. bucket Browning excavator. Nine narrow-gage locomotives of from 12 to 18 tons weight. Sixty-four 4-yd., narrow-gage dump cars. Two 60-ton Mogul locomotives. Five 40-ton Vulcan locomotives equipped with air brake and air compressor for dumping cars. Forty-two 12-yd. air dump cars. Two 10-ton steam rollers. Two traction engines. Two Western spreader cars with wings having 15 ft. reach. A cableway with 1,200 feet span between towers and 2 Koering 2-yd. mixers for concrete plant.

"Three steam-shovels with train equipment have worked the larger part of the time since October 19, 1909, when actual work began, excavating in the deep cut and placing the material in the embankments about 2 miles east of same to South avenue.

The prism east of lock No. 32 has been nearly excavated, as well as the site for lock No. 32. This material was all placed in spoil banks. The prism between locks Nos. 32 and 33 is about 60 per cent excavated. At the upper guide wall and spillway of lock No. 32 the site was excavated and about 1,300 linear feet of piles were driven, when the character of the driving indicated that the underlying soil was such that piles could safely be omitted. Accordingly, under Alteration No. 2, foundation piles are to be omitted from lock No. 32 and its upper and lower guide walls. Up to September 30 about 1,066 cu. yds. of concrete have been placed in the upper guide wall and spillway of lock No. 32.

"Excavation for Allen's creek culvert under the canal was started in July, 1910, and concrete work was started on August 25. Up to September 30 about 781 cu. yds. of concrete and 2811⁄2 tons of metal reinforcement have been placed in this

structure.

The following table shows total amount of work to be done and also the progress during the present fiscal year on this