tantially accomplished. I do not mean to allege that the work had
been completed in the best manner, but it was sufficient for all
practical purposes.

The St. Clair flats are formed by the St. Clair River, which empties
into the lake of that name by several mouths, and which forms a bar or
shoal on which in its natural state there is not more than 6 or 7 feet
of water. This shoal is interposed between the mouth of the river and
the deep water of the lake, a distance of 6,000 feet, and in its natural
condition was a serious obstruction to navigation. The obvious remedy
for this was to deepen a channel through these flats by dredging, so
as to enable vessels which could navigate the lake and the river to
pass through this intermediate channel. This object had been already
accomplished by previous appropriations, but without my knowledge, when
the bill was presented to me. Captain Whipple, of the Topographical
Engineers, to whom the expenditure of the last appropriation of $45,000
for this purpose in 1856 was intrusted, in his annual report of the 1st
October, 1858, stated that the dredging was discontinued on the 26th
August, 1858, when a channel had been cut averaging 275 feet wide, with
a depth varying from 12 to 15-1/2 feet. He says:

So long as the lake retains its present height we may assume that the
depth in the channel will be at least 13-1/2 feet.

With this result, highly creditable to Captain Whipple, he observes
that if he has been correctly informed "all the lake navigators are
gratified." Besides, afterwards, and during the autumn of 1858, the
Canadian Government expended $20,000 in deepening and widening the inner
end of the channel excavated by the United States. No complaint had been
made previous to the passage of the bill of obstructions to the commerce
and navigation across the St. Clair flats. What, then, was the object of
the appropriation proposed by the bill?

It appears that the surface of the water in Lake St. Clair has been
gradually rising, until in 1858 it had attained an elevation of 4 feet
above what had been its level in 1841. It is inferred, whether correctly
or not it is not for me to say, that the surface of the water may
gradually sink to the level of 1841, and in that event the water, which
was, when the bill passed, 13-1/2 feet deep in the channel, might sink
to 9-1/2 feet, and thus obstruct the passage.

To provide for this contingency, Captain Whipple suggested "the
propriety