This report has been forwarded to me by the governor-general of Canada for
your information.
[Inclosure.]
Report of the department of public works in
Canada.
Department of Public Works,
Ottawa, November 20,
1874.
Sir: I am instructed to ackowledge dispatch No.
25, dated Washington, 7th November, 1874, from Sir E. Thornton, K. C.
B., to his excellency the governor-general, the Earl of Dufferin,
&c., inclosing copies of a note received from Mr. Cadwalader, Acting
Secretary of State of the United States, relative to the removal of
certain obstructions to safe navigation which exist in the channel of
the river Detroit, the whole having been referred to the department of
public works.
I have the honor to inform you, for the information of the honorable the
privy council, that one of the superior engineers of the department, Mr.
Kingsford, was instructed to examine this work during the season, and
that he has reported that an elaborate survey has been made of the
obstruction to the north of Amherstburgh, complained of, and of the
shoals at the discharge of the river Detroit, in Lake Erie.
The surveying parties have been kept in the field so late this season,
owing to multiplicity of work, that this examination has not been
specially reported upon, but in a few weeks the maps will be prepared
and report made, by the engineer in charge, of the whole question
embraced in the matter to which the dispatch alludes; and without loss
of time the above report and maps will be submitted to the honorable the
privy council.
I have, &c.,
To the Clerk of the Privy Council.
