Effects of Soil Erosion on Navigation in Upper Chesapeake Bay

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Between 1846 and 1938, 85,000,000 cubic yards of sediment was deposited by the Susquehanna River at the head of Chesapeake Bay, reducing the average depth of water over a 32-square-mile area by 2l/2 feet. Large-scale silting of the Chesapeake started much earlier[long dash]soon after the colonists began farming in drainage areas tributary to the bay, in the 17th century. Even within the colonial period, more than a few towns on the shores of this great inland waterway were abandoned because sediment had clogged their navigation channels. Some of the early open-water ports were converted into mud flats in 50 yrs. or less. Soil-wasting methods of producing tobacco were the chief cause. Maryland towns where silting caused navigation to decline or cease included Joppa Town, Elk Ridge Landing, Bladensburg, Georgetown, Port Tobacco, Piscataway, Upper Marlboro, and Queen Anne Town. Of hundreds of towns founded on the Chesapeake, Baltimore alone developed into a great seaport. Baltimore itself has had very serious troubles with sedimentation. By 1832, the city had spent nearly $500,000 for harbor dredging. It then appealed to Congress for help. The Federal Government began dredging in Baltimore harbor in 1836, and during the past 100 yrs. has removed >111,000,000 cubic yards of material there at an expense of nearly $17,000,000. Of this amt., $12,000,000 has been spent for new channels and $5,000,000 for maintenance dredging. A substantial amt. has been spent concurrently for these purposes by the city and private interests. Federal expenditures for dredging in the Chesapeake Bay area as a whole during the past century have totaled >$56,000,000. Silting of the Chesapeake has resulted from improper land use, begun by the colonists and continued down to the present. Annual costs of harbor and channel maintenance must be expected to increase unless soil conservation measures are applied widely. Aside from the agric. and other benefits, it is easier and less costly to prevent erosion of a cubic yard of soil than to raise that much eroded soil from the bottom of a harbor and transport it to a dumping ground. Studies in the Patapsco watershed have indicated that soil conservation measures adequate to reduce sediment inflow to Baltimore harbor by nearly 75% could be installed and maintained for 25 yrs. at a cost of $750,000. This would mean a saving of about $60,750 of the money now spent annually by the Federal Government on dredging this harbor.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: