James E. Bambery was a junior officer in the U.S. Engineering Office and the collection dates after 1866 when the federal government took over the project. The bulk of the material dates from 1866 and 1934, well after the more controversial period in the history of the project. As a junior engineer, a large part of Bambery's job consisted of administrative duties including personnel management, maintaining supplies, inspecting safety and water condition, and negotiating for dredging projects and machine repairs. Financial records were kept as well as monthly reports on the improvement, operation, and care of the project. Some of the earlier correspondence and financial records are from Bambery's former supervisor, L. M. Mann. A large number of maps and diagrams are included in the collection that detail the Fox and Wisconsin rivers and the machinery, equipment and barges used on them.
The collection consists of six series: CORRESPONDENCE, LEGAL MATERIALS, REPORTS, FINANCIAL RECORDS, LOG BOOKS, and MAPS AND BLUEPRINTS. Researchers are also referred to the Library at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin which has significant holdings on the Fox River Improvement project both in the main collection and in the government documents section.
CORRESPONDENCE, 1886-1957, primarily relates to the U.S. Engineering Office and Department of War. Letters concern the hiring, firing, and applications of personnel; project proposals for dredging; equipment repairs; industrial and sundry supplies; safety and inspection procedures; water and weather conditions; water power; and miscellaneous subjects. A few letters discuss the increasing toll of dead fish around the project area.
LEGAL MATERIALS, 1835-1881, consist of a series of appendices to an unknown document in which materials providing legal basis for the project have been typed and assigned appendix numbers of one to fifty. A list of appendices is included in the first folder and typed documents encompass land grant acts, incorporation agreements, testimony, legislative acts, proceedings of meetings, reports, deeds, and other documents.
REPORTS, 1896-1928, include monthly reports regarding the operation and care of the Fox River from 1886 to 1919, and improvements made to the area, 1896-1919. Also included in the series are four reports (1898, 1922, 1926, 1928) entitled, “Letter from the Secretary of War” regarding examination and surveys of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers and Green Bay Harbor.
FINANCIAL MATERIALS, 1877-1960, include a mixture of subject volumes. There is a large cash book and a journal, both dating 1919-1936, of the Fox River Navigation Company, an offshoot of the Fox River Improvement Company. There are also two bill books, 1892-1895, for the Fox River Improvement Company; and an account book, 1918-1934, which includes accounts for each of the tugboats in use. A separate account book, 1930-1940, for the Tug Neenah, is also a part of the series. Time books, 1882-1960, record employee attendance. Several volumes provide financial documentation relating to the locks operated at DePere, Wis., including record of navigation and tolls, 1877-1879 and 1893-1897; toll receipts for lock passage, 1878, 1880-1881; and repair costs of the DePere locks and wing walls, 1896-1897.
LOG BOOKS, 1919-1939, provide narrative information relating to the operations of the Tug Neenah, 1929-1939; and the Dredge Forinaco, 1919-1928.
MAPS AND BLUEPRINTS, 1866-1949, include blueprints and diagrams of machinery and equipment of locks, bridges, barges, dams, and locks used on the Fox River. Also included are sounding and other maps relating to the Fox River, Lake Winnebago, and other lakes, rivers, and cities within the region. There are also three maps of railway lines and yards.
