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With the main shipping channels through The Narrows into the harbor silting up with sand due to [[Longshore drift|littoral drift]], thus providing ships with less depth, and a new generation of larger ships coming online – epitomized by [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]]'s [[SS Great Eastern|SS ''Great Eastern'']], popularly known as "Leviathan" – New York began to be concerned that it would start to lose its status as a great port if a "back door" entrance into the harbor was not created.<ref>Steinberg, pp.105–106</ref> In the 1850s the depth continued to lessen – the harbor commission said in 1850 that the mean water low was {{convert|24|ft}} and the extreme water low was {{convert|23|ft}} – while the draft required by the new ships continued to increase, meaning it was only safe for them to enter the harbor at high tide.<ref name=concrete9495>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), pp.94–95</ref>
The U.S. Congress, realizing that the problem needed to be addressed, appropriated $20,000 for the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]] to continue Maillefert's work.<ref name=concrete95>Eldredge & Horenstein (2014), p.95</ref> In 1851, the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]], "under Lt. Bartlett of the Army Corps of Engineers," <ref>https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Portals/37/docs/history/hellgate.pdf {{bare URL PDF|date=February 2024}}</ref> began to do the job, in an operation which was to span 70 years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/new_york_charts/hell_gate.html |title=NOAA 200th Collections: Hell Gate and Its Approaches nautical chart from 1851 |publisher=[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] | accessdate=April 12, 2009}}</ref> The appropriated money was soon spent without appreciable change in the hazards of navigating the strait. An advisory council recommended in 1856 that the strait be cleared of all obstacles, but nothing was done, and the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] soon broke out.<ref name=concrete9495 />
====After the Civil War====
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