The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-10-28
LEAUGE ISLAND,

| One Of the biggest steals, among fifty, en-
gineered through Congress during the malign
reign of republicanism, was the purchase of
League Island, In the Delaware below Phlla.
delphia, for navy yard. In reference to its
| fitness for Tho purpose proposed the New
York NAL publishes the following converse
ition Of one of its reporters with the late Ad.
miral Charles Stewart:
what is your opinion about the fitness of
League ISLAND for Navy Yard?'
sit mig ht answer the purpose now, but fifty
years hence II will not"
Two hundred and fifty head of cattle were
washed off Smiths Island in the Delaware
in 1882
81 have seen," said he, "in 1890, just below
Trenton, ships loaded with -four and lumber
for the West Indies; now shallop cannot get
up there only at high water"
"For want Of port that is accessible for
retreat our ships would be taken by superior
force"
midsummer, during the drouth, the river
Delaware is so low that you can scarcely
carry vessel of eighteen feet at any stage of
the tide" lie adds This is from a man
who has navigated the river from 1889" He
further stated that ain the year 1896 he was
the wharf in Philadelphia, in the month of
March Carly, and while Northwestern set
in, which blew for fifteen days, with so much
force that 1t forced the coast water Oft to the
Gulf Stream, and drained almost all the wa
ter out of the Delaware, when hundreds of
men, women and children, with sacks and
shawls, baskets and bags, walked about the
bottom of the river at Philadelphia, raking
out old ropes, small anchors, purses CT mon
ey, watches and various other articles which
had been lest from vessels and end of
wharves, and that perambulation continued
about week, and there were very few
wbarves at Philadelphia where any vessel
would float; his own vessel was high and
dry in the mud, and they stopped loading for
a week. The same thing occurred in the
year 1889, when benjamin Cooper, who kept
the Terry at that time at Camden, walked over
from Camden 10 Smiths Island on a muddy
bottom, and marked on one of the rocks the
point of the lowest water, putting on the date
of the year; and again went over IN 1896 be-
fore named, and found the same rock and the
same mark, and found four inches lower wa
ter than it had been in 1879, which rock he
marked again that year. March 1896. This
whole statement may be found at the Frank.
lin Institute, IN the Philadelphia papers Of
March, 1906
lie dlsO sdlu lew VI lUe Nl0lCTS
have passed in Philadelphia without his hav
ing seen the river obstructed from two or
three weeks TO two or three months, by fast
or floating ice. He had seen the river filled
with skaters, sleds, loads of WOOD drawn by
two and four horses, and frequently oxen
roasted en- the ice for the refreshment OF the
skaters. This country, IN spite of Congress
and every adverse effort, must exist as a com.
mercial and naval power. This experimental
iron clad establishment cannot constitute the
whole that may be contemplated by the Unit
ed States, but several more Will have 10 be in.
augurated, and that IN ports that.will afford
the greatest facility for the security and pre-
paraiion for service the most convenient for
their prompt departure, or for their return,
TO escape by retreat from an enemy by having
a place at all times accessible, free from all
natural distractions, atfoEdiue every means
of entrance by depth of water at all times,
and every means OF approach to secure their
safety. The great bugbear for iron-clads
seems 10 be corrosion from salt water. A
place which cannot afford all these facilities
stated is preferable TO long river and fresh
water for naval purposes, for the iron itself,
by occasionally covering il with a mixture OF
aour of birthstone, tallOw and beeswax, will
not only be protected from rust effectuaily,
but the growth Of grass and barnacles on the
bottom Of the vessel will he prevented by the
same means"
"He took IT for granted that no more oli-
fashioned sailing ships will constitute any
considerable portion Of the naval service, butl