The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1889-01-04
THE NAVAL STATION.
Local Advantages For The Site.


At recent meeting of the Port
land Board of Trade, committee
appointed to report on the desirable
ity of the mouth of the Columbia as
the site for the proposed naval sta
ton in the northwest, made coSent
argument for selecting the Columbia,
as reported by the Oreg6nidR.
Among other things the report
cites the facts that valuable wood, fir,
spruce, maple, ash and alder are OBJ
tainable in unlimited quantities, and
easy of access to transportation lines.
The fir of the Columbia is confessedly
one of the finest known materials for
ship building.
But as the governments ships
must be made largely of iron and
steel, Of greater Importance IS the
presence in large quantities of iron
ore. AT Oswego, seven miles from
Portland, great Incorporation pos
sesses over q Thousand acres OF ore
land, running 5000 tons of ore to the
acre. Bar iron has been made from
this ore of a superior quality. Well
developed reduction works already
exist in Portland. Domestic or for
eign ore. brought hither cheaply by
deep-sea vessels, can be manufac-
tured for ship materials and supplies
as cheaply as anywhere in the United
States.
The Importance Of fresh water to a
navy yard cannot be overestimated.
The waters of the Columbia are not
only clear and clean, but wonderfully
pure and fresh, fed as they are by the
thousand springs along its banks and
the everlasting SHOWS of the Rocky
mountains. 1t is uninjurious to
wooden piles. There are wharves
now doing exacting service along the
river front which were built twenty
five years ago, whose piles are still
unimpaired.
The only objection to the Columbia
is the bar at its mouth. But
government work is now under way
and rapidly nearing completion, which
by system of jetties, promises to
give a mean low tide depth over the
Columbia bar of thirty feet. Compar.
ing this with other prominent similar
ports, we find that at Sandy Hook
the mean low tide depth of water is
23.7 feet; at Hellgate, %; at Boston
%; at Philadelphia. 24115; at Washing
ton, Is; at Norfolk, 2515; at Mare Is
land, 25; at Pensacola, Is.
1t would be difficult to conceive oi
a more admirably situated rendezvous
for government feet than the Co.
lumbia in time of war. It's mouth is
capable of perfect defense; its chiei
city affords ample transportation foI
munitions of war. Ships can be
brought from the high seas without
running the gauntlet of foreign fleet
unless operating from distant base.
The ocean fouls a ships bottom
fast enough; Puget sound is worse.
The Olympian, plying between Ia
coma and Victoria, in a few months
became encased, rs to her sides and
keel, with a coating of barnacles and
other collections, four feet thick, and
weighing $4,000 pounds. This was
while in constant use. If she had
been lying at anchor, as war ships
must do to a great extent, the fouling
would have been measurably Y worse.
The only fresh water location for a
naval station on the Sound would be
lakes Union and Washington. A
commission of engineers of high
standing were appointed in 1871 to
canvass this matter, and reported
that two wide and deep canals be-
tween these lakes and the Sound
would have TO be made. This pro-
ject would involve the excavation of
4,450,000 cubic yards of earth. The
difference in the level of the lakes
and the Sound, which is eighteen
feet, would also necessitate the con-
struction of system of locks. max
ing total outlay, according to the
engineers report of S4,675,000, one
half of which sum, expended ON the
Columbia, would actually put navy
yard in active operation, providing
for wharves, buildings and shops.
But the consideration which dwarfs
all others in the consideration of Pu-
get sound as q site for naval sta
ton, is the fact that England holds
the key to her entrance. At the very
time when the governments ships of
war would be needed, they would be
in the Sound, and subject to an eff
fectual blockade from the English
feet, already well in force at Esqui-
mault and Vancouver island. and act
ing directly from a powerful base.
England well understands the i'm
portance of her western war facilities,
for during our fisheries trouble a
year ago, heavy munitions of war
we're transported across the contin-
ent to the naval stations of British
Columbia.