The morning call., 1891-02-13
PACIFIC coAsT ENTERPRISES.

t0r Two measures WHICH are Oh Lie ulSu
road to become laws the Coast has to thank
Congress. The Naval Appropriation Bill
provides that survey shall be made for
submarine cable from San Francisco to
Honolulu, and the Senate has passed an
appropriation for the erection of dry-doek
at Port Orchard, on Puget Sound. Both eX-
penditures are justified by the needs of COM
merce, and by a sound forethought for the
possibilities of war.
A telegraph line to the islands is required.
The bottom of the Pacific is an unknown
country; nothing has really been ascer-
tanned about it except that it is furrowed by
deep chasms separated by lofty ranges of
submarine mountains, some of which are
still active volcanoes. The s0undings vary
thousands of fathOms within short dis
tanceS. 1t is time that exact sOundings
should be taken on the line which IA cable
would probably follow. This could he done
in the course Of season. We have in the
navy officers who are skilled in such work.
The survey of the ocean-bed, between Puget
Sound and the coast of JaDan, is an adj
mirable piece of work, and will prove OF the
greatest use to the future explorers of the
North Pacific. After a survey has been
completed it will deyolve on the Govern
ment to assist in laying the cable. az there
is not business enough between this port
ana the Islands to support it. On military
grounds the expense would be justified. In
the event of war the want of a cable to the
natural outpost of this Coast might involve
losses compared to which the cost OF a cable
would be tritie.
The new dry-dOck at Port Orchard, on
Puget Sound. is urgently needed. Besides
the lifting dock at the Union Iron Works
and the dry-d0cks ut Hunters Point and
Mare Island, we have no dock on American
territory on this coast at which a ship of
war can be repaired, her bottom cleaned and
leaks stopped. At Esquimalt, some four
miles from Victoria b. C., the British have
built an admirable dry-dock which is used
by the Pacific Squadron, and forms part of
an extensive fortress. In the event of war
the whole British fleet could anchor off the
port and each ship could refit in turn for
depredations on an enemy's coast The
proposed new dock at Port Orchard will
not be inferior. 1t is to be 600 feet long and
10 feet wide; vessels drawing thirty feet OF
water can get III and out.
This is the first step which Congress has
taken to utilize the magnificent system Of
deep-water ways which are found in the
State OF Washington. 1t is so wise and so
'D'ihHS q siND lAithL IhC G1t4DOl DAt 1eEl SUI
priSad that men of the caliber of Senators
Mitchell and Dolph should have opposed it
from local jealousy. They should have re-
membered that what benefits Puget Sound
will also benefit Oregon. The Puget Sound
archipelago belongs 10 the whole Coast.
That unsurpassed BODY of interior waters,
deep enough to float the heaviest ironclad.
and extensive enough to hold all the navies
of the world, will not be utilized to its full
extent until it contains works which are
equipped with machinery for the repair and
completion of all classes of sea-going yes
sells. Congress was guided in voting the
appropriation by naval considerations and
by desire to provide against injuries in
war. But commerce needs The dry-dock as
much as the national navy. The time will
come when the waters of Puget Sound Will
be covered with steamers plying to every
port on the Pacific. 1t is but proper that
they should contain everything which eau
assist the development of that maritime
movement. The dry-dock at Esquimalt is
an engine Of war purely ana altogether
Our dry-dock at Port Orchard will be rather
designed to promote trade and maritime
intercourse. 1t will be an enterprise of
peace, and the English will be rs welcome
to avail themselves of its facilities as our
selves, on payment of the usual dock