, 1891-10-28
POINTS.
ARGUMENT BEFORE THE HARBOR
LINE COMMISSIONERS.
What is Necessary to Meet OIYn1-
pta's Present and Future Conn
mercial Growth-A Concise
Statement.

pia's Present and Future COm-
mercial Growth-A Concise
Statement.
The proposition to establish for Olympia
a harbor that will ultimately meet the
commercial necessities Of this city were
presented to the harbor line commissioners
this morning in practical argument by
John r. Convey, Hazard Stevens, and A.
III. Chambers, the committee appointed by
the citizens mass meeting and by the board
of trade. The argument set forth the
views of the citizens of Olympia, in that
harbor lines should be located i'm the CITY.
and not merely waterway, and that the
harbor defined by such lines should extend
at least as far south as Third street, and
should have width of not less than 1900
feet opposite Priests Point, 1000 feet OBJ
posite the end Of the long wharf, and 1000
feet opposite Third street.
In the argument the committee SAYS:
eve hold it to be unquestionable that
the whole Of Budd's Inlet is 'nayigable
waters Whether deep water as at Browns
wharf, or flats bare at low tide, the whole
eI4Cet VI D4uo l1llGb W GLG IdIlS Oh JIlG D6S-
chutes, in the eye of the law is as much
navigable waters as any part Of Puget
Sound. The decisions of the supreme
court, United States, are conclusive on this
point" Cases in point are then cited.
This being the case, under the constitu-
ton OF this state, your honorable board has
no alternative but to locate and establish
harbor lines in the navigable waters of
Budd's Inlet within and in front of the cor
porate limits of the city of Olympia" /"
The location Of waterway, however
broad, through the fats in front Of the city,
instead of harbor lines, would be a plain
lntractlon OF the constitution, and would
completely nullify the wise policy of the
state in regard to harbors. For the flats
bordering the waterway must be sold to
private parties, and your honorable board
has no power to reserve upon waterways
the harbor strip for wharves and docks to
be forever owned and controlled by the state
in the interest of the people, as provided
in establishing harbor lines, SO that all the
wharf and dock facilities upon such water
way would at once fall into private hands,
the very thing the constitution forbids and
seeks to prevent"
PRACTICAL REASONS.
"Aside from the physical features, the
two prime factors which must determine
the location of harbor lines at Olympia, as
indeed at any point, are:
l. Commercial needs.
2. Practicability and cost OF the work
involved.
The first seems to us to need no showing.
When Olympia becomes city of so, 900 in
habits as no one doubts it will become in
the near future, when her docks handle the
products of the Ienino quarries, the Shook
umchuck coal fields, and lumber mills, the
the extensive and unbroken timber belt of
the Black Hills, and the mineral wealth
which lies untouched in their depths, and
the hay hops, fruits, vegetables and other
produce of the hundreds Of farms but
just subdued, and of the thousands yet
to be subdued i'll the country tributary
to her, when the
LOCAL COMMERCE.
Of Puget Sound equals that of Long Island
Sound (and its foreign commerce already
far exceeds the latter's) when here, as now
there. score of great steamers, some of
them 5000 tons burden, $50 feet in length
carrying 1000 passengers on trip, daily
traverse our waters, and long lines Of
barges laden with lumber, coal, stone,
bricks and all crude materials are continu-
ually being towed from port to port and
hundreds Of coasters, fishing vessels and
small craft are plying the waters and using
the harbors and the yachtheets of Tacoma,
Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver and other
ports are ever and anon visiting the capi-
harbor Of Olympia too extensive2 1t will
then be all too small. Any action now
taken which diminishes or tends to dimin-
ish its area will then be bitterly and Justly
censured. Not how small, but how large
can the harbor be made should be the end
sought. Every yard Of harbor area attain
able ahOuld be secured, for it will all be
needed, and that too, i'll far less time than
it has taken to build up the vast coastwise
commerce of the Atlantic Shore"
NOT A DIFFICULT TASK.
ut is matter Of common knowledge
that the invention of improved dredgers Of
recent years has greatly reduced the cost of
harbor excavation and improvement, and
has rendered now feasible and compara-
lively inexpensive work that few years
ago would have been out of the question in
consequence of its excessive cost and that,
in fact, with these improved machines such
material as the mud and sand which form
the flats here can be excavated in and un-
der water, moved any distance not exceed
ing a mile, and deposited at far less cost
than would be required to handle an equal
bulk of earth on dry land. Whatever har-
Dor lines be established, the flats cannot
and will not remain in
THEIR PRESENT CONDITION.
With the growth of the city every foot of
them will be used, either dredged to make
excavated to form the harbor must be de-
posted upon the adjacent flats, the only
way possible to dispose of it, This fact
limits the area available for harbor, and it
is the only proper limit because the neces-
sary one. Sufficient area must be left to
receive the excavated material, and no
more than sufficient for the purpose should
be left outside the harbor"
eve submit, therefore, that at least half
of the area of the tide flats should be in
cluded within the harbor, and in addition
thereto every yard not absolutely required
to hold the dredged material"
Doubtless the cost Of the completed i'm
provement will aggregate ultimately very
large sum. But it should be considered
that after the harbor lines are located and
channel is
DREDGED TO DEEP WATER,
the dredging of the remaining area can be
deferred until needed. Consider, too, that
all the material dredged from the bottom
OF the harbor goes to make land on the
sides; that it is actually cheaper to fill
flats in this way than with earth hauled
from the hills, and that the owners of ad-
jacent flats would pay for the filling and
thus would contribute to paying for the
| improvement"
owe are firmly of opinion that, as soon
as the harbor lines are established and par
ties acquire title to the adjoining flats, the
material for filling will be in demand; that
It will be dredged by private owners al
their own expense, or purchased and
paid for by them if dredged by the ma
tional or state government; that the pro
cess of dredging and improving the harbol
here will begin of itself, as it were, and
will go on apace with the growth Of the
city"
"rhe proper location of the harbor lines
I T. 4