The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-04-28


specincatlous fhs Aforesaid dry dock. to ioeats
the same g she city Of Seattle and fofever "a
maintain and operate the same q aid city d
Seattle
s1econd II Win guarantee upon The $4,000 d
stock % taken By the citizens and members 81
the Chamber Of Commerce Of your city divi'
dends Of II per cent per aunum for three years
from NOVEMBER !, 1SoL
sThird-I win agree 70 complete said dry doeh
md have the same seady for operation mot lAte1
than November 1, 1891
FOURTH hereby guarantee that the sid dry
dock shah, when completed, be of a least ZOO
tons Displacement.
ssF4fth-As guarantee that all of the shove
part, hereby agree to deed In trust to any per
son named By your body real estate in the city
Of Port Townsend, WASH, to the value Of 10000.
1R w. DE LIox.
aNem-Tine 70 finish above agreement on o.
before Nay l, 1901"
After leaving Port Townsend the party gath
cred N the cabin of the Edith and the PROPOSE
tion Of Captain De Lion was informally bat ear
nesffy discussed over an excellent lunch.
Charles Kttinger, as the request Of the commit
Tee, read Captain De Lions OFFER, and In few
words urged prompt ful6limcnt of the condi-
tions. Mr.. ]. W. Enfz, who had sccidentiy been
left at Port Townsend while the party was at
Hadlock said that whiis he was waiting there
for the return of the patty had heard CONVEX
sAfion that should cause the people of Seattle TO
90 70 work IA earnest. He said that while stand
lag il front Of the Merchants National bank he
had seen large number Of prominent business
men assemble 70 discuss the dry dock question.
Every man appeared 70 be of the opinion thai
Port Townsend had let q golden opportunity
slip when she Let Captain De Lions offef go ~
default, and IL was decided there to reopen me-
gJtiatious with Captain De Lion at once, II pos
s.ble. They seemed to realize for the first time
that there was imminent danger OF losing
great enterprise that they had been offered, but
had not taken the trouble to reach out for
II was also stated that Tacoma would take the
dock II Seattle did not, and give . clear bonus
larger than the amount of stock subscription re-
quircd TO secure II to Seattle.
All the way home the matter was discussed BY
men who gathered In groups. and the opinion
thaf the dock would mean great things for Seat
tie appeared to b almost unanimous.
Captain Bryant WAS not backward in giving
the plans and work Of Captain De Lion his
hearty approval, and from his own knowledge
cited instances TO show its necessity. Said he:
$50 far a. the work Of construction has gone I
can suggest no improvements; l do not believe
It could be better done It 10 strong enough TO
take out any vessel that comes TO the Pacific
coast How they will flush IL do not know fur
Their than that think Captain De Lion will
build according to the original plan and make 1t
hrstc'ass In every respect 1t is not a scheme,
for Captain De Lion wants to do something that
viii be monument to him. He came here in
1876, believe, and has since been in the ship
ping business at Port Townsend and everyone
knows his hne business record. He Is thorough
seaman and mechanic. He 10 . man Of restless
energy that surmounts the obstacles Of poor
health. He had some money and il putting Il
into the dry dock. II It fails he goes down with
1t: but have no fear of it, failure. I have been
around tho work at all its various stages and 1
know IL has been well and honestly performed.
Every man IL hired by the day and
Is competent. lie has . fine super
intendent whose whole soul is in
the success Of the enterprise. Everything is
done in the best possible manner. No blind
bolts have been driven rs is often the case in
such work. Every piece OF iron goes through
and IL keyed and ciinched. The work could
not be done better anywhere and no man would
build % Captain De Lion 10 building If he was
not aiming at success. have seen nearly every
dry deck in the world, and am sure that
Captain De Lions plans are all right.
1T IL important to Seattle that she gets the
dry dock. Ships that go to India, China and
Japan get strained on the voyage and must
to 50 to San Francisco or to q foreign dock. If
we had the dock to offer them they would come
here to discharge, dock and them they would
load here. A ship that goes into dock drops at
least 1000 In the town, besides the towage, and
disbursements. all OF which 60 to making q
great port Then 1t viii be OF great benefit to
our Sound shipping. Our steamers of any size
have TO 60 to Esquimalt or San Francisco every
tins they get out of condition and very large
amount OF money goes away from our home
ports In this way. Take the Kingston for in
stance. She has been out three times the
past year at Esquimalt The 0iynpian
short time ago went to San Francisco was on
the dock Tor twenty four hours and the cost to
hetewuers was over 5000: here the cost would
not exceed Il .o00 The Alaskan was lost on q
trip down TO the dry dock and many boats, not
being equal to the trip down, are forced to 60 to
'squimalt. Last year sent three ships-the
Wilmington, the Elder and the walla walla-
down to San Francisco in damaged condition.
Sailing vessels also pu. in here in distress, but
we have no dock to offer them and they are
forced to 60 elsewhere.
1.-THE big dock will not injure our marine
ways for II win get all of the smaller craft, and
with the big dock here the shipping will in
crease. The big dock will keep q very large
force of men on hand at all times and the
smaller dock viii have men at hand for its work
instead OF having to pick them mp at create.
cost In time and money. II Seattle doesn't raise
the money Tacoma will, and be glad to get the
chance"
Captain J. J. Holland. whose reputation as q
ship builder entities his words 10 consideration
when asked what he thought Of the dry dock
said Captain De Lions plans are all right
the work already done Is all right and believe
tho dock will be completed rs planned. Talk
about 1t breaking in two? Why that's poppy.
cock. Why doesn't the Merchants dock In San
Francisco break in two? It's built on the same
general principles. Can II be sunk and floated
Why, certainly il can. 1t is no experiment.
Captain De Lion has followed in the footsteps OF
all successful dry dock builders of the world.
Before went down had some doubts, blu,
after examining the work DONE seeing the plans
aud having the work TO be done outlined lost
all fea- OF the success of the enterprise, and
arm willing 10 stake my reputation as mechanic
upon IL. think it is a good business PROPOSE
ton for Seattle ana for the stockholders. It Ii
tho best chance Seattle has ever had to take a
strong lead as q shipping center and to get hold
OF IL forever. II the people only knew the i'm
por,ance OF the matter the money could be
raised tomorrow"
Captain J. b. Libby has taken a very active in
terest in getting the proposition of Captain De
Ton before the Chamber OF Commerce. as he be
Ii YES that il viii be the means OF maintaining
Settles supremacy in shipping as well as Other
matters. When asked IL he considered it good
business proposition, he said: at certainly Is
for these reasons: The operating expenses Of
the dock will not exceed $4,000 per annum; 8
conservative estimate of the number of vessels
to be handled would be 90 a year. At an aver
age tonnage OF loo tons and dockage charge Of