The Portland daily press., 1894-06-21
WORK AT PEARL HARBoR.
Preliminary to Establishing the U. S.
Naval Station in Hawaii.

(From the Hawaiian Starr
The party sent to Pearl Harbor by Admir-
al Walker to make borings, with view to
establishing the cost of dredging channel
through the bar that obstructs it's entrance,
has been hard at work since Monday last,
but owing to bad weather and exceptionally
high seas they have accomplished less than
was expected.
Lieut.. Woods first duty upon his arrival
was to anchor buoys across the bar where it
is proposed to dredge the channel. they
are placed in two lines and mark the pro-
posed width of the channel as 200 feet and
it's depth thirty feet at low water. A scow
was anchored near one of the buoys and the
work of sinking a tripod that would Sc
curely and steadily hold the heavy drill
was commenced. The tripod used is con-
struced of six-inch square timber forty feet
in length, it being of sufficient height SO
that, although the bottom is weighted and
securely anchored to the sand beneath, the
apex is eight OF ten feet above the high
water mark. At first great difficulty was
experienced the tripod in use being too
light for the work and not weighted to re-
sisJ the force of the sea, but more weight
was used, and on Saturday last success at
tended their efforts and tripod of sufficient
strength and weight was sunk.
The officers in charge had no more than
stopped congratulating themselves on the
completion of the hardest work they have
done since their arrival in Honolulu when
line from the scow fouled the propeller
of the launch. The launch, losing head
way, could not control the heavy scow,
which drifted by the heavy sea, against the
tripod, completely demolishing it. One of
the forty-foot legs was carried away, and
Lieut.. Wood is now in town looking for an
other to take the place of the one broken.
The tripod has been placed in position
four times. only to be Knocked down by the
heavy surf. each time falling upon the scow
and endangering the lives of all the men
at work
The work is attended with no little risk to
those employed. the sea running so high
that the steam launch is half full of water
most of the time, being kept afoat only by
continual pumping. There has been only
one accident. however, that being to Mr..
Crandall. the surgeon in charge. He fell
overheard from the dingy, and being quickly
rescued suffered from nothing worse than a
voluntary bath. f Z
The officers are very comfortably quar-
tered in Mr.. G. A. Browns house. They
have their own cook and are said to be liv-
ing very we'll. Sharp discipline is en-
forced" reveille'' at 5 a. m. and TAPS at
10 p. m. The men, fifteen in number, have
swung their hammocks in the trees sur
rounding the place, which at night presents
the appearance of small camp. McCan-
dless Brothers, under the direction of the
officers in charge of the expedition, are to
make the borings Several will be made,
so that the character of the bar can be as
certained at each point. The machine used
for doing the work consists of pipe, inside
of which is drill set through the apex of
the tripod, firmly held in place by heavy
plans and resting upon the bottom. Water
is forced through the pipe, washing the
sand away and permitting it to gradually
sink The drill inside the pipe follows until
it reaches rock or coral, it being then raised,
dropped and turned by means of long
piece of wire, drilling a hole of sufficient
size to permit of the ,pipe's sinking after it.
The boring heretofore done has shown the
bar to be a deposit of sand. This being SO,
the dredging of channel will be accom-
plished with comparative ease, and the ex-
| pense will be considerably less than the es-
Inmates, particularly as the bar has been
found to be narrower than was expected.
| England is evidently keeping her eye on
| this work of the United States, one of the
Iieutenants from the Champion having gone
to Pearl Harbor during the past week os-
| tensibly for a friendly visit, but it is be-
| lieved in reality to inspect the work and
report. - se.t