The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-05-02
AHARBoR OF REFUGE.

ED. GAZETTE.-The meeting of a board OF
U. S. civil engineers at Newport on the
ii TIL of next month to hear suggestions as
to the future improvement Of the entrance
to Yaquina bay brings to mind the efforts
that were made some years ago by the gov
ernment to select and locate point some
where between the Golden Gate and ths
straits of San Juan del Fuca!for harbor of
refuge. There has been n continual and
ersistent effort for more than 20 years to
get harbor of refuge at Port Oxford, in
Curry county, Oregon. At one time board
consisting of three engineers was sent out
from Washington t., the Pacific coast to
make a selection of place for harbor.
They examined three places, Crescent City,
Port Oxford and Cape Foulweather but
could not agree on either place, and made
no report, or if they did, made no recon-
mendation.
Il is admitted that there should be such
harbpr on our coast. In fact, it is an alb :
solute necessity; only last winter thousands
of dollais worth of property and many val
uabe lives were lost between Puget Sound
and San Francisco, some of which at least,
might have been saved had there been har-
b"r N which disabled vessels could take
refuge, and this is simply repetition of
what takes place every winter. The gov
ernment has been derelict in its duty to the
shipping interests of this coast in not pro-
viding harbor before this.
The prevailing winds on the coast from
November until April are from the south
and southwest. The gales mostly dreaded
by mariners are from the southwest and
are at times fearful in their severity. On
the whole of the northwest coast between
San Francisco and the Straits of Fuca, a
distance of seven hundred and fifty miles,
there is no harbor that sailing vessel will
attempt to enter during a southwest gale.
In speaking of Cape Foulweather Mr..
Habersham, U. S. engineer, says of the
North Bay formed by the cape. "No survey
has been made Of this bay, and so far as
! could learn my boat was the first that ever
entered it. 1t is natural harbor. of con-
| siderable extent, even without improve
ment l am informed that during the
southwest gales the whole of the area in
side of the reef is compaI atively smooth.
| Several of the seamen employed as boat
men on this survey, who bad sailed for q
number of years between San Francisco and
Puget Sound and claimed to be familiar
with the coast and its climate, said that il
two buoys were placed to mark the entrance
and the fact published for the information
of mariners, vessels of any draught could
enter here"
1t would seem that nature had marked
Cape Foulweather as the only suitable point
on the whole coast for harbor of refuge
and done the greater part of the work. Il
being situated near midway between Puge
Sound and San Francisco, it is by far th'
most available for vessels that may becom
disabled in the passage between thes
points.
To construct side wall or break-wate
to complete the work already so we'll don
bv nature and make a harbor in which tn
navies of the world could ride in safet
will, it is estimated, cost some $500, O0C
while the cost of making harbor at an
other point on the coast will be from min
to eleven millions of dollars. With all {
these advantages it seems almost iHcredibl
that the government will continue as it hs
for twenty five years to delay this impol
tant work. JOHN BURNETT.