New-York tribune., 1896-10-04
! THE NEWS OF BROOKLYN

corresponding dimensions. The shortest OF these
piers will be the north side and VIII be nearly
400 feet in length. The longest one. nearest 10
the Thirty ninth-st ferry. will be little short OF
1000 feet in length. The laws OF the state Ol
New-York prohibit the building of any solid land
pier more than 10 feet in width with slips OF not
less than 100 feet wide between. so as to pre-
serve a sufficient amount of prism, or water
storage. in the harbor. When Mr.. Ambrose Iaid
his project before the Harbor Board some years
ago 1t was objected 10 on the ground tnat IL
would reduce the prism Of water. but he showed
them that IL would be an actual gain. as ne
could fill in entirely up to the bulkhead Ine
which would lessen the prism far more than his
proposed piers would. General Abbott was pres
ident of the Board, and the objection was ulti-
mately withdrawn The State laws. however, in
terfered, and Mr. Ambrose having wise dread
Of Albany legislators. sought relief before Con-
gress. which passed law authorizing the erec-
tion Of piers 300 feet wide between Seventeenth
ST. and Fort Hamilton. These of Mr.. Ambrose
will be Of cribwork, filled in with stone. AT the
shore end of each will be a storage yard Of 3.SS
acres, from which double lines Of rails will COM
municate with transfer bridges in the ends of
the piers. while mammoth warehouses. ten stories
IN helght, VIII run between the WharveS and the
rails.
1t is a forum .te thing in one way for the
harbor of NewYork that the teredo naralis. or
marine worm. cannot stand It's sewage mpreg-
mated waters any more than fish can. and this
fact explains why wooden piers are popular
IN the port. Timber has long life when kept
either entirely wet or entirely dry. Hence it Is
mat the lower parts of spes do not decay unless
the teredo exists, but they invariably go at the
line of high water and few feet above and he
low it, 1t is at the same time perhaps unfor-
tunate for the greatest port in the United States
= he a. "a a. han 81 N
concrete would be brought into more general
use for the building Of piers and bulkheads. The
first cost would have been large but the result
would have made ii far cheaper in the end. The
same applies TO the timber drydOcks of the Navy
Department. Already there is outcry about
the cost Of repairs. The life of a wooden pier in
this port where the eredo does not exist is about
twenty-five years. Already one of the Anglo
American drydocks has had to be rebuilt. and il
was only built about twenty years ago. whereas
a stone dock will last for an unknown term of
years.
The Ambrose piers will be equipped with all
modern appliances, there will be no wide
wharves between the ships and the warehouses,
and electric hoists and elevators will play an
important part in the scheme of getting the
greatest results with a minimum Of cost. The
authorization by Congress applies equally to
all property on the south shore between Seven
teenth-st. and Fort Hamilton. but it will he
that the Federal Government grants no
concession. but hangs on sternly 10 its rights
over navgable waters. 1t reads as follows:
greatly enlarged size of vessels and of increas-
ing commerce, ii is hereby further provided that
such piers as may be built between Seven
teenth-st. on the south shore of Gowanus Creek
and Fort Hamilton may be constructed so that
much thereof shall be between the pier
and bulkhead lines may be OF linear width
not to exceed 300 feet, and. whether of that
width or Of less width may be filled with solid
materials when an equal tidal prism. space
TO receive the inflow Of the tides is provided
in compensate ton therefor, behind the authorized
q Q6iQCppf n
The various acts of Congress under which
these improvements were or are being made,
September 49, 1890. 100000. for the Bay
Ridge Channel to dig it out 400 feet wide and
21 feet deep.
July IS. 1892. $9s.GOO. to complete the above
channel.
August {. 1894 S15OO0O to begin the enlarge
ment of the Bay Ridge Channel to 800 feet wide
and 26 feet deep.
June g. 1896 S2OOOOO 10 complete the en-
larged project. and directing the Secretary Of
War to contrac: to finish the Bay Ridge and
Shoal in Buttermilk Channel
1t will be observed that the words of the act
open up all the improved property south OF
Seventeenth-st. to the erection of these great
piers Hitherto Of the greatest troubles
has been want of space on the piers for the
loading and unloading Of goods. passageway
for trucks. etc With 300 feet piers all these
troubles will be eliminated. and it is just in this
point that the owners of piers built according
to this law will reap the benefit