The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-04-10
BUILDING UP A SEAPORT.
L.iverpooPs Dock system Extended at n
Cost of SCI 800 900.

W VA wv
Recent reports from Liverpool state
that improvements are now in progress
and in contemplation extending the
Liverpool dock system. which it Is esti-
mated Will cost over S21, SOC, GOO. the
cost of dock Improvement now in
progress will involve an expenditure of
over s., SEQ, 900, and these include the
construction Of a new dry dockl which
Is to be 800 feet long n have an en-
trance of "a feet in width. Among the
other plans which are shortly to be car
ried out is the construction of three
new dry docks. n to have a length OF
1000 feet and two others to be given
lengths of $40 and $50 feet respectively.
Then IN enlargement is to be made in
several of the wet docks-that is. docks
in which the vessels lie while loading or
discharging cargoes-so as to provide
berth room for craft of greater size. 1t
is proposed to provide this berth room
for quite a number of vessels of 500 feet
i'm length, for a less number that are 300
feet long and one dock space is planned
which will afford accommodations for
a vessel of 800 feet in length.
The largest vessel now afloat, the
Kaiser Wilhelm der Crosse, has a
length Of 649 feet. The Oceanic, which
will be the largest vessel afoat
she is launched. has a length of Io4
feet. but. judging by the plans of the
l<lNtTDOOi QOCh DcdIu, liz SuicNo,
sighted business men who are doing
service on this dock commission, are OF
the opinion that the time Is soon COM
ing when vessels will be built n
launched having a length of fully 200
feet greater than n of the steamships
now built or under construction.
1t Is this forehandedness which has
given to Liverpool its prestige as a
shipping port. and has enabled its mer-
chants to hold their W In spite OF the
competition of other places. At one
time ii appeared not improbable that
the construction of the Manchester ship
canal would divert not a little of the
trade from Liverpool to this inland city.
but although vessels loaded with mer-
chandise have used the canal to quite
an extent. they have not sensibly sub
tracted from the mmerce OF Liver
pool. Its merchants have held their
own by the offer of superior accommo-
dations IN by making certain needed
concessions in the rates charged for
docking. loading and discharging ves-
sells. in this way retaining trade which
might under other circumstances have
been passed over to Manchester.
Again. one advantage which Liver
pool possesses Is its ability as a sea-
port to readily adjust itself to the new
conditions of transportation. which in
volve the use OF craft of normous size.
When the Manchester canal was
planned il was not fcreseen that the
growth in size of vessels in the Atlantis
trade would be so rapid as Ii has been.
The locks on the n are said to be
OF sufficient size to enable craft - $40
feet in length to pass through. while the
water depth is rs feet. AT the time the
canal was planned 1t did MT seem pos
sible for a generation or two ttas YES
sells would be built which could not be
accommodated in a waterway OF the
described dimeusi ons. But we reai,z"
in Boston tina .n crSer 20 meet
the needs of traffic in the fItrre. We
ought to have a ship channel OF at least
30 feet in depth: indeed. our ship chan
mel depth Mould be % feet 4 We are