Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-26
Will Be Made So the Torpedo -BOat-De-
StfoyerS Can Pass Through.
The Plant to Give EmpJoymcnt to
About 500 Men-The Building of
Engines at the LocOmotive-WOrLs
Will Not BE Interfered with.

MT. Wlllam X. Irlgg, president or the |
Richmond Locomotive and Machine
| Works, returned yesterday afternoon
from Washington, whittier he went to
submit a bid for the construction of a !
number of torpedo-boats and torpedo-boat
destroyers, and having been apparently
! successful in his mission, he left last
night for the White Sulphur Springs to
| join his wife and family and take a few
| days of rest.
Mr. Trigg Is very enthusiastic over the
success of his bids, and says the day is
not far distant when Richmond will be a
big ship-buildng centre. He submitted
lower bids than any of the ship builders
in the country for the boats to be con-
structed, and says he is confident that he
| will be awarded the contract for building
five torpedo-boat destroyers and four tor
pedo-boats.
So confident is he. indeed, that before
| his departure for Washington he made
arrangements with the Virginia Machine
| Company for the use of their plant, on
Seventeenth and Cary streets, formerly
occupied by the Talbot Machine Works,
and with the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail-
road Company for the use of the dock,
and as soon as the contract is awarded
ways will be built in the dock and the
most improved machinery placed in the
old Talbot plant, preparatory to begin
ming the work of constructing the boats.
ORIGIN OF THE PLAN.
There is quite a history attached to the
proposition 10 use the Talbot works and
the dock for ship-building purposes, and
Mr.. Trigg is the father Of the idea. Some
| years ago, when the United States be-
| came involved in a dispute with England
! over the Venezuelan boundary question,
| Mr.. Trgg was summoned TO Washington
to confer with the Navy Department con-
cerning the feasibility of building boats
in Richmond. He then conceived the idea
Of utilizing the old Talbot works and the
dock, and suggesting this to Commodore
Melville. the head of the Engineering De-
partment Of the navy, the Commodore,
| who was here during the civil war, assert
| ed it as his belief that the plan was an
excellent one inasmuch as the works and
the water were so close to one another.
Mr.. Trigg had not forgotten this idea
when he was called upon 10 bid on war
vessels this time, and as soon as notified
! OF the governments purpose TO construct
more boats he determined TO bid and at
| once made arrangements with the owners
of the works to utilize that property He
secured an instrument in writing granting
him the use of the property in event the
| contract was secured and then through
| Mr.. Decater Axtell, who went TO the Hot
| Springs to see President Ingalls, of the
| Chesapeake and Ohio. secured from that
official the promise that the dock would
| be placed at his disposal.
ANOTHER BID FILED.
| Having already figured on the plans for
/ the various boats, and ascertained that
the locks leading from the dock to the
river would be too small to admit OF the
| passage Of a rpedo-boat-destroyer Mr..
Trigg confined his bid to the torpedo
| boats. Later, ne ascertained that the
| locks could be very readily enlarged, and
| being informed after he got to Washing
| ton that he would be permitted to bid on
| both classes Of boats, he, at the eleventh
| hour, filed a bid for torpedo -boat-destroy-
| ers as we'll as for tOrpedo-boats. When
| the bids were opened it was ascertained
| that his bids for both classes Of boats
| were the lowest. and then howl was
| raised by the northern and western ship
1 builders. IneJ GDutcHutu ludl MS Dlu
was irregular, inasmuch as it had been
filed after the specified time. but Mr..
Trlgg at once conferred with the Judge
| AdyOcate-General of the navy and was
assured that his bid was not irregular.
The awards under the bids have not yet
been made, but Mr.. Trigg Is confident
that he will be given the contract for the
construction of five rpedo-boat-destroy-
ers and four torpedo-boats He says that
the work. which will have to be done
within the next twelve or eighteen
! months. will be pushed forward as rap
| idlv as possible, and that while, OF coursc,
| some of the machinery Will be built
| az the Richmond Locomotive and Ma
| cbine-Works. the work OF locomotive
| construction there will not be interfered
| with. and that the plant, which is now
working to it's full capacity, with 1000
men on the payroll, will only be utilized
| vban work is slack there. and that most
of the ship-building will be done at
Seventeenth and Cary streets.
TO BUILD WAYS.
vvovs will have TO be built in the dock
ord the vessels will practically be built
,bs outside of the foundry, only the
,aobinerv being made inside or course
| ,basa ways will all be covered, and When
| tba,, are constructed side by SIDE almost
al ~ the dock will be under cover Ihe
| chasaneake and Ohio and the Southern
| .atIvyav now cross the dock on trestle'
M their road-bed may be changed so as
70 give the ship-yards the entire dock.
aShn enlargement Of the locks will be "a
vow easy task, Mr.. Trigg THINKS ana
hts idea is to have them sufficiently en-
inrged 10 admit of the passage, with
So OF any boat he may construct here
The boats will be built on the ways ana
ian,ched in the dock and then towed
,hro,,gh the locks 10 the river, where
vnder their own steam they will go where
| ever ordered.
II the contract Is awarded TO Mr.. Trigg
ha will receive for the vessels In their
comnleted condition I,644,0o This VIII
mean a great deal to Richmond. not only
for the present. but for the future, Tor II
,hese boats are satisfactorily built, and
The work on the Texas is practical assur
once that they will be. other contracts
viii come here. and IT is more than hKeiy
that Richmond will take her stand with
other large manufacturing centres as
Great ship-builld!ng port. Al any rate
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