Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-08-05
coALINa STATION ~ SAMOA.
United state. WIN Establish One ~ rago
rago Ifarbor.

taA' hhff'fhs
Chicago. Aug. ga special 60 she
Record from Washington snyf "Thc
President has decided 90 mako practl-
cal use of American rights at Page
rag, harbor. Samoa, and the cHtlb-
llshmont OF fully equipped naval
coallng station there Will De- under
taken at once. with this view, civil
Engineer Frank u. Chamber now on
duty at the New York navy yard. has
been ordered a. Washington Tor c1u-
sutatlon with g. authorities prior to
departing next week. with official In
Htructlnns and fan power 90 carry out
the important project
pugo Page o. tho only hlrhur Of
any value In the samoan group. ana
the one considered hy naval officers
uf scarcely lcas strait gle Importance
iu the Pacific ocean. than Pearl hur-
bor. Hawaii The decision to utilize
the concession secured By Admiral
Mead, twenty-five years ago, giving tho
United states permanent ownership of
the hnfb1r Indicates sufficiently the
administrators appreciation of the
vastly extended sphere NJ American in-
| trrcHt in the Pacific. ~ la tho lu.
nuEufuilnn NJ o. great naval and com-
mcfrial policy ln that direction. duo
ties incurred iu Aaiutlc watcrn
"Fcw details have been disclosed re-
rlrdlng The maintaining ~ a naval
establishment ut Samoa. II ~ known.
however. that Civll Engineer Cham
hers VIII estimate for the benefit uf
| Cnngtefs. tn appropriations essential
90 the making 0f a first rate naval base
nt rasu Page. In tho meantime, DE-
| will Hupfrlntend the construction m
a wharf, with an outnt Of automatic
| coallng machinery similar TO The
| modern plant now being Installed at
| Dry TortuKAH, This preliminary work
~ rendered possible through two ap-
| proprlauuns heretofore made ay
| Congress Tor naval stations In the Pa
clnc which provided balance OF $50
| 900 Immediately available.
zone OF these, amounting "a 100000
| romans out uf nm appropriation ~ re-
| cent date specifying mo- particular lu-
| rIllty Tor lis expenditure. although nl
' the time II was understood 20 b. In
tended f0r tho preliminary Improve
mtnt or ronH iiarhOr Hawaii now
hllug United States territory ana SUR
~ elaborate Improvement ana furi.n-
cations In time. can walt, ~ " thought
while the urgency at Samoa u Inn
another $4,000 remains uncxpendod
IN ihr sum ~ three times that amount
the executive more than. nficen Year,
ago. out 90 the latter appropriation
a.0l0 tons ~ coal were sent lu q
schooner from PHILADELPHIA and land
cd az rasl pnru, whore sheds were
built over n. Most of this fuel has AL
ready been used By American war
Fhlps. ON account " the difficulty of
trlnapnrilnr % from the ahlr, Go M,
Hhlrs hy means OF small lighters, how
ever tho locality was not popular win
, naval officers nH base NJ supplies. nl'
I though Dyprv official report from CONT
/ numbers visiting the hlrhor was enc
thusl1stic in recommendation OF ~
improvements and maintenance by TN
United StptUH.
'The rr,lt advantage 90 b. gained
| boy the possession ~ this station o..
evident from q glance at the map u
! the Pacific ocean. ~ r. situated eX
] upllY f.iG1 miles from san ffnuClHCI
ana t0is miles from Yokohama. M
! distance between Yokohama ana Suf
Francisco being tt9i miles. pago Pa
POO Is s.eGl miles from Honolulu, m.
| latter American port being Just nhnu
I the same distance from san Francisco
( Tho island W Guam, IN the i.1drnnU7
~ barely 5000 miles from Samon, AMI
Manila IN Just 1000 miles away. II q
understood that one or more OF th'
/ American EunhuntH now ON dutN 10
cuban waters viii start Tor Samoa ui
soon aH the blockade r. raised. Folnl
by way Of cape Horn. and win displn,
the American flag there until released
hy other vessels. These runhnats wrr,
built specially f1r duty IN the paclni
hut were detained ON the eastern cnaH
OF the United states when the war be-
gan. one NJ them. the Helena, accom-
panied tho oregon ON her f1muul
cruise from California 20 cuba, aut
win probably be the nrst 20 rcacl
Samoa"