The San Francisco call., 1899-04-16
TO IMPROVE
ENTRANCE To
YAQUINA BAY
The Gateway to a
Great Commerce.
HARBOR'S FATE UNDECIDED
GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS WILL
SOON DETERMINE 1T.
San Francisco Merchants Recognize
the Vast Importance of the En-
terprise and Urge Favor
able Action.
HARB0R'S FATE UNDECIDED
GOVERNMENT ENGINEERS WILL
SOON DETERMINE 1T.

The question as to whether or not an
appropriation is TO be made for the i'm
pr0vement Of the entrance to YaQuina
Bay. I'm Oregon, to be carried on in ac-
Cordance with the authorization of Con-
gress, is agitating the people not only OF
Southern Oregon, but of this city
Tn 1885 Congress passed a bill providing
Tor the promotion of the work on the con-
tnuous contract basis and authorized the
appropriation of Sl,0J0,eJ0 for the purpose.
The last Congress held up the appro-
pI.auon and provided for the appointment
OF a board of engineers to examine the
harbor and report finally on the proposed
Improvement. The interesting part OF the
situation is the fact that If the board
makes an adverse report there will be a
long and costly delay in revIying the en-
Jerprise.
san Franciscos interest in the matter
lies in the fact that Yaquina Bay is the
key 10 the great import and export busi-
ness Of the southern part Of the VILLAIN
et-e Valley and the wealth-proCuclng
. Ids of Eastern oregon. Inc bay IN quts-
e IN is the natural outlet or that section
S-d this city is entitled 10 the trade. On
tile other hand the interest OF the mer-
chants of Portland and the Congressman
controlled 10y that end of the State is TO
prevent the further Improvement OF the
bay IN order that al the traInc from the
southern part OF the State snail so over
the line of the Southern Pacinc and be
handled in the eutrepOt OF the Webfoot
State. Under these circumstances the
OmbarraSs.ug situation Of the Oregon del
EgatiOu iu Congress accounts for the fail
AIe OF the apprup prlaUOn
The Board OF Government Engineers
viii meet il q few weeks and an effort is
10 be made % impress them with the i'm
pO-tanCe OF the work they have in hand.
To this end the Board OF Trade of this
city met yesterday and adopted resolu-
: tons setting forth the case from the
standpoint OF all concerned. 1t is stated
Jrat the other kindred organizations of
The city Will take up the matter on the
Lrsl OF the week and take similar action.
An open letter, written by the manager
OF the Corvallis and Eastern Railroad,
which runs eastward from Yaquina Bay,
Fairly illustrates the situation as shown
1y the following extracts:
In order that you may fully under
stand this matter l will say that on
May II, 1895, a board OF engineers,
consisting OF Lieutenant Colonel Amos
SuCkney, Major James c. Post and
Major Clinton B. Sears, met at Va
qutna and made report which re-
suited in Congress taking the matter
UP under the continuous contract sys-
tenn and that law was passed au-
thOrizing the expenditure of $1,000, 900
for the completion Of this work, which
in addition 10 that already on hand
made 900 TO be expended under
the continuous contract system. The
matter has dragged along since then
until the Government advertised for
bids, which were opened in October
last, and the contract awarded TO Chi
cago parties, who subsequently gave
the necessary bonds, signed the con-
tract. etc. and $3.50 900 was asked for
as the appropriation for the ensuing
year. The measure was defeat
ed and Iaquina entirely left out of
the appropriations for this year, The
chairman Of the River and HarbOr
Committee made statement, l be-
NeVe. that the work was not necessary,
and he also endeaVOred to have the
laws governing 1t repealed. It was
finally eft TO the decision Of the board
of engineers which had been appoint
al. The trouble in a measure seems to
have been the small amount of buSi-
ness that has been done through the
IaQuina Custom-house for the past
few years. This is susceptible of very
easy explanation.
When this road was purchased in
1894 / found the steamer Homer on the
route, running in connection with the
railroad, and doing quite an extensive
business. The owners Of this property
desired to put on a better steamer or
steamers, but owing TO the uncertainty
OF the Government improving the har-
Dor they concluded it would be better
for the time being TO make traffic
agreements with small steamer lines
until such time as 1t could be deter
mined what class Of vessels would be
best suited for the traffic and the har-
bCr. The Homer was eventually pulled
of the route and the steamer Farallon
substituted. The FaraIlOn, while she
was speedy, could not carry over 800
tons and was as expensive as vessel
carrying 1000 tons. During the time
she was on the route we were very
often blocked with sOuthbOund freight,
having frequently over 100 loaded cars
on the track more than she could take.
Our contract with the Farallon peo-
pie did not contemplate so large a vol
ume of business and as there was very
little money for them in operating this
class Of vessel they did not care 10 put
on more vessels Of the same class Ow-
ing to their not being able to handle
the business promptly a great deal OF
dissatisfaction was created among the
San Francisco shippers on account Of
the delay Occasioned by their grain
and -four remaining on our tracks from
thirty 70 sixty days before the Far
allou could take IL out. This condition
of affairs existed until the Alaska ex-
element, when the Farallon was with
drawn and placed on the Alaska route,
and the steamer Truckee endeavored
10 take care Of the business. AS you
know, she was sunk after a few voy-
ages, and the railroad company then
chartered the President for limited
! time. which was the only vessel that
could possibly be had owing to the de-
mand for ali classes Of going craft
for the Alaska business. She made a
few voyages, but finally broke her
shaft and was withdrawn, leaving US
without any vessels Of any kind on the
ocean and large quantity of grain at