The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-17

/ in regular. constant and convenient water
! communication with said terminal. The
I railroad delivers freight on the station
+ WharVes and has published through rates
J from all shipping points in the country.
/ Savannah and Charleston steamers touch
4 az the naval station. and during the last
+ TWO years. a steamer from the town OF
Beaufort has made round "trip morning
and evening. Moreover the government
has surveyed a feasible and cheap route
for railroad spur. ana has under consid-
Grafton an estimate for the building OF
this road. which presents no engineering
difficulties. The department should know
mat the sites proposed in Charleston har-
Dor are farther distant from railroad
than is the naval station at Port Royal
proximity of Large Commercial
city"
This advantage is doubtless intended to
supply the want expressed in the next
phrase. convenience of obtaining at all
time, skilled labor of all classes" Skilled
labor Of all classes cannot be obtained at
all times in the city of Charleston. 1t Is
not manufacturing town and there are
only a few factories or machine shops
there; and it would be as difficult TO get
the men employed ia them 10 leave reg
uar job for temporary work as IL is else
where.
The trouble at Port Royal has been to
get work for skilled mechanics to do.
mere nave Always DetI NlOtG dDpllCdlioiAS
for work on file than could be accepted.
Mechanics in Savannah, Augusta,
Charleston, Norfolk and Wilmington have
been only too anxious TO snap up anything
like permanent job a Port Royal.
AN Abundance of Fresh Water"
Port Royal has an artesian well of great
capacity and the water is of excellent
quality. As many more wells can be driv-
en- as may be necessary. Is il imagined
that * going n bubble i'm n
erous quantities at the few possible sites
in Charleston harbor? 1T does not bubble
now and it is difficult to see how water
could be supplied to the site oftenest men,
toned, unless it should be piped under the
harbOr from The city.
The questions of transporta ton, labor
and fresh water present no unusual diff
ficulties at Port Royal, and there is no
guarantee that they would be better solved
at or near" the little city of Charleston
with its population of % 600 whites.
4. To remain at Port Royal will in
volve a very heavy expenditure in the
immediate future probably without in
creasing the facilities or efficiency of the
station to a satisfactory standard. The
commandant of the station in his last an
nual report, recommends appropriations
aggregating 81 ,964 1859, not taking into con-
sideration the rebuilding of the dock"
The efficiency Of the plant to-day is such
that it can dock any ship in the navy and
make all ordinary repairs; and there is
no reason to suppose that any expenditure
applied to Port Royal would accomplish
less than if applied to some site in
Charleston harbor.
Glance over she sums asked for this
year by commandants of some of the
long-established yards, which have had
the benefit of government appropriations
for over half a century.
New York '.'.......'..'............. 1893 600
League Island Observation-Disclosures. 9, 1873, $50
NOrfoik .......................... 2,4,0U0
If these old yards are 10 get from two
to three millions to grow on, what is as
tonishing in the recommendatio tons for a
little less than two millions for the build
ing of yard which is yet in its youth?
5. ITO make the Port Royal station ac-
cessible for the larger vessels of the navy
would involve a very large outlay for
dredging" This outlay has been nearly
expended and the deepening of the chan
mel is all but accomplished
6. 1T is true that there is deeper water
at the entrance of Port Royal sound than
at the entrance 40 Charleston harbor, but
the controlling depth at the present time
is the same In both, twenty-one feet in
mean low water, but at Charleston this
rules for a. distance of only 700 feet be-
tween the sea and the city whilst at Port
Royal It occurs at several points and over
a large total distance unless a very tortu-
Gus course is followed"
1t would be difficult 20 formulate a
statement which, while containing some
semblance of a fact would give so false
and misleading an impression as the
above.
1t is absurd to compare the ribbon of
a channel, leading through a vast ex-
panse of shifting quicksand, which con-
stitutes the entrance to Charleston har-
Dor, with the magnificent channel of Port
RoVaI sound The former channel was
obtained by artificial means, after the ex-
penditure of many millions, and can be
maintained only by constant dredging
7. "In 1898 the War Department formu-
lated a new project for the improvement
of the navigation into Charleston harbor
designed to attain a depth of twenty-six
feet at mean low water between the sea
and the deep water of the harbor, which
its engineers report entirely feasible"
The above misrepresents the facts.
The project for the improvement of
the navigation into Charleston harbor'
was formulated in 1873.
Notice the phrase-"Which "a project
for a 26-foot channeD engineers report
en- rely feasible" The chief of engineers
Of the United States army says "a great
er channel depth at the entrance to
Charleston harbor is both possible and de-
sirable." Possible" does not mean 'en-
tirely feasible" and "a greater channel
depth" than now obtains does not mean
"a depth of 26 feet at mean low water"
Says the division engineer southeast di-
vision. 1T is not impossible, however that
a channel &c feet deep can be made and
maintained by dredging alone. If it be
| found however, that such dredged chan
mel could not be maintained by dredging
alone, chen the jetties should be extend
! ed" However" they only surmise as to
what will BE found they state contin-
gencies and innate the cost of the ex-
| nerimaut at 50 4OS 40
Says the report quoted above-"Once
during this summer QS9S) a transport lay
off this charleston hartor for days, and
troops were taken out to it by small
steamers"
This tranport was the Yale and the Of
fetal record give her draught as % feet
1.-The least sounding on Port Royal bar
was found 10 be 80 feet said Capt. Bob
Evans when he brought in the Indiana.
Any one informed of such matters will
affirm that the natural harbor at Port
Royal is incomparably the superior of the
artificial harbor which the national gov
eminent is trying at great expense to Sc
cure for Charleston.
W. bo.,o II briaf coyarad tho raeitiOp