The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-10-26
TO OPEN
THE BAR
Pearl Harbor Will Be
improved.
A BOOM FOR HONOLULU
lieutenant-Coonel Heuer Here to
Make Survey oF the
Entrance.


that great war vessels may be seeu
ncatirr on the placid bosom OF
Pearl Harbor
Lieutenant Colonel w. IL. Heuer Of
the Engineer corps of the United States
Army Is here for the purpose OF max
lnE Il survey of the entrance 10 the
hnrbor with the view of cXpending at
once the appropriation of 500 900 which
was made by the Fifty fourth Congress
to cut through the reef. He wili make
report to Washington at once and IL
1t is found that the bar can be opened
for the sum available the work win be
done Immediately. -. ''.'.'
Yesterday Colonel Heuer went down
to Pearl Harbor on the Naval launch
! with Captain Merry commander OF the
Honolulu Naval Station, Lieutenant
Commander F. c. Prfndell. Lieutenant
Commander Pond. of the 1ruquolS.
Captain Dowdell of the Zealandia.
George c. Beckley and others. They
spent nearly the entire day looking
over the harbor and examining the eH-
tent of the bar and the entire entrance
to the harbor. Within the next few
days Colonel Heuer will make a careful
survey and upon this with the reports
which have been hitherto made
on the harbor he will base his report to y
the Secretary of War regarding the ad-
visibility of at once expanding che
money which is available for cutting
the bar and opening the harbor to the
ships which plough the blue waters OF
the ocean. . .
This sum of 100000 which was ap-
propriated by Congress some years ago
has been lying idle ever since that time
1t was appropriated before the Islands
We're annexed to the United States and
was part of the general funds for the
Improvement of the rivers and harbors 4
Of the United States. All work on the :
rivers and harbors comes within the
jurisdiction of the War Department
and has nothing to do with the Navy
Department. and so It is that n member
of the Army Engineer corps Is sent to-
make the estimates for the work Of
opening the entrance, Nor Will the
cutting through of the bar have any
particular bearing on the contemplated
construction of Naval station at
Pearl Harbor though Congress may be
brought to see the ACCESSIBILITY OF at
once constructing n Navy yard there
when the spectacle is seen of great
ships of war floating at anchor within
fifty feet of n shore. and with ten to
twenty fathoms OF water under their
keels. .t I...,.rs s.y g.
If it Is ascertained that 500 900. viii
be sufficient to do the work of cutting,
n canal similar to that which leads to
the harbor of Honolulu, about 200 feet
wide and 30 feet or more deep, con-
tracts will be let at once for the work,
and this will mean that the harbor VIII
be opened for deep sea vessels before
the spring of 1901 is very far advanced
II will also mean work for many Homo
lulu people and dredging contracts that
viii he eagerly taken up by some of the
local contractors ,l
From surveys of the harbor entrance
which have been made in the past II
believed that the sum of 500 600 viii
imply sufficient to do the work of cut
ting through the bar. For a space of
eeverrl hundred feet opposite the en-
trance tie water on the bar is about Is
10 90 feet deep. For most of this width
there Is little If any coral. and It viii
simply be necessary to dredge out the
sand which the sea and the currents
from the harbor have combined to pile
mp across the entrance. Where there Is
coral to be found it is stated from these
reports that It is simply in the shape OF
I thin layer lying on the sand and when
this has been cut through it win be
easy to remove the sand to any re-
1uired depth. ...
But while the actual cutting through
If the channel for deep sea ships win
not be n matter OF great expense it viii
ne different when 1t comes to remov-
ing the reefs while stretch at ether
de of the entrance proper from the
calf Works nj Puu'oa and from Wal
no on the otrer side and which make
ne present course into the harbor even
For small yachts somewhat tortous and
lincuIt.
1.-THE EXPENSE Of removing these ob-
'truCtlOns." said CAPTAIN Merry last
rverlrE Twin be considerable and IL Is
I question Whether 1t will be possible
% do II with the morey which is now
valuable Unless tNev are removed N
win be difficult for the big wnrships 10
inter the harbor for they win hardly be
able 10 turn so as to get around these
projecting reefs However there is q
hIl now before Congress 10 appropriate
'460 600 for the Improvement OF Pearl
Harbor and to purchase site for a
Naval station ard II that is passed ttIfS
Writer by Congress II will prove ample
with the 100000 20 do all the work
necessary
~ cm give no idea how soon the
work Of cutting through the bnr win be
done. Colonel Heuer viii make his ~
port ON that, IL Is entirely In hh
hands The money on hand ought ts
bee easily SUFFICIENT 90 cut through the
hnr end u IL that sum which Il Is in
tended 20 expend at the present time"
The opening ~ peBn Harhor has
been for years one Of the plans for the
Impropsnent of the Islands which has