The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-01-18
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1t was from Lieutenant Colonel w. II.
Heuer of the Engineer corps of the
United States army that the following
Information was obtained on Octo-
Der rs:
Lieutenant Colonel w. H. Heuer of
the Engineer corps of the United States
Army, is here for the purpose of max ng
survey of the entrance to the harbor
with the view of eXpendlng at once the
appropriation of 100000 which was made
by the Fifty-fourth Congress to cut
through ne rec. will make a report
TO Washington at once and if it is found
mat the bar can be opened for the sum
available the work will be done immedi-
,ately.
Yesterday Colonel Heuer went down to
Pearl Harbor on the Naval launch with
Captain Merry, commander of the Homo
iulu Naval Station, Lieutenant Comman.-
er F.. c. Prindell, Lieutenant Commander
Pond, of the Iroquois, Captain Dowaell of
the Zealandia, George e. beckley and
others. They spent nearly the entire
day looking over the harbor and examin-
Ing the extent of the bar and the entire
entrance to the harbor. Within the next
few days Colonel Heuer will make a care
ful survey and upon this with the reports
which have been hitherto made on the
harbor he will base his report to the
Secretary OF War regarding the advisa-
bility of at once expanding the 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 appro-
priated by Congress some years ago has
been lying idle ever since that time. 1t
was appropriated before the Islands were
annexed to the United States and was
part of the general funds for the i'm
provement of the rivers and harbors of
the United States. All work on the rlv-
ers and harbors comes within the juris-
diction of the War Department and. has
nothing to do with the Navy Department,
and so 1t is that a member of the Army
Engineer corps is sent to make the esti-
mates for the work of opening the en-
trance. Nor will the cutting through of
the bar have any particular bearing on
the contemplated construction of a Ma
val station at Pearl Harbor, though Con-
srtss may be brought to see the advisa-
bility of at once constructing a Navy
yard there when the spectacle is seen of
great ships of war floating at anchor
within fifty feet of a shore, and with z
en to twenty fathoms of water under
heir keels.
If It is ascertained that 100000 will be
sufficient to do the work of cutting a ca
harbor of Honolulu, about 200 feet wide
ana 30 feet or more deep, contracts VIII
be let at once for the work, and this
viii mean that the harbor will be
opened for deep-sea vessels before the
spring of 1901 is very far advanced. 1t
VIII also mean work for many Honolulu
people and dredging contracts that will
be eagerly taken up by some OF the To-
cal contractors.
From surveys OF the harbor entrance
which have been made in the past It is
believed that the sum of 100000 will be
amply sufficient to do the work of cut
ting through the bar. For n srace of
several hundred feet opposite the en-
trance the water on the bar Is about Is
TO 20 feet deep. For most OF this width
there Is little II any coral, and Il 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 II il simply in the shape OF
a thin layer lying on the sand and when
his has been cut through It will be easy
10 remove the sand to any required
iepth.
But while the actual cutting through
4 the channel for deep-soa ships Will not .
be- matter OF great expense II win be
liHerent when II comes 10 removing the
eefs which stretch at either side OF the
'utranee proper from the Salt Works nj
'uuloa ana from Waiaho on the other
tide and which make the present course
nio The harhor even for small yachts
torluous and dfiicult,
''lhe expense ~ removing thesa OBJ
said Captain Merry last
'Fen'ng, win be considerable, and IL
= question whether II vii ho possible
p do Il with tho money which Ii now
available. Unless they are removed ~
All he diiheult Tor the big warahina 90
.nlef lha hafh0r, for they Will hardly be
lhla 10 lurn ~ as % SET around these
projecting raefs. However. there Il a
~ nov before Congress 30 appropriate
lafhaT ana 81 purchase a Hits Tor a kHs