The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-03
PROGRESS IN HAWAII
CAPT. CHARLES r POM. OF UNIT
ED STATES Navy. VISITING
IN sT. PAUL
IMPROVING MANY HARBoRs
That at Honolulu Has Been ENLARGED
and Channel Deepened to
Thirty Professionally
of Labor.

}
| accompanied by his wife and daughter.
Captain Pond is on his way to his home
| in Connecticut after three years spent
| in service in Honolulu, where he has been
assisting in the naval construction that is
under way there.
Captain Pond was in command of the
'Iroquois,'' and twice was commandant
of the station during the absence Of it's
chief officer. He also made a survey of
Midway island, which is proposed as one
Of the landings for the Pacific cable.
After a vacation at his old home, he eX-
poets to be assigned to shore duty, as is
the custom in the department
Speaking of the work and the islands,
| Capt. Pond says: ''They are in very
prosperous condition, and their future
outlook is bright. With the deepening
Of the harbors, the digging of the 18TH
milan canal and the laying of the Pacific
cable, commerce will boom and the eX-
ports and imports will increase wonder
fully
For the past three years 1 have been
engaged in naval construction work. The
harbor at Honolulu has been improved
to a great extent. Slips have been made
and wharves constructed, and the chan
mel deepened to thirty feet, 50 that it is
in a fit condition to receive any vessel
that may desire to enter. We have been
arranging for coaling station, and we
now have one that has an ordinary ca
pacity Of 10000 tons, and ii need be- 3d.
600. 1t makes one of the finest coaling
stations in the Pacific. Work has been
going on there for a little over two years,
and 100000 have been expended in irn-
proyenents in that line. The government
also has some fine buildings in the city
proper.
Work at Pearl HarbOr.
"The Improvement of Pearl harbor is
one of the important works that is going
on there. It will be remembered that af-
ter the second reciprocity treaty, the
United States was given the sole priv
ilege Of the use of this harbor, which is
the finest in the Pacific This included
only a water right and now the gov
eminent has obtained by the process of
condemnation some $500 acres of land
around this harbor. Pearl herbor has
not been used commercially for the rea-
son that there is a sand bar out about
mile that prevents all boats drawing
eleven feet or more from entering, and
for this reason the vessels always put
in at Honolulu which originally permit
ted vessels drawing eighteen feet 10 en-
ter 1t has now been deepened to thirty
feet.
1.-THE army engineers are at present
working on the bar outside of Pearl har
Dor. and will dredge it out to depth
of thirty feet. and make it 200 feet long.
In this harbor there are also exceptional
natural dry dockage facilities, which VIII
be utilized to the best advantage by the
government When the work is COM
pleted this will be the finest all-around
harbor in the Pacific, and it Will draw
commerce. 1t is completely land bound
in the respect that it is sheltered from
all winds and the large vessels OF COM
merce will always go where they can
be easily dry docked if it should be
necessary. The governm ent will erect
extensive naval repair shops on the
land that it has acquired by condemra-
ton. 4.7 -
Honolulu 7 was detailed to make sur
vev Of the Midway islands to determine
as to its practicicabiIlry as a landing
or relay station for the Pacific cable
It is 1900 miles from Honolulu and VIII
be the intermediate station between
there and Guam 1t was first intended
that this station should be built on
Wake island, but the survey showed TINS
was IMPOSSIBLE as the waves are beat
ing about it all the time and there is no
means of getting it into the island. The
only feature in which this island sur
passes Midway is that it is in q more di-
rect line to Guam, but in all other ways
Midway island was found preferable. 1t
is a coral reef six miles in diameter and
the lagoon in the interior contains two
islands, 1t is easy of access the APP
prOach to it being of sand into which
cable will soon sink and be protected
from the waves. These stations in the
Pacific will reduce the cost of the con-
struction of the cables as they will not
have to be built SO strong, not having
to stand so great strain. AS it is how
ever, the cable from Midway to Guam
will be in the neighborhood Of 1000 miles
long.
''It will be all of year and a half be-
fore the work of laying the cable can
begin. At the present time there is no
concern in the United States that makes
cables for the ocean, as all are now
made in Egland. 1 have little reason to
doubt but that any bill that passes con-
gress will provide for the construction
of the cable at home. AS to whether the
government will construct it itself, or
let the contract cannot be foretold. In
any event it will be built under the
supervision of a federal officer. Then
there are no boats in this country built
for the laying of cable so that
these will also have to be constructed.
and this cannot be very well accom-
plished under IS months The Nero
has made a complete survey of the ocean
bottom from the Hawaiian island to the
Philippines, the first trip being direct
| and the second zigzag.
Cable a Commercial Necessity.
This cable is a naval and a CONNER
claI necessity. and viii help the Ha-
! Waiian islands a great deal. There would
be more visitors to the islands were it
| not for the fact that they are cut off
| from the speedy communication from the
main land, and the time taken to trans
NIT letters is so long as to materially
| hamper commercial operations Its naval
| Importance is too obvious to make nee
| essary any comment.
| Inc Islands are now very much in
/ terested in the renewal of the Chinese
exclusion act. The universal sentiment