The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-07-25
With THE DREDGERS
At THE ALAKEA SLIP

a TRIP over the Alakea. Kakaako &
Eastern Railroad is a pleasing diver
sion for the jewellers of the heat-su.it.
| ten city in summer time. Although
this lire. which is operated bv Lord
f, & Belser for the purpose of carving
away the dirt and rock excavated from
| the new Alakea street slim has NOT
been advertised extensively il is. never
| theless, a scenic line and from its cars
iiiost interesting sights can be observ-
ed. Accommodations are limited. how
ever and those unable to GET on tho
trains are given the privilege of seainr
the sights from terra firma, along the
fright OF way.
The union depot of the comnanv is
at the foot Of Alakea street where con-
hectlohs are made with the RAPID
Transit cars for all parts of the citv.
Here the ground is crossed and crisis
crossed-literally gridironed with rail-
road tracks, until the place looks very
much like a big railroad yard in an
eastern city. Trains of six cars each
stand On the tracks beside the big
trench that marks the first cutting for
the slips. AS the cars are filled. the
trains, each hauled by a little narrow
gauge engine, clatter off around tho
curve and down the street in front of
the Naval docks to Ironworks juno
ton. Here the track divides. One
branch goes to Sargentville, where the
dirt is being spread out to bring the
ground up to a level with the front
steps of the immigration station. AL
ready the station building which was
formerly connected with the shore by
two bridges, has firm ground all the
way to the street, giving magnificent
opportunity for a fine lawn.
Going back to the junction we may
take the other line. 1t is doubly fit
ting that the tracks from the parting
of the ways should lead to Sargentville
and Hepburn City after the incident
at recent banquet. Hepburn City,
as the terminus of the main line Of
the Alakea, Kakaako & Eastern has
been christened by some wag of the
waterfront, is like many western cities
At present it consists of a pile of ties,
the ends of two rusty rails and bound
less possibilities. From the junction
where the railroad turns out of Ala
Moana it begins to climb UP on a tres
tie. Higher and higher it rises, past
the casting house of the Iron Works,
where the atmosphere smells eternally
height of fifteen feet above the surface.
At this elevation the track runs along
on the trestle to Coral street where,
like the hopes of many railroad promo
tiers the rails end in the air.
Along the sides Of the trestle hun
dreds of carloads of harbor mud, coral
and dirt are being dumped every day.
Here the debris will lie until it is haul
ed away for filling lowlands or raising
shovel it into a broad pile as it is
dumped out of the cars. and while the
Waterfront Limited" is at the other
end of the line, sit in the shade of the
feed company's fence, swap yarns,
smoke and while the time away.
HUNTING FOR RELICS.
These great piles of dirt and mud are
fruitful places for the work of the
Archaeological or the treasure hunter.
Crowds of small boys hover about and
dig in the filth for possible stray coins or
other articles of value The refuse OF
this job is not as productive in money
as that of the naval row dredging job
when considerable coin was taken out
with the suction dredger. But the
small boys are still finding the work
quite profitable. When questioned
about their finds two small native
urchins said that they had recovered
quite a number of small coins from
the debris. 1t was "Kalakaua money
Yesterday a Japanese picked an Amer
lean silver dollar out of the dirt that
is being spread in front of the imml-
grafton station.
Although there is little money IN the
soil there are numerous other articles
Pieces of hawsers from old Pacific
Mail liners, now laid up, new steel
hawsers, pieces of rotten piling, scrap
iron and other junk are thick in the
debris. Some of these are picked out,
but most of the stuff is not in good
condition to be worth bother
ing with.
PROGRESS OF DREDGING.
The big dredger Governor is now well
started on the second trip up the first
cut. The completed slip is to be two
hundred feet wide between the two
piers The first cut is about seventy
feet in width and extends the full
length of the slip. The Gredger first
made this cut, going down through the
TOP mud to the reef coral. This was
easy work and brought
the cut down to depth of about TIT
teen feet. The present cut is to remove
the layer of reef coral. Beneath TINS
is a layer of black sand which Will be