Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-10

are rocks weighing from forty to sixty TONS
as much a single car can carry. Long
trains are loaded with smaller rocks in
frames of steel SO that they can be lifted all
at once and dumped into the ocean by a
single movement of the crane. There are
other trains loaded with rubble and cement
The work is being done upon an enormous
scale with the most modern machinery and
everything is operated by electricity.
The harbor is being built by extending
two long breakwaters at acute angles from
the shore. Each Is about $3.50 feet long
and they converge so as to leave a gap
about 400 feet wide between the ends as
entrance way for steamers. These break
waters inclose a harbor of about 200 acres,
with water from thirty to sixty feet deep.
capable of holding all the commerce that
can possibly ever come here Inside of this
anchorage is another harbor, 5000 by 200
feet In siz with thirty-three feet of water
at low tide, and surrounded by one contin-
uous wharf furnished with electric cranes,
conveyers and other machinery for load
Ing and unloading Three great ware
houses are already finished three more
are under construction and when they are
complete they will furnish a storage room
for any amount of freight Steamers can
come right alongside and the railway tracks
are laid so that freight can be hoisted to
and from trains of cars, or to and from
the warehouses as the case may be. When
the works are finished they will be capable
of handling between four and five thousand
tons Of freight daily.
Finest Drydock on tho Continent
The most interesting feature of the place
to me is an enormous drydock. one solid
mass of cement, which looks like one OF
those fancy bathtubs that are chiseled out
Of a single block of marble. When It is
finished 1t will undoubtedly be the finest
drydock in America, and viii cost three
million Of gold dollars. 1t will receive
any battleship in our navy or any other
vessel that Is not more than ESQ feet long
or 100 feet wide. 1t viii be fully equipped
with electrical apparatus and other ma
chlnery Of the most improved type. | wish
a committee from the American Congress
could come down here and see the perma-
nent and solid manner in which the Mexf-
can government is doing things. They might
be more liberal and broad-minded In max
ing Appropriation for similar improve
ments In the United States. 1t was not
long ago that portion of the House Rep
resentattives was insisting upon wooden
drydocks In our navy yards because they
are cheaper than stone, although they last
but few years.
There are similar concrete drydocks In
only one in America
All the work has been done on a similar
scale as IL the Mexican government ex-
pected TO need 1t forever. The drydoek
ana the breakwaters have been built by
Mr. ]. @. McNab, who has been engaged
with the Pearson Company for twelve
years and did the same sort of work with
the very same machinery In the harbor of
Vera Cruz. The principal crane, called the
Titan was built In England and used for
four years In building the new harbor at
Gibraltar. 1t weighs 400 tons, has 100 feet
radius, and has handled blocks of stone
weighing high as G2A tons. 1t has
handled a daily average of 2,0O0 tone of
stone and concrete blocks for several years,
stopping for rest and repairs on Sundays.
Construction Of the Breakwaters.
The breakwaters are built by what Is
called .rip-rapping. by the continued drop
ping of broken stone into the water until
a wall Is formed. When foundation about
200 feet wide was laid the creyices between
the stone were filled with rubble and enor-
nous blocks OF concrete Weighing sixty
tn,,a xsyora drnpped Mt intervals n rive the