The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-03-03
HONOLULU HARBOR
INCREASED AREA

; 100000 contract authorized by Con-
gress, is now in full swing. Two
dredgers are at work. A floating drill
by means of which the heavy coral OF
the bottom of the harbor is blasted
and broken up, is in active operation
and an island to be known as Sand
} Island and which will occupy an area
of something like two hundred acres
is being built up.
1 The general plan of the harbor i'm
provement is to cut OF the old point
where the lighthouse stood for so many
years, and TO greatly widen the harbor
from the channel entrance, Eva. The
harbor has always been narrow at the
point where the channel enters it, so
that large steamers lying at wharves
in the part of the harbor Waikiki of
the foot of Fort street., always had
difficulty in turning around to go out.
This narrowness also affected vessel
berthing at the other end of the har-
Dor, but not so much, and for two yes
| sells to attempt to pass in this part of
the harbor was dangerous.
| The work now in progress is at the
old lighthouse point and the portion
of the harbor in that vicinity. The
suction dredger Reclamation is at
work between where the old lighthouse
stood and where the foundations have
been built for the new lighthouse, or
as it is officially designated, the front
range light of Honolulu harbor. From
this dredge the material brought up
from the bottom is forced through a
long line of pipe about foot in dia-
meter, which passes across the island
which is in process of formation, or
rather of enlargement, and empties on
the seaward side of the island, the
solid material dropping to add to the
accretions to the island, while the wa
ter in which it is carried runs off to
mingle again with the water of the
ocean.
The deep dredging and the dredging
of the hard material is being done by
the dredger Governor. For this work
both the arm" and the legs" of the
Governor had to be heightened, the
arm so that the dipper part of the
dredge could reach down to the re-
quired depth, and the legs" so that
the dredger could stand in the requir-
ed depth while it did its work
The material brought up by the
dredger Governor is emptied into cars
on a scow or lighter brought alongside
the dredger. When these cars are
loaded the scow is towed to a landing
on the island which has been fitted for
this purpose. There the cars are land
ed and hauled by a locomotive over
movable track and the contents of the
car are dumped-always on the sea-
ward side of the track. As the island
is built out seaward in this way the
track is moved constantly in the same
direction.
The arrangements for the landing of
the cars from the scows or lighters to
the island is quite an ingenious and
effective arrangement. The track
comes to the waters edge. There an
apron" is built, one end of it resting
on the island, and the other supported
by counterweight and so adjusted that |
it can be raised or lowered to adjust |
the height TO the stage of the tide or
the varying draught of the scows. i
When a scow with its ten loaded |
cars is brought up to this landing the |
apron is let down until its surface is |
even with the surface of the scow. |
The track on the scow thus meets the |
track on the apron, and the locomotive |
couples on and draws the cars right |
off the scow and out to where their /
contents are to be dumped.
The drill which is used. in the work |
of blasting consists essentially of a
large scow on which is built a large
frame and rooted over and partly en-
closed. Along one of the longer sides
of the scow there is a row of drills.
These are operated by stationary en-
gines on the scow. The scow is moor
ed by ropes from both sides, which
operate over winches, and thus the
whole affair can be brought to any
required position and held there while
the drilling goes on. When all the
drills have been driven to the required
depth, blasts of dynamite or giant
powder are placed in each hole drilled
Wires are connected with them. Then
the drill scow is moved off to a safe
distance by means of its winches and
ropes, and the row of blasts
is set off simultaneously by electricity.
A view of one of these blasts at close
range is interesting. Very little rock is
thrown up to the surface of the water
or above it, the water acting as a
cushion to prevent this. But the water
itself is thrown up in miniature gey-
sers. and for several seconds after the
blast is exploded the water directly
above it is a boiling mass with a level
fully a foot above the general level
of the water in the harbor..
After this subsidies, the drill scow is
moved back into position, and a new
row of holes is drilled a regular dis
tance back from the last row. Thus
the bottom is blasted loose in regular
sections ready for the big dipper
dredger Governor to bring the broken
fragments to the surface.
In the illustrations herewith, which
are from photographs taken by the
artist a few days ago, the
suction dredger Reclamation is shown
at work in the foreground, and beyond
it the new temporary lighthouse, part
" hidden in the picture by a part of
the frame work of the dredger, AMI the
ighthouse-keeper's house which has
been moved from the position it had
occupied since 1894, to the new island
in course of creation. The photograph
was actually, taken from the point
where the old lighthouse stood. looking