The Million-Dollar Dry Dock Across the Sound

In commencing the construction of a station at Port Orchard, a point across the Sound from Seattle, the United States government recognized the importance of ample defence for one of the great harbors on either ocean. The first step toward consummation was to award the contract for building the largest dry dock in America to the well-known contracting firm of Byron Barlow Co. Mr. Barlow and Capt. J. M. Du Ban are gentlemen who have had large experience as contractors, and the enviable reputation they have always borne has been fully sustained during the progress of the gigantic work they are now successfully carrying on. Nearly 500 feet of the dock proper is complete, and Mr. Barlow recently stated that he believed the dock would be practically finished by next August, about a year ahead of the contract time.

The dock will be 560 feet long, seventy feet wide at the bottom and 130 feet wide at the coping. It is forty-two feet deep, and mean high tide comes within seven feet of the coping, giving thirty-five feet depth of water. The bed of the dock, entirely completed for 490 feet, consists of hard compacted yellow sand, a partially formed sandstone, and in this the piles are driven four feet apart lengthwise of the dock and averaging three feet apart across it. For a distance of 65 feet the entrance to the dock will be built of Sucia Island stone. The much-talked-of caisson is built entirely of steel and is 94 feet 10 3/8 inches long, 24 feet wide, 30 feet deep, with breadth at the top of 13 feet.

An important feature of the dock will be two wing walls built of concrete joined on to the dock proper, twenty-three feet thick at the bottom and four feet thick at the top, and forty-two feet high, with sandstone trimmings. They will eventually extend 600 feet out into the harbor, making a 600-foot-wide approach along which vessels may lie preparatory to entering the dock or after coming out. When completed the dock will have cost about $1,000,000 and will be the third largest in the world, being exceeded only by two in Italy.

The government was particularly fortunate in awarding the contract for the building of the dry dock to such experienced and responsible parties as the firm of Byron Barlow Co. Not only have they done everything in their power to carry out all the ideas put forward by Secretary Herbert and the bureau of yards and docks, but they have so invested their earnings as to greatly benefit Puget Sound country as well as our Evergreen state. Every possible purchase of material for the dock has been made in Washington. Seattle has been particularly favored by the contractors, notwithstanding that they have extensive interests in other cities of the state.

There have been employed daily at the dry dock a number of men ranging at times from 100 to 500. Notwithstanding the recent financial crisis, the contractors did not at any time allow it to interfere with the progress of the work. They went ahead, made their sub-contracts, paid their obligations when they fell due, and not once have they failed to pay their employees at the regularly stated period.