The Unseen Work Behind the Dock
A retort to rumors of labor shortages at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, emphasizing the reality of clearing wilderness before construction can begin.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The article in Monday's issue, headed 'Men Needed at the Dry Dock,' would have no cause for existence if the news columns of the POST-INTELLIGENCER were carefully read. It is not wholly true, for hardly a day has passed but what there has been changes, either requiring extra men for extra work, or the filling of a place by one dropped for inefficiency or the voluntary retirement of one for purely personal reasons. The Puget Sound country does not contain any treeless plains into which, on short order, an immense hole can be sunk for dry dock or any other purposes. The entire area purchased by Uncle Sam is covered with a dense growth of underbrush, with a fair amount of fir and cedar, and this must all be cleared before excavations can be begun. It would be almost impossible for the contractors to keep a large force of men at work now, as there are no accommodations for any more at present. A large hotel is being erected here for the purpose, but it will be several weeks before it can be gotten ready for occupancy.
“The Puget Sound country does not contain any treeless plains into which, on short order, an immense hole can be sunk for dry dock.”
This defense of labor conditions at the Bremerton site highlights the immense physical effort required to tame the dense Pacific Northwest forest for industrial use—a precursor to the region's massive military-industrial growth.
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