The Plan to Ring Puget Sound With Forts—and Put Big Guns on Magnolia Bluff

Washington City, March 4.—The agreement on an appropriation for the new dry dock in Puget Sound, as the nucleus of what will probably become an important navy station and yard, is a matter for congratulation.

The growth of interest in it and of a sense of its importance may be judged from the fact that about nine years ago, when the fortifications board gave a list of twenty-seven ports then urgently requiring defense, Puget Sound was not among them at all. Cumberland Sound was there, the ports of the Kennebec and the Penobscot, Portsmouth, New Bedford, and San Diego; but the great Puget Sound district, where there is so much shipping, with the termini of two transcontinental railroads, with coal mines, with growing towns like Olympia, Seattle, Tacoma, Port Townsend, and Everett, and with its proximity to the British naval stronghold at Esquimalt, was omitted.

Since then, however, there has been no lack of attention to the military needs of this region, while the establishment of a new navy yard at Port Orchard, in itself requiring that its approaches should be defended, has given a fresh impetus to the plans.

Pending the recent discussion of these matters in Congress an important communication was received from Brig.-Gen. Otis, commanding the department of the Columbia. In his annual report he had also dwelt upon the desirability of fortifying Magnolia Bluff, a spur of land about three miles from the center of Seattle, and at the entrance of Elliott or Duwamish Bay.

But the entrances to the Sound would perhaps be the first points to fortify. The northern entrance is at Deception Pass, where the current is very swift, while the other is at the mouth of Admiralty Inlet, which is about 8½ miles wide. The fortifications board now recommends that, at Deception Pass, Little Tent Island, in the center of the channel, and completely commanding it, should be fortified. On each side of the pass is a military reservation containing 640 acres, or 1,280 for the two, and a little to the eastward are two smaller ones, having an area of about several acres. Everything is favorable there for a complete defense.

The other entrance, however, at Admiralty Inlet, is open to war vessels at all times and in all weather, and especially needs defensive works. There, too, the strength of the current is marked, and the channel is also about sixty feet deep, so that submarine mines cannot be placed as defenses. But armorclads and torpedo boats could assist the land batteries. These latter the fortifications board would place at Admiralty Head on the east and Point Wilson on the west, as well as at Marrowstone Point on the south. Point Wilson is low at the inlet, but rises sharply to the rear, while the other two are bold bluffs, and Marrowstone Point cannot be approached by land. Land must be acquired for the forts, although at Marrowstone Point there are now about 40 acres, which might answer requirements, and the main garrison would be there. At the other two points there is needed only enough for the batteries and their maintenance.

Gen. Miles once said of these bluffs that a ship trying to get by them would be under fire for eight miles in approaching, and then eight miles more in going beyond them. The mortars alone would keep them under fire for about twelve miles, and if in addition a floating battery should aid the forts, the defense would be very thorough.

Passing these, we come to another series of sites for defenses, further south, at Double and Foulweather bluffs and at the entrance of Hood's Canal. This last must be commanded by Foulweather Bluff and Tala Point to the westward. Gen. Otis, however, contends that times are of smaller consequence just now, because there is nothing to invite attack there, or until Seattle is reached. Still, the depth of water in the canal may develop business interests in the future, and the eastern shore of Possession Sound may also be populated. Besides, the new Port Orchard dry dock might be within range of the guns of a war vessel in the canal. For this reason it is suggested by Gen. Otis that it is wise to retain reservations which the government possesses at Double and Foulweather bluffs and Tala Point and Hood Head, the two former of which are extensive and valuable.

Proceeding further, it is found that within a radius of about ten miles from Seattle the most important fortifications are contemplated. These would be able to close the navigation of Admiralty Inlet in that vicinity and the passage into Port Orchard should a hostile fleet make it necessary. One position would defend the northern and three the eastern entrance to Port Orchard, while still another would be Magnolia Bluff, as already mentioned. This latter would require extended fortifications, with two or three heavy batteries, so as to command the waters of Admiralty Inlet for a long distance and to defend the entrance of Duwamish Bay. The other four positions spoken of would only require ten or fifteen acres at each point for the location of two or three heavy guns upon them. Bainbridge Island, opposite Magnolia Bluff, could also be utilized.

If an enemy could get beyond all this array it might be necessary to defend Tacoma and the Narrows by fortifications at Dash Point and Point Defiance, but that seems a remote contingency. Gen. Otis thinks that the other positions will keep out an enemy, and that in time of peace about five batteries of artillery would be sufficient for all. Three of these should be stationed at Magnolia Bluff, which, being near Seattle and the Great Northern Railroad, is very accessible, besides being most important as a defensive position. From it detachments could be furnished for the passages to Port Orchard. The other two batteries Gen. Otis would put at Marrowstone Point, while detachments could be sent thence to Point Wilson and Admiralty Head. Indeed, he has recommended, as a starting point, the transfer of the present garrison at Fort Townsend to Magnolia Bluff, partly because of the inadequacy of the water supply at the former point and partly from his very high appreciation of the strategic value of Magnolia Bluff.

There is thus good reason to believe that henceforth Puget Sound will be a center of considerable activity both for military and naval defense.