The Fight for the Sound’s First Dry Dock
A century before Puget Sound became a hub of naval power, local politicians battled Congress for federal funding to establish a permanent dry dock at Port Orchard.
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In the Senate, during the consideration of the naval appropriation bill, the committee amendment authorized the Secretary of the Navy to acquire a tract of land for a dry dock on Puget Sound. Mr. Allen offered a substitute to purchase a tract not exceeding 300 acres at Port Orchard, in Kitsap County, at a cost not exceeding $25,000. Mr. Allen argued that as early as 1877, engineers identified Port Orchard as the ideal site, surpassing Lake Washington and the Columbia River in its suitability for both naval and commercial interests. The Commission, composed of naval officers and civil experts, unanimously concluded that Port Orchard was the 'citadel of Puget Sound,' providing easy ingress and egress, perfect defensibility, and extensive water frontage. Despite arguments favoring the Columbia River—due to its perceived safety and fresh water benefits—supporters of the Puget Sound location pointed to the massive tonnage moving through the region, noting that Puget Sound handled over 4,000,000 tons of shipping annually. The Senate eventually adopted the amendment to secure the site for the dry dock, establishing a foundational piece of military infrastructure in Washington state.
“Port Orchard, on the contrary, admits the application to the utmost extent and in the least expensive manner, of all the resources of the engineer. It is the citadel of Puget Sound.”
The debate over Port Orchard mirrors the perennial tension in the Pacific Northwest between developing local maritime infrastructure and lobbying for federal investment. Today, the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard remains a vital economic and strategic anchor, echoing the 1891 arguments that the region’s deep-water access and industrial capacity made it essential to the national interest.
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