Seattle’s Lost Bid for the Navy Yard

The Naval Committee of the House lately presented a proposition to cut down the pay of the officers of the navy to be in keeping with the former reduction of the salaries in the army, but to the credit of that body the measure was voted down. About the same time came up a discussion on a resolution to discontinue the Mare Island Navy-yard, of California, as a construction yard, leaving it simply a naval rendezvous and repair station. The ground assigned for the action was the want of timber at that point and the consequent expense of procuring the necessary lumber, iron, etc. On this point Luttrell, who opposed the bill, remarked: 'We get our iron from California, Oregon and Washington Territory.' He might well have added, truthfully, that we can also get suitable timber in Washington Territory. Attention was called to the fact that Mare Island was the only naval-yard on the Pacific Coast. Nevertheless, the matter was referred for advisement to a board of five Naval Commissioners to report next session. Here at Seattle both timber and iron can be obtained easily, and cheaply, in connection with convenient fresh water harborage and other exceptional facilities. Meanwhile, the long-mooted proposition to select these as attainable seems to be slumbering quietly in a winding sheet of red-tape, pigeon-holed in the Department archives at Washington.