Drydock at Pearl Harbor finally completed (1919)
Eighteen years in building
Immense drydock at Pearl Harbor finally completed — important United States Naval Base
For 73 years, the United States government officially has recognized the strategic position of its great Pearl Harbor naval base, the massive drydock of which officially was opened by Secretary of the Navy Daniels in August, writes a Honolulu correspondent of the Portland Oregonian.
President Tyler in 1842 gave formal notice to all European governments that the United States never would consent to their occupying Hawaii or establishing in any of the Islands a naval or military base through purchase or otherwise.
The policy was reiterated later by Daniel Webster when he was Secretary of State, by James G Blaine and by President McKinley. In 1886, the United States, through a treaty with King Kalakaua, then ruler of the islands, gained the right to establish what has become the Pearl Harbor base.
Twelve years later, the United States annexed the islands. Two years after, that the annexation surveys were begun for the great drydock just now completed.
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Publication date: November 06, 1919
Original title: Dakota County Herald (Dakota City, Neb.)
