16.
One of the early concerns of the growing station was that the Army would
make claims on its property. Because of their facilities, as wharves,
cranes, artesian wells, and coal supplies, many requests were made by the
Army for their use. By February 1901, the Army had made application for the
privilege of establishing on Navy docks movable cranes for handling coal
and other stores, a saluting battery and a flag staff on the naval
reservation, and an artesian well of its own. All these requests were
rejected by the Bureau of Equipment on the theory that, once granted,
they "will practically constitute a permanent foothold on the property, and
end in dividing it between the two Departments, or in the entire exclusion
of the Navy Department on the ground of military expediency as established
by frequency of use." However, the Army Depot Quartermaster at Honolulu
contracted for the sinking of an artesian well on the Naval Station with
the Commandant's approval, who, in turn, acted on a recommendation of the
Bureau of Yards and Docks. The flow of water obtained amounted to over a
million and a half gallons per day, sufficient for all purposes of the Army
and navy. The Bureau of Equipment felt that its word of caution was
justified when the Depot Quartermaster in 1902 let it be known that any
water used by the Navy from the artesian well was "only given by courtesy
of the Army."
