15
.Under the above Appropriation Act, Congress approved the acquisition of
lands for the development of a naval station at Pearl Harbor and the i
mprovement of the channel to the Lochs. The Commandant, under the direction
of the Bureau of Equipment, attempted to obtain options on lands
surrounding Pearl Harbor that were recommended for naval use. This
endeavor was unsuccessful when the owners of the property refused to accept
what was deemed to be a fair price. Condemnation proceedings, under the
Hawaiian law of eminent domain, were begun on 6 July 1901. The land
acquired by this suit included the present Navy Yard, Kauhua Island, and a
strip on the southeast coast of Ford Island. The work of dredging the coral
reef that blocked Pearl Harbor progressed rapidly enough to allow the
gunboat, USS Petrel (PG-2), to proceed to the upper part of Main Loch in
January 1905.
