The New Student's Reference Work/Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu, a Hawaiian island, and adjacent to Honolulu, is a land-locked harbor, 8 miles long by 4 wide, with a depth of water from 30 to 130 feet. It has great strategic value to the United States from the fact that it can be made an impregnable naval base where the largest fleet can lie safely. Reservations for a firstclass naval station have been secured, as also for a military reservation on the slopes of the mountain range in the rear. General Schofield after an inspection of Pearl Harbor in 1872 reported that “it could be completely defended by inexpensive batteries on either or both shores, firing across a narrow channel of entrance. Its waters are deep enough for the largest vessels of war and its lochs are spacious enough for a large number of vessels to ride at anchor in perfect security against all storms.” See Hawaii.