Ogden Evening Standard | 1911-07-29 | Page 1 | First Ship for Canal

riKoi utiir Portsmouth or Oregon to be the First to Go Through Washington, July 29. Some United States naval vessel whoso history Is haloed by sentiment will probably open the canal at the end of a pageant page-ant of the navieB of the world. As the completion of the great ditch draws nearer, the navy department is being bombarded by suggestions from every quarter of the country. Many express a preference for the old sailing sail-ing man-of-war Portsmouth, the defender de-fender of the Pacific coast during the i war between the United States and 1 Mexico. The Portsmouth raised the Stars and Stripes at Yerba Buena, now San Francisco, and rendered other notable service. She is now at Norfolk, Va., as a quarantine ship, but congress is considering an appropriation ap-propriation of $25,000 to fit her out for the trip to tho Pacific. It has also been suggested that the battleship Oregon be the first ship to ,p thg- canalln recognition, of her "famous trip "around the"contIn"Gnt at the outbreak of th"e"war with Spain. Naval officials declare that "with the approval of congress they will endeavor en-deavor to favor the suggestion which appears to have the strongest public backing.