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Show I I SECRETARY OF WAR GIVES "GO AHEAD" ORDER ON ARSENAL H Tho last remaining obstacle in con-nectlon con-nectlon with tho plans to build a ?2,-000,000 ?2,-000,000 arsenal In Ogdcn was removod today when Secretary of War Baker npproved all the arrangements, au-j au-j thorized tho purchaso of the site and also authorized the. construction. The good news was flashed to Os-den Os-den In a telegram from Senator Reed Smoot to "Warren L. Wattis, president of the "Weber club and tho Ogden chamber of commerce. Later mcs-i 1 sages from Senator King and Con- J Z grcssman "Welling confirmed the news t In the first telegram. ;; Senator Smoot' s message: "Secretary of war today authorized purchase of site and construction of ordnance depot at Ogdcn. j "REED SMOOT." r Tho arsenal will occupy two T square miles of land, with 37 ummu-nltlon ummu-nltlon warehouses, locomotive shops, " maohlne shops, garage, battory storage 4l station and other structures. Each of tho warehouses will stand 400 foot distant from another, and occupy 50 t by 220 foet In floor area. Tho structures will bo of concrete ' foundations and floors, tllo sides, steel girder and gypsum roofs. Steel doors and shutters, and lightning protection i will bo provided, while constantly plowed and harrowed ground will fur-" fur-" nish protection against fires. Tho cn-1 cn-1 tire grounds will be surrounded by a , wire fence BOO feet from any building j ( and constructed In such a way as to Hl I make entrance Impossible except by I the regulation gates, where passes will i bo necessary before any one can ob- j tain admittance. Xtimbcr of Employes, j About 100 employes will be on duty -, " " in peace time as guards and members fli of surveillance parties, and In case or iV I- war these numbers will be vastly in- fl . r creased. Tho construction of the plant will H: be put Into the hands of a civilian con- tractor and civilian employos will build tho entire set of buildings. The total estimated cost of tho ar-' ar-' senal will bo about $2,000,000. VJE The survey was made by Murray ' Kay and engineers of tho federal gor-gr gor-gr ernment, city and county commlssion- Hii era and the forest service, United j States bureau of public roads and em- 'tl ployes of the Ogden chambor of com- , merce, and was completed and full de-" de-" i tailed reports sent back to "Washlng-HH "Washlng-HH I ton about ton days ago. I News Comes Over "Wires. News that tho ordnance depot was assured beyond question came, first In the form of a telegram from Senator Sena-tor Smoot to Warren L. "Wattis. presi- dent of tho chamber of commerce, followed an hour later by a similar telegram from Senator King, and was confirmed with more detail by a message mes-sage from Congressman Milton H. Welling. Congressman Welllng's tele-, tele-, gram Included tho statement "that plans and arrangements for establish-" establish-" ment of ordnance storage depot near Ogden havo just been approved by Secretary of War Bakor and authorization author-ization made for construction division I to go ahead with work." Mr. Wattis Immediately wired to each of the senators sen-ators and to Congressman Welling, expressing tho thanks of tho chamber of commerce and the Wobor club for their loyal and efficient support. Wattis' Statement. In commenting on the announcement announce-ment from Washington, President Wattis said: . "This action of Secretary Baker removes re-moves the last obstacle, and I confidently confi-dently expect that the work will bo started Immediately and pushed to early completion.. I do not mind saying say-ing now that during tho last fow weeks 1 wo havo been a little nervous ovor the situation, as there was JuBt a possibility pos-sibility that the project might fall through, or at least be indefinitely . postponed. This grew out of tho fact Z that approval of the secretary of war waB necessary before any money could bo spent from tho funds appropriated appro-priated for this purpose. Hitch in Proceedings. "While the secretary of war had approved the general schemo as bud-- mltted by the constructions divisions " and the bill was passed and signed by the president, it nevertheless required the final approval of tho secretary bc-t bc-t fore any money could be spent. There -was evidently some misundorstandlng ; about this, because when tho engineers came here to map out tho work, It was found that no monoy was available; furthor, the secretary of war demanded demand-ed a complete report and survey, with maps- and other detailed Information. Tho surveyors wore about to leave, but the chamber of commerce came lo the rescue and advanced the monoy to do this work. Tho survey was rushed to completion, with the aid of local men secured through the Influence Influ-ence of tho chambor, and the. maps and reports forwarded to the kccic-tary kccic-tary of war. It is his action after receiving re-ceiving these reports that now ase l 'o the prompt construction of tho depot "Tho chamber of commerco had previously spent somo money in options op-tions on land and have given a guar-atny guar-atny that tho slto would not cost beyond be-yond tho figure given in the preliminary prelimi-nary estimate. It is expected that most of this money will be returned, now that tho appropriation is available." |