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Show Treasure Isle New Navy Base Site of Golden Gate Fair Considered Ideal for Training Station. SAN FRANCISCO. Treasure island, is-land, in the middle of San Francisco Fran-cisco bay and the largest man-made island in the world, has been taken over by the navy for the duration of the present national defense emergency. emer-gency. The island was the site of the 1939-1940 1939-1940 Golden Gate International exposition, ex-position, but for the next four or five years, at least, it will be used as a seaplane and small craft training base. Navy officials found the island an almost ideal location for the purposes pur-poses for which it is to be used. In the first place, it is entirely surrounded with navigable water except ex-cept for the small ramp that connects con-nects it with the San Francisco bay bridge and which brings it within 10 minutes from the center of the city. Buildings Are Usable. The navy also was able to utilize 17 of the principal buildings of the exposition and thus save greatly in construction expense, and what was even more important, time. The navy was able to move in immediately immedi-ately and expects to have its first contingent of 1,000 men in training within a few months. Eventually, it expects to train 5,000 men at one time there. Of the 17 buildings which the navy will take over, three are permanent. They are the administration buildings build-ings and the two vast hangars of the Pan American airways. The latter will continue to operate its Far Eastern and Australian Clipper services from their permanent base at the south end of the island, but they have consented to have the hangars han-gars used as barracks during the navy occupation. Site Deeded to City. Under the terms by which the state deeded to the city the 400 acres at the bottom of San Francisco Fran-cisco bay, the island eventually must become a city airport. Arrangements Ar-rangements were made between the navy and the city whereby the former for-mer will contribute much to the development de-velopment of the island as an airport air-port The navy will use its influence in obtaining $1,680,000 WPA funds for construction of the airport, which will go forward while the island is being used by the navy. Some of the more suitable buildings build-ings on the island will be used for machine shops and repair works. |