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I THE WATER FRONT complete in the United States, being thoroughly equipped with detention buildings supplied with modern fumigating and disinfecting plants. On the Coronado side of the bay is a marine railway capable of accommodating vessels of large tonnage. Near the water front are well equipped foundries and machine shops fully prepared to do the very best work quickly and at reasonable figures. At the coal bunkers belonging to the Spreckels Commercial Co., which are among the largest and most complete on the Pacific coast, steamers can always find a supply of goud coal with every convenience for loading same. There are a number of wharves running into deep water with from 18 to 35 ft. at low tide. The wharfage is ample for a large commerce and is in first-class condition. A portion of the peninsula of Point Loma which guards the entrance to the bay, is owned by the government, some 400 acres of which are under the control of the navy depart- ment. A section of this land has been surveyed for a naval coaling station, plans for which have been drawn and it is expected that the work of construction will commence at an early date. A commission has already reported favoring the establishment of a naval training station at this point, and the probabilities are that with the rapid development of com- merce on the Pacific, the construction of the Tehuantepec AT SAN DIEGO. railway, the ownership by the United States of the Panama railroad and the early construction of an Isthmian canal the port of San Diego will soon become a great naval rendezvous The strategic position of ve magnificent harbor warranting such a belief. STEAMSHIP MINNESOTA. The great steamship Minnesota, built for the Great North- ern Steamship Co. by the Eastern Ship Building Co. of New London, Conn., was inspected by thousands of persons in New York last week prior to her departure on her maiden trip to Seattle, which is to be her regular port of departure for the orient hereafter. She arrived at New York fresh from her builder's hands and she was given a royal welcome, the flags at Fort Hamilton, Wadsworth and Lafayette being dipped as she passed by. The ship was carefully inspected and much praise was bestowed upon her designer and builder, President Charles R. Hanscom of the Eastern Ship Building Co. The Minnesota, with her sister the Dakota, now nearing completion at the yard, are the largest steamships ever con- structed in the United States. Mr. J. J. Hill, when he deter- mined to build these two ships entrusted the work absolutely without even so much as a contract, to Mr. Hanscom. Like the great White Star liners they are built upon the percentage Hr raneeaee we ceee ato STEAMSHIP MINNESOTA OF THE GREAT NORTHERN STEAMSHIP CO.'S FLEET. [Butlt by the Eastern Ship Building Co., New London, Conn.