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The triangle
Three forts at the inlet formed a Triangle of Fire
In the 1890s, Admiralty Inlet was considered strategic to the defense of Puget Sound. Fort Worden, Fort Flagler and Fort Casey were built at the entrance, and their powerful artillery formed a Triangle of Fire to thwart any invasion by sea. They were meant to keep a hostile fleet from reaching the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett.
The cement
Cement from Belgium came around Cape Horn to Point Wilson
Work began in 1897 on land that was privately owned, so the government had to clear title through condemnation proceedings. All the cement for the batteries was imported from Belgium, shipped around Cape Horn and unloaded at Point Wilson. It took 200 men almost three years to complete the excavation and concrete work for the gun emplacements.
The guns
Sixteen guns came by barge and were hauled up the bluff
In March 1900 the fortifications were ready for armaments. Sixteen artillery pieces, shipped from the armory at Columbus, Ohio, arrived from Tacoma by barge, and a special tramway hauled them to the top of the bluff. On May 3, 1902, 87 soldiers of the 126th Coast Artillery Company arrived by steamer from Seattle and were quartered in tents.
No shot fired
The forts never fired a hostile shot, and the guns went away
The forts never fired a hostile shot. When completed, Fort Worden had 41 artillery pieces. In World War I, 36 of them were dismantled and shipped to arsenals for use on European battlefields. Advances in warships and aircraft made fixed artillery positions ineffective. The fort officially closed on June 30, 1953, ending fifty-one years of military jurisdiction.
The cistern
A cistern of two million gallons holds an echo of 45 seconds
The 2,000,000 gallon underground cistern was built to hold water for fire-fighting if the fort was attacked and put to the torch. It was drained in the 1950s when the fort was decommissioned. It is more than 200 feet in diameter and 14 feet deep, with an acoustical reverberation time of around 45 seconds, and it drew musicians including Pauline Oliveros and Stuart Dempster. As of 2014 it is sealed shut.
45 secondsEcho time of the cistern
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Fort Worden, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.