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boilers. Robt. Holland is also working to hisfull capacity, having a propeller and consort onthestocks forMills Bros, of Marysville, Mich. Thesteamer will be 140 feet keel and the schooner 191 feet. The Michigan Central and Grand Rapids &Indiana Railroads, owners ofthe transfer [steamer] St. Ignace, are having plans made by the Detroit Dry-dock Company for a new transfer car ferry to alternate with the famous ice crusher between St. Ignace and Mackinaw. She will be considerably larger than the St. Ignace, butwill beonmuch the same plan. She will have similar power, turning heavy screw wheels at both ends of theboat andit is expected will be evenmore successful atchewing upthe icethanherpowerful predecessor. The new boat will cost about $350,000and will be built ofwood. On our lakes the fastest authenticatedtime on record was made by the new City ofDetroit. Inthemonth of May, 1889, shemade therunfrom BarPoint, nearthe mouthofthe DetroitRiver, to Cleveland,a distanceof110miles, in exactly 5 hours, 40 minutes and 40 seconds. For the entire distance, this was an average of about 1914 miles an hour. But she made full 20 miles an hour in the deep water portion ofthetrip". Sherepeated the same splendid runinNovember, 1891, andthusseems to be entitledto the distinction ofbeing the fastest passengerboat on the lakes. The City ofCleveland, City ofToledo, Frank E. Kirbyand Greyhound are all fast boats and have good records for fast time. On one occasion, wind and wave being favorable, the Frank E. Kirby is said to have made a downriver run of20 miles in an hour. The City ofChicago makes 19 miles an houron Lake Michigan. The MaryPowell,a steamerplyingbetweenNew York and Albany, is credited with 24 miles per hour. February 26, 1892 Mostof the vesselcaptainsexpect to start fittingout by the middleof March. Lake Huron is loadedwith ice as far as the eye can see from the town of Ft. Edward - all spring prophets to the contrary notwithstanding. The steamerAcadia ofthe Merchants' Line is receiving athorough overhauling atMuir's diy-dock. Port Dalhousie. Capt. Malcomson will again have charge this season. The delegates from the DetroitDeepWaterways Convention whenbefore the committee at Washington stated thatbya total expenditure of$30,000,000 from the foundation ofthe U.S. Republic until now onimprovements onnavigation onthe Great Lakes, a saving was made during the past year alone of $150,000,000 on 6 t !l I "fl freights in excess of all the public appropriations. The average cost per mile of transporting aton of freight from Duluth to Buffalo by water is less than 114 mills, the average cost by railway is 9mills; the lowest railway rates ^e 454 mills. An additional depth of water necessarily would make further reduction in lake rates. The tonnage of lake vessels passing through the Detroit River is greater by 3,000,000 tons than ofall ships clearing in the ports ofLondon and Liverpool in a year. When the Erie Canal is open, average railway freights from Chicago to New York are 354 cents per bushel ofwheat; when the canal is closed they are 754 cents. At acost of less than $3,500,000, it is estimated that atwenty-foot channel can be secured throughthe GreatLakes. February 26, 1892 , -n a Captain "Sandy" Irvine, late ofthe passenger steamer Modjeska, will command the [Sir] S.L. Tilley next season. Captain Cavers and Engineer Dawson have been engaged on the newC.P.R. whaleback. Vessels using the Kingston dry-dock will be charged 20 cents per ton on registered gross tonnage ofvessels from 100 to 500 tons, and 10 cents per ton ^ all in excess of 500, and on vessels under 100 tons $20 per day. Cargoes will be charged same as tonnage. This tariff is made so as to conform with the one adopted by American dock owners in Detroit. March 4, 1892 *1, + n/ ; Capt. James Tobin will command Capt. F.B. Hackett's wrecker, the tug Wales. The Eddy Bros, of Bay City have given an order to the Detroit Dry-dock Company for asteel freighter 360 feet long. The vessel will cost $235,000. The Detroit Dry-dock Company will build the new ice crusher for the Straits of Mackinaw. The vessel will have 40 per cent more carrying capacity and 33 per cent more power than the ice crusher St. Ignace. 1 The Detroit News says ofthe dark outlook for deep waterways:- The spectacle ofrepresentatives ofinterior states preventing the improvement ofchannels teough which they may obtain cheap freights to the seaboard for the products oftheir states upon the commerce ofthe Great Lakes is necessary. The outlook for next season in marine circles is said to be very much better than last year. Winter ore charters, which averaged from 90c. to $1 last year, have lumped to $1.25 the coming season. The grain trade, too, will surely be very heavy and already vessels have been chartered for their first four or five trips -at good fair