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Ship of the Month - con't. 8 . WISSAHICKON was taking a quantity of canned goods brought from Sandusky by the steamer ALASKA. At the foot of Third Street were the N. T. steamers EM­ PIRE and CITY OF CONCORD, both loaded for Cleveland. The EMPIRE had commen­ ced leaking at about 6: 30 in the evening, but her pumps were able to keep her free, and after about three hours the leak stopped itself. She may have to go into dry dock, or take a pump along with her to Cleveland unless the leak can be found and stopped securely. The boats had a hard time getting through the St. Clair ice, but Capt. Murphy of the EMPIRE said the ice in the centre of the lake seemed to be honeycombed with air holes. "The propellors COLORADO, LEHIGH and D. R. VAN ALLEN were behind the N. T. boats, but their arrival here has not yet been noticed. " The "Chicago Inter-Ocean" in early December noted the ships laid up for the winter. "The props. ONTARIO, QUEBEC, ASIA, SOVEREIGN, D. P. VAN ALLEN (sic), stm. MANITOBA, schrs. MOONLIGHT, TRADEWIND, SHANDON, EMERALD, TRINIDAD, ST. LOUIS, 0. MOWATT (sic), MYOSOTIS, BOLIVIA, J. MARIA, SCOTT, D. G. FORT, barges BUTCHER BOY, JOHNSON and RYAN are in Sarnia. " The "Cleveland Herald" of February 21, 1881, reported that Captain George Wright and Sons, of Port Hope, Ontario, had bought the VAN ALLEN and that they intended to place her and the str. (sic) LEWIS ROSS ON A Chicago and Georgian Bay route carrying grain in connection with the Midland Railroad. (LEWIS ROSS actually was a schooner built at Port Burwell in 1874 by S. Mc­ Dermott; she was lost off Rondeau in Lake Erie on September 6, 1889, in a storm but the crew was saved. ) Although not specifically stated, it appears from this that the VAN ALLEN was at this time towing consort barges. The Kingston "British Whig" on August 3, 1881, noted the VAN ALLEN's arrival from Chicago with 108 walnut logs, and the departure the same day of the Montreal Transportation Company's tug H. F. BRONSON with two barges, 20, 000 bushels of grain, and 108 walnut logs! A rather nasty report appeared in the "Cleveland Herald" on September 5, 1881. The schooner EDWARD BLAKE, which had been reported by the captain of the steam barge JOHN B. LYON to be leaking, arrived in Chicago nearly water­ logged. Her captain stated that he asked the VAN ALLEN for aid, but the cap­ tain of the latter had refused, even after he was informed that the BLAKE's crew were exhausted. Perhaps the VAN ALLEN was encountering problems of her own. In any event, Capt. Edmunds, who had been mate of the VAN ALLEN in 1881, opted to command the schooner PICTON the following season. The Toronto "Globe" of Friday, May 12, 1882, reported that D. R. VAN ALLEN had been chartered to carry cedar ties from Sauble Bay (Sauble Beach? ) to Buffalo at 12 cents each. No newspaper reports mentioning the VAN ALLEN for the balance of 1882 or for 1883 have been found to date. The next reference to the vessel comes from the "Amherstburg Echo" of June 27, 1884: "The steam barge D. R. VAN ALLEN arrived here on Sunday from Parry Sound with 280, 000 feet of lumber for S. Fraser. " Again from the "Echo", of July 4th, we learn of a mid-summer slump in busi­ ness. "The steamer D. R. VAN ALLEN and the schooner LEWIS ROSS are lying in ordinary at Windsor and the scow GRACE AMELIA has arrived there. " The steam­ er's next contract was with the contractors building the rapidly expanding Canadian Pacific Railway. The "Duluth Weekly Tribune" of August 8, 1884, re­ ported: "The Canadian schooner BRECK arrived yesterday with a cargo of tim­ ber for use in the construction of bridges on the Canadian Pacific Railroad east of Port Arthur. The barge VAN ALLEN is coming for the same purpose. " A couple of weeks later, the same paper stated that the VAN ALLEN was in port from the (Prince Arthur's) Landing for bridge timber for the railroad. The Canadian Pacific Railway's line through to the Pacific coast was completed the following year. On June 25, 1885, "The Marine Record", Cleveland, reported: "The propellor D. R. VAN ALLEN which went ashore near Brockville but managed to free her­ self, was misled by a tug and dredge which went to anchor in Sand Bay with