The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Tales of the SAND MERCHANT The Near Loss­ of the GEORGE BURNHAM A cry of fire stopped the painters and others at work on the forward deck of the George Burnham, and be­ fore they could gather up their tools, the stem of the boat was enveloped by sheets of flames. Immed­ iately, two alarms were turned in and the departments responded promptly. The firemen experienced consider­ able difficulty in getting a hose on board, but finally with the aid of a tug and a yawl, six lines were finally brought to bear upon the flames. The fire was quickly extin guished, but not before it had ruined the cabin and the engine room. The fire did not get below the deck except along two deck beams, where it worked its way through the hull, which was not otherwise damaged. Besides destroying the cabin, the derrick-spar was so burned that it also will have to be replaced. The whole damage is estimated at around $4 ,000. Her boiler and engines were hardly damaged at all. Nobody knows how the fire started, but it evidently began in the engine room, The schooner Contest, of Racine, was lying near the Burnham, and the flames ran to her rigging, destroying two jibs and scorching her jibboom. The novel fire attracted a large crowd of people, who stood close by and watched it until the last spark was extinguished. The George Burnham is a vessel of 219 tons. Her insurance valuation is $20, 000, less than a quarter of what she cost her present owners, who have had her for only six y e a r s . Originally she was the Flora Webster, built in 1881, and running ini the Green Bay and Fox River trade. George Burnham and Son bought her in 1883 and had her rebuilt at Green Bay. The story goes that a Milwaukee expert who went up to look at her, at the request of the owners, gave it as his opinion TALES page 7 PARADE OF PASSING EVENTS The month of June may be listed as a red letter month in the pages of history. During the thirty days of the month, four outstanding hap­ penings occurred One hundred years ago, Michigan's "Miracle Mile" started under con­ struction. At that time there were many who called it folly. While Congress ranted and the Army grumbled, a young engineer, Charles T. Harvey, turned the first shovel of earth to start the construction of the first lock and canal at the Soo. Dispite the opposition of the Army and a Cholera epidemic, the first lock was completed two years later. Captain Jack Wilson locked through the steamer Illinois to open one of the busiest ship passages in the world. Today the Soo locks are the life­ line of the Great Lakes. Also this month wrote the end of one of the famous excursion boats on the Lakes, the Put-in-Bay. To Satisfy government claim s , she was sold to the Browning Steamship Co. for $11,000. The Browning Co. is stripping the ship, and then is going to turn her over to the wreckers. There will be many thousands of Detroiters and others that will shed a tear in her passing. The great Lake Superior has clamed another ship, The Canadian freighter Scotiadoc, owned by the Canadian SS. Company. The Scotiadoc collided with the 4,959-ton Burlington, owned by the Canadian Patterson SS. Lines, in a heavy Lake Superior fog. A large hole was tom amidships in the Scotiadoc, by the collision. She was abandoned by her crew. One life was lost, that of Wallace MacDermid, a seaman of the Scotiadoc. He was presumed drowned when a lifeboat tipped over while being lowered. Captain Frank A. Dority, a Great Lakes skipper, who during his fifty year career commanded 30 ships, died this month at 91. Capt'n Dority has lived in retire­ ment for the last 19 years. He re­ ceived his masters papers in 1889. EVENTS page 8