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MARINE REVIEW. ' CHICAGO LAKE INTERESTS. WESTERN OFFICE, MARIN oRN OB, E REViEw, No. 18 Western Union Building, CHICAGO, Ill., Dee. 15. { C. A. Macdonald returned from the Detroit meeting of unde well satisfied with what had been accomplished there. The spirit manifested was to him an indication of an agreement and the ultimate adoption of some plan which would solve the problem raised by the loss of the Western Reserve and Gilcher. Another meeting will be held at an early date, in order to haye the machinery in motion before the opening of navigation next spring. Rain hindered loading grain Tuesday, so that the Missoula, last boat to leave for Buffalo this year, did not get away until Wednesday. At no time during the past two weeks has there been any especial reason for boats not continuing to carry grain and coal. The weather has not been as bad as in November. Capt. John G. Keith, who isa member of the Lake Carriers' board of managers, states that at the annual meeting of the association, he shall en- deayor to have an appeal to the light-house board adopted, that light-houses shall be kept in operation much later than they are now--say Dec. 15. Habit more than anything else closes navigation Noy. 30, instead of Dec. 10. A conservative vessel owner, who never makes a positive statement with- out full consideration, says that the Chicago sail fleet in the lumber trade has barely paid expenses the past season. High sailors' wages ate up most of the little profit in that traffic. When captains have sailed their own boats and saved the pennies, there is a little to be paid on the many mortgages, but not much more than a master's wages. Deputy Collector Burke and the customs inspectors at the barge Office have been transferred to the world's fair grounds for the winter. Already many longing eyes are being turned towards the appointments in the gift of the next collector of the port. _ Neyer have there been so many boats reported as "'probably lost'? as_ this season. Newspapers find a serious question in dealing with telegrams stating that boats are suspiciously long overdue. On the one hand, there is a proba- bility that the boat is all right, and it seems heartless to cause needless anxiety among the friends and relatives of the crew. On the other, there is the possi- bility of a Joss, and the certainty that the boat is not where she ought to be. If the papers could have a report of vessels in shelter at Grand island much anxiety could have been allayed this fall. Every effort was made to secure such a report, but owing to the long distance from a telegraph office and the difficulty in getting the names of boats from the mainland, this plan had to be abandoned. One way in which some of the trouble could be avoided would be to have captains whose boats are in out-of-the-way places waiting for a storm to subside, telegraph the fact to the Lake Marine News Association and have it sent out in the regular order of the marine report. This plan will be given a thorough trial next season, and if captains will co-operate with the news- papers much good can be accomplished. Many points, of course, are out of the reach of telegraph offices, but there are many others which could be reached with some effort on the part of masters. rwriters quite Buffalo Port Matters. Special Correspondence to the MARINE KHV1EW. Burrayo, N. Y., Dec. 15.--This port is feeling small this winter on ac- count of the comparatively insignificant fleet laid up here. The propeller lines have given us more than half their boats, for westbound freight starts early, but the wild boats either went to Chicago or tosome ports between here and Saginaw. The ship store man is disconsolate. The lake lumber shippers are trying to settle the stevedore troubles and are holding meetings to see what can be done. They do not agree very well, as some adhere to the lumber shovers union and others to the stevedores. The union has a way of making it pleasant by exacting 10 cents per 1,000 on all cargoes taken out of vessels not loaded by unionmen. This rule tied np the schooners Negaunee and John Martin at the Tifft farm this fall and they are not unloaded yet. A similar difficulty held the Saginaw Valley's last car- go on board for some time. Some boats have had to pay the extortion, but most of them avoided it either by stealth or force. The owners of metal boats never get quite out of earshot of the people who delight in talking of "tin pans," and they are hearing no end of such talk. When the America came out with no between deck and with no frills to make her expense account sound large every port was full of people predicting that she would prove too weak to carry a full load. The Brazil met the same verdict when she came out. Their owners were cautioned against putting ore into them. Now the Maytham, the third of the series, is out and is at once pronounced the weakest of the lot and a story was started that she couldn't get any insurance. The owners merely reply that they are satisfied with the boats. They declare that the Maytham has more actual strengthen- ing work than any dther vessel on the lakes and that the Brazil has inspection papers from the British Lloyds that cost her $500, something that scarcely any other lake vessel possesses. The underwriters are not saying much about theDetroit meeting apparently. One leading agent diclined to be interviewed on the subject. He was willing to accommodate, he said, but he really didn't know what was brought out at Detroit. It looks as though he was right for once. The plan is all to be. Over 58 Per Cent. of Chicago Freight. Nearly a million more tons;of freight was shipped eastward from Chicago by lake and rail during the seven months and two weeks from April 14 to December 1, 1892, than during the same period in 1891. From weekly reports issued by the Chicago board of trade, it is found that the total shipments during this period, which. covers the season of navigation, amounted to 5,- 197,194 tons, 3,052,014' tons, or 58.7 per cent. having been shipped by the lake route and 2,145,180 tons, or 41.3 per cent. by the rail route. Last year during the open season of naviga- tion the shipments amounted to 4,265,934 tons, of which 2,705,- 084 tons, or 58.4 per cent., was carried by lake and 1,560,850 tons, or 41.6 per cent., by rail. In addition to having cared for its portion of the increase this season the lake route gained .3 per cent. on the ten trunk lines leading from Chicago to the east. These ten lines are: Michigan Central, Wabash, Lake Shore, Fort Wayne, Pan Handle, Baltimore & Ohio, Grand Trunk, Chicagé & Erie, Big Four and Nickel Plate. Following is the lake and rail movement by weeks for the season : Lake movement, Rail movement, net tons. net tons. _ Week ending ADEM MAT cs sis dodSeheeroee der ode roses 46,050 79,897 Perea Oi Pe senaeth tttcscmeaeeaersics esos 77,254 64,557 CO OR ie oe owe eet ele 98,471 72,841 May ep ee es ee eee 71,485 68,391 dee piled aaataeiaec cues Heuer ture eet 82,447 74,708 SEMEL, ONave saree etter sceesebacc seat 82,003 82,257 sis GLO casiaswondtees coe Sarae as sai 105,657 64,230 ADIN we oe aha hema an cle cceters 19 108,675 78,808 Ge AO ecard clea Gea o tiv evece »» 124,273 72,947 Pe WOera emnttes Su meaawe ween eas 126,476 64,526 Gee AAD een ese Raton soba ee ss FOSS 115,259 65,387 CoE JO elie ror as ROE rc to ares oh ieels 130,428 66,412 ial eg ae ree el cases eae speislse 104,146 59,598 OE LA Var Reo ooy o Oeics tens adidas 118,129 63,960 Smee Mle aue ete eh ogee ate cence ose 87 ,833 59,762 EROS Sates SRR ER Cae 95,746 | 55,354 ATT Orrege de Se cities cnt une nee tiee se ota 97,206 50,033 ell eee ood sec Rants Sais sehen 88,183 55,406 ee LO reccueh Gan centarensaesecee eases: 91,047 56,320 Te OD nse acon eebaes ta cce ee anees 89,173 65,528 Septet cle tirana doa mukcmnide cesccts Pee oe Oe DASE eee Srdttigee se csle eee eN- eae 3, 53,37 peel op camera. sce case ietav erect orcecs 97,345 61,599 ge eee ene ae ae 75,444 59,837 CF Ne Eien Rese tis een ec tapas teat eee 87,371 57,358 OCi A Olmert eens snes 64,553 59 ,287 SE age edie see esata tala ae case een sees 75,604 * 61,332 Doe D0) sie aecis setae moe aes etotiee 58,810 55,462 elas rao Bi Coe wesup tats aes 62,675 53,486 NG VAG cone nc ere cee conrene eames: 69 407 54,508 ESe SAQA e cies fleet senehig-lato nets 77,719 56,945 ML sect Sage e sen teem eae 49 620 59,723 UDA ee Pan ue itis sslucnedaica<sepes 99,599 67,070 He Co eeeli ge ctce tye cee eater nee 141,893 78,381 A Noite seers eeenages bon scene suagaer 3,052,014 2,145,180 Although the gain of .3 per cent. of the lake route over the combined traffic of the railroad lines is small, it is gratifying and will serve to correct the idea once generally held that the lines parallel to the lake route would absorb the business between Chicago and Buffalo. Launches in Small Canals. Industries of San Francisco says: "The launching of the Campania, new Cunard steamer, was a difficult undertaking. The Clyde, at the Fairfield works, is barely 900 feet wide in the direction of the diagonal launching ways, and as the ship was 600 feet long there was only 300 feet in which to stop the 9,000 tons of weight. This was accomplished by means of drag weights attached to the ship by numerous chains of varying length, so that one after another came taut, offering a gradual resistance. 'The anchoring device was eight heaps of chain on the ground that had to be dragged, a curious expedient, but one not without reason when we come to think of it. The resistance to the ship is somewhat indefinite in quantity, but absolute in nature, removed from all adjustment or judgment of attendants, and all chances of mistake or failure are eliminated. 'This ex- pedient is no doubt an old one in launching when there is not room, but' certainly there has never been a case before when a ship was launched into a canal the width of which was about one-half the ship's length."' : ; Vessels built on the lakes have been launched into slips and canals which were in width much less than half the length of the craft, and in a few instances they have been launched into dry- docks, but in all such cases the launches were, of course, side launches.