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MARINE REVIEW. 5 The Break Through Chequamegon Point. It is somewhat surprising how statements like that in regard to Chequamegon point originate, and when considered in con- nection with the facts they are amusing to say the least. This cut has existed since 1872, and has been used continuously. for twenty years by light draft fish boats asa short route from the bay into Lake Superior. An examination made in 1879 shows the cut at that time to have been about one-half mile wide, and a careful survey made in 1887 shows a width of 4,000 feet, from which it would appear that if the present cut is only 400 feet wide, as stated in the dispatch, it is only one-tenth as wide as it was Six years ago. The first appropriation for the improvement of Ashland har- bor was $22,500, made in 1886. The engineer officer in charge of the district not knowing exactly what to do with this money, finally concluded to expend it in closing the gap through Che- quamegon point. In the summer of 1887, a civil engineer of considerable experience on lake work was engaged to make an examination and survey of the point and vicinity, for the pur- * pose of getting the data needed for drawing up specifications for acontract. This survey disclosed the fact that the cut was do- ing no harm whatever, anc that to expend the appropriation in closing it would be a useless waste of publicmoney. The engi- neer so reported and recommended that only enough money be expended there to revet the point of island at the north side of the cut, so as to prevent further erosion to the northward. This report was not satisfactory to the engineer officer in charge, and advertisements for bids for doing the work were issued. . The people of Ashland wished the appropriation expended inside of their harbor and considered the closing of the cut an unnecessary expense. 'They therefore sent a committee of busi- ness men to Washington to lay the facts before the secretary of war, who, after considering the protest, ordered the advertise- ments for bids annulled. Nothing has been done in the matter since. The total appropriations to date made for Ashland harbor amount to $187,500, nearly all of which has been expended in building a breakwater and dredging in front of the city of Ash- land. Bills of a Marine Nature. Senator Frye has introduced in the Senate within the past two weeks a number of bills of a marine nature. One of them, No. 586, providing for communication from light-ships and out- lying light-houses to the shore, is a duplicate of a measure which was not reached in the last Congress. An appropriation of $50-, ooo is sought for the purpose of experiments to be conducted by the light-house board. A second bill, No. 510, relates to the protection of wages of seamen, and is also a duplicate of a measure that was introduced too late for consideration a year ago. It~- proposes to apply to the shipping business of the Jakes and the coast the law regard- ing wages of seamen in the foreign trade, which provides that no wages due or accruing to any seaman or apprentice shall be sub- ject to attachment or arrest from any court. The bill is in the nature of amendment to Section 4,536 revised statutes, and in ~ addition to applying the law of the foreign trade to the lakes and coast, it provides also that any writ of attachment or other paper for the enforced collection of a seaman's wages, in contravention of the amendment, shall be void and any officer executing the same shall be subject to fine and imprisonment. Inventor of the Screw Propeller. In referring to the recent celebration in Austria on the cen- tenary of the birth of Joseph Ressel, inventor of the screw pro- peller, who died in poverty and neglect in an inn at Laibach in 1857, the Shipping World of London says: "His claim to prior- ity in the invention of the screw propeller was disputed in En- gland and elsewhere, but seems now to be well established, the various documentary proofs having just been published, together with invectives against his "stupid countrymen" and the "heart- less foreigner who snatched the honor and the glory from him to whom both were legitimately due." Ressel described his idea of using the Archimedian screw forthe propulsion of ships as early as 1812. It was not until 1829, when his former patents had all lapsed for want of money to renew them, that he succeeded _ in interesting a Trieste merchant, named Fontana, in his inven- tion. A small steamer, the Cidetta, fitted with the first screw, left Trieste harbor in that year, and prove manageable in every respect for the first five minutes, when, unfortunately, one of the pipes burst. This was enough for the Trieste authorities to for- bid any further experiments of the kind, and the inventor had to continue as an employe of the forestry department of the govern-. ment on a salary of £70 a year. That his great achievement should have been unrecognized and unrewarded during his life time is perhaps the best of all reasons why the present oppor- tunity should be taken to do honor to his name, and to perpet- uate his memory in an effective manner." oo _--<$<--$ ___-- Iron Mining Matters. Shipments of iron ore from Two Harbors up to and includ- ing Wednesday, the 23rd inst., aggregated 618,812 gross tons and were divided as follows: Chandler, 303,875 tons; Minnesota, 257,- 987; Zenith, 2,011; Cincinnati, 9,917; Canton, 21,643; Franklin, 22,166; Hale, 1,213. Shipments of Gogebic range mines through Ashland up to and including Saturday, the 19th, foot up 777,535 tons, divided among the different mines as follows: Ashland, 26,465 tons; Aurora, 119,695; Colby No. 2, 28,594; © Tilden, 72,795 ; Germania, 4,975 ; Iron Belt, 7,544 ; Montreal, south vein, 1,347; Montreal, north vein, 25,850; Brotherton, 14,643; Comet, 5,035 :- Eureka, 26,115 ; Careys, 32,931 ; New- port, 70,348 > Norrie; 161,322 > Hast Norrie somoqo.. babe 83,353 ; Jack Pot, 1,651 ; Davis, 11,353 ; Sunday Lake, 17,525. Mr. William G. Mather, president of the Cleveland-Cliffs Company, is trying to keep miners in Ishpeming during the period of idleness at the mines. The town authorities are trying to dispose of $5,000 worth of town bonds, for the purpose of giv- ing the men work on the streets, and if they are successful and the citizens desire to issue bonds to the extent of $5,000 addi- tional, Mr. Mather has agreed to take the second issue. ' Henry B. Shields, manager of the Girard Iron Company, Girard, O., writes the Iron Trade Review of Cleveland that there is no ground for the claim that the accident at the Girard fur- nace was due to the fineness of Missabe ore used in the furnace. He adds that the company expects to use successfully and alone ' Biwabik ore from the Missabe range. In twenty-two days just previous to the closing of the Biwabik mine on the Missabe, on account of the money strin- gency, 30,000 tons of ore was shipped. It was claimed that with one steam shovel the average number of cars loaded in'a full day, including time taken up in switching and moving the steam shovel, was sixty of twenty-four tons each. _ One big manufacturing concern that is well known on the. lakes, the Berlin Iron Bridge Company of East Berlin, Conn., does not seem to be disturbed by prevailing dullness in indus- trial centers. 'The entire plant of this company is running full time. The contracts include a new electric light and power sta- tion at Lynn, Mass., a drawbridge at Salem, Mass,, a new foun- dry building for the New Home Sewing Machine Company, at | Orange, Mass., an iron building to go to Tampa, Fla., a large bridge for Chester county, Pa., a new iron storehouse for the New York Knife Company, at Walden, N. Y.,a large power. plant for the Philadelphia Traction Company, a large cotton shed for the Southern Pacific Railroad, at New Orleans, La., a new. - roof for the purifier house of the Northern Liberties Gas Com- pany, at Philadelphia, a new power house for the Reading Trac- tion Company, Reading, Pa., a new power house for the State Street Railway Company, at New Haven, Conn., a car barn for the Easton Transit Company, at Easton, Pa., a large smelter building for the Anaconda Smelting Company, at Anaconda, Mont. 'The work now in hand will keep the company busy for five or six months.