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6 MARINE REVIEW. Steam Tonnage of the Lakes and Other Sections. James A. Dumont, supervising inspector-general of steam vessels of the United States, has just made an annual report to the secretary of the treasury, and again, in the statistical part of the report, the excess of steam tonnage on the lakes over all other parts of the country is clearly pointed out. The tonnage of steam vessels on the lakes is 90,962.79 tons greater than that of steam vessels on the Atlantic coast. Net registered tonnage is referred toin allcases. Of the steam tonnage of the entire country 41.2 per cent.is owned on the lakes, and this is nearly double the amount owned on the Pacific and gulf coasts and western rivers. As all steam vessels are inspected once a year, the following table giving the number and tonnage of vessels inspected in the several districts shows practically the number and tonnage of such vessels owned in these districts: STEAM VESSELS INSPECTED, THEIR AGGREGATE TONNAGE, AND THE NUM- BER OF OFFICERS LICENSED FOR THE SEVERAL DIVISIONS OF NAV- IGATION DURING THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED JUNE 30, 1894. Officers Divisions. Steamers. Net tonnage. Licensed. Northern lakes ........... ...2c.sseseeees 2,112 . 658,101 39 9,588 IAG ATICICICOASEs| tthir.cetnncestve.caiiostes 3,471 567,138.60 16,146 Western rivers........ccs0scessseseeeeees 980 150,848.06 6,474 PAGIHCICOAS tira ads ote dates cond octaceents 618 147,547.34 3,429 Gil fea tie. Gh} ac Saba cients 581 72,149.88 3,043 ORGAN piost thacitn cutis 3 Secu ebine ts ays 7,762 1,595,785.27 38,680 The table shows that the number of vessels owned on the Atlantic coast as well as the number of officers licensed in that section is greater than on the lakes, although the tonnage, as noted above, is 90,962.79 tons less. This is due to the fact that the number of large steam vessels on the lakes--vessels of 2,000 tons and over--is, as shown by reports of the commissioner of navigation, greater than the combined number of such vessels in all other parts of the country. The difference in tonnage of steam vessels on the lakes given here and that given by the commis- sioner of navigation is due to the report of the commissioner referring to gross tons, while that of the inspection service refers to net tons. Church's Hay Lake Lights, We have received the following from P. M, Church & Co., Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., regarding Hay lake channel lights: "Tn order to facilitate the passage of vessels through the new Hay lake channel for the balance of the season, we have at our own expense, hung range lights on all the targets that have been erected by the United States engineers to show the courses in the newchannels. The lights are all white and can be seen at varying distances from one to four miles, depending on the condition of the atmosphere. They will be found in the following order by vessels bound up the river: Range lights on St. Joseph's island, showing the course through the rock cut in Middle Neebish ; range lights at the head of Neebish island, marking the course to Nine Mile point; from thence up, range lights just above Nine Mile point, just above Six Mile point, and a pair nearly opposite each other a little below the cut through the islands. These lights are furnished and maintained at our own expense, and the only remuneration hoped for is increased patronage at our ship chandlery and hardware store, Sault Ste. Marie, from the shipping interests." Vessel masters who have passed through the channel after dark since the lights referred to have been in operation, say that it is now entirely practicable to run the channel by night, and they are very earnest in com- mending the enterprise shown by P. M. Church & Co. With the govern- ment system of lights in operation next year, these temporary lights will of course be discontinued, bnt they will serveto prepare all vessel masters for running the river at all times when the more efficient lights are established. Salaries of Steamboat Inspectors. A bill that is of interest to inspectors of steam vessels who do most work in the service will undoubtedly be passed at the session of congress beginning in December next. The measure will equalize the salaries of © officers of the service, grading them according to the work performed in the various districts. It was passed by the senate during the last session and has been reported favorably by the committee havin git in charge in the house, and is now on the calender of the house. In his latest annual report, Gen. Dumont uses some very plain language regarding this bill "It is an equitable bill," he says, "to which no just objections can be ata and none have been made, except in the interest of a few Officers in the service, whose salaries would be slightly reduced if the bill should become a law, and who seem unduly willing to perpetuate a law giving them two and a half times the salary of other officers rendering four times the amount of service that they themselves render, an injustice it seems im possible congress will longer permit." ; ---- es Ample Power for Speed Required. Following is an extract from the annual report of Commodore Geo, W. Melville, engineer-in-chief, U. S. Navy: In all its designs for machinery, whether fora tug, a battleship or a cruiser, the bureau has, in spite of much adverse criticism, insisted on a fair proportion of weight for power, especially in the boilers; as a conse. quence, the department has been spared the annoyance of failures on trial trips; and, without exception, all machinery built fromits designs has done all, and more than all, that was required of it on the first trial, and without distress, accident or injury of any kind. Sucha record is unique, and, when the high powers and unprecedented speeds of some of the vessels are considered, it is one to be justly proud of. In the opinion of the bureau, much ofthis success is due to its uniforin practice of allowing ample power for the speed required with a given displacement, as de- termined from the carefully observed performances of similar vessels, and having every design, before final adoption, carefully scrutinized, by an engineer officer who has performed service at sea in charge of machin- ery, this being the only way in which much of the information absolutely essential to the successful designing engineer can be obtained. Stocks of Grain at Lake Ports. The following table, prepared from reports of the Chicago board of trade, shows the stocks of wheat and corn in store at the principal points of accumulation on the lakes on Oct. 27, 1894: Wheat, bu. Corn, bu. Chicago....... eco eiee eecactesesct eeeveeeeeeeD0, 220,000 1,210,000 SJ) tp lied GS Soe se oes eto tawecececcctse ors wee 4,171,000 daissiees Milwaukee.......... Siices eeeeev cas TAdheoss se 845,000) 37 Se Bees Detroit...........0. Se ccmeeccees seseseeeeee 1,498,000 7,000 Toledo..........00. sate Some pied sats Rane ete 3,165,000 8,000 | BS Tiit el Oreos sete si acses cans Cccaenrscectcecccene 2,959,000 188,000 Total......... bitiecsseacteiseae ae «37,773,000 1,413,000 At the points named there is a net decrease for the week of 382,000 bushels of wheat, and a net decrease of 398,000 bushels of corn. Plenty of Water. Editor MARINE REVIEW: Since Gen. Poe made his request that vessels should pass between the two dredges now working at the foot of Lake Huron, instead of between the red dredge and the light-ship, I have had many inquiries asking whether the water between the two dredges wasas good asthe water near the light-ship in the course heretofore taken. In reply toa request for information, Gen. Poe writes me that the water between the two dredges is better than that between the red dredge and the light-ship, and that every foot of a channel 1,600 feet wide between the dredges has been dredged over to a depth of 21 feet, so that no vessels now on the lakes should meet with any difficulty in this por- tion of the channel. Will you kindly publish this assurance from Gen. Poe for the benefit of vessel masters? C. H. KEEP, Secretary Lake Carriers' Association, BUFFALO, N. Y., Oct. 29, 1894. A Wooden Lumber Carrier. Tbe Detroit Dry Dock Company has closed a contract with parties represented by C. R. Jones of Cleveland for a single-deck wooden steam- barge, the dimensions of which will be 185 feet keel, 35 feet beam, and 15 feet deep. Engines will be 42 and 22 inches with 36 inches stroke. A Scotch boiler 12 feet 3 inches diameter by 11 feet long and allowed 125 pounds pressure, will be fitted with the Howden hot draft apparatus. The steamer is to be completed next spring. Cargo and Speed Records.--:Lake Freight Steamers. Iron ore.--S. S. Curry, Hawgood & Avery Transit Company of Cleve- land, 4,569 gross or 5,117 net tons, Escanaba to South Chicago; Maritana, Minnesota Steamship Company of Cleveland, 4,260 gross or 4,771 net tons, Escanaba to South Chicago; Selwyn Eddy, Eddy Bros. of Bay City, Mich,, 3,897 gross or 4,364 net tons, Escanaba to Ashtabula; Kearsarge, Interlake Company of Cleveland, 3,718 gross or 4,164 net tons, Escanaba to Cleveland. Grain.--Selwyn Eddy, Eddy Transportation Company of Bay City 130,820 bushels of wheat, Detroit to Buffalo; Centurion, Hopkins Steam ship Company of St. Clair, Mich, 147,812 bushels of corn, Chicago to ae f Onoko, Minch estate of Cleveland, 187,657 bushels oats, Chicago to uffalo. Coal. --S. S. Curry, Hawgood and Avery Transit Company of Cleve- land, 4,535 net tons bituminous, Conneaut to Gladstone; Selwyn Eddy Eddy Bros. of Bay City, Mich., 4,252 net tons anthracite, Buffalo to Mil- waukee. s Speed.--Owego, Union Line of Buffalo, Buffalo to Chicago, 889 miles; 45 hours and 16 minutes, 16.4 miles an hour; Centurion, Hopkins Steam: ship Company of St. Clair, Mich., Buffalo to Duluth, 997 miles, 67 hours and 50 minutes, 14.7 miles an hour,