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MARINE REVIEW. Vou. XIE CLEVELAND, O., SEPTEMBER 109, 1895. No. 12. Lake Freight Matters--Talk of Next Season's Business. Ore sales agents in Cleveland, who formed an association last winter and fixed prices of ore for this year, have held several meetings during the past few days. As there is not more than a dozen firms in the busi- ness, and as all affairs of the association are necessarily conducted with the utmost secresy, it is absolutely impossible to obtain information re- garding these meetings. If asettlement of matters pertaining to this year's output is all that has been under consideration, there is nothing of special interest to vessel owners in the proceedings, andif prices for next year are being fixed, sometime will be required in arranging details, so that in any event there is no great object in knowing as yet what the ore men are doing. On some ore that is to be consumed by furnace companies controlling the mines, notably two or three Mesabi properties, negotiations for the next year with vessel owners and brokers have, however, been under way for several days past, with $1 as the basis of freight for the season from the head of the lakes. Amounts of ore thus offered are not very large. The demand for vessels to load grain at Duluth fell off a little during the fore part of the present week, but the grain shippers are again in the market bidding 33{ cents to Buffalo, and asa result all freights are inclined upward. At this writing $1.30 might be had on ore from the head of the lakes, but shippers are getting no tonnage even at that figure. Immense Production in Iron. Pig iron production throughout the country is fast approaching the enormous rate of 200,000 gross tons weekly, and yet the output does not keep up with the demand incertain directions. .In the central west, which comprises the districts supplied entirely by Lake Superior ores, it is clearly proven now thatthe furnace plantis inadequate, and with profit in the business in these districts this year, and every assurance of a continuance of activity for some time to come, it is more than probable that new furnaces will be built and improvements made in a large num- ber of cases. There is not nowa plant available in the great territory west of the Alleghenies and' north of the Ohio river to add 5,000 tons a week to the present output. According to the latest report printed by the Iron Age of New York the weekly capacity of all the furnaces on Sept. 1 compared as follows with that of preceding periods : Capacity Furnaces per week. in blast. Gross tons, Sept. 1, 1895.0... ..ccccesersnsrceceseenreresecsennerseece 215 194,029 AUgust Lu...ccccesccscceaeesatseeescesceececceweenecenes 200 180,525 July. Diveecccenesecwancc-stt een sse:--recsehoa Ciaeacees wet 185 Pal alOs JM) Danes. c ces cccsecccescesessnsvacresercesseessoversiewret 172 157,224 May; Losec. innecsnaeee seed saeeeet-eontserncven 22 tsdeone 171 -- 156,554 April Lac.cc.cccccsscscsssscesceconseseccececssvcceseresens i71 158,132 Maar choise ccs secu ceonasctatsc spearienensoheecesrac 173 156,979 Stocks of pig iron, practically all of which was sold on Sept. 1, aggre- gated 447,711 tons. Stocks sold and unsold on August 1 footed up 611,- 781 tons; on July 1, 549,068 tons; June 1, 648,132 tons, and May 1, 780,729 tons. Better than 30 Knots. British ship builders are now constructing torpedo boat destroyers of nickel steel, and the first of them, the Sokol, built for the Russian government by Yarrow & Co. of Poplar has outstripped the fastest of the big British fleet of vessels of the same type, having made a small fraction over 30% knots on trial at the moderate pressure of 164 to 165 pounds of steam, with 4,000 horse power and carrying 35 tons of dead weight. The speed against the tide was 28.57 knots and with the tide 32 knots, ora mean of 30,285 knots. The steel of which this vessel is constructed has, as is well known, a strength exceeding that of the ordinary mild steel to the extent of about 30 per cent. The Sokol is 190 feet long and 18 feet 6 iches beam. She has twin-screw triple expansion engines adapted to indicate 4,000 horse power. Steam is supplied by eight Yarrow patent water tube boilers with straight tubes. The vessel was launched with all machinery on board, fire lighted, and steam upin four of the boilers. In four progressive trials of her engines, with 127 pounds of steam, a mean of 25.78 knots was obtained. With 140 pounds the guarantee was exceeded, and finally, with 165 pounds, the record was broken witha mean speed of 30,285 knots. The air pressure was 4 inch in the first trial and only 1% inches in the last. But after all of what use are these vessels? They have been and are being built in England by the dozen. Except in times of war they are useless. Over-sea voyages with them are out of the question. When they have completed their official trials they are all stored away. Their shell plating and their whole structure is very light and great deprecation in value is certain with them. These are points to which some of the British journals are now directing attention. Canals from the Lakes to Ohio River. Officers of the Lake Carriers' Association and the REVIEW have had several inquiries of late regarding size of locks and other matters bearing on the passage of small vessels through Ohio canals between Lake Erie and the Ohio river. The Miami and Erie canal extends from 'Toledo to Cincinnati, 250 miles in length. The minimum breadth of this canal at water line is 40 feet and at the bottom 26 feet, with a depth of 4 feet. From Cincinnati to Dayton and from Dayton to Junction the breadth is 50 feet at water line and 36 feet at bottom, and the depth isd feet; and from Junction to Toledo widths are 60 feet and 46 feet respectively and the depth 6 feet. The number of locks is 105, the size of locks being 90 by 15 feet inside. ; The Ohio canal from Cleveland to Portsmouth is 309 miles long. The minimum breadth at water line is 40 feet and at bottom 26 feet, and the depth is 4 feet. There are 152 locks and their inside measurement is 90 by 15 feet. The Ohio canal locks up 395 feet and down 288 feet and up 160 and down 417 feet from Cleveland to Portsmouth. The Miami canal locks up 395 feet and down 512 feet. Of all the advantages that have been gained in Cleveland during the past few years, through the establishment of a chamber of commerce that is now in every sense a business organization, those resulting to the ad- vancement of marine interests have been especially noticable. Of course: shipping interests are of first importance in Cleveland and they are de- serving of special attention from the leading commercial body of the city, but it would seem that at times ex-President Allen, President Day and the secretaries, Messrs. Ritchie and Wheeler, as well as other active members of the organization, have gone beyond what might be expected of them in urging vessel owners to a full sense of the importance of har- bor improvements and other matters pertaining to shipping. Just now the chamber is engaged in the matter of securing authority from the state legislature for the expenditure of a large sum of money on inner harbor improvements that have been discussed for some time past, and in preparing to send adelegation to Washington during the winter for the purpose of obtaining the largest possible approprialion for outer harbor work. These matters were taken up atasuccessful meeting held on Tuesday last and they were dealt with in a systematic manner, so that © there is every reason to expect that the city's interests will be attended to when the next river and harbor billis framed, and if vessel owners take an active part in the agitation begun locally, funds will be provided by the city for extensive inner harbor improvements. The Scottish Hero, a freight steamer of the turret type built by Wm. ' Doxford & Sons, of Sunderland, England, has quadruple engines and Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers. She was given atrial recently and developed a speed during four hours on the measured mile with the full dead weight, 3,800 tons, aboard of 10.2 knots with 1,500 horse power. The vessel is 297 feet between perpendiculars, 40 feet moulded breadth and 24 feet moulded depth. Engine cylinders are 19%, 27%, 39 and 55 inches in diameter and the length of stroke is 42 inches. There are two main boilers containing 4,500 square feet of heating surface, and a donkey boiler, also of the Babcock & Wilcox water tube type, containing 990 square feet of heating surface It is pleasing to the REvrEw to note that H. C. Wisner, counsel and proctor in admiralty, of Detroit, having recovered from an illness which for over three years has wholly incapacitated him for business, has re- sumed the practice of his profession at his old office, 22 and 23 Moffat building. : Niagara Falls excursion via Nickel Plate road, Sept. 21st, 10:30 p. m. $3 00 round trip. 406-20