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10 MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO THE LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. e Published every Thursday at No. 516 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, O SUBSCRIPTION--$2.00 per yearin advance. Singlecopies Io cents each. convenient binders sent, post paid, 75 cents. Advertising rates on appli- cation. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons register in the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1894, was 359 and their aggregate gross tonnage 634,467.84; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 316 and their tonnage 642,- 642.50, so that half of the best steamships in all the United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: _ Gross Class. Number. Tonnage. Steam vessels.........cssccssscsscssessees Pavercieoaey P1755 857,735.00 Sailing vessels........s000 Gacsectoseoee Meacte sae 1 1OO 300,642.00 Untigged............00 etareeeeetccccs teeters: eee 487 83,082.00 PLOLAlstceccseccrccsccs<cecseccescracerccsses 3,342 1,241,459.00 The gross registered tonnage of vessels built on the lakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States com- missioner of navigation, is as follows: Number, Net Tonnage. Year ending June 30, I891......... ceeeeate ne Od 111,856.45 G £§ ss TOQ2eccereseeeeessers' L0G 45,168.98 is ss sf USO sscccosssscvecsenes es 175 99,271.24 ss tf s TOOAcrerocseeoesteates = 100 41,984.61 i cS f EOQSyesasesass scsPavtss 93 36,353.00. POLE) sce ccsesccerecuckccccerseccevaceein 747, 334,634.28 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (From Official Reports of Canal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. 1894. 1893. 1892. 1894. 1893. 1892. No.vessel pass'ges 14,491] 12,008 12,580 3,352 3,341 3,559 Suez Canal. T'n'ge,net registd]13,110,366)/9,849,754|10,647,203||8,039,106|7,659,068|7,712,028 -- 365 365 Days of Navigat'n 234 219 223 365 Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second-class Mail Matter. SEVERAL months before the present heavy line of ship building orders were placed with lake builders a meeting of the American Steel Barge Co. was held to pass upon the question of building more ships at West Super. ior. It is, of course, well known that Mr. John D. Rockefeller is a large stockholder in the barge company although he does not control the con- cern. His representative at this meeting proposed building a half dozen or more ships. Other stockholders did not take to the proposition and it was voted down. Stockholders who opposed Mr. Rockefeller were anxious to make some money with the large fleet of vessels which were already in commission. They had received no dividends excepting such as were paid shortly after the organization of the company, and these early dividends were brought about through some peculiar arrangement of finances. Most of the stockholders were therefore anxious to see some further return upon their investment before building more vessels Then toward the middle of the past season came on high freights, the ore rate from the head of Lake Superior soon climbing to $2. Mesabi range mining companies suffered most on account of the high freight rates, and Mr. Rockefeller is understood to have declared when the $2 figure was reached that he would not be caught in such a fixagain ; hence his determination to build ships. OF COURSE the attitude of the vessel interests in Washington this winter, as in the past, will be against a bridge of any kind over the De- troit river, but in event of such a possibility as the vessel owners being forced to accept a high bridge cf any kind asa compromise it may be well to direct attention to the character of bridge called for in the bill introduced, viz., a bridge of three continuous spans, the central span to be 1,100 feet in the clear. At the point where it is proposed to locate the bridge the river is only 2,300 feet wide between dock lines, and therefore the two shore spans would be only 600 feet each. On the Detroit side of the river the so-called "' middle ground," with a depth of only 8 feet, © extends out some 300 feet from shore, which would practically make the Detroit shore span useless for navigation purposes. No bridge should under any circumstances be allowed with over two spans over the nay- igable channel--that is a bridge with only one pier in the navigable part of the river. This would require two spans of only 1,100 feet each, or if the bridge be located near Twentieth street, two spans of 1,000 each will easily span the navigable channel. TALK IN some of the lake newspapers about John D. Rockefeller soon controlling the Lake Carriers' Association is hardly worthy of notice. Mr. Rockefeller's vessels, alike to nearly all of the other steel ships controlled by big firms and corporations in the ore business, will very probably be listed in the Lake Carriers' Association as soon as they go into commission, and the fleet will be a very welcome and helpful ad- dition to the organization. If it were not for the ready manner in which the owners of big new ore carriers have for several years past put their vessels into the L. C. A. without exception, the organization would not be so prosperous as itis today. Big vessels pay big dues and although the owners of the Buffalo line boats and some of the passenger steamers have been very generous in supporting the association, without receiving direct benefits from the shipping offices, it must be admitted that the great bulk of dues which go to defray expenses come from the ore and coarse freight carriers. ONE hundred and twenty round trips between Chicago and Milwaukee in 121 days was the record of the Goodrich line passenger steamer Vir- ginia during 1895. Although docked once during the season, the Virginia suffered no delay on this account. On arriving in Chicago after the day run to Milwaukee and return she was hurried into the dock of the Chicago Ship Building Co. and was out again the next morning ready for the run to Milwaukee. This is certainly very successful work with a big pass- enger steamer. A. W. Goodrich, president and general manager of the Goodrich company, probably holds a more responsible trust in the management of the affairs of this line than any young man on the lakes. He is not more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight years of age. Aship builder who has had some dealings with him of late says he knows more of the details of ship construction than anyone he has ever met in this country who did not claim to be a naval architect. THE two new United States battle-ships will be named Kentucky and Kearsarge. In awarding the contract for these two vesse's to the New- port News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company, at $2,250,000 each, Secretary Herbert encountered some opposition, especially from influ- ences that were directed in favor of the Union Dry Dock Co. of San Fran- cisco. While it was the intention of congress to have one of the ships built on the Pacific coast if the terms were reasonable, in order to carry out this intent Secretary Herbert would be obliged to declare that the difference between the Newport News company's bid of $2,250,000 for one ship and the bid of the Union Iron Works of San Francisco of $2,740,000 for one ship was only a reasonable difference, which he could scarcely do in the face of the decision made by his predecessor, Secretary Tracy, that this difference should not in any case exceed 3 per cent. Mr. W. BULLARD, general manager of the Union Steamboat Co., Buffalo, writes the REVIEW saying that he is nota candidate for the presidency of the Lake Carriers' Association. Mr. Bullard's reference to the matter was prompted by the mention of his name in connection with the office in the REVIEW ofthe 19th. There was no thought of Mr. Bullard being a candidate in the sense of making an effort to secure the place. The only cause for mentioning the name of the general manager of the Union company was a statement from Mr. Keep, when in Cleveland some time ago, to the effect thst if the office was to be given to aline boat manager he felt quite sure that the selection of Mr. Bullard, who might be induced to give a little time to the office, would be generally satisfactory. TWENTY-THREE British ship builders come within the list of those who launched vessels aggregating 20,000 tons and over during 1895. Wil- liam Gray & Co. of West Hartlepool hold the first position. They built twenty-three vessels of 63,086 tons, Harland & Wolff of Belfast launched seven vessels of 58,093 tons; Ropner & Son, Stockton on Tees, seventeen vessels of 46,443 tons; Workman, Clark & Co. of Belfast, eleven vessels of 43,723 tons; Wm. Denny & Bros. of Dumbarton, twenty-four vessels of 35,028 tons; Sir Raylton, Dixon & Co. of Middlesbrough, twelve ves- sels of 33,030 tons; J. & G. Thomson, Clydebank, twelve vessels of 32,197 tons; Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., sixteen vessels of 30,735 tons; Russell & Co., Port Glasgow, twenty vessels of 29,488 tons. AN EXCELLENT LIBRARY FOR A MARINE ENGINEER, CHEAP--KEY TO ENGINEERING; WHAT AN ENGINEER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ELEC- TRICITY; ENGINEERS' CATECHISM. ANY ONE OF THESE ARE WORTH A DOLLAR, BUT ALL THREE CAN BE HAD FOR $1. SEND TO THE MA- RINE REVIEW, 516 PERRY-PAYNE BUILDING, CLEVELAND, 0. MONEY REFUNDED IF NOT SATISFACTORY. COPIES OF THE LATEST CHARTS OF GEORGIAN BAY HARBORS MAY BE HAD FROM THE MARINE REVIEW, 516 PERRY-PAYNE BUILDING.