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MARINE REVIE VoL. XIII. CLEVELAND, O., JANUARY 2, 1896. 3 oe INOo ai Facts About the Lake Grain Trade. It is, of course, well known that Buffalo is the great terminal point on the lakes for the shipping of grain and flour tothe seaboard. Buffalo's grain receipts is indicative of the grain business or the entire lakes. Ship- ments through the Welland canal and by way of Georgian bay ports, Port Huron and Sarnia are quite important, and there is also some grain for- warded to the seaboard by way of Erie, Fairport and a few other places on Lake Erie, but the great bulk of the business, probably 80 or 85 per cent. passes through Buffalo elevators. Correct statistics as to receipts at Buf- falo are, therefore, interesting. During the season of 1895 there was received at Buffalo by lake 162,- 988,482 bushels of grain, including flour as wheat. This aggregate is full 2,000,000 bushels more than was received in 1894 but it is nearly 25,000,- ooo bushels less than the receipts of 1893. Receipts of grain and flour at Buffalo during the past three years were as follows: 1895. 1894. 1893. ilOtiias bathe Seeesseseeaseestemecaeaeaceer 9,289,636 11,630,620 10,566,670 Wheat, bushels......... Pee eee i eesseece 46,297,200 50,224,588 68,267,484 (Gorn DUSHelSrcccescsc see cemereeocac see 37,166,012 28,675,571 39,982,814 Oats, DUSHEIS.....6..0.cccc-cesceeseswerees 21,547,748 14,830,596 19,784,939 Barley, bushels..........s00..-sseseseeeee 10,745,212 8,627,546 5,797,040 Rye, busheels...........ssseceseereeseesees 784,400 456,694 578,933 J Powis eS OVS) Eycocaonconmsconcro0ann0 116,540,572 102,814,995 134,401,810 Flour equivalent in wheat, bushels 46,448,170 58,153,100 52,833,350 Grand total, bushels.............. 162,988,842 160,968,095 187,235,160 In 1836 the receipts of grain of all kinds at. Buffalo, including flour as wheat, were 1,239,350 bushels; in 1845, 5,581,790 bushels; in 1855, 24,472,- 278 bushels; in 1865, 51,415,183 bushels; in 1875, 57,967,631 bushels; in 1885, 64,091,681 bushels, and in 1895, 162,988,742 bushels. The movement of grain of all kinds out of Chicago during 1895 was 14,859,183 bushels in excess of 1894, but there was a decrease of full 50 per cent. in flour shipments. Chicago's grain business is shown by the follow- ing table: CHICAGO GRAIN SHIPMENTS SEASONS OF 1894 AND 1895. 1895. 1894. WWikhteah USIMGS 5, onesies. s.s8eib tc ne-Fanacs <- 135558,422. - 15,016,804 Corn, bushels......-......0seesccccrserseeeseres 47,701,850 37,148,717 Oats DASHES cece ercnsaceneternessosacanceewcnes 17,674,346 13,913,761 Barley, bushels..........0..sscsesseee see ceeeee 5,243,531 2,868,060 Rye, bushels..........ssseeseeseeseeseenseeceones 57,000 28,624 MOtalpbushelsy cc. -wwteseeerce sss cused 83,835,149 68,975,966 Flour, barrels........... Bei Sie cdohcocdedecctshve ves 787,512 1,630,345 The entire grain and flour business of Lake Supcrior, about 98 per cent. of which was east-bound, is best shown by the records of the two canals at the Sault. The canal figures in this regard for 1894 and 1895 follow: ay United States and United States Canadian canal, canal, 1895. 1894. Wheat, bushels....... Beer eases at aoe 46,218,250 34,869,483 Grain other than wheat, bushels... 8,328,694 1,545,008 louie DAGEEIS -ncnecestoasscnscereeeesaeas 8,902,302 8,965,773 ye die will be seen from the foregoing figures that while there is a falling off in Lake Superior flour shipments of 63,471 barrels as compared with - 1894, the shipments of wheat during 1895 were 11,348,767 bushels, or 33 per cent, in excess of shipments during 1894. As regards the item of 'grain other than wheat" it must be explained that the 1895 figures in- clude such east-bound grain as was heretofore reported in the item of un- classified freight; hence the large increase in 1895. In past years quite alarge quantity of wheat was shipped by lake from Toledo to Buffalo, but in 1895 the receipts of wheat at*TIoledo by lake from northwestern districts exceeded the shipments. Receipts in 1895 aggregated 2,596,623 bushels, while the shipments were only 2,314,- 484 bushels. In 1894 shipments footed up 12,734,578 bushels. Shipments of wheat from Fort William and Port Arthur during the 1895 season of navigation aggregated 8,619,951 bushels against 9,001,397 bushels in 1894. When navigation closed at Port Arthur and Fort William in 1895 there was in store at those points 1,667,781 bushels of wheat, as compared with 545,168 bushels at the close of navigation in 1894. Increasing Interest in the Dam Project. Senator Brice has opened up a correspondence with leading. engin- eers throughout the country, who have for several years past advocated the construction of a dam in Niagara river, and he was fortified with a vast collection of information on this subject before bringirg it up in the senate. The men whose opinions have been sought by Mr. Brice are in most cases well-known authorities on hydraulic engineering, who have for a long time past contended that the army engineer corps was wrong in not taking up this method of improving the draft of water on the lakes. It is needless to say, therefore, that they will oppose, as far as possible, legislation intended to entrust any work that may be under- taken now tothe army engineers. They will try to have investigations as to the feasibility of the project entrusted to the Deep Waterways Commission, recently appointed by President Cleveland, or to a board having simply representation from the army corps. The ground taken by those who have all along advocated this project is thus outlined: First--Have an examination made at once to determine the correct _ outflow at Niagara, the character of the lake bottom at probable locality -- for the construction of the dam, and a careful examination of the phy- sical condition at all of:the lake harbors, both American and Canadian, relative to the proper level at which the lake surface may be regulated without excessive damage to private property. This examination should be made between low water in early spring and high water in June. Second--Plans and estimates of cost should be based on this investi- gation and submitted in time for congressional action at the second ses-. sion of the present congress. Third--If the plans are deemed feasible and satisfactory bids should be asked for from contracting engineers to construct the dam, either on. the plans already submitted or else on new plans to be submitted by the contracting engineers, such contractor to guarantee to construct a dam which will give the result required, on the principle of "no cure no pay." : In the house of representatives, Mr. Griswold of Erie has succeeded in getting a resolution on this suhject before a sub-committee of the committee on rivers and harbors. The resolution calls upon the secre- tary of war for "information respecting the advisability of increasing the. depth of the great lakes by means of dams at outlets" The sub-commit- tee consists of Representatives Cooper of Wisconsin, Towne of Minnesota and Clark of Alabama. When these gentlemen, two of whom are from lake states, are informed of the interest that has developed in this mat- ter on the lakes, pee will undoubtedly recommend the passage es the resolution. Progress with the Chicago Drainage Canal, Reports recently submitted to the trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago show that work on the big drainage canal to date amounts to over 75 per cent. of the whole. _ During the months of August, Septem- ber and October last, there was over 8,700 men at work on the canal. The report of Chief of Engineers. Randolph shows that the value of -- the regular and collateral work done inthe period between Jan. 1 and Dec. 1, 1895, eleven months, is $6,036,400. The volume of work done in this period is as follows: Glacial drift, 7,187,600 cubic yards; solid rock, 4,824,000 cubic yards; retaining wall, 95,000 cubic yards. The total volume of work accomplished since the inception of the canal projectis as follows: Glacial drift, 20,172,686 cubic yards; solid rock, 10,212,751 cubic yards; retaining wall, 97,600 cubic yards. The value of this work on regnlar and collateral contracts is $14,456,600, or 76.20 per cent. of the entire work done upon a basis of existing contracts. The percentage of work done on Jan. 1, 1895, was 44.38, so the percentage of work done in the first eleven months of 1895 amounts to 31.52, or within 12.56 per cent. of the total work done in 1892, 1893 and 1894. Marine engineers of Cleveland elected the following officers at their : annual meeting, held afew days ago: President, John N. Kirby; vice president, John Hayward; treasurer, M.B. Sturtevant; corresponding secretary, W. C, Clark; recording secretary, William Most; financial secretary, James I,. Sanderson; chaplain, L A. Weeks; doorkeepers, H. A. Burton and George Allen; trustees, M. B. Sturtevant, William Kennedy and H. McAuley. New officers of the Cleveland lodge, Ship Masters' Association, are as follows: Joseph A. Holmes, president; Richard Neville, first vice president; William Cumming, second vice president; Thomas Jones, treasurer; W. W. Brown, financial secretary; Robert C. Pringle, record- ing secretary. Any I) eee