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MARINE REVIEW. : '9 Commerce of Duluth and Superior. At last some statistics that may be regarded as reliable are at hand regarding the commerce of Duluth aud Superior, the two principal ports at the head of Lake Superior. In accordance with alaw which provides that engineer officers in charge of river and harbor improvements may require vessels to furnish reports of cargoes passing through channels in which improvements are under way, Major Clinton B. Sears of Duluth secured during the season of 1895 reports from all vessels pass- ing in and out of the harbors of Duluth and Superior. He has prepared elaborate tables giving the results of this labor. Coal dealers will be es- pecially interested in the figures, as they show receipts of both anthra- cite and bituminous coal at the two ports. Following are some extracts from the report: CONDENSED STATEMENT OF LAKE COMMERCE AT DULUTH AND SUPERIOR SEASON OF 1895. Number of vessels arriving, 5,436; registered tonnage, 5,576,804 | "departing, 5 380; 5, 629 678 Total arrivals and depart's, 10,81 6; a all 1,206,482 Receipts, net tons, 2,035,465; valuation, $27,443,512. Shipments, '" 4,375,886; 68, 564, 240 Total, 4 6,411,351; af $96,007,752 Of the total receipts and shipments Duluth is credited with 3,748,070 net tons, valued at $47,695,860, and Superior is credited with 2,663,281 net tons, valued at $48,311,892. Although not leading in tonnage, Superior is considerably ahead of Duluth in receipts of coal and shipments of flour and grain, which are the principal items of freight. Receipts and ship- ments of these commodoties are shown in the following tables : RECEIPTS OF COAL AT DULUTH AND SUPERIOR, SEASON OF 1899. Duluth. Superior. Total. Anthracite coal, net tons............ 245,675 482,934 728,609 Bituminous coal, net tons........... 336,007 633,115 969,122 SHIPMENTS OF GRAIN AND FLOUR FROM DULTLH AND SUPERIOR, SEASON OF 1895. Duluth. Superior. Total. Flour, barrels................000+ 4,070,033 5,029,544 9,099,517 Wheat, DUSHEI Sate etec-socsse. 15,856,265 20,860,929 36,417,194 Other grain, bushels......... 2,502,229 3,274,417 5,776,646 Entries and departures of vessels at Duluth aggregated 7,398 vessels of 7,163,490 registerd tons; at Superior, 3,418 vessels of 4,042,992 regis- tered tons. Lake Freight Matters. Pig iron is a little lower at this writing than it was a week ago, buta slight differencein price just now is not important, as there is not a great deal doing in sales. From the manner in which ore dealers have left Cleveland on vacations, some of them to be gone a month or more, it is evident that they have made their minds upto adetermined stand on the agreement which has been formulated between them and which is now complete in all its details. A fairly strong feeling still prevails among vessel owners, as indicated by conditions attending such grain as is offered at Duluth for shipment in the spring. One of the leading brokerage firms at Duluth writes as follows under date of Feb. 5: "The grain market is quiet. Shippers are bidding 3 cents for ton- nage to arrive on the opening, and vessels are asking 3% cents. We think that were the owners of tonnage to make any concessions, business could be done on-a basis of 3% cents. So far as our experience goes there seems to be rather a strong feeling among the owners of boats. The quantity of grain in store at Duluth exceeds that in store here a year ago by 1,000,0000 bushels. This, however, affords but little insight into the real facts of the case, for there is much more grain to go forward from now on than characterized the situation during the early months of last year. We are thoroughly convinced that there is plenty of wheat in the country, and it is more than probable that the higher range of prices, which now prevails, will bring it forward in large quantities. The move- ment'of coal from Duluth and Superior during November and December was the largest ever known for these months. The mild weather prevail- jung through January has, of course, had a marked effect on the coal trade, but from the best information we are able to obtain, more coal has been sold up to the present time than during the winters of 1894 and 1895. The coal people are not all of the same mind as to the probable surplus at the opening of navigation. The opinion seems to be general, however, there will be very little coal left on the docks when the first ves- sel arrives here." Some uneasiness has been felt in the Pittsburg coal mining region during the past week on account of the New York & Cleveland Gas Coal Co., a large concern, announcing its intention to break away from the agreement regarding mining wages, which were fixed up some time ago. It is not thought, however, that the action of this company will result this year in disturbing the coal mining business to the extent that it has during the past two years of depression. Appointments of Masters and Engineers. Buckeye Steamship Co., Cleveland : Steamer--City of Glasgow, Capt. John McNeff, Engineer C. R. Price. Hawgood, W. A. Cleveland. Steamers--l,. R. Doty, Capt. Chris. Smith, Engineer Thomas Abernathy; Iosco, Capt. David Hutchinson, Engineer Thomas Welsh; Schooner--Olive Jeanette, Capt. David Cadotte. North Shore Navigation Co., Owen Sound, Ont: Steamers--City of Coilingwood, Capt. W. J. Bassett; City of Midland, Capt. F. L. La France; City of Parry Sound, Capt. G. W. Playter; City of London, Capt. Fk. Walton ; City of Toronto, Capt. A. C. Cameron. A mistake was made in saying that Capt. A. H. Reed, who was in the steamer Nimick, would sail next season the steamer Queen City, which is being built by the Cleveland Ship Building Co., and of which A. B. Wol- vin of Duluth is managing owner. The Queen City will be sailed by Capt. Ralph Lyons, who was in the Zenith City last season, and the Zen- ith City will be sailed by Capt. Robert Cowley, who was in the employ of W. C. Richardson of Cleveland. An error was also made by Capt. John W. Moore in including Capt. John Coulter in his list of appointments as master of the steamer Louisiana. Capt. Coulter will sail the steamer Yale as he did last season and Capt. Truman Moore again takes the Louisiana. A Quarter-Century of Ship Chandlery Business, On Febuary 1, 1871, Messrs. J. E. Upson and J. W. Walton, two young men, formed a partnership and went into the ship chandlery business in Cleveland. The business of V. Swain, who conducted a ship supply business in Cleveland in 1850, and L. L. Lyon, who was engaged in a similar business from 1859, was merged into the new concern not long after its organization. An evidence of the growth of the firm and the volume of business transacted during the past twenty-five years is found in the amount of wire rope handled. In 1871 the company bought 1,000 feet of wire rope, the first ever brought to the lakes for rigging purposes. Wire rope was notin demand and itis possible that the young ship chandlers thought it was not even suitable for suicidal purposes if its purchase resulted in stranding them. But it was sold eventually, and since that time the company has imported 501 lots of wire rope, the total length being 8,544,241 feet, or over 1,600 miles, which would cover the sailing courses on the lakes from Buffalo to Duluth and from Macki- naw to Chicago and return. The twenty-fifth birthday of this concern was celebrated by a dinner at the Weddel House, Monday evening, at which the principals and em- ployes of the company were present. The menu was interesting. One of the big cordage houses was remembered by Sewall-Day brown bread. Corn beef hash ala Warrington and Upson-Walton salad were other features of the bill. Mr. John Gordon of Buffalo has been actively engaged for some time past on a proposed new line of package freight steamers to run between Buffalo and the head of Lake Superior, and it is now quite probable that he will be successful in his efforts, although no details have been given out regarding railway connections at either end of the route. He has been negotiating with the owners of the Menominee line of steel steamers controlled by M. A. Hanna & Co. and the Globe Iron Works Co., Cleveland. Auy or all of these vessels--there are five of them--could be feadaly fitted up with gangways and freight-handling apparatus for the package freight trade. Capt. Daniel McLeod has fixed Feb. 17 as the date for the first meet- ing in Cleveland of representatives of the different lake underwriters, who will be associated with him in chavging ratings, valuations, etc., in the Inland Lloyd's Register for 1896. There will be no general examina- tion of vessels. This board, in which it is expected all of the general agencies will be represented, will make changes in accordance with infor- mation which the underwriters have in hand, or which they may yet se- cure from owners and others, regarding he condition of the difterent vessels. ; A dividend of $3 a share was paid, Monday, to stockholders of the Chandler Iron Co., from earnings during 1895. Last year this company paid $1.75 a share but had not paid anything to stockholders for two or three years previous. The Chandler has a surplus of about $1,200,000. The annual meeting of the Cleveland-Cliffs company was held afew days ago. Thecompany made some money during the year but no dividend was declared. Cassiers' Magazine for February contains an illustrated article on "Modérn Ship Building Tools" by J. Arthur Gray, a well known English engineer, and also a well-written biographical sketch of John I. Thorny- croft, the famous English builder of high- pisee war vessels, by C. J. Cormish. The insurance and vessel brokerage firms of Chicago and Buffalo known as Palmer, Cook & Calbick and Calbick, Palmer & Bone have both dissolved. is