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12 : MARINE REVIEW. DEVOTED TO LAKE MARINE AND KINDRED INTERESTS. Published every Thursday at No. 409 Perry-Payne building, Cleveland, Ohlo, by John M. Mulrooney 'and IF. M. Barton. Sunscriprrion--$2.00 per year inadvance. Single copies 10 cents each. Convenient binders sent, post paid, $1.00. Advertising rates on application. Entered at Cleveland Post Office as Second class Mail Matter. The books of the United States treasury department on June 30, 1895, contained the names of the 3,342 vessels, of 1,241,459.14 gross tons registerin the lake trade. The number of steam vessels of 1,000 gross tons, and over that amount, on the lakes on June 30, 1895, was 360 and theiraggregate gross tonnage 643,260.40; the number of vessels of this class owned in all other parts of the country on the same date was 309 and their tonnage 652,598,72, so that half of the best steamships in allthe United States are owned on the lakes. The classification of the entire lake fleet on June 30, 1895, was as follows: Gross Number. pon nee PILOAIMGV.OSSE] Siceesssccsar teense scactvonecsoGbeckectessiecetbectescee aie : 57,735. 1¢ BDI PAVESSC Spree ee seee eset rseecnee ost ne ceases tece ese esccass 1,100 300,642.10 OMAP ROM reer eecscecc esters arte ALAC TOR EE RCHEE 487 83,081.91 MT Otel ceect seaptns co dscve sete acsaceuaccsecnees 3,342 1,241,459.14 The gross registered tonnage of the vessels built on the Jakes during the past five years, according to the reports of the United States commissioner of navigation, is as follows: Year ending June 80, 1891 .............0...ccceene ssseeveneessoeceee 204 111,856.45 rs i: BS Bee eee et ceettvevesctsetiececs 169 45,968.9: - fe a BOSS SE Aa TET od 175 99,271.24 of i TS OA ies eS See ee etce 106 41,984.61 i Be re USO teeth scien oack ar testrusccesc ete seenee 93 36,352.70 ITO GMCs teen wen, acters csstetnaactessccedovtideastccecevss' 347 335,433,98 ST. MARY'S FALLS AND SUEZ CANAL TRAFFIC. (/vom Oficial Heports of Canal Officers.) St. Mary's Falls Canal. Suez Canal. 1895* 1894 1893 1895 1894 1893 No. vessel passages.,............ 17,956 14,491 11,008 3,434 8,302 3,341 Tonnage, net registered...... 16,806,781] 13,110,366] 9,849,754!) 8,448,383] 8,039,175] '7,659,068 Days of navigation.............. 231 234) 219 365 365 365 * 1895 figures include traffic of Canadian canal at Sault Ste. Marie, which was about ¥% per cent. of the whole, but largely in American vessels. Dispatches from New York announce that Charlton T. Lewis has sailed for London to sell the franchise of the Erie Canal Traction Co. to an English syndicate for $3,000,000. The scheme of this company and the Cataract General Electric Co., of which it is a part, to use electricity for moving boats on the Erie canal is worthless, especially when viewed in connection with the claim that canal boats can be loaded with grain.or other freight at Chicago or Duluth and taken to New York without breaking bulk. It is not at all probable that capitalists in this country or in England will be taken in by any such claims as those made recently in the New York papers regarding this company. There has all along been a suspicion of stock jobbing methods in connection with this franchise. To begin with, every- body who is at all acquainted with electricity understands the big problem that would be involved in transmitting power along the Erie canal for a length of more than 300 miles, and it is well known also that even though the canal might be fully equipped with electricity, vessels would be at the mercy of steam power on the Hudson from Albany to New York. But the most absurd and visionary parts of the plans upon which it is proposed to sell, at a big price, this fran- chise, which was obtained for nothing, are the details regarding the lake end of the route. Think of towing, or moving in any way, steel canal boats, even of the kind that can navigate the enlarged Erie canal, from Buffalo to Duluth and Chicago! Itis well known that the Cleveland Steel Canal Boat Co., with its short stretch of lake navigation between Cleveland and Buffalo, has never been able to make better than 5 miles an hour with a tow assisted by atug. But placing aside all reference to the impracticability of operating canal boats on long lake routes,the question of freight charges is an absolute bar to such a scheme as that talked of in the New York dispatches. Grain is being carried to-day from Chicago to Buffalo in lake steam- ers at 8 cents a hundred. This is a lower rate than the Cleveland Steel Canal Boat Co. or the Cleveland and Buffalo Transit Co. would accept on freight from Cleveland to Buffalo, The present canal rate, Buffalo to New York, is only 6} cents a hundred, including trimming at Buffalo, elevation at New York and insurance, This would be nothing more than a living rate for canal boats, even with the enlargement of the Erie that is under way. It would be inter esting, therefore, to leara how canal boats are to come onto the lakes and compete, under these circumstances, for through business to New York with 4,000-ton lake ships and the present system of transferring freight at Buffalo. Englishmen will probably investigate this Matter before they pay $3,000,000 for the Erie Canal Traction Co.'s franchise, Success attending the operation of some of the best passenger ships on the lakes during the past season may result in a contract or two being offered to the ship builders during the dull period that is now at hand. The new side-wheel steamer City of Buffalo will cleay for her owners full $40,000 during the present season. This isa very good return on an investment of about $340,000, especially as the City of Buffalo, contrary to the usual custom, was not built on cash but ona financial arrangement extending over several years. Mr. M. A. Bradley and other officers of the Cleveland & Buffalo line say they must haye another boat similar to the City of Buffalo, but it is doubtful whether any effort will be made to have her ready for next season. Reports of the business of the Northern line steamers, since they closed their gea- son, seem to warrant the claim that they have been running ona profitable basis. The North Land, which had no trouble with her boilers and was kept on her schedule, is said to have carried 1,600 more passengers during the past season than was carried on both the North West and North Land during 1895. On one trip she booked 800 passengers one way, and 1,400 passengers on the round trip, and the smallest number listed one way was 324. ; When new vessels for the North German Lloyd now building in Germany are completed the total registered tonnage of the company's fleet will be 305,000. This includes eighty-two sea-going steam- ships and eighty-four tenders and small craft. Following are particu- lars of nine vessels now building for this company in Germany: One express twin-screw. Atlantic mail steamer at the Vulcan yard, 625 -- feet long, 65 feet beam, 40 feet moulded depth, 13,700 gross register tons, 28,000 indicated horse power, and 21 knots speed; one twin-screw steamer for same service in Schichau's of Danzig, 580 feet long, 62 feet beam, 40 feet depth, 12,200 gross register tons, 24,000 indicated horse power, and 21 knots speed; four twin-screw intermediate steamers, each 525 feet long, 60 feet beam, 38 feet depth, 10,500 tons gross, 7,- 000 horse power, and-144 knots speed, two of which are well advanced at the Vulean Works, and one each in Blohm & Voss' and Schichau's yards; also three twin-screw steamers, each of 325 feet length and about 4,500 tons, recently ordered--one from Blohm & Voss, one from Tecklenborg, and one from the Seebeck company. The attitude of the new Canadian government with regard to the four 20-knot mail steamships that were to be built for service between the Dominion and the mother country is somewhat puzzling. The Canadian parliament, under the old gvernment, voted a subsidy of $750,000 a year for the new service and this was to be supplemented by $375,000 annually from the imperial government. Before the old government relinquished control, proposals for the service had been called for, and the Messrs. Allan, owners of the Allan line of steamers were the lowest bidders. The matter had not been passed upon by parliament, however, and it is now rumored that the new government will overthrow all previous arrangements. There is nothing definite on this score, however, as the present session of parliament was called simply to pass upon the government estimates, and the policy of the new administration with reference to this steamboat service may not be knoyn until the next session. Statistics prepared by the United States Geological survey show that the iron ore product of Lake Superior mines in the year 1895-- nine and a half million tons--was the double maximum annual out- put of the noted Bilbao district of Spain and one-half greater than the largest amount credited to the Cleveland district in England in any one year; and the average quality of the ores obtained from the | Lake Superior mines is not equaled by any other large producing district. Ensign Cole, U. 8. N., whose transfer from the branch hydrogra- phic office, Cleveanld, was announced a week ago, has received a change of orders. He will not go to the Raleigh, but to the dispatch boat Dolphin, which has often been referred to as the private yacht of the secretary of the navy. Mr. Cole will be succeeded by Lieut. Stafford. Order photographs of vessels, best quality, to be taken on Detroit river, from the Marine Review. SE