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8 MARINE REVIEW. Thanksgiving Notes--Why Marine Men are Thankful. A. B. Wolvin, Duluth: That there are a few more "City" names for boats he is thinking of building-- Forest City, Windy City, Pork City, Beer City, City of the Straits, ete. H. D. Goulder, Cleveland: That boats may pass up and down Detroit river without whistling for a drawbridge. J.J. H. Brown, Buffalo: That the Lake Carriers' Association has prospered while he has been at the wheel. A multitude of vessel.owners not in the Lake Carriers' Associa- tion: That they get all the benefits of the organization without paying for them. James Davidson, West Bay City: For $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $. W. I. Babcock, Chicago: For a ship yard full of work. Owners of big vessels: For an 18-foot channel promised for next season. Owners of little vessels: That the 18-foot channel isn't any deeper. Alex. McDougall, West Superior: For big profits with the whale- backs on season ore contracts. Captains who hays had no trouble: That they managed to miss the shoal spots. Captains who had trouble: That they didn't hit bottom oftener. Capt. Thomas Wilson, Cleveland: For $70,000 insurance on the Wallula. Capt. George P. McKay: For gas buoys at Point Pelee. Lake underwriters: For hull premiums about $1,000,000 in ex- cess of losses during 1896. Capt. John Mitchell, Cleveland: For a small slice in the Mc- Williams; wishes he had more of her. : The Marine Review: That it has four pages more advertising than any other publication of its kind and is carefully read by the best people in the business. Gilbert N. McMillan, Detroit: For the showing made by Howden hot draft. Joe Doville, Cleveland: For McKinley's election and plenty of silver. J. 8S. Dunham, Chicago: That a tow line tripped up one of his surplus tugs. He has tugs to spare. : Joseph Austrian, Chicago: For absolute assurance of a light on North Manitou island, for which he has waited these many years. All vessel owners: For a parting shot at the coal men, who have discriminated against "hen" boats but are now glad to get any kind _ of an old hulk in which to rush tail-end shipments. H. J. Mills, Buffalo: That the Union Dry Dock Co. is planning for another dock. A. A. Parker, Detroit: Not among the thankful people. Wrecks have been scarce. A Dollar a Barrel on Flour. Four-cent wheat charters are always certain to bring out stories of prosperous times in the past, when dollar ore from Lake Superior was not worth mentioning and when vessels were said to sometimes pay for themselves in a single season. Away back in the days when vessels of the old Winslow fleet were classed asmong the best ships on the lakes, one of them was commanded by Capt. "Jim" Smith, a robust, big-hearted specimen of the kind of men who had graduated from the sailing fleet. His steamer was at Milwaukee late in the fall. Freights had been climbing to high altitudes, and this boat was the last of a Buffalo fleet on which Milwaukee shippers had planned to move considerable flour. The captain was aware of his advantage. To all of the shippers who wanted his vessel he persisted in telling of what a poor hand he was at figures, all the time refusing their offers of high freights on the flour. One of the shippers had a cargo which he was forced to move at almost any rate of freight. His last bid was well up towards a dollar a barrel, when the big captai n, seeing his opportunity to gain the round figure for which he had been holding out, beckoned him aside with a confidential wink. "You know," he said, "I'm not much of a scholar, but if you're detarmined on't, I'll take that flour,and every time a barrel goes aboard my mate puts down amark, For every one of therm marks I'm to get a dollar?"' The proposition was accepted, and the freight, $1 a barrel on flour from Milwaukee to Buffalo, was the biggest ever paid on the lakes, Army and navy charts of the lakes are kept in stock by the Marine Review, Perry-Payne building. An American Channel in the St. Clair River. For a long time past the vessel interests have realized the necessity " of securing a channel for deep-laden vessels on the American side of Stag island, St. Clair river. The channel on the American side of - this island is much wider and deeper than the Canadian channel, but the latter is used entirely on account of a few shallow spots on the American side. These shallow places could be dredged at a very moderate cost. Anyone who will glance at the chart will find that the material is of a kind that can be readily removed, and that the expense of cutting off a few lumps in the channel would be a mere trifleas compared with other big works that have been undertaken within the past few years. But the big works were of immediate necessity, while the Canadian channel in the locality referred to has, up to this time, answered the requirements of commerce. Ships are getting larger and more numerous each year, however, and _ there would be a great advantage now in having two channels at this point in the St. Clair river. Vessels are at times actually crowded in the narrow Canadian channel. If there was free passage on both sides of the island, the deep-laden vessels bound down could pass to the American side, while the narrower channel on the Canadian side would be reserved for upbound craft. In view of the low cost at which this improvement could be secured, the Lake Carriers' Asso- ciation has decided to take it up, and a communication has been ad- dressed to the Hon. Horace G. Snover of Port Austin, Mich., with a view to securing his assistance in the matter. Mr. Snover is the member of congress from the district in which the improvement is proposed, and it is expected that he will consult Col. G. J. Lydecker, the district engineer, and endeavor to bring the question before the ~ next congress. Lights Always in Sight, Sometimes it is a little displeasing to vessel captains on the lakes to hear reflections upon their calling made by naval men and others who are not acquainted with the conditions attending lake navigation, and who imagine that we should have more of the science that is required on sea-going ships. The captain of a lake ship is satisfied to be looked upon simply as a pilot, if such he must be called on account of his ignorance of the science of navigation that prevails on the oceans, but he knows that when insisting upon plenty of land marks to carry out a practice peculiar to the lakes, he is working along the best line of safety to vessel property and a steady increase each season in the number of trips which it is possible to make, thus reaching towards the great aim of moving immense quantities of freight. He has other duties in the care of valuable vessels, some of them worth $200,000 to $300,000, that make him the equal of the man whose ship is worth no more, but who, on account of the trade in which he is engaged, is bound to possess a knowledge of scientific matters pertaining to navigation. This distinction, sometimes made in a disagreeable way, has often shown itself when requests have been made upon the United States light-house institution for more aids to navigation on the lakes. And yet the light-house board has "been building up along the Atlantic coast a system of aids to navigation that is identical with that for which the lakes are contending, as shown by an article in a recent issue of the New York Sun. The Sun says: "A vessel sailing along the Atlantic coast is supposed to have at least one light always in sight; the last one is not sunk before the next appears. That is very nearly the case, but not absolutely. It isa fact with the entire New England coast, where the Cape Cod region is the best lighted coast we have. The rule holds good along Long island and down past New Jerey and Delaware, but there is a little strip of about ten miles on the Maryland coast, off Chincoteague bay, where no light is visible. There is another dark strip of less than five miles a little further down the Maryland coast, and another of about the same length in North Carolina between Harbor Island Bar and Cape Look- out. This is because vessels must stand so far out to clear Cape Hat- teras that lights there would be useless. Between Hatteras and Cape Florida there are several dark stretches aggregating perhaps fifty miles With these few exceptions a mariner sailing along the coast from Quoddy Head to Key West is never without a light." Conneaut harbor is to have a new light. It will be located on the west pier and the structure will be similar to that at Ashtabula. The light will be in readiness for the opening of navigation next season. Work on the new government breakwater at Conneaut will also be started early next spring. ee ee ee ee " ~